"Build an organization where leadership grows from within and where every associate is keen to develop people to a level better than themselves. Evolve a compensation structure where income sharing is generous and immediate and individuals manage their own financial affairs for the present and for the rainy days."
Kamran's Interview |
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Mariam Mamsa interviews Kamran Rizvi
What are some of the defining moments in your career that have shaped your leadership style? Your question reminds me of the saying: "It?s not what happens to you, but what you do with what happens to you, that matters." Our early childhood experiences shape our beliefs and paradigms that help us see our world and interpret our experiences in a particular way. Therefore, before describing the defining moments in my career, I would like to reflect on some pre-career events. My mother has had a tremendous influence in my early life. I learned the value of commitment, sacrifice, determination, and the importance of challenging the status quo. My siblings and I received plenty of love and attention, even though at the time my mom was struggling with a bad marriage and seeking a divorce. She protected us from the trauma of a disturbed home life and went out of her way to give us a good life ? a life of plenty, even though she had very limited means. She believed in us and in our infinite potential. My mother ensured she kept custody of her children and re-married in 1969. Our family was complete again. Both my mother and father (I cannot say "step-father," as he has been more than a father to us) went on to provide us access to the best schools. Through their constant guidance, love, and strictness, we acquired a good education, developed a sound character, and engaged socially with the larger family and their circle of friends. Even though I was very shy right into my teens, I later developed self-confidence. During my very early childhood, my father then worked for PIA (Pakistan?s national carrier). He got posted to different stations abroad and within the country. As a result of his movements, I had changed eleven schools till I reached metric (class 10)! In an uncanny way, attending new schools helped me in later life. I was able to easily adapt to different people and situations. We moved as a family to London in 1972. At the time, I was 14. Here I was, in a new land ? I got my first real taste of what can best be described as a ?civil society.? In England, I experienced respect for human beings, respect for the rule of law, waiting for your turn in queues, and attending to personal chores like washing dishes, making your own bed, polishing your own shoes... There was dignity in labor! I started my career as a management trainee in BCCI, Abu Dhabi in 1976. After a year away from home, I returned to London in 1977 and continued with the same employer. At BCCI, I came across the towering personality of Late Agha Hasan Abedi - a man of vision. His outlook on life and his management philosophy has left an indelible mark on me. In 1981, my dad introduced me to a Dale Carnegie course. I was reluctant at first, but he convinced me to take part in it by tempting me with facts like: the course was being held at the Waldorf ? a 5-star hotel; there would be an array of refreshments; and I might also get to meet interesting people! I agreed. Thank God I did, as it changed my life forever. There I was on day 1 of the course, among 30 participants, all Anglo-Saxon whites, and I, the only South Asian. The room was laid out theatre style with an aisle running through the middle. I had taken a back seat, thinking that I will listen to lectures, and then escape when break time came. This was not to be! Eddie Roads was taking the class. Soon after making his welcome remarks and introduction to the program, he announced that every one of us will get an opportunity to speak for one minute on the topic: ?The Happiest Day in My Life.? This was it! I wanted to run. I turned to the exit and found two Dale Carnegie volunteers positioned next to the door. I didn?t have the courage to face them. There was no way out! My heart was beating louder... I wondered when my turn would come. And about 15 minutes later, Eddie called out my name, ?Kamran...!? I almost died!! But got up and nervously walked to the front of the class. I faced the class, with my eyes rolling in all directions. My mouth was dry... heart was pumping... knees shaking. I would have wet my pants if my bladder was weak! I wanted to hide! My mind was whizzing with random thoughts. I don?t recall what I narrated clumsily, but whatever it was, it must have been okay... Eddie was most encouraging as he debriefed my talk, like he had done for others before me. I felt utter relief as I returned to my chair. That same night, I remember passionately sharing my experience of the course with my parents, wife, brother, and sisters who listened to me intently! I couldn?t stop talking! From this day on (1981), my life took a positive turn. I had developed a positive mental attitude. My newfound confidence and skills helped me in my personal and professional life as I was better at managing relationships through effective communication. I started conducting meetings and happily volunteered to lead improvement projects. Now I come to the defining moments in my career that have shaped my leadership style. It?s the decisions we take in a given context that helps define each moment. The significant ones include: 1976 to 1990 were unrepeatable years of my life. I was exposed to the innovative thinking and unique management philosophy of Late Agha Hasan Abedi, founding chairman of BCCI ? a well-known international bank that was ultimately shut down at the directions of the Federal Reserve Bank (US central bank) in July 1991. My learnings came mostly through my father and other mentors. Mr. Abedi?s philosophy fueled my idealism. My years in BCCI taught me big thinking, developed in me a one-world vision ? grand and majestic, the art of the possible, passion for serving humanity, and sharing and giving widely and indiscriminately - the gifts we all are blessed with. In 1985, while performing Hajj, I realized the strangle-hold of vanity on me. I was able to overcome this disease and regained my honest relationship with God when I finally decided to have my head shaved. I often narrate this, ?I performed Hajj in 1985, but found God in 1987 in Glasgow!? I was in a state of extreme despair when faced with upcoming MBA exams at the University of Strathclyde. There was no way I could see myself clearing the exams that were due in a month. Pressure was mounting. In this darkest hour of my life, I found hope and enlightenment when I turned to God. God listened to me. I felt His presence. My faith in Him has been unswerving since then. Resigning in June 1990 after serving BCCI for fourteen years was a huge step for me to take, particularly since I had no idea what I would do next! At the time, I was head of training in the UK for six months. The bank was going through turmoil caused by the global controversy following the 1987 Miami Scandal that was fanned by the media (electronic and print) worldwide. At the time (1987), there were 14,000 employees in the bank, made up of ninety-eight nationalities, working in 72 countries in the world. I would have continued