A LEADER SHOULD KNOW HOW TO MANAGE FAILURE

We all have studied in the management classes that a leader is one who lead others to follow him/her and many definition have given by many Management Guru's. I was reading a interview at the midnight of India's Former President Mr. APJ Abdul kalam. He in this interview has given one of the best example of leader.

He in this interview was asked could you give an example, from your experience, of how leaders should manage failure. He shared his work experience of year 1973 when he was a Project Director of India's satellite launch vehicle program. The goal assign to his team was to put Rohini satellite into orbit by 1980.

He told by Aug 1979 we thought that we were ready and I decided to control center for the launch. 4 min before launch, the computer began to checklist the items. 1 min later, computer put the program on hold; display showed that some components were not in order I had 4-5 experts with me-told me not to worry and launch through manual mode. I did the same, in first stage everything worked fine. In second stage, a problem developed. Instead of satellite going into orbit, the whole rocket system plunged into Way of Bengal. It was a big failure.

That day, the Chairman of ISRO Prof. Satish Dhawan called a press conference for the launch at Sriharikota(A.P.). Prof Dhawan, the leader of organisation, took the responsibility for the failure. He also assured media in another year the team would definitely succeed. As a Project director that was my failure-but he took the responsibility.

In July 1980, we tried the launch again and we succeeded. The whole nation was Jubilant. Again, there was a press conference Prof. Dhawan called me aside and told me, "You conduct the press conference today".

Reading of interview i have learned the best management lesson, I have learned something that did not come to me reading a book that WHEN FAILURE OCCURS THE LEADER OWNED THAT FAILURE,. WHEN SUCCESS CAME, HE GAVE IT TO HIS TEAM.