KCR’s impeccable governance : Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

KCR’s impeccable governance
and
Governance that touches all

Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

Millennium Post, New Delhi (01-01-2019)
and
Telangana Today

            In a recent Press Conference Chief Minister Telangana K Chandrashekhar Rao described the neighboring state CM Chandrababu Naidu as a most opportunistic political manager running the show with the help of two media houses and in no way, he can be called as a leader. According to KCR N Chandrababu Naidu is a politician of no consequence, a liar, incompetent administrator lacking even basic knowledge of economics or agriculture.

            In this context it may be relevant to differentiate between a Leader and Manager and contextualize with reference to governance. KCR who provided the real leadership with statesman like qualities and comparing the progress achieved in Telangana and the neighboring AP has probably every right to describe Babu as a mere manager and not a leader. The development in Telangana is to be credited to KCR for providing the leadership. KCR even predicted the defeat of Babu in the next election in his state as he did not to do anything worthwhile for the welfare and development of people there.

            On the other side, the Telangana state government during the last four and half years initiated and implemented a variety of programs. The basic reason and the driving force for achieving this success are the statesmanship, vision, leadership qualities and commitment, decision making process through consensus, consultation and quality review methodology of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao. All these resulted in conceptualization and implementation of people oriented, welfare oriented and development-oriented schemes in the state. Above all it is the Statesman like Leadership that is causing development.

In this context we may probably refer to Jim Collins who authored a book on leadership titled “Good to Great” where he deals extensively with the qualities and success of level five leadership and differentiates leader and manager.

According to Jim Collins “Good-to-Great” leaders embody a paradoxical mix of personal humility and professional will. “Good” is The Enemy of “Great”. Level Five Leadership does not happen overnight. It refers to the highest level in a hierarchy of executive capabilities. Leaders of this type are those who combine extreme personal humility with intense professional will; shun the attention of celebrity, channeling their ambition toward the goal of building a great system. They provide new vision, strategy and direction, around which institution gains people’s commitment. The transformation from Good to Great has a process that includes building first level five leadership, deciding on first who and then what, confronting the brutal facts, transcending the curse of competence, inculcating culture of discipline for breakthrough results and technology accelerators. Collins also differentiates between the levels of leadership and elaborates the other four levels in support of level five leaders.

Level five leaders like KCR rise to that level against a background of his rich experience in various fields of activity, individual discipline, ups and downs in the life, colleagues support and many more most of which are success stories. Level one in the hierarchy is a highly capable individual who makes productive contributions through talent, knowledge, skills and good work habits. Level two is a member who contributes individual capabilities to the achievement of group objectives and works effectively with others in a group setting. Level three is a competent manager and capable of organizing people and resources towards the effective and efficient pursuit of predetermined objectives. Level four is an effective leader who catalyzes commitment to and vigorous pursuit of stimulating higher performance standards. Level five the highest in the Hierarchy builds enduring greatness through paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will. The greatness of level five leaders lies in choosing the other four levels for successful accomplishment.

            Professional will of level five leadership creates superb results, demonstrates resolve to produce the best long-term results, no matter how difficult, sets standard of building institution and will settle for nothing less. He looks in the mirror, not out the window, to apportion responsibility for poor results, never blaming other people, external factors or bad luck. He is never boastful, acts with quiet calm relying on inspired standards, channels ambition into the institution and looks out the window, not in the mirror to apportion credit for the success. He chooses the right people for right work and lets them into his vehicle of performance and achieving results and only with them forms a superior executive team. The wrong people are off the vehicle and when and why is the tactical choice of level five leaders. For him Great vision without Great people is irrelevant.

            When we talk of governance and politics the level five leaders is basically a Statesman like qualities person. We heard of Governance and later Good Governance. But today people want Great Governance and Governance with a difference. It is just not enough to attend to mere current needs of people and call it as a development. Long term planning along with short term and medium term are essential. This is what has been happening in the state during the last four and half years and with this same leadership would happen in the coming days and months. The schemes conceived in the state are all keeping the long terms needs of people in mind. All these are examples of statesmanship of Chief Minister Chandrashekhar Rao.

            In the recent elections the landslide victory of TRS under the leadership of statesman KCR did not happen just like that. Ever since the state was formed, by initiating and implementing number of welfare and development schemes during the 51 months of his first phase of governance, which did not happen during the erstwhile Congress and TDP rule for over 50 years, CM KCR who is also the TRS Party President successfully appealed for votes. In support of his appeal he demonstrated the process of successful completion of schemes with statistical data. The progress card was presented to the people in detail. As a leader, as a statesman, as a politician, as a designer of development-welfare schemes, as a visionary, as a pragmatist and an intellectual KCR won the hearts of people at large. This is how the landslide victory was made possible.

         It is not just “Governance” or “Good Governance” that is seen and felt now……it is a “Great Governance” with a “Huge Difference” headed by a Statesman Leader Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao.