Let us begin by setting the agenda for understanding the role of Leadership in these tough, troubled and challenging times. Dealing with it from the point of view of the contemporary situation will enable us take a practical stand rather than leaving the attempt at only a theoretical exercise.

Today, India and China are racing to see who will be the next dominant player in the world both as an economic giant and equally importantly on the political front as well with China being in the lead at the moment. For each one of them the challenges are formidable and the enemies clear. The challenges and the enemies can be concisely put in three broad categories - corruption, demographics, and the gripping hand of the past in all its aspects.

It is time for Indian business and political leaders to act and be like one rather than pretend to be one - to stop sitting on the sidelines and waiting for the world to reshape itself. That is the old India - the new India must move now to take an active and not a passive role in creating the new economic and political order by ‘framing the agenda' rather than continuously responding to it. It will not happen by continuing with the behaviours of the Raj era or the bureaucratic remnants of socialism - it will happen with a new view of  what it is to be human - what it is to be accountable - what it  takes to generate real value in the lives of the people they represent and  lead and who we are for and with each  other.  This is the time when India can and must stand up and take its place in the world.

Let us be very clear – Leadership is not a trial and error process of evolution, in reality it is all about designing and learning. In that sense we can define  leadership as about creating and managing the mood of the people and designing and creating the architecture of future for and of the people you promise to lead in your chosen field be it politics or business or whatever. Rather than following the traditional approach of looking at this phenomenon of leadership from a trait point of view, we can say that a leader ought to develop a set of competencies that generates the capacity to produce the desired and expected result. Sounds simple, doesn't it?

We also need to recognise that, in the world of business, the central concern of leadership is the overall strategic direction the company will take and the development and growth required for its continued survival, well being and prosperity. Management by contrast is focused primarily on coordination of action within the scope of objectives established by the leaders to accomplish that goal! However, it is not so easily learnt and the exercise of effective leadership can become overwhelmingly complex if proper attention is not paid to learning, developing team work and trust amongst the people who are directly impacted by the actions of the leader. Since the leaders communicate via a language of their choice and the words they use, it is important to note that to engage effectively in this conversation, leaders will typically have to take on the following roles and responsibilities and learn the practices of:

1. Reading the world and creating a vision 
2. Declaring a mission and the narrative 
3. Making Alliances
4. Building the organisation and appointing individuals to positions of authority
5. Creating followership 
6. Generating resolution and mobilising action
7. Managing power
8. Producing unsettlement and results thereto

As we set out to explore the eight basic conversational practices of leadership it would be pertinent to point out that we are not at the end of the journey but this is just the beginning! No one ever became a leader by reading a book or an article! Leadership lives in a process of action, it is about learning and creating a new capacity for action.

Our next goal is to learn the agenda of generating the New Capacity for Action.

Vibhuti Jha is the Managing Director of International Business for the Human Potential Project. He can be contacted at vibhutijha@aol.com