Sourav Ganguly :A Case

Study in Leadership

SUBMITTED BY:
TUSHAR GARG-8164
ABSTRACT
This case is about the charismatic and controversial former captain of the Indian national
cricket team, Sourav Ganguly (Ganguly). The case outlines the emergence of Ganguly as
a leader, his spectacular rise and subsequent fall from grace. Ganguly became the captain
of the team in 2000, when it was in a deep crisis. Over the next few years, with the help
of the coach John Wright, he soon turned the team into a combative unit. His team
building skills, impartiality and, guts displayed in supporting his team members through
thick and thin, endeared him to the team. Experts credited him with instilling a sense of
aggression in the team. Ganguly soon became the most successful captain in the history
of Indian cricket.

The case also discusses the fall of Ganguly in 2005 and his public spat with coach Greg
Chappell (Chappell) which led to his exit from the team. With a section of the media
running a vilification campaign against him and the team management being clear that it
did not want him back in the team, the international career of Ganguly seemed to be over.
Since age was not on his side, few felt that Ganguly could make a comeback into the
team. But Ganguly refused to announce his retirement and continued to fight to win back
his place in the team despite all the odds.

The case will help understand various issues in human resource management and
organizational behavior such as leadership, motivation, team building, etc.

ISSUES
» Understand the issues and challenges in leadership and team building / team
management.

» Understand the theories in leadership (trait theory, etc.)

» Understand and make generalizations on the various concepts of group dynamics,

change management, conflict management, etc.

» Appreciate the importance of people skills for a leader / manager

"In a single day he can provoke exasperation, infuriation, and congratulations…
[Sourav] is a mixture of dashing cricketer, disdainful aristocrat, protesting youth,
charming socialiser, glorious leader and fierce competitor."1

- Peter Roebuck, former cricketer,

newspaper columnist and radio commentator.

"[Ganguly's] deft management skills, I know, have also influenced many of us in the
corporate world. Saurav has demonstrated very effectively all the qualities of a
corporate leader. Saurav has demonstrated how to build and manage a team; how to
succeed at home and to replicate that success overseas. Saurav has demonstrated the
importance of getting the best resources and talent; motivating them; and to emerge as a
serious player in a competitive environment."2

- B Muthuraman, managing director, Tata Steel,3 in 2004..

"Saurav is an example of an outstanding leader who was willing to take strong, hard
stands. He also managed his team well and backed a number of young players… He
failed because of a certain situation he could not handle. Every leader succeeds and fails
depending on the situation s/he is working under."4

- Harsha Bhogle, Television commentator and cricket columnist, in 2006.

A CHARISMATIC AND CONTROVERCIAL
LEADER
In February 2006, after the Indian cricket team's tour of Pakistan, Indian cricketer Sourav
Ganguly (Ganguly) was axed from the Indian test squad. Earlier, he had also been
dropped from the one day international5 (ODI) team.

Ganguly, who was considered an inspirational leader and the most successful captain of
the Indian cricket team, found himself out of the team he had built and captained since
the last five years.

Ganguly, who hailed from the city of Kolkata in West Bengal,6 was first selected to play
for the Indian national cricket team during the 1991-92 tour of Australia.
However, after the series he was dropped from the national squad. In 1996, Ganguly
made a comeback to the national team and quickly rose to prominence in the international
cricketing arena. He was considered to be very competitive and often got under the skin
of the opponent. While he got the nicknames "The Prince of Calcutta' and the 'Royal
Bengal Tiger', and was affectionately called Dada7 by his team mates, he also earned the
nickname 'Lord Snooty' from the competitors and the foreign media.

Ganguly got the job of captaining the Indian cricket team in 2000, when Indian cricket
was going through a turbulent phase. The match-fixing8 scandal had left an indelible
imprint on Indian cricket with some prominent players being banned from the game. In
addition to this, the team had lost a rare test series at home and the morale of the team
was at its lowest. Bitter from his previous experience, India's cricketing icon, Sachin
Tendulkar (Tendulkar) declined the captaincy. By default, the captaincy came to
Ganguly. Ganguly wanted a professional foreign coach and accordingly in November
2000, former New Zealand cricketer, John Wright (Wright) joined the Indian team as
coach...

