Tiananmen Square, Tahrir Square – does India need its is own Square?

I came across an interesting piece “Leadership lessons from Mubarak’s failed regime“, written by John R. Ryan, president of the nonprofit Center for Creative Leadership. Not sure how many Indian political parties will even want to read such articles.

• Way  back in 2009 Bob Johansen wrote in his book, Leaders Make the Future, wrote about ten trends that leaders of any organization or nation ignore at their peril. Two trends are relevant to Egypt (wonder how many relevant to India)
• First, Johansen foresaw the rising influence of “smart mob organizing,” through which social networks are used creatively and purposely to fuel change. (Using Facebook, 26 year old woman from Egypt, Asmaa Mahfouz, got people to come to Egypt’s Tiananmen Square – Tahrir Square)
• Quiet transparency in leadership begins with humility. …leaders will definitely have to give up some control. They need to decide what they can and want to manage, since they cannot directly supervise everything. Leadership control is something of an illusion.
• The protesting Egyptian citizens want to be recognized, respected and valued by their leaders.
• The complexity in our world demands more capable leadership that creates direction, alignment and commitment, which means we need interdependent leaders at all levels of governments and organizations.
• Leaders today can accomplish little or nothing without trust from their followers. Being open and authentic, maintaining an attitude of servant leadership, builds that trust.

China never likes such uprisings, they know how to fix it, after all they tamed Google, they just decide on what the Chinese should read and see. Hosni Mubarak too got inspired by China and cut off internet access in Egypt temporarily.

There were rumors about politicians in India being a little nervous of having to face such uprisings (2G scam, land scam, Adarsh scam). I don’t think Indian politicians have to worry, we don’t have a ‘Square’ in India, at least not as of now.

Also see,

• Could an Egyptian-style uprising happen in the U.S.?
• Egypt’s Shutdown Of Net Was Costly: An estimated $90 million for 5 days