Perseverance and Determination

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Taken from the book: 21 Leadership Lessons of Narendra Damodardas Modi

"Our greatest glory isn't never falling, but rising every time we fall." ~ Oliver Goldsmith

Challenges, setbacks, hurdles: almost everyone faces them, especially those in a position of power and responsibility. What differentiates good leaders from exceptional ones is not their intelligence or affinity for good strategies, but their self-determination. In times of challenging circumstances, brilliant ideas are necessary, but the leader's perseverance and will to get through the problem is something far more fundamental and important. Imagine what would happen if the leader of a group turns around and vanishes, abandoning his team! That certainly won't be a pretty picture.

Effective leaders have the resolve to look at problems with a brave face. Thinking calmly and staying in control leads them to manage and look for possible alternative solutions. A perseverant leader, driven by a constant vision, is able to make his team anchor on his beliefs, thoughts, values and principles. It helps one to stay motivated.

Narendra Modi's journey from a bal sevak in RSS to the Prime Minister of India is a story of deep-rooted determination. Set with a vision in mind, he has been looking into solutions and working on them persistently. His zest for work was quite visible and in a lot many instances, appreciated. In the early 1990s, Modi was handed the responsibility of L K Advani's Rath Yatra (1990) and Dr Murli Manohar Joshi's Ekta Yatra (1991–92) despite being in a junior role in the state unit in BJP. The RSS leaders had quickly provided their assent taking into consideration Modi's initial years of success and hard work.

Given the fact that the Indian political system is characterised by issues of groups and favouritism where the emerging and struggling political aspirants will spend more time in pleasing their seniors than working at grassroots levels, Narendra Damodardas Modi chose the path of hard work to make his mark, despite being aware that achieving success and admiration through work and results is a long path vis-à-vis any short cut.

His desire to achieve the unachievable, pushing him to extreme and social awareness played an important part in overall rise of Narendra Modi. People who know Modi from earlier days recount him as a self-motivated and socially conscious individual who followed high morality in his personal disposition. Indeed many of his old associates find that Modi has displayed a unique trait of incrementing his perseverance and determination as he kept moving upwards in power hierarchy. He is known as one who never basks on his past or present glories, but has his sights set on the next milestone even before achieving the previous one.

As a youngster, Modi seemed to be interested in disassociating himself from his small life in Vadnagar. As a means of escape from his family life, he 'disappeared' for stretches of time to spend time completely by himself in a secluded place. Really wanting to do something that would give him a distinct identity, Modi never gave up. Perseverance became the prerequisite to living the life he wanted to live.

Starting small and performing jobs lower in class is usually something that is not preferred, unless the individual harbours a broader perspective and like Modi, knows that those are just stepping stones for future success. People tend to give up, feeling dejected at the quality of work required of them, sometimes giving up because of jealousy. Successful people who go on to become leaders sometimes start no different, but they are quite willing to overcome challenges and have the strength and determination to see their goals churning into fruition. Modi's jobs and responsibilities during his initial years in RSS can be described as menial and routine. However, Modi's idea of carrying out all tasks effectively prepared him for the various roles he was later asked to play. Certainly, no job is useless!

This also helped him later in his career as it provided people the confidence in his abilities and his determined will to passionately work for the cause he believed in. The reason the RSS was handing out bigger responsibilities to him was because they were pleased with his efficiency and the fact that he performed whatever he undertook with utmost enthusiasm. When such individuals go on to become leaders, and are responsible for a lot many people, it is this determination settled in them that allows them to keep on pursuing their goals and in the process, leverage things to their advantage. In the midst of any crisis, they must have the capacity to continue.

As Modi rose up the ranks, he found that his Dharmic rooted perspective needed a modern reinvention. In order to keep himself up with the times, he understood and valued the importance of having a broader perspective. Although there would be evidence and opinions for the otherwise, one can't deny the fact that he did try learning from whatever he could and inculcating modern management principles that are so necessary to lead India in the contemporary scene.

