PI Talkies: Parable of A Leader And His Hanky

It happened over three decades ago. In a kirana shop in a corner of the country. And yet, it’s a story that’s probably been retold to successive generations of young managers at Hindustan Unilever. It’s a story that bears repetition.

The chairman of the company was on a market visit to a small town in Kerala. In one store, he noticed a tin of Dalda on a corner shelf. As he reached out to take a closer look at the tin, he was horrified to see a thick layer of dust on the lid.

There were sheepish looks on the faces of the folks accompanying the chairman. It wasn’t something they had wanted the chairman to see! The sales team’s routine included cleaning stocks on the shelf — with particular attention to food products. This was clearly a bad miss.

And what did the chairman do? Scream and shout? Threaten to sack someone? Talk about the need for better execution? Nope. He just put his hand into his trouser pocket, pulled out a clean, white handkerchief and proceeded to wipe the Dalda tin clean. That’s it. He just did what any foot soldier of the company would be expected to do. It was about a job to be done. Not whose job it was.

The sales team got the message — far better than they might have, had the chairman expressed his anger and disappointment in words. The retailer’s respect for the company went up a few notches in that instant. All those present that day got a master class in leadership. And as the story got retold over the years, young managers began to understand what a leader’s work ethic ought to be. And what great leadership really looks like.

I was reminded of the Dalda and the handkerchief story last week when I met with the managing director of a large auto-ancillary company. With him, was his head of Learning & Development. We sat around a little round table in the company’s guest house. As the L & D head began the discussion, I saw the managing director get up and go into the kitchen. And he was back in a jiffy with a cleaning cloth in his hand. He then went on to wipe the table clean. And as he saw the look of surprise on our faces, he said that when he put his diary on the table, he figured there was dust there! And he decided to clean it.

Now, I thought to myself, this is such a rare sight! When was the last time you saw the managing director of a company actually take a mop out and clean a table — in front of a group of other people?

Think about it. He could have easily done something else. He could have called out to the attendant who at that stage was busy making some tea and coffee for us, and said, “Come I want you to clean the table right now!” Or he could’ve shouted at him for not having maintained a clean table. Or he could’ve complained about the world we live in and said, “Look, there’s so much dust around us!”

He didn’t do any of that. He was a man who had seen a problem (which none of us had actually noticed) and then decided, ‘Hey, let me do something about it!’ He went out, got a cloth and cleaned the table. Great leaders are like that.

That’s just the kind of leadership that’s becoming so rare to find in our world today. And it’s also the kind of leadership that we all need to see more of. And show more of.

The chairman did it. The MD did it. What’s your excuse? The next time you see a problem — when you see that dust on the table or on your company’s products — which nobody else has noticed, don’t just leave it there. Don’t shout. Don’t ask someone to set it right. Just take a cloth and clean it!

Not only will you have a clean table — or clean products — you’ll also become a role model for what great leadership looks like.

And maybe, just maybe, many years later, they’ll still be telling your story.