A B C of Management

This A B C of management is not any Gyaan but some critical analysis on game of cricket which has helped reinforce some management fundamentals in me. Let me start my A B C of management from the letter S. The letter S is symbolic of many things but prominently I will associate it here with Sachin Tendulkar and Success. Arguably Sachin is the best batsman India has produced and needless to say that he is successful. He is someone whose popularity cuts across regions, religion and caste. You throw open a topic on his contribution to cricket and there will be lakhs and crores of people ready to jump into the debate with all the zest and zeal as if they are speaking on someone from their own family. One of the most revered sons of India who when enters a cricket field can stop work in offices, cause a stampede just by his sheer presence, can sell products at will. Sachin has been one of my favourite cricketers and role models. So I decided to learn a few lessons of management from the genius.

Before reading further all die hard fans of Sachin Tendulkar, please read this with a pinch of salt.

I have been following IPL like the rest of India. Most of the Indians have embraced this form of the game unanimously and most of them (just like me) were waiting to see Sachin grace the IPL with lots of patience. Sachin started well with some fine wins scripted by his inform opening partner. But the last three matches exposed some fundamental errors not by Sachin - the batsman but by Sachin - the captain. I felt this is one area where Sachin and success were dissociated i.e. his leadership and management skills.. To err is human. Even the great Sachin Tendulkar commits mistake as he too is a human being after all. I found some of these errors disturbing and fundamental. Let me put it in perspective and discuss it in detail.

1. Match 45: Mumbai Indians v/s Kings XI Punjab: Mumbai Indians lost by 1 run. Whoooa.. That was too close but when I looked at the proceedings of the match one thing which disturbed me was the last over in which Ashish Nehra was preferred over Shaun Pollock who had been the outstanding bowler for Mumbai Indians in that match and in the series. Ashish Nehra leaked close to 15 runs in his last few deliveries and MI lost the match by 1 run. It is debatable that if the last over had been given to Pollock, he would have leaked so many runs. He may or may not but the learning here is identification and understanding of resource. Leader should be aware of the resources at his disposal and their relative strengths and weaknesses and should maximise the output of the resources by utilising them in appropriate roles. It is important to understand core competence of your resources and derive as much as possible out of them.
   
2. Match 50: Mumbai Indians v/s Delhi Daredevils: Delhi Daredevils won by 5 wickets. Again Ashish Nehra was preferred for the last over when some of his better bowlers (performers) had few overs remaining and he gave away runs to a batsman who was under pressure himself to perform. It is easy to blame the bowler. Adversity always gives opportunity and a strong Mumbai team failed to grab it and lost the battle. They failed to rise to the occasion and Sachin missed the trick by following a strategy which failed to work in the previous match. A good leader tries to learn from his own mistakes which I think Sachin failed to do it again. A good leader benchmark and inspires his team to emerge successfully from difficult situations. Sachin was found short of ideas and imagination as he tried to follow the strategy which had failed to reap dividends in the previous match. Some smartness would have helped him pull off a win here. Leadership is sometimes about your instincts and self-belief.
   
3. Match 53: Mumbai Indians v/s Rajasthan Royals: Rajasthan Royals won by 5 wickets. This was match which everybody was waiting to watch the dual between Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne. Yes this match threw a extremely good contest between the two legends but in a different context than what they have had in the past. This was a tussle between Captain Tendulkar and Captain Warne. In the context of the match were under pressure. But the way the situation was handled was very different. Sachin tried to control the game by speaking to his resources after every other delivery while 'maverick' Warne set a goal for his team and left it to his resources to achieve the goal. The result was there for everyone to see. One might argue that Rajasthan Royals did not have the same pressure to win but their urge to win might have been greater. Sachin had put excessive pressure on his bowlers by speaking to them after every successive delivery and they fell flat on his expectations. On the contrary Warne gave full freedom to his batsmen to strategise and chase and they eventually succeeded. A leader should show a path, set a goal and provide a platform for his team to rise to the occassion which Shane Warne did brilliantly. Another crucial loss and battle to Warne lost.
   

Its ironical that I am deriving lessons of management from failure of a genius rather than success but its an aspect which goes unnoticed and it can be source of learning some important lessons to be successful.

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