Under Ganguly's leadership, various cultural changes were brought about in the Indian
team. Ganguly who was considered a very aggressive player soon instilled aggression in
the team and the team started performing well.

The legendary former Australian captain Steve Waugh (Waugh) said, "I saw in Sourav a
committed individual who wanted to inject some toughness and combativeness into a side
that had often tended in the past to roll over and expose a soft underbelly."11

The team members, especially the young crop of players that Ganguly had helped groom,
were very loyal to the captain.

The fact that Ganguly was considered the first Indian captain who was free from the ills
of parochialism, and his courage to stand up to the powers-that-be in the interests of team
members, endeared him to the team. Under Ganguly, the team started winning away
from home, something at which it had never been very good. The crowning glory of
Ganguly's career came in the 2003 World Cup when India played in the finals after 20
years. India was being viewed as the team that could challenge Australia as the leading
team in world cricket. Ganguly was considered as the best Indian captain ever due to the
good run the Indian team had under his leadership.

However, his personal batting performance suffered during the mid-2000s. With the team
too not doing too well from late 2004, calls for dropping Ganguly from the team started
gaining ground in certain quarters. However, despite his personal batting form, his
supporters in the team did not see any reason for a change in leadership. The fact that the
BCCI bigwig Jagmohan Dalmiya was a staunch supporter of Ganguly also helped him
remain captain. However, by early 2005, Wright had announced his decision not to renew
his contract and Ganguly lobbied to get Greg Chappell (Chappell), the famous former
Australian cricketer, appointed as the coach

1972–1989: Early life and introduction to cricket

Sourav Ganguly was born on 8 July 1972 in Kolkata, and is the youngest son of
Chandidas and Nirupa Ganguly.[2][3] Chandidas ran a flourishing print business and was
one of the richest men in Kolkata.[4] Ganguly had a luxurious childhood and was
nicknamed the 'Maharaj', meaning the 'Prince'.[5] Since the favourite sport for the
inhabitants of Kolkata was the game of football, Ganguly was initially attracted to the
game. However, academics came in-between his love for sports and Nirupa was not very
supportive of Ganguly taking up cricket or any other sport as a career.[5][6] By then, his
elder brother Snehasish was already an established cricketer for the Bengal cricket team.
He supported Ganguly's dream to be a cricketer and asked their father to get Ganguly
enrolled in a cricket coaching camp during his summer holidays. Ganguly was studying
in tenth grade at that time.[7]

Despite being right-handed, Ganguly learnt to bat left-handed so he could use his
brother's sporting equipment.[5] After he showed some promise as a batsman, he was
enrolled in a cricket academy. An indoor multi-gym and concrete wicket was built at
their home, so he and Snehasish could practice the game. They used to watch a number of
old cricket match videos, especially the games played by David Gower, whom Ganguly
admired. After he scored a century against the Orissa Under–15 side, he was made
captain of St Xavier's School's cricket team, where several of his teammates complained
against what they perceived to be his arrogance. While touring with a junior team,
Ganguly refused his turn as the twelfth man, as he reportedly felt that the duties involved,
which included organising equipment and drinks for the players, and delivering
messages, were beneath his social status Ganguly purportedly refused to do such tasks as
he considered it beneath his social status to assist his teammates in such a way. However,
his playmanship gave him a chance to make his first-class cricket debut for Bengal in
1989, the same year that his brother was dropped from the team.

2000–2005: Ascension to captaincy and accolades

The shirt that Ganguly took off at the finals of the Natwest Trophy, on display at a store
in London.
In 2000, after the match fixing scandal by some of the players of the team, Ganguly was
named the Captain of the Indian cricket team. The decision was spurred due to Tendulkar
stepping down from the position for his health, and Ganguly being the vice-captain at that
time. He began well as a captain, leading India to a series win over South Africa in the
five-match one day series and led the Indian team to the finals of the 2000 ICC KnockOut
Trophy. He scored two centuries, including one in the final; however, New Zealand still
won by four wickets. The same year, Ganguly tried his hand at County cricket career in
England but was not a successful. In "The Wisden Cricketer", reviewers Steve Pittard and
John Stern called him as "The imperious Indian—dubbed 'Lord Snooty'". They
commented:
"At the crease it was sometimes uncertain whether his partner was a batsman or a batman
being dispatched to take his discarded sweater to the pavilion or carry his kit bag. But
mutiny was afoot among the lower orders. In one match Ganguly, after reaching his fifty,
raised his bat to the home balcony, only to find it deserted. He did not inspire at
Glamorgan or Northamptonshire either. At the latter in 2006 he averaged 4.80 from his
four first-class appearances."

