The Aravind Kejriwal-led AAP (Aam Admi Party) stunned the Indian nation on 11-Feb-2020, when it won the Delhi state election polls by securing 62 out of 70 seats, a strike rate of 90%. Aravind Kejriwal is now all set to swear-in as Delhi's chief minister for the third consecutive time. Taking this case-study, we can derive below lessons that can help management professionals propel for a better tomorrow chasing the odds forced at them.
1. Simplify your compelling vision, so much so, that common man can understand it easily: I now understand why Aravind Kejriwal has chosen “broom” as his party (Aam Admi Party)’s symbol. His auguring vision to serve the people is coupled with clarity in his thought on where to focus in the current era. He set up his party to broom this heavy weight political system that has often been hijacked by talkative political party leaders who is known to mislead the common man based on caste, creed and money for their self-agenda. He has chosen “broom” as his party symbol, just to augur the seed in the minds of common man, so much so, that his party is all there to “broom” the system, such that it becomes light-weight and serves the people through re-engineering basic issues like water, electricity, education and health..
2. Think out of box - Strive to meet your vision with all that you can do every hour: Once Aravind Kejriwal was convinced on where to focus, he focused his modus-of-operandi for his government on simple municipal issues like safe drinking water, electricity at cheapest rate, bettering government schools and hospitals and safety so that education and health are served with noble purpose by noble minds.
Free electricity: For years, the people of Delhi witnessed electricity cuts for long hours. Arvind Kejriwal revitalized the system such that electricity is free now for people of Delhi when their individual consumption is less than 200 units per month. If the individual consumption is within 200 watts to 400 watts, his government offers 50% discount on electricity bill.
Free Education: For the past 3.5 years, Arvind Kejriwal has allocated 25% of his budget funds towards re-engineering the education system. His government has constructed 17,000 new class rooms for the government school children. His team has taken best measures so that teachers of Delhi serve their schools with noble thought. Under his government, Private schools could not increase their fee structure any further in the past 5 years. Wherever, there were instances where private schools increased their fees, his government could able to reimburse that extra fee back to the parents from the private school authorities. The fact that many parents wanted to join their children in government schools describes the narrative for the sincerity of Aravind Kejriwal’s government.
Free health: Aravind Kejriwal has come up with free Mohalla health clinics to serve the health needs of poor people of Delhi for free.
Free transportation and Safety to females: In Delhi, females can travel for free of cost in buses and local trains. His government has installed 3 lakhs CCTV cameras and employed 13,000 police marshals just to provide safety to female passengers. This is ensuring safety to female passengers and also a saving of minimum Rs 1800 to each female passenger every month.
Well there are section of people, who are against offering these fee-bees stating tax payer’s money is being misused through these fee-bee schemes. The question is, other governments are not offering these free-bees. But then the question is, where is this money going to, when we do not witness betterment in people lives. Cost index is raising year after year.
3. Do the Gemba Walk – You learn the ground situation through your own legs: Aravind Kejriwal, being chief minister of Delhi, traveled in buses and trains like normal passenger. He assessed the ground context from time to time not just sitting in air conditioning rooms, but by being with common man where possible.
4. People will ill-treat you, divert you and thwart you, especially when you are doing good: Let your noble work speak when people ill-treat you or disrespect you. When BJP leaders called Arvind Kejriwal a terrorist, Kejriwal folded his hands and told voters, if you think I am a terrorist, please vote BJP. When union home minister Amit Shah said that Delhi’s existing schools were in shambles, he humbly responded by inviting him to see the schools for himself, saying “don’t make fun of the hard work put in by students, teachers and parents of Delhi Government schools”
Aravind Kejriwal’s administration was thwarted using a variety of means, legal action was taken against many AAP leaders, and the media was mobilized against the government all through its tenure. The fact that AAP focused so resolutely, not just at electoral time, but all through it’s tenure, on small, almost municipal acts of governance is a new and encouraging sign for politics in India.
5. Bring the change within you and mature yourself from time to time: AAP’s victory has a lot to do with the maturing of Arvind Kejriwal as a politician. It is only in the last part of his tenure, that he found his voice as a leader. He stopped attacking Narendra Modi and picking fights with the center, realized that constantly complaining about being thwarted by the center was under cutting his development narrative and making him look weak. He did not shy away from opening embracing his Hindu identity, framed himself in emotionally resonant terms – as a “son”. These are the examples where he made more conscious efforts to come through as a leader and chief minister rather than as an activist.
6. Simplicity and holding on to the Truth: Leadership values does matter. Times changed, but this leadership principle do not change. Aravind Kejriwal was so grounded that people in Delhi appreciates his simplicity, relevance and sticking to the truth at the time of crisis. He addressed many challenges using these values.
7. Impossible says “I am Possible”. Do not give up on your core beliefs: When Aam Admi Party (AAP) can set the ruling BJP at its terms through its victory right at the national capital, what else example we need to prove "Impossible = I + AM+ Possible”. The only thing we need is to communicate effectively when needed and stay silent when needed. We do not need to bat every ball thrown at us. Some balls will not hit our Wickets even through we do not bat them.