It's not that Modi didn't face failures or challenges; in fact, leading Gujarat during the Gujarat Riots and Godhara issues became a hounding issue for him. Surely, no leader would want to be held responsible for such an issue, especially when he took command of a state only months back. Anyone who is even remotely aware of the Indian governance system would appreciate that the system is rather complex and not as simple as it appears. The strong hold of regional political satraps, bureaucracy and the established power centres with the Indian political framework provides little leverage for even the established Chief Minister of any state to operate, more so when one is new and just acclimatising himself with the complexities of governance. However, despite all the negativities that surrounded him, Narendra Modi chose to concentrate and shift the discourse to the economic agenda and growth which doesn't suffer from the normal discrepancies of secular v/s non secular, regionalism, etc. He's remained perseverant that the only model that Gujarat and he would propagate is purely economic, which in the end would benefit all. Though his critics kept hitting him with the phrase, 'single agenda', he chose to respond to them with a vibrant economic model. He provided a never-thought-of model of investment inflow, with senior IAS officers being assigned to and accountable for every investment flowing within the state. His detractors and critics not just challenged him in India but ensured that even his international reputation remains challenged; however, with a single minded focus on his state, he carved a path of economic diplomacy where the international investors themselves pushed their respective governments to remain engaged with him. Probably this is one of the few instances where international diplomatic efforts were targeted towards a particular state of India and not just at national level.

Another example that displayed his determination and perseverance was the handling of the devastations that occurred in the Gujarat earthquake in 2001, which killed more than 20,000 people, destroyed 4,00,000 houses and accounted for a loss of billions in economic damages. The incident occurred around nine months before Narendra Modi took the reins of the state. Modi could have chosen to just maintain the continuity of efforts, but after becoming the Chief Minister, he galvanised investment and rehabilitation efforts to such an extent that today, Kutch boasts of one of the finest models of rehabilitation across the world and the area is economically better than what it was before the tragedy.

It is said that Alexander the Great, unlike other kings of past, never remained hidden by his cavalry or artillery, rather he would stand with his front-line soldiers and lead the attack from the front. Similarly, Narendra Modi is not known to remain contended by just delegation of duties to either his colleagues or officers but prefers a more hands-on approach of remaining at the forefront in testing times.

The heights great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night. ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

In the most recent scenario, Modi's win as Prime Minister of the country in May 2014 is in itself a valid example of the results of being consistently persistent. Emerging as a symbol of hope for the youth of this country, Modi shoulders the expectations of the people and reflects their unwavering confidence in his leadership abilities. Continuously stating the government's goals and plans, not just to his team but to the media and the public, he has generated that sense of confidence that things can turn out to be good. His apparent determination to make it happen also helps motivating the team, which further works with a positive attitude.

Organizing hundreds of rallies all over the country in an unimaginable time period, being at the forefront of all his initiatives, making full use of technology and social media to leverage his party, Modi carried out all possible ideas to win his quest for Prime Minister. Modi has also generated criticism and times of uncertainty in the face of problems. There's enough evidence to see the number of issues he has had to deal with, most of which were a direct attack to his pride, something he keeps safe and sound. Ram Jethmalani, senior politician and eminent lawyer, started his article in the Sunday Guardian with these lines: "No politician in independent India has been demonised in such a relentless, Goebbelsian manner as Narendra Modi, and no politician has withstood it with as much resilience and courage as him, notwithstanding the entire Central government, influential sections of the media machinery and civil society arraigned against him."

It requires tenacity to be able to conserve one's emotions and maintain clarity as to the goals. Narendra Modi is one such person, strong and courageous, with fortitude to carry on in the face of insoluble dilemmas.

Narendra Modi has displayed a high level of personal initiative, perseverance and a will power to counter all odds no matter what they are, and he in many ways epitomises what Gurdev Rabindra Nath Tagore wrote in his famous poem Ekla Chalo Re (Go All Alone)

Jodi tor dak sune keu na ashe, Tobe ekla cholo, ekla chalo, aekla chalo re, Aikla cholo re
(If no one answers your call, then walk alone, be not afraid, walk alone my friend)

Jodi kue kotha na koe, ore o re o obaghaga, keu kotha na koe Jodi sobai thake mulik phirae, sobai kore bhoye, Tobe poran khule, O tui, mukh phute tor moner kotha, Ekla bolo re (If no one talks to you, O my unlucky friend, if no one speaks to you, If everyone looks the other way and everyone is afraid, then bare your soul and let out what is in your mind, be not afraid, speak alone my friend)