His Lancashire teammate Andrew Flintoff thought him to be aloof and compared his
attitude to that of Prince Charles. In Australia's three Test and five match ODI tour of
India in early 2001, Ganguly caused controversy by arriving late for the toss on four
occasions, something that agitated opposing captain Steve Waugh.[38] In the Fourth ODI,
he caused further controversy by failing to wear his playing attire to the toss, something
considered unusual in cricket circles. However, India won the Test series 2–1, ending
Australia's run of 16 consecutive Test match victories in the Second Test. The match saw
India looking set for defeat after conceding a first innings lead of 274. Waugh chose to
enforce the follow-on and V. V. S. Laxman (281) and Rahul Dravid (180) batted for the
entire fourth day's play to set Australia a target of 384 on a dusty, spinning wicket. The
Australians were unable to survive and became only the third team to lose a Test after
enforcing the follow-on. In November 2001, Ganguly's wife Dona gave birth to their
daughter Sana Ganguly. At the Border-Gavaskar Trophy of 2001, During the final match
of the 2002 Natwest Trophy held in Lords after a stunning performance by team
mates Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif, Ganguly took off his shirt in public and
brandished it in the air to celebrate India's winning of the match. He was later strongly
condemned for tarnishing the "gentleman's game" image of cricket and disrespecting
Lords protocol. Ganguly said that he was only mimicking an act performed by the British
all-rounder Andrew Flintoff during a tour of India. In 2003, India reached the World Cup
Final for the first time since 1983, where they lost to the Australians.[46] Ganguly had a
successful tournament personally, scoring 465 runs at an average of 58.12, including
three centuries.

By 2004, he had achieved significant success as captain and was deemed as India's most
successful cricket captain by sections of the media. However, his individual performance
deteriorated during his captaincy reign, especially after the World Cup, the tour of
Australia in 2003 and the Pakistan series in 2004.[48][49] In 2004, Australia won a Test
series in India for the first time since 1969. It was speculated that Ganguly was in
disagreement with the head of cricket in Nagpur over the type of pitch to be used for the
Third Test. The groundsmen went against Ganguly, leaving a large amount of grass on
the pitch. Some experts indicated that the reason for this was for "spite or revenge"
against the Indian captain. When Australia's stand-in-captain, Adam Gilchrist, went to the
toss, he noticed Rahul Dravid was waiting instead of Ganguly, leaving him to ask Dravid
where Ganguly was. Dravid could not give a definitive answer, saying: "Oh, who
knows?"[38][50]

Following indifferent form in 2004 and poor form in 2005, he was dropped from the team
in October 2005. Having been nominated and rejected in 2000, when the game suffered a
tarnished reputation due to match fixing scadals, the captaincy was passed to Dravid, his
former deputy. Ganguly decided against retiring and attempted to make a comeback to
the team. Ganguly was awarded the Padma Shri in 2004, one of India's highest awards.
He was presented with the award on June 30, 2004, by then President of India, Dr. A. P.
J. Abdul Kalam.
2006–2007: Comeback and rift with Greg
Chappell
In September 2005, Greg Chappell became the coach for the India tour of Zimbabwe.
Ganguly's dispute with him resulted in many headlines. Chappell had emailed the Board
of Control for Cricket in India, stating that Ganguly was "physically and mentally" unfit
to lead India and that his "divide and rule" behaviour was damaging the team. This email
was leaked to the media and resulted in huge backlash from Ganguly's fans. Ganguly had
enlisted the support from the Indian media and eventually the board had to intervene and
order a truce between the pair. BCCI president Ranbir Singh Mahendra issued a
statement that,
"In view of the decision that cricket is to go forward, both the coach and the captain have
been asked to work out a mutual and professional working relationship. For this,
performance will be the criteria, applicable to captain, coach and players. [...] Of course
the captain controls the game, the coach does his own job. Mutual trust is important.
Henceforth no player/captain/coach will write or have any interaction with the media.
Going to the media will lead to disciplinary action."

