One of my most treasured moment is the interaction with Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. So far I interacted with him twice , the first time in mid 2007 at his New Delhi residence in Army Cantonment area and the second time when he visited Satyam’s Automotive and Aerospace Centre of Excellence in Chennai.

What struck me most is his absolute simplicity , a child like curiosity and the great ability to connect technology to game changing applications for people’s welfare. He carries a team with him that have been there with him for a long time and they are all accomplished scientists. His team enjoys absolute freedom working with him.In fact during my first visit to his office , having entered his room , I had to look around for him since he was just sitting quietly in a very unassuming manner in a corner of the room whereas his staff were occupying chairs placed centrally and more prominently in the room. They were also discussing very loudly among themselves on some projects totally oblivious of his presence in the room. What I notice is that Dr Kalam makes a detailed preparation while sharing his thoughts. So they are never on air , he shows us the dream while the feet are always rooted firm on ground.

Even while taking a tour of our centre of excellence he carefully listened to all our presentations and asked very incisive questions . That is the time when he came up with a very important speech of his on creating a collaborative knowledge and innovation grid in the country by way of seamless collaboration among various entities like academic institutions, industry and research bodies and Government Institutions.

We are really fortunate to live in a century along with him and also having him as the President of India . It’s an irony that the murky political system of the country did not allow him to be at the highest office for a few more years to see our country going through the critical growth phase.

Dr Kalam’s talk at Wharton is quite fascinating and the video below gives a glimpse of his inspiring personality.

Leader Should Know How to Manage Failure

(Former President of India APJ Abdul Kalam at Wharton India Economic forum , Philadelphia , March 22,2008 )

Question: Could you give an example, from your own experience, of how leaders should manage failure?

Kalam: Let me tell you about my experience. In 1973 I became the project director of India ’s satellite launch vehicle program, commonly called the SLV-3. Our goal was to put India ’s ‘Rohini’ satellite into orbit by 1980. I was given funds and human resources — but was told clearly that by 1980 we had to launch the satellite into space. Thousands of people worked together in scientific and technical teams towards that goal.

 By 1979 — I think the month was August — we thought we were ready. As the project director, I went to the control center for the launch. At four minutes before the satellite launch, the computer began to go through the checklist of items that needed to be checked. One minute later, the computer program put the launch on hold; the display showed that some control components were not in order. My experts — I had four or five of them with me — told me not to worry; they had done their calculations and there was enough reserve fuel. So I bypassed the computer, switched to manual mode, and launched the rocket. In the first stage, everything worked fine.. In the second stage, a problem developed. Instead of the satellite going into orbit, the whole rocket system plunged into the Bay of Bengal . It was a big failure.

That day, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, Prof. Satish Dhawan, had called a press conference. The launch was at 7:00 am , and the press conference — where journalists from around the world were present — was at 7:45 am at ISRO’s satellite launch range in Sriharikota [in Andhra Pradesh in southern India ]. Prof. Dhawan, the leader of the organization, conducted the press conference himself.  He took responsibility for the failure — he said that the team had worked very hard, but that it needed more technological support. He assured the media that in another year, the team would definitely succeed.

 Now, I was the project director, and it was my failure, but instead, he took responsibility for the failure as chairman of the organization. The next year, in July 1980, we tried again to launch the satellite — and this time we succeeded.. The whole nation was jubilant. Again, there was a press conference. Prof. Dhawan called me aside and told me, ‘You conduct the press conference today.’
 
I learned a very important lesson that day. When failure occurred, the leader of the organization owned that failure.  When success came, he gave it to his team.
 
The best management lesson I have learned did not come to me from reading a book; it came from that experience .