The Union Budget has just come out here in India. Thinking about the budget at a very micro, superficial level – if you are a professional or a freelancer, then earning less than 50 lakhs is a good thing, with presumptive taxation coming in. That will lift spirits a little bit! But, if you are into drinking bottled water, sodas and soft drinks, it's going to cost you just that little bit more. And if you like going on holidays which involve air travel, then with the excise duty on aviation turbine fuel going up by a full 14%, it's going to cost a little bit more. If you're a foodie and like eating out, the extra 0.5% cess over the already existing 14% is going to make that pinch just a little bit more. However, foreign investors continue to get the red carpet treatment.
So, mixed feelings all across the board. Everybody has an opinion on the budget and I think it stems from where the budget interacts with each person. And that makes us form an opinion as to whether it is a good, bad or indifferent budget. We have different reactions: disappointment maybe – it hasn't met our expectations. Frustration – once again no change in your particular sector, or anger – going to cut into profits, resentment – going to have to pay out more taxes. We all have different responses to the budget, and all of them are valid because they stem from where we are and what this is going to do to each one of us and the environments in which we operate.
John Holdren, who was technology advisor to the President of the United States, once remarked about climate change. He said that you have three ways to respond to it. You either adapt, you suffer or you manage. Those are the three responses we have now as well. You can adapt to what has happened and see how best to leverage yourself so that it works for you. Or you can manage it by leveraging the change to best fit the resources you have, or you can just suffer through it – not do anything, but just stick with what you've always done in the past, and be miserable. Those are the responses available to us.
But this is also an opportunity to choose your response to the budget and how it may affect your leadership. How you think, act and lead through this period will be telling for the people working with and for you. They will watch how you are able to adapt to or manage leading through the ramifications of a new budget. That's part of leadership!
Admiral Thad Allen said that the best way to lead through areas like this is with unity of effort, i.e., "[aggregating] everyone's capabilities, competencies, and capacities to achieve a single purpose" – be able to get everybody on board. One should be able to create a mental model, which came out of the thoughts of Peter Senge from MIT, where he talks about shared values that everyone can subscribe to.
As you think through, act and lead through this time, processing the budget and helping those working with you to understand it and how it affects them, unity of effort is going to be key. Unity of command, or the hierarchical way, still only works in the military. But, unity of effort, getting everybody's capabilities, competencies and capacities together and saying, "Here's something new; we are going to adapt to this and we are going to manage this." That's going to be the way for leaders to respond in light of the budget.
The 'Serenity Prayer' came out many years ago.
Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.
The wisdom to know the difference – that's what leadership comes down to. You are the one who will bring wisdom in knowing what you can change, and knowing what you must accept, and then leading your people through it. My prayer is that wisdom will lead you through, that you will know where and to whom you can go for that wisdom. Look for wisdom from within and from without – within you is your experience, your learning, all your instincts; from without – friends, family and colleagues. Above all, look up towards God and say, "Will you give me wisdom to lead at this time?" As people look at you through the grid of the Union Budget, my prayer is that you will be able to stand up and lead well, aggregating everyone's capabilities, competencies and capacities, to achieve a simple single purpose to leverage this budget for yourself. That's my prayer for you.
Almighty God, give everybody wisdom during this time to help them to lead, to know how to lead; to be able to take everybody's capabilities and get everybody on the same page and lead through this time. May Your wisdom be available to all. In Jesus' Name we pray; amen.
• Union budget references: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/budget-2016-highlights-of-fm-arun-jaitleys-speech/articleshow/51186309.cms
• "Leading Through a Major Crisis," interview with Admiral Thad Allen by Scott Berinato, https://hbr.org/2010/10/leading-through-a-major-crisis/
• Peter Senge, "Mental Models," https://hbr.org/2010/10/leading-through-a-major-crisis/
• Reinhold Niebuhr, "The Serenity Prayer," https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_Prayer
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