Ganguly, Chappell and the Indian team manager for the Zimbabwe tour, Amitabh
Choudhary, were asked to appear before the BCCI committee, where it was reported that
assurance of working together was given by them.Consequently, due to his poor form and
differences with the coach, Ganguly was dropped as the captain of the team, with Dravid
taking his place Chandresh Narayan, chief correspondent for The Times of India,
commented that "The row with Greg Chappell just added to the mystery, but he was
going through a really bad patch then, his only score [of note] was a hundred against
Zimbabwe and that didn't count for much." Ten months later, during India's tour to South
Africa, Ganguly was recalled after his middle order replacementsSuresh Raina and
Mohammad Kaif suffered poor form.

Following India's poor batting display in the 2006 ICC Champions Trophyand the ODI
series in South Africa, in which they were whitewashed 4-0, Ganguly made his
comeback to the Test team Wasim Jaffer, Zaheer Khan and Anil Kumble had earlier been
selected for the one-day squad, despite their recent poor performances. Many saw this as
an indictment of coach Greg Chappell's youth-first policy. Coming in at 37/4, Ganguly
scored 83 in a tour match against the rest of South Africa, modifying his original batting
style and taking a middle-stump guard, resulting in India winning the match.[ During his
first Test innings since his comeback, against South Africa in Johannesburg his score of
51 helped India to victory, marking the first Test match win for the team in South
Africa. Though India lost the series, Ganguly accumulated the most runs on the scoring
chart. After his successful Test comeback he was recalled for the ODI team, as India
played host to West Indies[ and Sri Lanka in back to back ODI tournaments. In his first
ODI innings in almost two years, he scored a matchwinning 98. He performed well in
both series, averaging almost 70[ and won the Man of the Series Award against Sri
Lanka.

Ganguly was alloted a place in the official team for the 2007 Cricket World Cup. He was
the leading scorer for India in their first round defeat against Bangladesh. After India
were knocked out of the tournament in the group stage, there were reports of a rift
between certain members of the Indian team and Chappell. Ganguly was alleged to have
ignored instructions from the team management to score quickly. After Tendulkar issued
a statement saying that what hurt the team most was that "the coach has questioned our
attitude", Chappell decided not to renew his contract with the Indian team and left his
post as coach, citing "family and personal reasons". On 12 December 2007, Ganguly
scored his maiden double century of his career while playing against Pakistan. He scored
239 runs in the first innings of the third and final Test match of the series. He was
involved in a 300 run partnership for the fifth wicket with Yuvraj Singh.[76] Ganguly
remained prolific in both Test and ODI cricket in the year 2007. He scored 1106 Test
runs at an average of 61.44 (with three centuries and four fifties) in 2007 to become the
second highest run-scorer in Test matches of that year after Jacques Kallis.] He was also
the fifth highest run-scorer in 2007 in ODIs, where he scored 1240 runs at an average of
44.28

2008–present: Kolkata Knight Riders and retirement

Ganguly with the symbol of the Kolkata Knight Riders, flanked by Shahrukh Khan on the
right and Gauri Khan on the left.
In February 2008, Ganguly joined as the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) team,
owned byBollywood actor Shahrukh Khan. On 18 April 2008, Ganguly led the KKR, in
the IPL Twenty20cricket match. They had a 140 run victory over Bangalore Royal
Challengers captained by Rahul Dravid and owned by Vijay Mallya. Ganguly opened the
innings with Brendan McCullum and scored 10 runs while McCullum remained
unbeaten, scoring 158 runs in 73 balls. On 1 May, in a game between the Knight Riders
and the Rajasthan Royals, Ganguly made his second T20 half century, scoring 51 runs off
of 39 balls at a strike rate of 130.76. In his innings, Ganguly hit four 4s and two sixes,
topping the scorers list for the Knight Riders.

