How not to achieve

In South Asia, 75 years is not a young age to die. And Krishna Kant, India's Vice President had nothing left to live for. Perhaps he had harboured hopes of making it to the top ceremonial post of the largest democracy in the world. But the ruling coalition led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) apparently had other plans, and it denied Krishna Kant the opportunity that had often been given to vice presidents in the past. Krishna Kant passed away the week the BJP's nominee, APJ Abdul Kalam, walked into Rashtrapati Bhawan. Embracing death while still in harness is a glory that comes to the chosen few, and he was perhaps lucky that he did not have to spend his last years in anonymity.

Dhirubhai Ambani was the other prominent South Asian who died last month. In a region where wealth is inherited rather than created, Ambani was a kind of pioneer. He exploited the desires of common investors like none before him and, in the process, single-handedly rewrote the rules of the game for managing shareholders' confidence. Ambani's life is often portrayed in the Indian media as a rags-to-riches story of a person destined to be great. Perhaps Lady Luck too played her part in the transformation of a safari-suited salesman into a suiting tycoon. But it would be gross disrespect to the man if we were to attribute all his successes to mere chance. Dhirubhai's ability in convincing common investors that the system could be used if one knew how was perhaps the main propellant that made this man star of India's burgeoning middle-class. Ambani Senior (he has two sons in the trade) was to India's petty traders and salaried class what Laloo Prasad Yadav is to the so-called 'backwards' in Bihar. Charismatic leaders sell dreams and prosper. Be it in politics or business, the basic rule of leadership is the same – you show your vision and sell the idea that it is achievable.