with the bank, so long as I could see that there was at least one senior executive at the helm, who cared for and lived by the bank?s values. Top leadership had been shaken out by regulators in London and elsewhere. The bank had virtually become a ?headless chicken.? Newly formed, faceless committees and auditors were making apparently rash decisions on a daily basis, which were contrary to the values of the bank I had grown up with. I?ve always held that my ultimate loyalty lies with values and principles that are eternal and ever-present. No single organization can claim a monopoly on values. I had faith that as long as I remain true to principles I held dear, I will never starve. This belief gave me the courage to take the big step of leaving a secure job. My first real personal and ethical challenge came three years after founding KZR in 1991. By 1994 KZR had attained an impressive profile in the market with four top trainers and consultants. We looked unbeatable in the Pakistan market. However, the behavior of two of the lead trainers was not aligned to the ?KZR Way.? It would have been convenient for me to compromise by ignoring this internal discrepancy and carry on with ?business-as-usual.? Instead, I ensured that they resigned, despite the risk of adverse market perception this would create. Thankfully, we survived and have grown since! This decision set a precedent that will hopefully endure in all the organizations that KZR has spawned in the 21st century. Navitus and School of Leadership (SoL) are glowing examples of KZR?s legacy today! Nations, communities, families, and organizations get into trouble when they are at the mercy of megalomaniacs. I favor principles over personality as it ensures congruence, continuity, and consistency through shared decision-making and wider ownership of processes. The training and development industry is crowded with examples of self-projection. It?s an industry dominated by big names like Stephen Covey, Dale Carnegie, Tom Peters, Deepak Chopra, and the like. Despite this trend, I have preferred to be in the company of stars, by being ?a star amongst stars.? This reflects a thought, ?Be outstanding, but don?t stand out? that I have cherished for years. In June 1999, I was able to see my long-held belief in teamwork, institutionalization, and succession play out. I had consulted with my team and decided that KZR had to be led and managed by someone other than myself from Jan 2000 onwards. A formal succession process began in earnest. In Dec 1999, in KZR corporate division?s first formal quarterly meeting, a young person, who had been with our organization for only two years, with no previous work experience, emerged as KZR?s first business head. This outcome established the value of participation in decision-making. Merit was seen as the ability to learn, take responsibility, and be sincere to the cause and true to agreed principles. Merit would guide people decisions and not age and experience. Jan 2003, saw the idea of succession develop further. In the first quarterly meeting of KZR?s corporate division, I made the announcement that I will be retiring from KZR by Dec 2005. I also mentioned that I will be handing over a major part of my equity to team members who have contributed significantly to growing the corporate business of KZR. This gave us three years to manage the transition. In the ensuing months, a new entity was created, called Navitus, a private limited company with four directors, including myself, each owning 25% of Class A shares. The name Navitus was contributed by my team after considerable brainstorming. Navitus formally started life in April 2004 by taking over the entire business of KZR?s corporate division. I moved to Canada in Jan 2006 to start a new life. Of course, there are a few other defining moments in my life that I remembered while reviewing the ones above. This exercise has helped me to decipher my own leadership style summarized below:
Go to topLeaders are born and made! As I see it, everyone living on earth is a leader from the moment they acquire consciousness and start taking responsibility for the outcomes they create in life. The reason I say "everyone" is because, as human beings, we are all accountable for our deeds and possess the ability (potential or actual) to influence others. How effective each person is as a leader is quite another matter! For this reason, leadership development is essential. However, leadership cannot be taught in the classroom only. Just like you teach a person to swim in water, leadership lives in action and needs to be practiced in the community, within families, and at work. Go to top
Crisis could be described as a dangerous or a worrying time. It?s a situation or period in which things are very uncertain, difficult, or painful, especially a time when action must be taken to avoid complete disaster or breakdown. Some of the defining moments in my life could be termed as a crisis. With God?s help, I have lived through quite a few, and each crisis has opened up a new world for me. I think what has helped me through each testing situation was my decisiveness, which came from clarity of values. Over the years, however, I have developed to some extent the ability to deal with ambiguity and situations that appear to be a crisis in a more considered and calmer fashion. If a situation permits, and it often does, I step back and think through the implications of what is happening; who all are likely to be affected; what are the possible courses of action open to me; and what their consequences are likely to be. With practice, such considerations can be processed in the mind in a matter of minutes. I have come to realize that we often tend to create a crisis by magnifying an event beyond all proportions. In this regard, I recall having lost my cool on a few occasions. But thanks to my team members, they were able to save the day and help bring order to chaos. Of course, there are exceptional situations where a crisis would warrant a spontaneous response. In such a case, our survival instincts would kick in, if we have not trained our subconscious mind for facing such eventualities. For example, fighter pilots are trained on simulators and undergo extreme situations and maneuvers repeatedly to heighten their nanosecond intuitive response capability. In short, it?s essential to stay calm and keep things in perspective before rushing into action. Only a relaxed mind functions optimally. The value of a ship?s captain is not when the weather is pleasant and the sky is clear. A captain rises to the occasion when the storm rages and visibility is reduced to yards! Go to top
I am assuming ?a young person? to be somewhere between the ages of 18-24. A young person would excel in life with a clear sense of direction, patience, greater awareness of self and others, and a good sense of the opportunities and threats that exist in the local and global environment. Young people tend to be very energetic, full of idealism, and ambition. They often think individualistically, though, unless they are exposed to learning experiences that build empathy and teamwork. They can also be rather impatient. Let?s not forget that lately, media has influenced our youth considerably, by shaping their values around things, brands, and speed, e.g., the MTV culture of short attention spans and hyper activity.