On 7 July 2008, media reported that Ganguly was being projected as a candidate for the
post of President of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) against his former
mentor Jagmohan Dalmiya. Reports also suggested that he could run for the post of
BCCI President in 2014 as East Zone's representative. Ganguly himself did not deny the
reports and did not rule out any such move. The same year in October, Ganguly
announced that the Test series against Australia starting in October 2008 would be his
last and stated "[t]o be honest, I didn't expect to be picked for this series. Before coming
here I spoke to my team-mates and hopefully I will go out with a winning knock.
Ganguly played in every game of the four-Test series and amassed 324 runs at an average
of 54.00. While playing the second Test match of a series in Mohali, Ganguly scored his
final test century. In the Fourth and final Test, with India needing one wicket to secure a
victory, the Indian captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, invited Ganguly to lead the side in
the field for the final time. India regained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, winning the
series 2–0.

In May 2009, Ganguly was removed from the captaincy of the KKR for IPL 2009, and
was replaced by McCullum. The decision was questioned by media and other players of
the team, when KKR finished at the bottom of the ranking table with three wins and ten
losses. After that, television channel Zee Bangla appointed him as the host of the reality
quiz show titled Dadagiri. It presented participants from the 19 districts of West Bengal,
who had to answer questions posed by Ganguly. By August, he was appointed the
chairman of CAB's Cricket Development Committee. The job of the committee is to
receive a report from the selectors at the end of every cricket season, assess the
accountability of the selectors and make necessary recommendations. He played for the
Ranji cup in the Bengal team in October 2009.[ Ganguly scored 110 in the match against
Delhi team, and was involved in a partnership of 222 runs with Wriddhiman Saha

In the fourth season of Indian Premier League, Ganguly was once again given the
captaincy of Kolkata Knight Riders, after the team ended at the bottom in season 2. The
coach John Buchanan was also replaced by new coach Dav Whatmore.
Twelve Most important Achievements Of Sourav
Ganguly As a Captain Of The Indian Cricket
Team

1. When he took over the captaincy after the match-fixing expose in 2000, he
quickly proved to be a tough, intuitive and uncompromising leader. It was a very
tough time both for the Indian cricket and Sourav taking over as captain.. Sourav
was appointed as captain when Sachin Tendulkar, shocked everyone by stepping
down from his captaincy after India’s disastrous tour Down Under in 1999. As
vice captain to Tendulkar, Sourav was the most obvious choice. But he went on to
win the series against South Africa 3-2. Not just that, the BCCI imposed a ban on
the former captain Mohammed Azharuddin and all-rounder Ajay Jadeja, Then the
stalwarts in the team.
2. “The Lagaan Comes Back Home” was the headlines of a national daily when
Sourav led the team to victory in the Nat west trophy in 2002.Chasing a target of
326 seemed impossible but was achieved by ‘Team India’ in an unprecedented
fashion ,and who can forget the shirt waving exercise in the balcony of Lords:
The Mecca Of Cricket. This Win Further resolved his ability as a leader.
3. Beating Pakistan in tests in Pakistan in 2004.This was undisputedly one of the
most glorifying moments in his captaincy.
4. Again, beating Pakistan in Pakistan in ODI’S in 2004. This is a feat which was
not achieved by any of his predecessors before him.
5. Leading the team to victory at the historic test match at the Eden Gardens against
the mighty Australians to halt Steve Waugh’s “Final Frontier” after being made
to follow on .The world saw the emergence of VERY VERY SPECIAL
LAXMAN to complete the tally of the ‘Famous Five’. Not just that , In that
match itself, for the first time in the history of Indian Cricket ,an Indian Bowler in
the form of Harbhajan Shingh took a hattrick in a test match.
 6. The Historic series against Australia ended in Chennai with another win against
Australia . The series ended in India’s Favour with a scoreline of 2-1.This marked
the emergence of DADAGIRI.
7. Promotion of young guns in the team was another aspect of Dada’s captaincy. The
current Indian team has many players who were brought into the team by
‘DADA’. Players like Yuvraj, Dhoni, Harbhajan, Irfan, Sehwag and Zaheer were
some his key instruments in team building ‘TEAM INDIA’.
8. He, till date is the most successful Indian Captain with 21 test wins as a captain
and with a success rate of 42%. A feat unparalleled by any other Indian Captain.
9. He led Team India to the Final of the world Cup in 2003 after a gap of 20 years.
Although, the team lost, people could see an emergence of a force which can
stand up to the mighty Australians. But, If the team had won the match on the 23rd
of March 2003, Sourav would have remained the undisputed Champion of Indian
Cricket.
10. During the 2003 World Cup, The Indian Team had an enviable track record of 8
successive wins which is quite extraordinary.
11. His natural ability as a leader comes to light, when we notice that his ability to
handle seniors and greats like Sachin, Dravid, Laxman, and Kumble without any
problems. Leadership comes naturally to him. Under Sourav's leadership, India
got back to the winning habit which the team had forgotten in the past.
12. But unlike his predecessors his most important trait as a leader was that he was
Impartial, Non-parochial and always pushed his players to perform better.

