The occasion has me thinking about what is emerging for leaders in India – and Hinglish leaps to mind.

It’s the language of the future I am told – a combination of English and Hindi.

I even met one man in India who told me that English was no longer “yours but ours” because “we are the biggest population in the world speaking it” and it will be increasingly Hinglish.

At a course day a group of participants started explaining Hinglish to me. They showed me how they could switch their phones to HING.

And me, who is so famously haphazard about my use of English, got all offended. So this reminded me that leaders need pushing just a bit sometimes.

I spoke to the participants again and they pretty well told me that I needed to get real. English was their language now and soon most English in the world will be spoken in India. And its Hinglish. The British could get all purist about it, but if they did, they would be left behind.

Bear in mind that I was educated French and am very conscious of failing a language by being too purist.

I heard it spoken and understood two thirds. Some highlights were…

• “Hungry kya? (Are you hungry?)
• “What your bahana is?” (What’s your excuse?)
• “Prepone” (i.e.  dinner plans – if you can postpone them, you can prepone them.)
• “Yeh Dil Maange More.” (The heart wants more.)
• “Life ho to aisi.” (This is what life should be.)

Then a few weeks later I got an official letter from an Indian accountancy firm on and remember reading it and instinctively wondering how poorly educated the author was. Then I realised that it was in Hinglish.

I was watching my sons play and one of the kids had the role of an owner of a corner shop, and he had chosen to put on an Indian accent. As I watched it I thought the boy was playing a pretty cheap caricature, little did he know we was actually speaking the English of the future.

Our UK course participants have discovered that Hinglish is a language that they will need to learn, and not the pigeon English that they currently associate with corner shops. They can see that they better start to understand it.

“I knew I was a leader at work but not for a minute had I thought of myself as a leader of Bangalore”

This says it all. What Common Purpose is about. What has happened to democracy – even a young democracy – that young leaders don’t know that it’s not just about voting but about standing up too. And most of all it says what democracy is. He got it, was up for it and knew he could lead.

India and the UK have much in common. One may be an old democracy and the other quite young, but they have much in common. Leaders have a deep sense of responsibility and possibility in both countries that it does not take much to awaken. They understand the deep cultural implications of one person – one vote, accountability, commitment to transparency and a sense of justice. And they understand frustrations, short-termism and the discouragement of difficult decisions.

That’s why there is such a special relationship between the UK and India that will benefit both. That’s why Common Purpose will continue to grow in India and connect with Common Purpose in the UK.

It’s all about how you ensure that the boards of the future protect us from the disasters over the last couple of years.

I too believe that diversity is one of the keys. Homogeneous boards are complacent and risky. Complacent because it means that the organisations are careless about understanding the modern world and don’t care enough about their brands to adapt and stop hiding behind the old excuses like: “oh but we try so hard but there just aren’t enough people out there”. Risky because homogenous boards develop group think and don’t see some things coming.

But there are two forms of diversity that always seem to be forgotten: age and language.

If all your board is of one generation it will miss things that are intuitive to other generations. And on language: how may British international boards speak enough languages to really claim to be international?

-    Julia Middleton was recently interviewed by Knowledge Peers on managing and sustaining effective boards for not-for profit organisations. You can sign up for Knowledge Peers membership here.

-    About Time is a multi-faceted campaign supported by the Government Equalities Office, Anchor Trust and Common Purpose in the UK. The campaign will increase the number of people involved in public life across the UK, by overcoming barriers that get in the way of participation. At the core of the About Time campaign is the notion that diversity is critical to a board’s ability to spot issues and trends.

It has never got in my way since I left school. In fact it probably makes me a better speaker. But it has got the better of me now that Common Purpose is expanding in India. One million Rupees makes 10 lakhs. And 100 lakhs make a crore.

So you have to get your head around the noughts, the many noughts. In groups of three. I just can’t do it. A sea of noughts.

Guess its important to know where you’re strengths are.

