Leadership is such a quality that will lead a leader to the highest peak of his success. Not everyone is able to learn and apply the leadership skills in real life. Without leadership nothing can happen, nothing changes,nothing develops and nothing improves. A great leader cannot be born by himself, this attribute has to earn by oneself with perseverance. The skills & qualities of leadership should be developed during one’s span of life. If we look for a great leader’s qualities and skills then Mukesh Ambani is one of the ideal example. Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani (born 19 April 1957) is an Indian business magnate who is the chairman, managing director and largest shareholder of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), a Fortune Global 500 company and India’s second-most valuable company by market value. He holds a 44.7% stake in the company. Shri Mukesh D. Ambani is a Chemical Engineer from Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai (earlier University Department of Chemical Technology, University of Mumbai). He has pursued MBA from Stanford University, USA. Mukesh Ambani has set an excellent example of being a successful leader & carrying forward the legacy of the Ambani realm. His leadership abilities were recognized by eminent bodies in the industry by felicitations like Economic Times Business Leader 2006 & CNBC-TV18 India Business Leader Awards 2007.
Leadership Qualities – Style and Skills of Mukesh Ambani
Mukesh Ambani used to follow an unique leadership process. He doesn’t go for traditional autocratic and transformational leaderships. He always follows his own approach which makes him a fascinating leader today. Before we go for discussing about his leadership qualities and skills we should understand how he thinks about his business and approaches towards success.
He is a visionary type human. He can forecast the future easily. He knows which technique will be viable in future for the betterment of business. He has the ability to predict for how long can a company sustain and what could be a company’s potentiality.
Among his leadership qualities, he is a very impatient human being. He always look for solutions of any problem immediately. According to him, leaders should lead followers and followers should follow leaders. To him, the best & smart leaders are those who can develop smart followers. In real life when Mukesh Ambani diversified Reliance and ventured into several new industries, he proved that a leader working with an incompetent or incapable team can never be succeeded. Then he opted for talented manpower and smart leaders who have expertise in the specific domain where Reliance was venturing into. Since then it was cleared how Mukesh Ambani works.
Mukesh Ambani always used to say to aim higher than necessary and to learn more who know more than you. Mr. Ambani always has big dreams. It was always a goal for him to beat Taiwan and Korea at polyester business. They were the dominant player in the business then. When he was 30 years old, he dreamt of becoming largest producer of polyester fiber and yarn in the world and he did it. Today Reliance Industries Limited is the biggest producer of polyester fiber and yarn in the world.
His one of the qualities is he always prefer to do more rather than talk. He is not keen to deliver opinions on important economic issues in different events like World Economic Forum etc. He always likes to focus on his business and he gets appreciations for his for the creation of world’s largest petroleum refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat besides other successful ventures. Though he does not attend in different events to talk still he is one of the most talked about personalities in the country.
If we look back at his commencement of entering into the business world, we will see he never gets panicked and stayed strong from the beginning. He joined his father’s business when he was so young. When he was gathering knowledge of his business, suddenly he lost his uncle and his father’s business partner Rasikbhai in 1986. After these incidents he did not break down and instead he handled his business very strongly and steered the company forward.
His another quality is he always keeps his eye open. He keeps his eyes open when he looks for haunting new ventures. During the announcement of Reliance Jio initiative, Ambani had clearly said, “Today I see a billion people as a billion potential consumers, an opportunity to generate value for them and to make a return for myself”.
Leadership Skills of Mukesh Ambani
Adaptability is one of the great skills that Mukesh Ambani has. He showed he has the skill to adapt to a new environment and changing times. Mukesh Ambani had his oil business in the 90s and 2000s when oil was a goldmine. But after the 2000s “Data” has become the new goldmine and Ambani had transformed his mind to data-centered business. He changed his track in 2007 and launched his new company Jio. However, back then he knew that data is the new oil. He started his work on 4G LTE technology where data is everything. In his company, voice calls were passing through data, not through conventional telephony technology. Today Mukesh Ambani insists that he runs data business, not telecom business. Everything was possible because he had the skills to adapt to dynamic changes and moved over to set up a new business line.
Successful leaders are good at problem-solving skills. This skill helps Mukesh Ambani to make quick decisions, resolve obstacles, and generate fast results. His father used to tell him to figure things out by himself and decide how he wants to deal with them. He said that lesson was the most valuable in his entrepreneurship life. His father advised him to figure things out on his own if he wants to be an entrepreneur. According to Mukesh Ambani, it is very important that one has to be passionate to find the problems and solve them. He also learned over the span of his experience that as an entrepreneur, the company’s objectives are linked with social values. He suggested that along with solving the company’s problems, entrepreneurs should deal with the problems that are faced by the people around the company.
Mukesh Ambani is skillful in asking the appropriate questions to know the problems. In 2003, when incoming/outgoing calls were charged then he was trying to find out the cheapest form of communication. At that time, 40 paisa postcard was the cheapest form of communication. Then he implemented a 40 paisa/minute call rate for incoming and the amazing thing he did was making free the outgoing calls. He radically changed the telephony system in India and the next 5 years, everyone had mobile phones in their hands.
Some of his strategic management points are:
- He always thinks “out of the box”.
- Empowering ordinary people to extra to extra ordinary things.
- Investment in excellence is investment in the future.
So it is clear from above statement that unarguably he is one of the top most leader in the world. He has his own criteria and skills to become a great leader from his own ground. Few more qualities we can see if we overview him.
Other Leadership Qualities of Mukesh Ambani
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- An ordinary individual who dreams big and welcomes challenges.
- Passionate about Business and Entrepreneurship from childhood.
- He uses Human Resources in efficient manner.
- He loves to interact with youngsters.
- He always favors his own country brands.
Related:
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References:
- http://www.studymode.com/essays/Mukesh-Ambani-Biography-44259859.html
- https://lmiindia.wordpress.com/2010/08/25/mukesh-ambani-%E2%80%93-a-leader-who-loves-challenging-situations/
- http://www.adviseamerica.com/mukesh-ambani-leadership-style/
- http://www.mensxp.com/work-life/corporate-skills/3064-mukesh-ambani-leadership-style.html
- https://www.slideshare.net/tirthamal2010/leadership-style-of-the-richest-indian-mukesh-ambani
- https://www.togethercaringsharing.com/3-leadership-skills-can-learn-mukesh-ambani/
- https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/companies/mukesh-ambani-entrepreneurship-is-about-finding-problems-to-solve-1003963.html
Sadnan is one of the top contributors of The Strategy Watch, he has been actively contributing since 2017 as a Content Analyst; He has finished his graduation from North South University with a dual major in Accounting & Finance. As a contributor, he has written for different topics including Leadership Styles and Qualities, Finance, and Economics. He also has a strong interest in SWOT & PESTLE Analysis and Marketing Strategy.