8. Choose Your battle ground: At the end, the battle ground we choose does matter. It is good, in this context, that people of Delhi has voted for result oriented government that brought them the benefits. We come across certain territorial voters who are influenced with caste, creed and non-pragmatic loyalty for wrong reasons. In that case, we keep continuing our work and communicate our core narrative message properly to them. If we see that we are not able to change them, it is better to leave that battle ground like the way sincere leaders like Jay Prakash Narayan did in the state of united Andhra Pradesh.
9. Connect the dots: We all start. Some of us may not take the started dots to the intended end /beneficial dots. In those contexts, step back and reflect why we have come to this mission. If you see Aravind Kejriwal, his administration could able to connect the dots right from his party symbol “broom” to the point of modulating his party’s modus of operandi to cleansing the political system “bijli half, paani maaf model”, coupled with revitalizing government schools and hospitals.
Free electricity: For years, the people of Delhi witnessed electricity cuts for long hours. Arvind Kejriwal revitalized the system such that electricity is free now for people of Delhi when their individual consumption is less than 200 units per month. If the individual consumption is within 200 watts to 400 watts, his government offers 50% discount on electricity bill.
Free Education: For the past 3.5 years, Arvind Kejriwal has allocated 25% of his budget funds towards re-engineering the education system. His government has constructed 17,000 new class rooms for the government school children. His team has taken best measures so that teachers of Delhi serve their schools with noble thought. Under his government, Private schools could not increase their fee structure any further in the past 5 years. Wherever, there were instances where private schools increased their fees, his government could able to reimburse that extra fee back to the parents from the private school authorities. The fact that many parents wanted to join their children in government schools describes the narrative for the sincerity of Aravind Kejriwal’s government.
Free health: Aravind Kejriwal has come up with free Mohalla health clinics to serve the health needs of poor people of Delhi for free.
Free transportation and Safety to females: In Delhi, females can travel for free of cost in buses and local trains. His government has installed 3 lakhs CCTV cameras and employed 13,000 police marshals just to provide safety to female passengers. This is ensuring safety to female passengers and also a saving of minimum Rs 1800 to each female passenger every month.
Well there are section of people, who are against offering these fee-bees stating tax payer’s money is being misused through these fee-bee schemes. The question is, other governments are not offering these free-bees. But then the question is, where is this money going to, when we do not witness betterment in people lives. Cost index is raising year after year.
3. Do the Gemba Walk – You learn the ground situation through your own legs: Aravind Kejriwal, being chief minister of Delhi, traveled in buses and trains like normal passenger. He assessed the ground context from time to time not just sitting in air conditioning rooms, but by being with common man where possible.
4. People will ill-treat you, divert you and thwart you, especially when you are doing good: Let your noble work speak when people ill-treat you or disrespect you. When BJP leaders called Arvind Kejriwal a terrorist, Kejriwal folded his hands and told voters, if you think I am a terrorist, please vote BJP. When union home minister Amit Shah said that Delhi’s existing schools were in shambles, he humbly responded by inviting him to see the schools for himself, saying “don’t make fun of the hard work put in by students, teachers and parents of Delhi Government schools”
Aravind Kejriwal’s administration was thwarted using a variety of means, legal action was taken against many AAP leaders, and the media was mobilized against the government all through its tenure. The fact that AAP focused so resolutely, not just at electoral time, but all through it’s tenure, on small, almost municipal acts of governance is a new and encouraging sign for politics in India.
5. Bring the change within you and mature yourself from time to time: AAP’s victory has a lot to do with the maturing of Arvind Kejriwal as a politician. It is only in the last part of his tenure, that he found his voice as a leader. He stopped attacking Narendra Modi and picking fights with the center, realized that constantly complaining about being thwarted by the center was under cutting his development narrative and making him look weak. He did not shy away from opening embracing his Hindu identity, framed himself in emotionally resonant terms – as a “son”. These are the examples where he made more conscious efforts to come through as a leader and chief minister rather than as an activist.
6. Simplicity and holding on to the Truth: Leadership values does matter. Times changed, but this leadership principle do not change. Aravind Kejriwal was so grounded that people in Delhi appreciates his simplicity, relevance and sticking to the truth at the time of crisis. He addressed many challenges using these values.
7. Impossible says “I am Possible”. Do not give up on your core beliefs: When Aam Admi Party (AAP) can set the ruling BJP at its terms through its victory right at the national capital, what else example we need to prove "Impossible = I + AM+ Possible”. The only thing we need is to communicate effectively when needed and stay silent when needed. We do not need to bat every ball thrown at us. Some balls will not hit our Wickets even through we do not bat them.
8. Choose Your battle ground: At the end, the battle ground we choose does matter. It is good, in this context, that people of Delhi has voted for result oriented government that brought them the benefits. We come across certain territorial voters who are influenced with caste, creed and non-pragmatic loyalty for wrong reasons. In that case, we keep continuing our work and communicate our core narrative message properly to them. If we see that we are not able to change them, it is better to leave that battle ground like the way sincere leaders like Jay Prakash Narayan did in the state of united Andhra Pradesh.
9. Connect the dots: We all start. Some of us may not take the started dots to the intended end /beneficial dots. In those contexts, step back and reflect why we have come to this mission. If you see Aravind Kejriwal, his administration could able to connect the dots right from his party symbol “broom” to the point of modulating his party’s modus of operandi to cleansing the political system “bijli half, paani maaf model”, coupled with revitalizing government schools and hospitals.