(By the way, it’s Xtraordinary Week 2010, a week that raises awareness of the strengths and talents of dyslexic children and adults everywhere)

Shall we focus on what these three men have to say on policy? Or the issues? Or will we scrutinise their competency? Or the strength of their ambition?

To me – above all – the focus should be on leadership. Who do we think will be the best leader with the best team?

The UK is in quite a mess. No secret there. We can get out of its mess, but the danger is that we will slide and all the difference will rest on the brave decisions and the national mood one of these three people will create.

We have huge assets for such a small country – in land mass and population – compared to existing and emerging world powers. But we will have to play a clever game to succeed…and to continue to prosper.

So what will I be looking for as I switch on the telly tonight? The leader with some policies I’m sure to disagree with. The one to lift a country from the recession blues and give it confidence. The leader who names the beast, who doesn’t pretend that there is no mess to speak of and confronts the hard questions. The one who can attract and keep talent around him and ensure they perform at their best. The one who speaks in a way that makes you listen.

She said yes.

Only with age and experience – and regular disappointment with fellow leaders of my own age – have I really appreciated just how glorious Anita was that day.

She was at the height of her power. Her brand was vast and she just backed me on instinct. Maybe years on you might think: ‘clever her, she spotted a winner’… but it couldn’t have looked that certain to her at the time.

She could have taken the approach so many people seem to take, which is why I say I have been disappointed with other leaders. I can see the agony of the inner questioning:

• ‘Is this worth the risk?’
• ‘How might it catch me out?’
• ‘How would it look?’
• ‘I should do the due diligence.’
• ‘Why should I do this?’
• ‘Why doesn’t this person write a 16 page business plan?’
• ‘How could this inconvenience me and what would I have to do…?’

But Anita didn’t. She went with her instinct and as a result I would have done anything for her.

Sometimes I think the word ‘mentoring’ reduces what actually happens throughout this process. As a result of mentoring me, Anita became chair of my organisation and gave me an office to work from. But she also became my friend.

She asked the difficult questions, jumped in when I needed her and lightened the tone when I got grim. She mentored me, I suppose, but mostly she believed in me.

It takes courage when you start things from nothing when you are nothing. I should know. And courage was something Anita had in abundant supply, and that’s how she founded that first store in Brighton many years ago.

I know, now that I am closer to the age she must have been when we met, that it takes even more courage to risk it all again and again, backing and mentoring others to take the same route, even if it might risk your own hard won success.

Anita wasn’t timid at the start and most importantly she never became timid. The world needs more leaders like her.

27 March marks the anniversary of the first opening of The Body Shop in 1976

The article was published two days before the World Economic Forum buzz (or indeed lack thereof for those that stayed away). It’s also been the week of President Obama’s State of the Union address – kind of a spoken annual review, but with many more hand gestures and a serious campaign to go down in history as one of the world’s greatest orators.

Excuse my cynicism. I’m just a little tired of the puffery.

Robert Bruce has hit upon something. The public – these leaders’ publics – are baffled. And they deserve an explanation.

Like all professions, directors of finance have their language – ‘financese’. Removing the ‘puff’ from it would mean making the story of what they do accessible to others, and there’s a fear that this would devalue what highly paid professionals do. They’re not alone.

The thing is, I don’t believe they think of themselves as leaders – and they are. They’re often seen as the boring number crunchers, not the story tellers.

But this year they have such a key role to play – and an important story to tell. They have an even greater responsibility to rebuild the trust in business. It takes numbers to do this, absolutely, but there’s a story here too. It’s a story that should not be reserved for other finance directors or investors – though the stake in communicating to these people is quite clear, and mutually beneficial. But these leaders need to communicate to other people.

See, the numbers don’t lie – they’re just confusing. But the numbers do provide a clear means of telling an organisation’s story. All you need is an accompanying narrative and a clear and straightforward consideration of who needs to hear it. Surely that’s not beyond the capabilities of a financial director (although they might need the services of translators)? And if it is beyond their capabilities, it shouldn’t be.