TEN MOST COMMON TRAITS OF A

SUCCESSFUL MANAGER
1) An Eye For Talent- It should be one of the most valuable aspects of a manager.
To recruit the best person for the job. This is also vital for every organization in
the business sense as well. Having the right person at the right time at the right
place can make all the difference. In Sourav’s case it was all the same because he
always promoted the best guy for the position in the team and not someone based
on his religion, caste or state he belongs to….
2) Competency – People would always follow someone who is as competent as
them or if not, more than them. But it does not mean that one has to be an expert
in every field of his/her organization ,but needs to demonstrate ample competence
levels .Also in the Indian Team , ‘Dada’ was always referred to as a bowler with
a ‘golden arm’. If he could not do anything with the bat he always came up with
a vital breakthrough for the team with the ball. This showcases his competence as
an all-rounder.
3) Honesty –In today’s modern competitive world, this has become a major trait of a
successful manager in view of scandals. Also, managers need to display their
honesty to their counterparts/peers in order to win their appreciation. When
Sourav was the captain he was always honest in his appraisals for his players. He
preferred Harbhajan over Kumble as he was a better performer in ODI’s.
However, against Pakistan he preferred Kumble due to his better track record
against them .We come to know this from the fact that, the only match in the 2003
World Cup played by Kumble was against Pakistan in the super sixes.
4) Nurturing Talent – This trait is vital for every manager and organization.
Managers need to groom their people and help them develop skills vital for the
success of their organization. When Sourav was the captain, his persistence on
Dravid to hone up his skills as a wicketkeeper helped him not just to play an
extra batsman/bowler but also won many a matches for India, until the advent of
‘MSD’.
5) Meritocracy- This is perhaps the most important trait of a successful manager.
Managers need to promote people based on merit and only on merit. Sourav too
always did the same .
6) Forward Looking – A manager with this trait in his/her attitude can always lead
his/her organization or people from a difficult situation to a comfortable position.
Sourav in 2003, having lost the world Cup to Australia, came back strongly to
defeat Pakistan in Pakistan in both ODI’s and Tests in 2004.
7) Awe Inspiring – People always love to be inspired and follow an inspirational
leader who can take them to greater heights. Sourav too was inspirational either
with his performance or with his words on and off the field.
8) Insistence for Continued Performance – This is one quality which sets apart
managers from others .The objective here is to perform day in and day out. For
example in Laxman’s case, he came into the one day squad after his historic
performance at the Eden Gardens in 2001 but could not cement his place in the
team because of his performance.
9) Emotional Intelligence – In Today’s modern competitive world, this trait has
become the deciding factor between a good manager and an excellent manager.
An excellent manager will always respond to people in a way they want him/her
to. Sourav always did the same and the prime example of this is his waving of the
shirt violently from the balcony of Lords in 2002 to Andrew Flintoff.
10) Challenge Organizational protocol – Every leader must have the zeal to
challenge existing organizational protocol for the good .This not only strengthens
his capabilities as a leader but also as a commoner. Furthermore, Sourav to a very
large extent handpicked his team defying SET selection procedures often leading
to discontent in the board.

