Wow!!! The world's biggest democratic elections just concluded and BJP led NDA stormed back to power. BJP is even more stronger than it was 5 years ago. As of now, they look good to continue the same momentum in 2024 also. Congress on the other hand, improved their personal tally by ~10 seats, but is nowhere close to BJP. Various reasons led to this result and let me analyze a few from my perspective and let's see if there are lessons for someone like me (who's in a leadership position in a reputed Software Services / Consulting organization).
5. Who moved my
1. Rural programs helped BJP massively:
In my opinion there are 5 programs initiated by the NDA government helped them massively in this election. They are Electrification of villages (technically NDA didn't initiate it, but worked towards 100% rural electrification), Infrastructure (roads), LPG Cylinders for rural / tribal areas, Toilets (as per one count over 9cr toilets were built) and cheap housing. These programs were underestimated by Indian media (and hence by default, Congress party). We can't fathom the importance of these programs from the comfort of air-conditioned rooms, where we are entitled to these facilities. The fact that there was a need for 9 crore toilets (and maybe a lot more in their 2nd term) shows the apathy of the previous governments towards these marginalized areas of our society. Maybe those who were benefited, felt that 'at last there is one government which cares about me'.
Management Lesson-1: While we all understand the importance of customer's senior management, each one of us should identify our real customers. Work sincerely towards solving their day to day issues. They will appreciate the efforts and it will payback.
2. Identifying the right coalition partners:
BJP mastered this well, even though Congress had a lot of past experience. Amit Shah, the brain behind BJP's election strategy (and rightly called as BJP's Chanakya) stitched crucial partnerships, specifically in Maharashtra (Shiv Sena) and Bihar (JD-U). In fact, the partnership with Shiv Sena was a difficult one, as Shiv Sena was criticizing the government for past several months. Still BJP went ahead and formed a partnership and it reaped electoral benefits. On the other hand, Congress, even though were with a partnership with JD-S in Karnataka and NCP in Maharashtra, made a mess of everything and ended up losing both states. Who knows what would've been the result if Congress and coalition won 50+ seats from these two states?
Another smart part is that BJP didn't form any alliance more than it was necessary. Just shook hands with few partners and the right ones.
Management Lesson-2: In real life projects, we may have to work with internal practices, external partners and even some times, other vendors of the customer. We need to know where to drop our ego and manage a tough relation, without conceding our space. At the same time, we shouldn't have too many cooks than what's necessary. It is an art and there is no magic pill. But one who masters it, ensures a successful project delivery. Another aspect is to ensure these logistics are managed well on time. Too late might be too little.
3. Vocal chord and dirty hands:
Narendra Modi shouldered the major burden of campaigning, while Amit Shah shouldered the booth-wise planning connecting with the ground-level workers. Even the campaigning was themed around Modi, with some help from Lutyens media and the opponents, making it easier for others to focus on the nitty-gritties of booth level activities. I am not sure if Congress had such strategy on the first place, let alone implement it. In Congress, everyone was shouting at NDA (Modi to be specific), with very little time towards booth workers. Priyanka Gandhi's day or two chat with them is more of a photo-op than anything else. Congress also made noise about Priyanka Gandhi taking on Modi, but then pussy-footed at last minute. I am sure a ground level worker would've been demoralized by such acts.
Management Lesson-3: Let's be clear on who is talking and who will dirty their hands and manage the nuts and bolts of the project. Obviously, there needs to be a terrific understanding between these two, so that the commitments are practical. The team needs someone to translate these customer-centric rhetoric to an action plan that they can understand and follow in their day to day life. A lack of it will kill the project and a lack of someone who can talk to the customer might give negative impressions. Both are important; both should be managed well; both needs to go hand in hand.
4. Managing the negativity:
One of the best aspect of BJP/NDA's campaign in this election is managing all the negative news and giving a positive spin to it, wherever possible.
Let's take the (in)famous "Chowkidhar Chor Hai" slogan of Congress. I thought it was a great slogan until Rahul Gandhi overdid it and messed it up by pulling Supreme Court to justify it. If left unattended, this would have severely dented BJP/NDA's chances. BJP adopted 2 pronged strategy. On one hand they started fighting with Congress legally, where Rahul Gandhi had to personally apologize to Supreme Court. On the other hand, Modi gave a positive spin to it by changing his twitter handle to "Chowkidhar Modi", which was repeated by 1000s of his followers. Even the news of Rahul Gandhi apologizing in Supreme Court was repeated enough times to take the steam out of this campaign.
Second incident was Sadhvi Pragya bad-mouthing Mahatma Gandhi and praising Nathuram Godse. Congress failed to capitalize on this and BJP was quick to take the narrative of this in mainstream media. Modi himself said he will not forgive her, but then didn't remove her candidature. None of their partners commented on it, except Nitish Kumar. Even Nitish punched with kids gloves and washed off saying that it was BJP's internal matter.
Management Lesson-4: Our teams will do mistakes. People will utter loose-words. As Managers, we need to know how to give a positive spin to this. At least, we need to know how to do damage control. For every corrective action we put in place, the "talker" (from point-3) should be managing the messages with the customer. We also need a good relationship with our well-wishers in customer environment. They are the ones who can advocate your case. At times, they can even punch you (with kids gloves of course) and you can show a sorry face to save the project.
5. Who moved my cheese sorry seats:
In the last elections, BJP won 73 seats from UP. As per the conventional projections, before election, they were supposed to win around 45-50 seats (I was personally thought they will win not more than 45 seats). They started preparing for this shortfall. In a classic "Who moved my cheese" strategy, BJP focused on West Bengal, Odisha and NE to make up for these numbers. The cherry on the cake was that UP produced ~10 more seats and their efforts in WB and Odisha paid off too.
Management Lesson-5: Software industry is a cut-throat competitive industry. You may win some, you lose some. But an astute leader will always know where their risk is and where to make up for their short fall. It could be in terms of efforts or growth numbers. As the saying goes 'when one door closes, another opens', there will always be one opportunity in lieu of another. A little bit of planning will save a lot of Gelusil and Eno.
6. People see through fake acting:
One of the biggest mistakes of Lutyens media and Congress is that this election was about Hindutva and Secularism. I agree that BJP unabashedly proclaims Hindutva as an ideology. But they were saying that in 2009 also. Why they lost then and won in 2014 and now? The truth is that it is only a certain section of people who buy BJP's Hindutva unconditionally. Rest of them are first inspired by what BJP has done to them (or others haven't); their acceptance of Hindutva is their way of acknowledging this. For them Hindutva is not an ideology; its just a token of respect shown in return to what they received. Congress fell for this trap and started double-action movie. Rahul and Priyanka sported Sacred Ash, Sandal paste and Rudraksh in UP and MP; but were wearing skull cap and cross in Wayanad. People can't be fooled every time. They saw through this and the result is ugly. BJP on the other hand just stuck to their theme.
Management Lesson-6: Listen to everything. Form your opinion. DELIVER IT IN YOUR STYLE. Never imitate someone's style if that doesn't suit you, however successful that may be. You are better off being moderately successful in your style than to be highly successful pretending to be something that you are not comfortable. You will not be able to sustain it and when the mask falls away, it looks uglier.
Winning elections is an art; repeating it is masterpiece. So is Leadership and Management (at least in Software Industry, where I work).