MS Dhoni – A study of his leadership style

A glimpse into the leadership style of Mahendra Singh Dhoni

A leadership assignment submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the course
Leadership Experience in the M.Sc. class at –

HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management

Leipzig, Germany

Submitted by:
Akash Sehra
AF2018

Leipzig, 2018
Assessor:
Prof. Dr. Justinus C. Pech
HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management

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 MS Dhoni – A study of his leadership style

Abstract

Mahendra Singh Dhoni a.k.a. MS Dhoni, the star of 21st century cricketing world acted as a
harbinger of change for the Indian cricket team over the last decade. The first and only Indian
captain to win all major ICC events across all formats (ODI, T20 and Test Rankings) is
acclaimed to be one of the finest leaders, not just in the sporting world but across industries and
nations. Hailing from a modest background, MS Dhoni has exemplified remarkable leadership
qualities during his tenure of captaincy and even after that (2017 onwards) as an experienced
player lending his support to the present captain Virat Kohli. Dhoni has recently been awarded
with a Padma Bhushan award – the third highest civilian award in India.

The following paper touches upon various aspects of Dhoni’s personality and leadership traits
taking cues from different events and experiences throughout his experience, with the aid of
several leadership theories and frameworks

Early days of captaincy

In 2007, Dhoni was a rookie when he stepped in the

shoes of the captain of the Indian cricket team and
was tasked to shepherd a young side to the first
edition of T20 World cup. To everyone’s surprise,
the young lad from a small town in India spearheaded
the team to victory and since then, he has grown into
the role and grown in stature (despite quitting from
the captaincy in late 2016). He went on to put India
on the forefront of cricketing world within a span of
a few years. The journey obviously was full of
roadblocks – be it the challenge to lead a team full
off top cricketing icons like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul
Dravid, Sehwag etc., or breaking the notion that a
player from a small town could manage to lead the
international cricket team.

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 MS Dhoni – A study of his leadership style

Leadership in the words of MS Dhoni

On being asked in an interview about his leadership style, Dhoni remarked “That’s not really
for me to decide because from outside, you can judge it better than me. Of course, I take it as a
job responsibility, I have been given the responsibility and I try to fulfil it to the best potential
that I have got. As an individual, you will make mistakes and as a captain, I feel it is very
important that if you commit a mistake, you go out there and admit it. It won’t always go your
way. The captain decides on something but it is somebody else who has to fulfil the job.
Ultimately, it depends on the person and how he responds to the situation. You try to be honest
to yourself, you read the game and decide something. If it doesn’t work, you stand up and take
the responsibility because that’s what your job needs you to do”

For a leader in any domain – sports, corporate or government, one of the most important traits
is to do its job with an honest intent and have the courage to own up to its consequences and
further take an extra mile to fix it as well. MS Dhoni seems to be fitting in this schema really
well. He views leadership as an additional responsibility entrusted on him owing to his
successful past and the trust his team lay on him and seems to have done a pretty darn job.

On another occasion, on asked about has he adapted his leadership style over the years, he
remarked that “It is very much trial and error. For instance, you’ve successfully communicated
with one person in a certain way. You try that same method with another guy with a similar
personality and it might not work at all. And you’ll realize you have to figure out a whole new
way of getting the best out of this guy”

For Dhoni, this trial and error method of dealing with his team has solidified his instincts further
and allows him to leverage his past experiences of cricket to arrive at an educated guess based
on gut. And there have been numerous instances when Dhoni has stunned the world with his
absurd decisions which he bases on his gut and follows it with a true intent and has got home
accolades and trophies year after year.

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 MS Dhoni – A study of his leadership style

Application of Leadership Theories to analyze Dhoni’s style

MS Dhoni, all throughout his captaincy tenure and even after that, has very well been
instrumental in setting a direction for the team to go, worked towards aligning people in that
direction and finally motivating people to achieve the common goal.
For instance, during any of the matches he is leading, he encourages his bowlers to have their
own plans and fields as giving them a pre-decided plan will lead to them bowling in the same
way without thinking. Based on interviews of Indian bowlers, he lets them execute their own
plan and step in with suggestions if it doesn’t work providing them the direction and alignment
to move further and, in the process, offer a chance to improve each player’s game (motivation
through offering people a sense of control and recognizing their efforts too).

