Leadership and Followership
November 30, 2018
Mr. Hasan Adnan Ahmed, Human Resource and Public Affairs & Communication Director visited the Lahore School of 29th November 2018 to deliver a session on Leadership and Followership.
Hasan opened his session by discussing the strength of the Coke brand which has remained in the top ten positions globally despite the “tech brands” onslaught. This in part was explained by the vision of Coke which was to be the best FMCG (not cola but beverage), by its values of integrity, accountability and passion, and by its focus on the consumer, on its employees and on the community at large. Coca-Cola not only remains committed to Pakistan but has indicated that it would deepen and widen its investments.
Hasan then moved onto an intriguing discussion on both leadership and followership and noted that the latter was often neglected both in scholarship and in organizations even though many attributes that defined the one were present in the other. If a leader gave a vision, but if this vision was not owned by and contributed to by the follower then it was of not much use. Same was the case with following rules, implementation of the vision, listening to others and so on.
Hasan noted that every single day the MBA participants would get face to face with hurdles (which he termed as cold showers) but every day they must renew their aspirations, engagement and agility and refuse to become passive or victims. For this it was of utmost importance to get out of one’s comfort zone, to make new connections every day, to become a change champion and to challenge status quo. At the same time, he cautioned the participants to do it respectfully and tactfully.
Hasan in response to a question on how Coca-Cola motivated its employees, emphasized that motivation came from within, and once it was there one could go places. Of course the company paid well, promoted talented employees, had career plans for them and posted them abroad. But one should not leave one’s career in the hands of the company.
On conflict management, Hasan advised the participants not to turn conflicts into personalized battles. He also said that true learning often happened when one failed.
Hasan’s colleagues also answered many questions. They advised the participants to “know thyself”. If someone was not good in analytics but was in a job which focused on analytics he or she would be miserable. Also, companies were relaxed on aptitude but not on attitude. One would get less than ideal bosses but one could always learn. However, one should never compromise on values.
Hasan and his team got a standing ovation. Hasan also signed an MOU with the Lahore School on behalf of CCI and is a valued partner of the school.
Labels: Guest Speaker
posted by S A J Shirazi @ 11/30/2018 02:58:00 PM,
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