'Lead India'- Just DO(OM) it!

Wohooa! Trash of Islamabad (TOI) has just launched an initiative to discover political leaders for India. It's called ‘Lead India’.

Take a stock of initial few lines of the full-page ad that TOI has been running each day, ever since the initiative has been unveiled.

“D. O.
Two simple letters

Place them side by side however and they form a word potent enough to turn a mass of people into a nation.”

'Lead India' has been given a catchy slogan- ‘DO’. It’s pronounced as 'doo' of Doonesbury and not 'DEE-O' of Deodrant. Thought of clarifying this as reading only the initial few lines of the full-page ad. might tempt us to easily misinterpret it.

Interestingly, they have roped in Kink Khan of Bollywood aka Shahrukh Khan to unveil this initiative. They have shot a video too, in which Shahrukh “Kink” Khan exhorts the Indian youth to be a part of ‘Lead India’.

These are the lines (in italics) which Shahrukh recites in the video and my reactions to them:

The last time we decided to Do or Die
It changed the map of the world. Today the eyes of the world are on us again.

Did we also decide to ‘do or die’ before we lost a part of Kashmir to our enemies?

So what are we going to do?How are we going to turn from a land of philosophers to land of do-ers?
Are we going to keep thinking about what we should be doing or do something about what we’re thinking?

Oh!I thought we are a country of snake-charmers and not a land of Philosophers. May be, I was mistaken!

Are we going to simply shrug our shoulders, blame our infrastructure, our bureaucracy and our Political system?

No, I won’t! I won’t simply shrug my shoulders; blame our infrastructure, our bureaucracy and our Political system. I will blame the Media!

Or are we going to roll up our sleeves get up and actually do something about it?

I was moved by the lines.I got up and almost changed the channel.

The truth is this
Thinking can happen from an armchair
But doing must happen on you feet
Thinking maybe a great way of getting things started. But doing is the only way to get things done.
And let’s face it. You’re never really caught in a traffic jam. You are the traffic jam

I recline back to my chair and wonder which Jam was Shahrukh referring to?

Today we are in our 60^th year of Independence. That works out to be more than half a century.
And we’re still happy being called a potential superpower, an emerging economy or a sleeping tiger?
This must change
And it’s possible only if some of us seize the day and dare to be the change.
So let’s stop basking in our glorious past or daydreaming about great future. Let’s start by dominating today.
And domination starts with DO

This was the final nail…I was inspired. I got up, snatched the remote from my mom’s hands and changed the channel…It was time for DO(OM)mination!

Now coming to analyzing the article that Shahrukh has written on the issue of Leadership.:

(Headline)
‘I believe in this campaign 100%’

Hear people hear, Shahrukh endorses this campaign because he believes in this campaign. The fact that he’s the torchbearer of the initiative is just a fortuitous co-incidence!

What makes a leader ? I’d say, really good acting skills.

Bang on! But Shahrukh could have been more specific. He should have said: "really good acting skills in negative roles". After all, isn’t our Political Leadership endowed with a good number of rogues & criminals?

The most effective way to lead is not to show that you are doing it.

True! Case in point: Sonia Gandhi

People hate being told what to do, and what not to do. No one likes to be led by the nose. You must not make them feel you are the boss, guide, whatever. You just have to carry people along with compassion, love, and not least of all, a sense of humour.In fact, not only should others not feel the burden of your leadership, the leader himself should lead without realising it, without donning the grand mantle of setting some maha example. Achievement is the destination, leadership is showing the way to it.Secondly, I’ve seen that every true leader treats people well. That’s crucial. You can get away by treating some people badly some of the time, but you cannot make a practice of it. I’d say the best leadership is like parenting. You don’t have to instill awe; you should create loving respect.

The Leadership fundas doled out by Shahrukh will even put Warren Bennis to shame. Bennis would realise the futility of so much work that he's put into researching the subject of Leadership.

Thirdly, you have to have focus. But it is important that the leader’s focus does not become heavy, aggressive, pressuring, troubling, aggravating for others. You should do the planning and what you have to do, and then leave everyone to get on with his or her part of it. It’s most important to believe in everyone else as much as you do in yourself. It’s your team. You’ve chosen it. The people on it should be good, right?

Focus:It should be intense enough, and yet not intense enough, is what Shahrukh is trying to say. Understand the profound depth of his statement, folks!

I know that the film industry gets a great deal of flak for not putting itself in a leadership role. On the contrary, it is accused of sending the wrong signals, as happened in recent cases. We are constantly told ‘you guys should be doing so much more considering the extraordinary, even absurd, influence you wield’. But, when people say ‘industry’, it should encompass all media: not just films, but newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, the works.

"Film industry is accused of sending wrong signals". But whether Shahrukh agrees to this accusation or not is something that he is completely equivocal about.

Everyone in this multifaceted industry must work together on providing the right leadership. But everyone functions as an independent segment, does whatever it wants to. Besides, at the end of the day, we are just doing a job. We are an industry like any other. We are all in a commercial state of mind. We don’t take all this importance upon ourselves.

Well said Shahrukh. You finally seem to have realized that Bollywood has to also take up non-commercial initiatives and do more than just make films. But it seems we''ll have to wait for some more time for such an initiative, a non-commercial one, that is.

I understand that, yes, I should be taking up real-time roles, but I’m an actor. I know what to do when I’m acting. However, I need to be told how to play the roles which set an example, or use my position for the larger good. I am truly glad and proud that the Times group asked me to do this film to kick
off their Leadership campaign.

Since Shahrukh was explicitly told how to play 'roles which set an example', by his own definition-as stated in the earlier lines of this column-Times of India is a bad leader, or rather is not a good leader. So is this initiative in the wrong hands?

If you think I am a youth icon, use me by all means.

Shahrukh has been kind enough to express his willingness to be part of other sub-initiatives that TOI will be taking in this project, and has also subtly asked TOI to pay him more.

In the Times campaign, my role is to lead people into action. It’s about getting up and doing whatever it takes. I did not think of this as lines in a script. It is 100% my personal belief. I am not a thinker. I’ll read about something, and do it.

In the video, Shahrukh gets up from his couch while delivering his final lines. I think this should inspire the youth to act and DO something.

Even if I know the outcome will not be what it should, I have to physically work it out myself. It’s fantastic if you get it right. But it’s equally all right if you get it wrong. Just do it. That’s what I tell my son and my daughter. There’s always a second time to get it right. I simply don’t believe in not doing anything because you are afraid it won’t work out as planned. For leaders as for followers, there should be no don’t’s; just do it.

Shahrukh seems to be doing surrogate advertising for Nike!