Next, taking cues from French & Raven, Dhoni’s leadership and success can be said to be
influenced by personal power sources instead of positional power sources (while he does have
a scope to enjoy his legitimate power as the captain of the team). Within personal power
sources, he enjoyed high levels of Referent power owing to the respect he had gained from the
entire cricketing fraternity as well as Expert power owing to his skills as a top-class wicket-
keeper batsman and more so for his “strong gut” based on his successful past learnings.

Further, leveraging Brendon Burchard’s 6e’s of leadership, Dhoni displays strong traits
supporting the last 3e’s i.e. Empower, Evaluate and Encourage –

 Empower – Despite having the decision-making authority of deciding the bowling style
and field setting, Dhoni used to let his bowlers draft their own plans of setting the field
and varying with the bowling style accordingly, thus trusting and respecting the
experience and skills of his team.

 Evaluate – Dhoni has always been a smart cricketer who have always tried
understanding the game. He has always been able to evaluate the skills of his team really

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 MS Dhoni – A study of his leadership style

well and use it to the best advantage. In the words of Ravi Shastri, Present Cricket Coach
for India, “Dhoni has always flummoxed rivals with his use of bowlers, frequent changes
in batting order, field placements in consultation of his team, which invariably turned
the match in his team’s favor. That is because he reads the game really well.”

 Encourage – “I told them not to look at the sky or the opposition. I told them that God
helps those who help themselves. I said God is not coming to save us. If you want to win
this trophy, we’ll have to fight it out,” MS Dhoni’s worlds in a post-match press
conference in England.
Dhoni has time and again stepped up for his team and offered the much-needed
confidence and support his team needs during rough days and made them believe in
their own skills and efforts.

Further, taking cues from the model developed by James Downtown and James MacGregor
in 1970s, Dhoni perfectly fits into the definition of a Transformational leader owing to his
traits fitting in the following 4I’s of Transformational Leadership

 Idealized Influence – Dhoni has effectively served as a role model for a league of
young budding cricketers not just for his unorthodox batting style or his safe
wicketkeeper hands but the ability to lead a team to victory on multiple international
events and still be modest enough to own up for mistakes which he has committed in a
game.

For instance, Dhoni after beating Pakistan in the World Cup semi-final in 2011, was
quick to admit that he read the pitch wrong and opted for an extra seamer instead of a
spinner. After winning the match, it was not necessary for him to say that. But he still
owned up.” This spirit of his was very well appreciated by Krishnamachari Srikkanth,
former Indian captain and chairman of the Indian selection committee who went ahead
to said that "A good leader takes bold decisions. But if they go wrong, Dhoni promptly
admits his mistake.”

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 MS Dhoni – A study of his leadership style

Also, Dhoni has successfully displayed highest levels of professionalism towards the
game and never let his personal affairs come in between. While his wife was in
hospitalized giving birth to his daughter in 2014, he had an option to take a break but
chose to continue leading the team in Australia taking it as his “national duty” to do so

 Inspirational Motivation – Several new budding cricketers in India (e.g. KL Rahul and
Hardik Pandya) have went ahead in public to state how fortunate they are to share the
same dressing room with a person they have grown idolizing all these years. Not just in
the national team, Dhoni has inspired hundreds of young and aspiring cricketers through
his years of leadership of one of the teams (Chennai Superkings) in T20 Indian Premier
League who have grown under his leadership and went ahead to represent India on
international level now.

 Intellectual Stimulation – Dhoni has always been known for playing the game relying
on his strong instinct which he claims to have been developed over years of practice and
experience. However, despite the years of wisdom and experience, Dhoni is always
open for new ideas and support creativity. The fact that he lets his bowlers choose their
own field and bowling style and doesn’t interrupt in their batsmen’s batting style and
technique unless there is a major red flag or he asks for help. This way of managing the
team has fostered creativity in the team with players experimenting with their own
playing techniques unless they finalize on what works best for them.

 Individualized Consideration – The fact that MS Dhoni despite being one of the best
batsmen the cricketing world has ever seen prefers to come low down the order (No. 7
is his usual spot) after giving the more experienced as well as the younger batsmen a
fair chance to display their talent speaks volumes of the level of concern he has for each
player’s development. The mere fact that he gave up his captaincy to Virat Kohli when
he was doing tremendously well in his career just so as to provide Kohli a good enough
time to test his captaincy skills and develop in the presence of more experienced players
like himself is a testimonial of him respecting and acknowledging the contribution of
other team members and giving them due credit and recognition for the same.