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Leadership is a great responsibility, and it can manifest in our lives as soon as we become aware that: if it is to be, it is up to me!? Keeping this principle in mind, leaders go about accomplishing great deeds by engaging others? as many as the cause demands. Leadership is about people and getting the best out of them. This can be done through coaching, mentoring, and through a variety of other models of cooperation and collaboration. The beauty of leadership is that it's not a formal role conferred upon us by someone else. It is not a position, but a set of actions we take as individuals that attracts people to what ultimately becomes a shared vision of a project or an organization. Leadership is as much about followership as it is about providing direction and aligning human energy. Therefore, we will find that great leaders are also great at following others. In other words, leading and following are two sides of the same coin we call 'leadership.' I believe that effective leaders are great listeners and talkers. They are driven by the need to develop better leaders than themselves and deliberately go about seeking worthy successors who can carry the mission forward. The mark of a great leader is also the extent to which he/she liberates and empowers others. By sharing power, leaders remain safe from the corrupting influence of power, particularly when it concentrates in a single person. I learned from Prof. Heifetz of Harvard University that leadership begins by confronting tough realities. Effective leaders see 'comfort zones' as enemies to progress. Great leaders will forever seek better and more effective ways to achieve desired goals. Leaders speak with conviction but keep an open mind. They welcome criticism and remain receptive to guidance and feedback from their constituents and other stakeholders of their enterprise. In short, leaders need to be credible. This quality reveals itself in time, through many sacrifices a leader makes along the way. Go to topTo what extent does innovation influence your competitive advantage? I would say that innovation is at the core of our continuing success. In order to stand out from the crowd of competition and gain the attention of the audience, it is essential for us to be clearly seen and recognized. Therefore, understanding who we are, institutionalizing our identity, and communicating our originality is what makes us distinct, visible, and attractive. When I started out in the field of training and development, I deliberately used a style and language that was unfamiliar to my audience. I was aware that in the early '90s, training had a bad image in the minds of decision-makers. It was seen as a waste of time by most corporate heads, and they can hardly be blamed for this perception. Trainers in those days gave lectures, and the process was hardly engaging. Keeping this in mind, I started using new and unfamiliar words, knowing that this would open new doors in their minds. For example, when phoning a company, after exchanging pleasantries, the person at the other end would ask me, 'What is "K.Z.R."?' And I would confidently say, 'It stands for Kudos, Zeal & Renewal!' On hearing these unusual words, further questioning would often stop, and my call would be put straight through to the decision-maker. However, there were others who dared to ask the next question, 'What do you do?' And my reply would be, 'We develop the human factor in organizations!' This, too, would more often than not direct the call to the intended individual. Similarly, to encourage continuous innovation in our trainings, we follow the 'loose/tight' method in all our learning interventions. This means that we remain 'tight' (focused) on agreed objectives but 'loose' (flexible) in the process that leads to desired outcomes. Today, my colleagues in Navitus, SoL, and elsewhere have evolved their own innovative practices and enjoy the freedom and discipline that the 'loose/tight' model provides. Go to topHow can an organization successfully differentiate itself from the competition, and sustain this competitive advantage over time? How do you integrate new people into an organization so they are quickly 'additive' to the team, performing beyond an individual level? Go to topCompetitive advantage today is gained through people, innovation, and the ability to change with the needs of a dynamic marketplace. How do you create an innovative culture that welcomes change? Have the skill-sets to be successful as a leader changed over the past few years? What is the role of HR in today's organizations? In your experience what percentage of executive recruits want to pursue a career as a leader? Go to topWhat trends do you see in terms of leadership? Go to topWhy do many companies find it difficult to institutionalize leadership? Go to topCan people be great managers and great leaders, or are they typically different individuals? Go to top |
