5 lessons to learn from Narendra Modi’s thumping victory in 2019 Loksabha elections

23 May 2019 would be remembered as an important milestone in India’s political history. For, on this day, the NDA under the stewardship of its charismatic leader, Narendra Modi, recorded a resounding victory in the elections. It is rare in India (only second instance), or for that matter in any democracy in the world, to witness such levels of pro-incumbency.

Needless to say, there are important lessons to learn from this episode. So, here I go with top 5 things I learnt:

1. Never have objectives based on others

The entire bunch of opposition parties (well most of them) joined hands with the single minded objective of stopping Narendra Modi from coming back to power.  The opposition pack never thought through the process of how they will get the the magic number of 272 – individually or jointly. When you don’t plan to win, how will you surpass your competition? Did Congress really have a target number in mind for itself? If yes, did they break it down to regions, states and constituencies? I doubt they did. Worst part is that opposition pack even made this objective public and let their voters (customers) know about it with a hope that they would lap it up.

Imagine a CEO of an FMCG companies deploying the next year target as ‘we will not let competitor XYX have the top market share’. How can one make a business plan around something as useless as this? Further, he also makes a public announcement of this as bold and innovative objective and urges all customers support the cause. So, would anyone ever buy products of this company just because of this? No. Customers would buy products only when they find value in them.

Moral of the story, objectives should always be based on internal parameters – things which you can influence with hard work and dedication. Things which can be broken down to smaller building blocks so that every employee in the organization relates to it and knows what exactly needs to be done at each level. What you tell your customer is marketing!

2. Some lines are best not crossed

Congress, AAP, SP, TMC, BSP and all others made the grave mistake of crossing the revered line of ‘nationalism’. In their zeal to put down Modi, they criticized the surgical and aerial strikes to no end. So much so that citizens started looking at them as anti-nationalists. Nationalism/Patriotism is one of the purest and basic form of emotion that binds citizens of a country together, especially a country like India which has a relatively short history after its independence. Now, that is one line no sane political party would ever want to cross.

Individuals/Organizations should know about these sacrosanct lines – invisible or otherwise. They are not worth crossing even if it means a temporary setback. You need to live to fight another day.

Moral of the story, no matter how desperate the situation is, there are some lines which are best not crossed.

3.Details, Details & Details

For a political party, the most important detail is knowing the pulse of the voters. It requires an extensive and well thought out organization structure which is constantly in the midst of the voters across all constituencies. They are eye and ears which will listen to voters and constantly provide feedback to the people at the helm. The campaign strategies are then aligned to what people want.

Running an election campaign without knowing the pulse of the voters is akin to flying an airplane blind. Knowing how to fly isn’t enough, you need to know where you flying – there could be storms, lightening or a bermuda triangle!

For any business, it is important to get details about customers and partners. No detail is small enough to be ignored and no detail is big enough to be the only priority. Spend time on gathering details which means spend time on setting up processes, organization and technology which will allow you to capture details all the time.

4. Allies are important but not every enemy of the enemy can be an ally

Enemy of your enemy is your friend. This is true but it does not mean that you go around joining hands with anyone and everyone.

The only thing common in the opposition pack was their zeal to prevent Modi from coming back to power. Fair enough. But, that is not enough to keep the flock together. Common minimum agenda needs more than just a common intent. On the other side, it is interesting to see how BJP went about stitching the alliance for NDA – most of the partners have been with them for a long time. Non critical partners were discarded and new partners on-boarded with specific understanding on critical matters like seat sharing etc.

Stitching partnerships which are mutually beneficial takes time and effort. Common intent is a great starting point but that cannot be the only reason for partnership.

5. Surround yourself with smart & honest people

What is common between these people? Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav, Mamata Banerjee, Chandra Babu Naidu.

Well, there is more than one thing in common:

a. All of them surround themselves with sycophants

b. All of them lost elections badly

Avoiding sycophants and creating a team of real smart people are the two most important thing a leader should do for his/her own good. Honest & smart people will say things which are true irrespective of whether they are pleasant or unpleasant; a leader is better off knowing these facts.

Need proof? Check what Amit Shah is to Narendra Modi.