This year’s story might not have a happy ending, but if we have learned one thing over the past year it is that leaders need to tell the truth because that is what people yearn for above all else – whether it’s good or bad.

In fact, I don’t think that’s limited to the private sector at all. Finance directors across sectors would be wise to redefine themselves as leaders on this issue if they haven’t already done so.

I say congratulations to ICAS for putting together a guide on ‘Making Corporate Reports Readable’. The next step is that leaders within organisations need to tell the story to their people clearly and honestly. They need to write it. They need to speak it. And they need to ensure that it is understood by all their stakeholders.

Stories that end in shock and awe, or that twist and turn are nice for suspense thrillers. Not when your job or the economic stability of your employer or country is at stake. Your people do deserve a straightforward story. And leaders are responsible – at the very least – for telling it well.

Other places where you can read up on this topic include:

• The Times
• Personal Computer World

Today at the World Economic Forum there will be a session on ‘Global Industry Outlook: Finance, Services and Media’, and yesterday there was a session on ‘New Corporate Governance in the Post-Crisis World’.

You can view the programme at Davos here, and view the media coverage here - or refer to the Common Purpose blog to see what our teams are reading.

What comes across when he speaks about the World Economic Forum is his humility and his thoughtfulness – and his hands.

As I post this, leaders at Davos are emerging from a morning session on ‘Rebuilding Trust in Business Leadership’.

I do think that as we look back on 2009 – when a lot of trust was lost – Stephen Green is there. He isn’t terribly exciting as a speaker, but I would follow him for his humility and success.

There are some other items on trust that I think are helpful and very interesting:

• From the Institute of Leadership & Management – the 2009 Index of Leadership Trust
• From the Reith Lectures, 2002: Onora O’Neill on Trust
• From the World Economic Forum in 2005 (even before the crash)

This year its not just the end of a year but of the first decade of what was  the eagerly anticipated New Millennium. And what a decade it has been – a great anti-climax. All those big aspirations and bold targets just didn’t hold water. The worst of it for me has been the collapse of trust in leadership at a rate that makes climate change look like it’s dawdling.

I am now wondering what leaders will need to think about, the challenges they will face and the triumphs they will celebrate in the coming decade.

So I would like to hear your views. What is your wish list is for our leaders as we welcome 2010. Will they need to be…

1.    Brave?
2.    Enlightened?
3.    Bold?
4.    Humble?
5.    Networked?
6.    Entreprising?
7.    Ruthless?
8.    Collaborative?
9.    Cautious?
10.    Authoritative?

Tell me which one is the most important and why in the comments below.

And have a very happy holiday season and New Year.

The last few days have been about deciding the business plan with the board and my colleagues in India. We have been working through which of the multitude of opportunities here we are going to do first. And there are almost infinite opportunities now that we have shown what can be achieved in Bangalore and Chennai. India, growing at such breakneck speed is demanding so much of its leaders – and particularly that they work together – that Common Purpose is spot on, the right idea at the right time. So we have had to be controlled and serious and determined so that our discussions prioritise cleverly.

And then we get on this plane and my colleagues suddenly start squealing, jumping up and down, flapping their arms. Giggling like little girls. He’s coming, I saw him on the stairs, he’s coming, its him, I can’t believe it, its him. He is the Big B (Amitabh Bachchan…I hear the name!). I shall always be amazed by the unbelievable power of celebrity. Reducing leaders – in moments – to drooling squealing groupies!

And now they are trying to explain to me just what a mega star he is.

I have spoken to him now – we went up into first class through the curtains – he has huge physical presence and says nothing. He blanks questions no doubt in the fear of being quoted. But he is for real, he is a star, and a business man, and a politician and a survivor because he has had huge ups and down in all three worlds.

So our start up in Mumbai will be wonderful now, we have been touched!