Management lessons from CEO Dhoni

MUMBAI: What Mahendra Singh Dhoni as CEO of the Indian cricket team did to ensure the country
won the World Cup will be etched as learnings for leaders across all walks of life. Captains of India
Inc, leading business schools and HR leaders have taken note of Dhoni's style of management.

Experimentative, innovative and risk-taking are some of the characteristics being attributed to him.
So what really is Dhoni's management style? "He sets stretch goals and works determinedly to
achieve them by getting the best out of his team," says Adi Godrej, chairman, Godrej Group, who has
also taken on a new role as chairman of The Indian School of Business.

Dhoni is being described as 'a true leader' who did not hesitate to push himself up the batting order
in the final, when the team needed him the most. "He led the attack from the front and was not
afraid to make this change. He knew well that had he failed, he would have been severely criticized
but yet he fearlessly took up the challenge at a critical time in the Indian innings," says Harsh
Goenka, chairman, RPG Group.

Santrupt Misra, HR head, Aditya Birla Group, on the other hand, lauded Dhoni for being
experimentative-that is innovative and, at the same time, prepared to face the consequences. "He's
inclusive, but at the same time when the moment of truth comes, he doesn't hesitate to take
decisions."

And what does one learn from Dhoni's leadership skills? "Take measured risks and back your team to
deliver," said Gunit Chadha, CEO, Deutsche Bank India. "A leader should maintain his calm. He
should know his business well and take appropriate decisions in changing contexts," said Misra.

One could see how these characteristics came to the fore when, in a crisis situation during the World
Cup (India had lost two crucial wickets of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag in the early overs),
Dhoni kept his cool and led India to victory. "Dhoni has been consistent match after match. He has
stuck his neck out and accepted his mistakes," said Deepti Bhatnagar, faculty, Organisational
Behaviour, IIM-Ahmedabad. What's more, the captain succeeded in building a team where young
people can come up with their opinions. "In a situation where a much younger player like Virat Kohli
can give his opinion towards a senior player like Sachin without inhibitions itself speaks volumes
about the team culture," said Bhatnagar.

Nehra's comeback against Pakistan is another good example of how Dhoni's faith in him paid off. As
co-authors Bill Conaty and Ram Charan have said in their book, 'The Talent Masters - Why smart
leaders put people before numbers': "You can liberate your capacity and courage as a leader if you
continually plumb the depth of your inner core. Only by doing this can you understand the role it
plays in the changing complexities of your job." Dhoni has proved to be a smart leader.
'Dhoni: adaptable & Tendulkar: ethical'
With the World Cup trophy back in India after 28 years, hero worship of Team India continues
unabated into the second day. In a country of 1.21 billion where cricket is a religion, it's therefore
only natural that our Men in Blue have been the subject of intense discussion-heir leadership styles,
personality traits, likes dislikes and what have you.

TOI commissioned OD Alternatives to map the personality and leadership styles of the playing 11 of
Team India using the Enneagram tool-a globally accepted personality profiling method. OD
Alternatives is a Delhi-based organization development and consulting firm working in the area of
leadership development, change and transformation and executive coaching.

Enneagram is a set of nine distinct personality types, with each number denoting a certain type. To
identify an Enneagram personality, the best option is to use a questionnaire. However, there are
chances of people projecting a desired type rather than the real one. So usually, type identification is
done with multiple inputs. In this case, since the cricketers themselves were busy battling out in the
field, the study was carried through a mix of tools such as looking at existing literature and
background available on the players, watching videos of their interviews, talking to their fans and
other experts.

Significantly, people are usually born into one and do not change from one basic personality type to
another. The numerical ranking of the types is also not significant. So it's not better to be a Nine than
a Two just because nine is a bigger number. While all the personality types have unique assets and
liabilities, some types are often more desirable than others in a group.

Globally too, several MNCs have been using this psychometric instrument for leadership
development, team building and executive coaching. In management parlance, Enneagram makes
possible an accurate assessment of your leadership strengths and challenges. It provides a
developmental plan for better decision-making, success, relationships, and above all getting results.

Of the nine personality types, type 3 and type 1 dominate with two cricketers respectively falling
into the category. While, none of the cricketers fell in the type 4, 5 and 6 categories, some had
overlaps of type 7and 8 together; 3 and 8 together and 2 and 8 together. Since little information was
available on Munaf Patel, his personality type could not be ascertained. Read on for the details.

TYPE 3 | M S DHONI & VIRAT KOHLI: Optimistic, adaptable, success-oriented, self-assured, and
charming. They can also be status-conscious and highly driven for advancement. They are diplomatic
and poised, but can also be overly concerned with their image and what others think of them.
Consequently, they can be impatient and image-driven. They seek to be loved for performance and
achievement. Masters at appearances-they are able to recover quickly from setbacks and charge
ahead to the next challenge, staying informed, knowing what's going on, competent and able to get
things to work efficiently and motivate others.

TYPE 1 | SACHIN TENDULKAR & GAUTAM GAMBHIR: Principled, rational, conscientious, and ethical,
with a strong sense of right and wrong. They are improvement-oriented, and self-controlled, but also
can be critical, and self-judging. They are always striving to improve things, but afraid of making a
mistake. Well-organized, they try to maintain high standards, but can slip into being critical and
impatient. Believe one must be good and right to be 'worthy'. Procrastinate for fear of making a
mistake. Uses 'should' and 'must' a lot. Can accomplish a great deal having high standards and
dedication. Able to put facts together and figuring out wise solutions; being the best they can be and
bringing out the best in other people.

