This is story about a lesson in leadership that the Dr Satish Dhawan then the Chairman of The Indian Space Research Organisation taught Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam who was then the Mission Director of a Satellite Launch Program. It was 17th of August, 1979. At SriHarikota Space Centre, a 4 stage Satellite Launch Vehicle was ready for lift-off. With 44 sub-systems and 100s of sub-components. It was built at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and was moved to Sri Harikota.This was a culmination of work by 1000s of engineers and over 10,000 staff members, the team had started work in 1973 and were now ready to launch. A lot of people including the press had gathered there to watch the launch. Dr. APJ Adbul Kalam, the Mission Director was inside the mis-sion command centre overseeing the launch along with his team of hundreds of senior scientists and engineers. Thousands of scientist and engineers are also monitoring the launch from several centres and down-range stations across the country. Checking 100s of parameters manually is impossible so the computer system is designed to take over the launch process at T-8 secs. So at T-8 secs Dr. Kalam hands over the launch of the rocket system to the computer. T-7, T-6, T-5 everything seems to be working well. Then at T-4 the computer halts the launch as it detects a problem in the second stage rocket. The computer printout indicates that in the second stage control systems there is a leak. The whole rocket system is alive – the explosive system, the propellant system, the electronic system are all active and a decision needs to be taken quickly. Dr. Kalam turns to his team consisting of experts with experience of 20 / 30 years. They discuss and inform him that while there is a leak but the ignitor or oxidiser that was leaking was in still available enough to last till the second stage boost is over. Dr. Kalam asks them if they are sure and they say yes. So Dr. Kalam uses his power of manual override and takes over manual control of the launch. T-4, T-3, T-2, T-1, Lift Off. The launch vehicle smoothly takes off from the launch pad the 1st stage rocket boosters, using the guidance sytem the rocket is steady and achieves the required velocity. Everything is going okay for the first 100 secs, then the 2nd stage rocket started and almost immediately the entire launch vehicle spun out of control and hurtled down into the Bay of Bengal. The whole evening and night Dr. Kalam and his team poured over the data and the decisions. That 6.30am, the next morning, an exhausted Dr. Kalam gets a call from Dr. Satish Dhawan who asks Dr. Kalam to accompany him to the press conference. He says “I will handle the questions, you just accompany. The national and international press was there in full force. There were a lot of agitated people in the room demanding reasons for failure. After all a Rs. 20 Cr satellite was now lying at the bottom of the Bay of Bengal. Dr. Satish Dhawan fielded all the questions. Accepted the failure and said “Yes, it is a failure. The first time we have tried a launch and we have failed. But we have also learnt a lot. I can assure you that I have full faith in our technology and our scientist and our engineers and I will give them all the support and we will set everything right.” Almost a year later on the 18th of July, 1980, the satellite launch vehicle was ready to launch another satellite. Dr. Kalam was still the Mission Director and in charge of the launch. He hands over the controls to the computer at T-8, T-7, T-6, T-5…Lift off. The lift off is smooth and steady. The 4th stage gives the required speed and the trajectory is rock steady, the 3rd stage rocket works perfectly and so does the 2nd. The speeds achieved at all stages is perfect and so is the trajectory. The 1st stage rocket fires into action and achieves escape velocity and hurls the satellite in space. The mission is successful. Dr. Kalam takes the microphone and congratulates everyone. 30 mins later there is a call from, Dr. Satish Dhawan. He tells Dr. Kalam. “Good job. Now you go and conduct the press conference”. Dr. Kalam asked “Alone”. Dr. Dhawan said “Yes, alone. You achieved it”. That day Dr. Kalam learnt what he called a priceless lesson. A lesson he said no university could have taught him. A lesson in leadership. He saw that great leaders take the blame for the mistakes their team makes but gives them the credit for their success. What a powerful story! Business Points ( Tags ) #storytelling #business #bestseller #stories #leadership #Blame #encouragement #credittoteam #successes #Dr. Kalam #failure
