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My Days With Dr. Kalam - A Lesson In True Management | VK Saraswat


All of us have good days and bad days. Some days things just don’t go as planned and we end up losing our cool and our temper. Professionally though, this is definitely going to be frowned upon. In the real work space, we are expected to be courteous, disciplined and polite, losing our temper is not something that goes well with our peers and our superiors. A true leader or manager then, is one who gets the best out of his team, without letting them feel any lesser about themselves.

Dr. Kalam was regarded as a father figure by all.  His style was never confrontational and he had a vast reserve of patience.  He always worked towards building a consensus rather than ramming down decisions.  He rarely lost his cool.  If someone upset him, all he would say were terms like “Funny Guy” / “Who is the hero?”  and “Get me that famous mechanic.”

On the days that he did end up being displeased, his style of showing it was unique.  The Prithvi-03 flight had a hang fire due to inadequate power supply to the  engine Pyros. Since the situation on Launch Pad was unsafe, he requested the safety team to ensure safe retrieval of the missile and bring it back to Hyderabad. 

We worked accordingly and started analysing the failure, and set out to refurbish the missile.  It was a Saturday afternoon when Dr Kalam walked into the assembly building and started discussing the reason for the failed test.  I saw signs of unhappiness on his face but he didn’t utter even a single harsh word.  He asked me to travel with him in the car.

During the journey from RCI to DRDL GH which is easily a distance of 6-7 km, he gave me a lesson on the precautions to be taken while designing the Pyro-firing circuit, and instructed me as a Programme Director to have a group of independent electrical experts to ensure that no flaw remains undetected in such critical subsystems of a missile.  I will always remember that friendly dressing down in the car.  This is how Dr Kalam gave one lessons in project management.

Everyone messes up at times; it’s the guidance and right motivation one receives during this time that helps them do better at the said task, and also get positive  learning for future tasks. Everyone gets displeased at times, but it is truly a great leader who can get his point across without a frown ever crossing his face or belittling those who have erred, just another reason why we all love and look upto , and will continue to look up to the enigmatic Dr. Kalam…

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