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Womanisers make good leaders: Manekshaw

"What does it take to become a good leader?" If the hero of the 1971 Indo-Pak war Sam Manekshaw is to be believed, womanisers make good leaders and, of course, women too make good leaders if they have a liking for men.

"Men and women like their leaders to be 'like a man' who does not behave like a hypocrite or a saint," according to Field Marshal Manekshaw.

India, he said, was ''in a retrograde state because of a lack of leadership -- not just political, but leadership in every sphere of life be it industry, education or any other''. He was addressing a lecture in Pune.

He defined a true leader as a man who does not whine saying, ''I don't do this or I don't do that,'' and elaborated citing examples of Julius Ceasar, Napolean and the Duke of Wellington who were all great leaders and who were all great lovers of women as well.

Of course, besides being lovers of women, great leaders also have the ability to take decisions, show impartiality, have professional knowledge and competence, have moral and physical courage and are loyal to their subordinates.

Every man gets frightened at one time or the other and it is only a liar who says he is never afraid. But to be frightened is one thing and to show one's fears is another, he said stressing that an able leader is one who can hide his fears in the face of adversity.

Citing an interesting anecdote from his own life, he recalled a Burma campaign in 1942 when he was commanding a Sikh company.

During a promotion conference, he was asked by a senior British officer whether one Suraj Singh deserved to be promoted. At that time, he had answered in the negative pointing out that the soldier in question had already been promoted thrice.

But Suraj Singh was angry at his officer and even revealed his intentions of killing Manekshaw to his colleagues. ''I simply called Suraj Singh, loaded his pistol and gave it to him,'' he recalled. ''Shoot me, I told the man, but he apologised for his actions. Though I was frightened, I even asked the man to stand guard outside my tent and told him to get me a mug of tea the first thing in the morning.'' Suraj Singh did ''get him the mug of tea the first thing in the morning, thus signing off his views in triumph''.

UNI

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