SIX IMPORTANT LEADERSHIP TRAITS OF

SOURAV GANAULY
 1) Indifference To Criticism – Gangly always took decisions which he felt right
without caring for the critics’ sake. It is perhaps this indifference to criticism that
led to his omission from the team.
2) No personal Insecurity – Sourav felt that every young player should play two
years of domestic cricket before being selected for international assignments. He
also said that every newcomer should be given at least five games to prove
himself. Perhaps, he being at a receiving end of a raw deal that threatened to ruin
his international cricket career enabled Sourav to understand the insecurities of
other newcomers in the team better than his predecessors. Sourav backed the
youngsters in the team tremendously and thus, gained the love of his teammates.
3) Visionary- His vision was to win the world cup for India and indeed came very
very close to win one after a gap on 20 years.
4) Preference for Match Winners - He relinquished himself, to make the space for
the opening slot to accommodate Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar.
Ganguly will most be remembered though for having forged a winning unit from
a bunch of talented boys.
5) Emotional Intelligence – He as a captain always believed in replying on the face
and responding in an appropriate fashion. Again, the prime example of this is his
waving of the shirt violently from the balcony of Lords in 2002 to Andrew
Flintoff.
6) Nurturing Talent- He always wanted his players to develop skills for their and
the teams’ betterment. For example, He along with Sachin helped Harbhajan and
Zaheer hone up their batting skills which in the future has helped India save many
matches from the Jaws of Defeat. Similarly, When Sourav was the captain, his
persistence on Dravid hone up his skills as a wicketkeeper helped him not just to
play an extra batsman/bowler but also won many a matches for India, until the
advent of ‘MSD’.

Three (3) important quotes of Sourav Ganguly

relevant to Today’s Management Profession
 I. “ Now or Never ”- On having reached the finals of the 2003 World Cup reflects
his Visionary attitude.
II. “ I have to make this boy play for India ” – On seeing Dhoni for the first time
in a domestic match. This reflects his Eye for talent.
III. “ I never try to make right Decision, but I make a decision and make work
right.”- On winning a test match. This reflects his attitude of Indifference to
criticism.

Can Sourav Ganguly teach Managers about

leading from the Front? What can the leaders in
businesses learn from his successes and failures?
 There are primarily 3 basic aspects which we learn from Sourav from his
Illustrious Carrier which are stated briefly in the following :-

1) He was prone to experimentation. He promoted himself to the opening slot

and along with Sachin form the best ODI’s opening partnership in the history
of the game . This showcases his ability to shoulder responsibility. An
opener’s job is a specialist’s job and he took over the responsibility to display
his Flamboyant Panache as a southpaw.
2) He always provided vital breakthroughs with his golden arm. He became the
first player in the history of the game to receive 5 consecutive Man of the
Match awards in one-dayers ,in a series, in the Sahara 1997 Cup, which s a
world record till date . He also won the Man of the Series.
3) Again, due to the lack of form he dropped himself from the opening slot to
accommodate Sehwag who was a more attacking player than him, showcases
that he was an honest leader and is ready to make corrections for betterment of
the team.

Future Leaders and entrepreneurs can learn a lot from Sourav .His unprecedented Knack
for experimentation, Indifference to criticism, an eye for talent, his Vision and not to
mention his extraordinary EQ can make every leader stand up and notice. If someone can
accommodate few of the above mentioned qualities as we see in Sourav, they can make a
whole world of difference to their respective organizations.

“Every leader succeeds and fails depending on the

situation he or she is working under !!”

We do agree with the statement because of the fact that success can always be measured
in any field by performance. Also, since success is dependent on the performance it also
incorporates the performance of the other individuals in the group/team, simply because
Business is also about teamwork. Therefore , the acceptance of the leader by his/her
team, the internal and external forces which directly/indirectly affect the business/task,
the performance of his colleagues and peers are responsible for the success of the leader.

Do all leaders have a “Shelf Life ”?

Every leader brings with him/her certain ideas, concepts and theories which are pertinent
to the current working scenario. However , the only constant is change. Therefore, what
is contemporary now might be obsolete in future .Therefore every leader must change
his/her outlook based on the business requirements.

However, those leaders who don’t incorporate these changes fade away only to be
replaced by a more contemporary one .

All these facts remind us of the fact that all leaders do have a shelf life.