Business leaders come out tops on leadership tables: Ketchum's Study

Indian Business leaders are perceived as the most effective leaders in the country across categories covering political, business, sports, religious and community as per the Ketchum’s 2012 Leadership Communication Monitor study.

 

As per the findings of Ketchum’s 2012 Leadership Communication Monitor, business leaders are seen as the most effective with 41 % of Indians rating business leadership as excellent.  This is in line with global trends which rank business people as the most effective leaders.

 

However, Indians are dramatically different when it comes to ranking their sports and celebrities as effective leaders.  Surprisingly, sportspeople and celebrities rank even higher than religious and political leaders in India! Sportspeople rank high at no 2 with 37 % Indians rating them as excellent leaders. In contrast, globally sportspeople rank down at no 5 with just 23 % ranking them as effective leaders.

 

The contrast is even sharper with celebrities ranking no 4 in India with a 28 % score compared to the global rankings that pushes celebrities down to the bottom of the charts. Politicians, in fact, rank lowest in India with a score of just 21 %.

 

Despite a slowing economy and dipping corporate performances in the last one year, confidence in business leaders among Indians has actually grown with 50 % indicating they are more confident now than a year back. In sharp contrast, politicians have lost in confidence with lesser number of Indians now confident in political leadership.

 

According to Ajay Sharma, Managing Partner, Ketchum Sampark Pvt. Ltd, “At a time of considerable uncertainty, Ketchum Sampark 2012 Leadership Communication Monitor study is a response to the hunger for effective leadership – political, corporate, religious or community-based. This study examines attitudes to today’s leadership in India and explores the fundamental role of communication in informing and delivering that leadership.”

 

He further added, “One of the important take-away from the study is that people seem to have more confidence in Business leaders Vs policy makers to help the country through difficult times.” 

 

Within the business community, knowledge-based industries were perceived as having the most effective bosses. Ranked highest on leadership effectiveness was technology, with a 51 % approval rating, followed by telecom (46%) and Banking (45%). The energy sector came in fourth overall in the poll. The Media and financial services leaders were ranked fifth (41%) and sixth (40%) respectively. FMCG and alcoholic beverages are the bottom of the rankings with 30% & 20% respectively. 

 

There are no surprises that TV and print media ranked highest on credible media to build leadership with scores of 40%. Globally, though TV and print media have slid in rankings to 3rd and 4th respectively with in-person contact with leaders and televised speeches ranking higher as credible media.

 

A big surprise is India is Facebook. Facebook with a score of 39 % is marginally behind print (41%) and broadcast media (40%). This is in sharp contrast to global rankings where Facebook scores low at 16 % and no 10 in the rankings. 

 

Blogs don’t seem to enjoy much confidence in India or globally and rank lower than traditional press releases.  Twitter though picking up in importance still ranks in the bottom 3 on credibility.