TYPE 2 | SURESH RAINA: They are caring, interpersonal, sincere and relationship-oriented type.
Know what people want and need. Enthusiastic and having a good sense of humour. Empathetic and
warm-hearted, they demand affection and approval. Friendly, generous, and self-sacrificing, can also
be sentimental, flattering, and people-pleasing. They seek to be loved and appreciated by becoming
indispensable to another person. They are well-meaning and devoted to meeting others' needs. Can
be possessive and manipulative, and have many 'selves'.

TYPE 7 | SREESANTH: Optimistic, extroverted, productive, spontaneous, fun-loving type. Symbolized

by Peter Pan, the eternal youth. Sevens are adventurous, with a gourmet approach to life. They have
trouble with commitment, want to keep the options open; Generally happy, playful and stimulating
to be around, habit of starting things but not seeing them through, they can become over-extended,
scattered, and undisciplined and self-serving. They constantly seek new and exciting experiences,
and can be impatient and impulsive. Do not let life's troubles get them; being outspoken and
outrageous is part of life. Besides, they are generous and have the guts to take risks and to try
exciting adventures.

TYPE 8 | VIRENDER SEHWAG: Eights are self-confident, self reliant, protective, resourceful, straight-
forward, and decisive, but can also be ego-centric, bossy, and domineering. Eights believe one must
be strong and powerful to assure protection and regard in a tough world. Consequently, they are
direct and action-oriented, but can also be overly impulsive, vulnerable and sometimes impulsive
and confrontational. Extremely protective, will stick up for self and friends. Open displays of anger
and force, great respect for opponents who will stand and fight. Can have problems with their
tempers, meets challenges head on; supporting, empowering, and protecting those close and
upholding just causes.

TYPE 7/8 | YUVRAJ SINGH: A combination of all the characteristics of Type 7 & Type 8.

TYPE 3/8 | ZAHEER KHAN: A combination of all the characteristics of Type 3 & Type 8.

TYPE 2/8 | HARBHAJAN SINGH: A combination of all the characteristics of Type 2 and Type 8
 THE ARTICLE IN DNA NEWSPAPER ON DHONI’ S
MANAGEMENT SKILLS
Midway through India’s campaign in the World Cup, many were reviewing the team’s overall performance and
some of Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s decisions.

The skipper’s decision to ask Ashish Nehra to bowl that crucial last over against South Africa at Nagpur was, in
particular, scrutinised. Dhoni could have given the ball to Harbhajan Singh as southpaw Robin Peterson was on
strike. As it were, Nehra failed to defend 13 runs in that over.

BCCI officials would not divulge as to what was discussed, but a top official confided in DNA that the big bosses
have a lot of confidence in Dhoni. They believe the skipper always takes the right decision during a crunch
situation. He would not explain why the skipper, on certain occasions, waits to be pushed to the corner before
taking the right decisions. Well, that’s Dhoni, our very own Captain Cool. He has this habit of proving people
wrong with his decisions, calculations, instincts, intuition, intransigence, obduracy…

Those who know Dhoni say he is an iron man of sorts. Once he takes a call, it is difficult to change his mind. “He
is obstinate. It is very difficult to change his mind,” says a source close to him. “Some of his decisions are
instinctive, not necessarily based on cricketing logic.” One of his illogical decisions was that of keeping R Ashwin
out of many games. This despite the fact that the Tamil Nadu off-spinner won the Indian Premier League (IPL)
and Champions League titles for Chennai Super Kings.

So that explains his decision to stick to Nehra and Munaf Patel. That would, perhaps, explain his famous decision
to give Joginder Sharma the last over in the final of the World Twenty20 in 2007. Dhoni wouldn’t just go by his
decision. He’d also back that particular player. He would not try to run any player down for non-performance. This
obviously inspires the player.

It was one of those instinctive decisions that led to the inclusion of Nehra in place of Ashwin. The offie was, in
fact, one of Dhoni’s trump cards against Australia. But he was asked to warm the bench on Wednesday.

“It is a family and everyone is proud of one another’s success,” Dhoni would often repeat when asked about the
team’s success. “The way we are backing each other and not criticising any player. If somebody is having a bad
time on the field, we are making sure he is wanted and everybody is helping each other.”

He would make sure that credit always goes to the team and not the captain. “I’m proud of the side that I’ve got.
You can see a definite difference between our fielding in the last few series and now. They’re giving more than
100 per cent for the World Cup. You can’t always control the result but you can always control the amount of
effort you put in. So, that’s in our hands and that’s what we’re doing.”

Says a team insider, “There is an atmosphere of informality and warmth in the dressing room. Dhoni is more of a
friend to his teammates than a leader. That’s the difference between him and past captains.”

Dhoni would later concede that dropping Ashwin for the Pakistan game was a mistake. “We misread the pitch,”
he would admit. But at the same time, he made sure that Nehra gave his best. Lacklustre all through the
tournament, the Delhi pacer bowled some unplayable deliveries to the Pakistani batsmen. He was even made to
feel comfortable after he dropped a catch offered by Shahid Afridi.

In the final on Saturday, Dhoni will go with his instincts which, one hopes, will have cricketing logic too. Even if
they don’t, Dhoni will ensure that he extracts best out of every player