The Indian Armed forces is regarded as the highly and most disciplined organization in India. The Indian Army lives agility by the second. Unexpected attacks, encounters and sudden change in the operating environments are the norm of the day. In spite of such anxious moments, they give us the maximum business value. The motivations are always high and they are already to deliver in the most perilous environments. If you look a little deep into the working challenges, I see no difference between complex systems development and the Army operations. Dealing with uncertainty, complexity, preparing for failures, rehearsing of failures, testing in Prod systems are some concepts in IT world, while the same challenges are relevant in the Army world. My talk would be around some principles and learning in the army that can be used in the IT corporate world in building organizations to deal with dynamic market changes in short doing and living agile. Some interesting aspects that I would like to have share are dealing with motivation and dealing with constant changes. I will also share real time examples how Leaders exhibit the Decentralize decision making that has led to remarkable success and also some aspects of how soldiers take risks and try out new things that lead to remarkable success. More details: https://confengine.com/agile-india-2019/proposal/8056/building-the-true-agile-mindset-learning-from-the-most-disciplined-organization-of-india Conference link: https://2019.agileindia.org

1. Building the true Agile Mindset – Learning from the
most disciplined organization in India
Anand Murthy Raj
Partner, Blinklane consulting and Gladwell Academy NL
Director, Agile Spirit Pvt Ltd

2. Inspiration
This presentation has been greatly influenced by the work
of Captain Raghu Raman in the form of his book and his
videos in youtube

3. Why Indian Armed Forces ?
1. Selfless Service to the Nation
2. Highly Disciplined/Ordered and lives Agility every moment
3. Accomplishes any tasks with perfection again and again and
again and again
4. Diversity is their strength
5. No difference between war and business (CI/CD/CT)

4. Indian Armed forces vs Corporates
1. Every job the army is sent is full of chaos - UVCA world
2. Troops are transient all the time
3. Mistakes are always costly
4. No incentives, no pay hikes, bonus and other jamborees
5. No plan will survive the first contact with the enemy - All the plans go for
a toss

5. Building Blocks - Teams and Leaders
My 12 coaching commandments
1. Every soldier must know the commander's intent
2. Understand and realize the strategic intent of the operation
3. Every soldier must be able to do one level up.
Section commander (10)  Platoon (40)  Company (180) Battalion Brigade  Division
 Corps Command
4. Every soldier is a leader; Leadership at all levels
5. Focus on the core drills and battle procedures - Muscle memory
6. As Leaders make your troops “Sweat in peace so that they do not bleed in
war”
7. Improvisation or Innovation on the fly
8. Leadership is a contact sport. Do Gemba
9. Indian army has the highest ratio of deaths of officers to non officers.
10. Leaders must love Chaos
11. Enable your teams to deliver consistently in this UVCA world.
12. Change is constant  Change from “Battle of swords” to “Battle of minds”

6. The Making of a Leader
Physical Strength
Physical Courage
Doing
Reacting
Touching
Direct leadership
Climate
Politics
Direction
Train for Certainty
Intellectual Strength
Moral Courage
Thinking/Planning
Anticipating –Thinking in time
Influencing
Indirect Leadership
Culture
Values
Principle
Educate for Uncertainty
Platoon Brigade Division Corps CommandCompany Battalion
Tactical Leadership Operational Commander Strategic Leader
Section

7. Leaders – Align with mission
Battle of Dograi Sep 21 1965 – 3 jat
In a brilliant and gruesome assault, what
he and his men achieved that September
50 years ago, had never been seen before
"Susre.. Aaj Raat ko teen Jat kahan hogi".
The troops shouted Dograi ..
He wanted to make sure that the objective is
He asked them again "Susre.. Agar mujhe goli lage ..
Tu ap log kya karoge"
Before he could blink his eye lid, the troops answered
"Saeeb ji.. agar goli lagee, to kande pe lekhe jayage,
per rukunge Dograi jaake.."
Lt. Col. Desmond Hydes
Mission is more important than the Leader

8. Leadership – Lead with bravery at crisis
Major Shaitan Singh

9. Leadership – Lead with bravery at crisis

10. Leadership – Lead with bravery at crisis

11. Leaders- Decentralize decision making

12. Leaders- Decentralize decision making

13. Leaders- Decentralize decision making
In one day 97 Paton tanks
were destroyed which is the
highest in the world history

14. The soldiers do not care about the names on their chest (their
own names) but they care for the names on the shoulders
(Palton's name) – This leads to motivation, team work and
success!!
Leadership - Be remembered forever
0.5140 Peak

15. Focus, Respect, Openness, Commitment and Courage
If you decide - You can hit a F16 with a MIG 21 Bison !!!
Learning in depth..86 seconds of dogfight at 36000
feet
Apne Kismat per Barvosa mat Karo!! Apne Kabaliyat per
Barvosa Karo!!
Do not depend on your luck; Depend on your Abilities

16. Ground of Tactical Importance
The Ground of tactical importance is that ground, the
loss of which will render the defender incapable of
fighting the battle.

17. The science of unlimited motivation
Individual
Motivation
Institutional
Motivation
Introspective
Motivation

18. Individual motivation

19. Individual motivation
“I am the Leader now.. I will die first as protecting my team is
my responsibility”
“Even If I die it does not matter.. I must see the tricolor flag
tomorrow morning on this peak”

20. Institutional motivation

21. Golden postulate of Learning Organizations
1. Accountability; We need to own our mistakes
2. Questioning Status Quo ; relentless improvement
3. Professional competence ; Not telling only thinking is useless
4. Unlearn, Relearn and Learn something new

22. Leaders – The new customer satisfaction

24. Anand Murthy Raj
+91 9845707457
anandmurthy.raj@gmail.com
anandmurthy.raj@gladwellacad
emy.com

25. Leadership Lessons
1. Do not sweat for small stuff.
2. The team wins or team losses.. All for one .. One for All..
3. Many times you will fail in life.. It is designed to bring
out the real strength in you.
4. Occupation chooses you and you cannot choose
occupations
5. Aaj Mukabla Hoga !! Always be prepared!!
6. Some misfires will happen!! Let it happen in training and
not in the jung or maidaan!!
7. Leaders must produce better leaders
8. There are no good teams or bad teams .. There are only
good or bad leaders

27.  NSG Commando, Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan
 NSG Commando, Hawaldar Gajendra Singh

28. Who is this?

29. Leadership Lessons
1. Do not sweat for small stuff.
2. The team wins or team losses.. All for one .. One for All..
3. Many times you will fail in life.. It is designed to bring
out the real strength in you.
4. Occupation chooses you and you cannot choose
occupations
5. Aaj Mukabla Hoga !! Always be prepared!!
6. Some misfires will happen!! Let it happen in training and
not in the jung or maidaan!!
7. Leaders must produce better leaders
8. There are no good teams or bad teams .. There are only
good or bad leaders