Jab kali ghata chaye, Ore o re o andhera sach ko nigal jaye, Jab duniya sari, dar ke age sar apna jinkaye, Tu shola banja, Wo shola banja, Jo khuá jal ke jahan raushan karde, Ekla jalo re. (When dark clouds cover the sky, When darkness engulfs the truth, When the world covers and bows before fear, You be the flame, The flame that burns you and banishes darkness from the world, be not afraid, Burn alone my friend)

~ Gurudev Rabindra Nath Tagore

Footsteps - Mahatma Gandhi

The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of world's problem

~ Mahatama Gandhi

Great leaders have attained success and fulfilled their goals; be those personal or for the welfare of society or the country, primarily because of the inherent abundance of determination. Mahatma Gandhi, the visionary who was an integral figure in India's fight for independence, is also an example of sheer perseverance and will power. Gandhi advocated non-violence, believing in fighting for the truth with ahinsa. The term satyagraha coined by him literally means “persistence of truth” and goes on to show how perseverance was a factor deeply ingrained in him, not just in his actions, but also in his every belief.

Before jumping into the independence struggle of India, Gandhi undertook a country-long journey to understand the challenges that lay in front of him. He knew that India is a diverse country and to sew it into a thread of single agenda would require sheer determination and hard work. During the freedom struggle, Gandhi would often travel to remote areas to remain ingrained with the people at large. He was determined that until and unless he covers India in its entirety, he could neither emerge as a national leader nor could push ahead his agenda of its independence. Similarly, much before Narendra Modi set his sights on the national pedestal, he had started travelling to states that were weak points of his party. He knew that while he was successfully leading his home state Gujarat, his larger agenda of national growth could only be achieved if he emerged as a national leader upon whom people during the 2014 general elections, he travelled far and wide across India covering the entire length and breadth of the country to remain in connect with the masses at large. His determination to achieve the goal can be adjudged by the very fact that he would begin his day as early as 4 AM in the morning and after his daily chores would conduct back to back election meetings across India, sometimes on same-day flying from Gujarat to North East and then to South India and parts of North India and returning back to Gandhinagar to grab a sleep of 2-3 hours daily. This perseverance and focus indeed resulted in Narendra Modi becoming a national leader and people across the board connecting with him and propagating his agenda at large.

Gandhi knew that the path to India's freedom was long but he was also determined that no matter what he would not shun the path of non-violence, so much so that he suspended the satyagraha movement when a police station was set ablaze in Chauri Chaura, a town near Gorakhpur in present day Uttar Pradesh. He felt that it's important to first spread the real meaning of ahimsa and then move forward in implementing it with the masses. Gandhi's approach thus was oriented towards first spreading the vision and then laying the foundation for its implementation. Similarly, Narendra Modi feels that that true growth of India could only be achieved if it is linked to economic growth of masses. In an articulate manner he has conveyed his vision to the countrymen and now he is working determinedly to untangle the bottlenecks that lie in front of him and his vision.

One reason why effective leaders persevere is their conviction in their own beliefs. Gandhi was sure of non-violence as the right means of winning freedom and although he was widely criticized by other leaders, he was quite set in his belief and was determined to make India free by those means. He spread his message far and wide, worked at the forefront, motivated and mobilized the people and despite many setbacks and despicable circumstances, never gave up. Narendra Modi shares this quality with Gandhi, who created his plans and points of action based on the ultimate goal in mind, and carried it out with strong-founded determination. Such leaders place a 'never say die' attitude in the midst of their minds and continue working to achieve their goals with complete focus. Be it his career cycle, or the vision he has now set for India, Modi has provided enough evidence to believe that he would see it through, no matter what.

Even as a youngster, Gandhi looked for opportunities to learn from everywhere he went, especially during his stay in England when he was studying law. When he faced roadblocks, he did not simply try to return to India however much he wanted, but decided to stay back and look for alternative solutions to resolve his problems.

Just like Gandhi's persona exuded his perseverance, Modi's stance also reveals him to be someone who would not easily give up. His authoritarian nature might even add to this determination, for he would work towards achieving what he promised with utmost diligence so as to maintain his authority and trust in the people. Gandhi's unrelenting pursuit of his goals, self-abnegation, courage, tolerance and perseverance are qualities Narendra Modi seems to have picked up and is now using to become an effective leader.

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