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 MS Dhoni – A study of his leadership style

Next up, as per the leadership theories that emerged from Ohio Study, Dhoni seems to fit well
in the two critical dimensions of leadership behavior i.e. initiating structure; given his
vision and goal of acing though all the major events in the world of cricket and working towards
his vision step-by-step along with consideration – giving due respect and recognition to other
team members regardless of their tenure and performance. For instance, two months back when
India won the 2018 Asia Cup title, Dhoni walked up to the acting captain Rohit Sharma asking
him to give the newcomer and youngest member of the squad Khaleel Ahmed an opportunity
to hold the trophy which made Khaleel share how Dhoni helped him throughout his debutant
series and how memorable this entire experience is for a young player like him.

Further, thinking from the lens of Blake & Mounton, MS Dhoni would perfectly fit in the (9,9)
quadrant of Team Management in the Managerial Grid, owing to high levels of concern for
results (evident from the level of victories Indian team has achieved under his captaincy over
the last decade) and high levels of concern for people (evident from testimonials and
interviews of several cricketing stars over the years – younger or elder to him who have gone
ahead and praised Dhoni in public/press for his commendable contribution to Indian cricket

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 MS Dhoni – A study of his leadership style

Further, the following table showcases an attempt to map Dhoni’s personality leveraging P5
personality tool -

Flow of energy Extravert Introvert Dhoni can be classified as an

ambivert with a perfect blend of
calmness and composure in
critical situations and still comes
across as a very sociable person
on events
Thinking Style Analytical Big Picture thinker Dhoni has openly accepted that he
has won most of the crucial games
basing his decision on gut which
comes from looking at the bigger
picture and not focussing on very
miniscule things
Decision Making Rational Value/People His decision making represents a
approach
blend of both rational approach
(given his sound knowledge of the
game and years of experience) and
people-centric approach given his
usual approach of giving
youngsters a fair chance to display
their talent
Working Style Structured Flexible Dhoni is well known in the
cricketing world for his unorthodox
thinking on field which are usually
very flexible and based on the team
he is playing with and against
Emotional Calm Imprudent Often called as “Captain Cool” by
Responsiveness
his fellow-mates and
commentators, Dhoni has come a
far way in managing his emotions
and composure well even in the
most difficult sitations

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 MS Dhoni – A study of his leadership style

MS Dhoni’s Leadership Style

Among different leadership styles put forth by Daniel Goleman in his research, MS Dhoni
seems to display a healthy mix of Affiliative and Authoritative styles all throughout his
captaincy –

 Dhoni realizes that the success to any good team is happiness and contentment of its
team members coupled with a level of mutual trust among the players. He offers his
teammates the space to perform and act independently, to an extent that he is one of
the only captains in the world who has never seen shouting on his players or showing
discontent on the field during the match. Most of the players who have played under
Dhoni’s captaincy claims that that they have hardly seen Dhoni losing his cool even
in the dressing room. Infact, Dhoni’s room is always open for his teammates and they
spend most evenings together discussing movies, bikes, planes and not just cricket.

 Leverages his interpersonal relationships as a means of positive reinforcement.

For instance, he likes to invite his team members to his house in Ranchi or make
them try his new bikes (Fun fact – Dhoni is an avid bike fan)

 Offers positive feedback and recognition to other players for their performance
and due contribution. He offers new young batsmen an opportunity to come above
him in the batting order to have a fair sense of time to settle in and perform.

 To complement his affiliative leadership style, Dhoni uses an authoritative style in

conjunction where he sets a broader plan and vision for the team and allow for
individual members to perform to achieve the common goal. In order to mobilize
people towards victory, he states his vision and rationale behind the same to the team
and give them leeway to devise their own strategies and tactics to achieve them. This
freedom to innovate, experiment and take risks has a positive re-inforcement on the
team and prepares the players for future

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 MS Dhoni – A study of his leadership style

Key Takeaways and learnings –

 Shared Leadership – The importance of driving a set of individuals as a group with

the shared objective of leading to common goal is key to the success for any good
team. One needs to be open and flexible to change allowing the leadership experience
to be a dynamic and interactive process experienced by all members together.

 Managing Egos – One of the most challenging tasks I have faced personally during
my leadership days is to manage a team of people who are more
experienced/talented/skilled at that task than I am. Such a situation often comes along
with a series of challenges at an intrinsic level. When Dhoni stepped in the foots of
a captain ahead of several established players in a team laden with stars and former
captains, he took his due time and didn't interfere in their tried-and-tested methods
and even managed to extract the best out of the team at most times without ruffling
feathers.

 Change is good – It is important to embrace change as it comes instead of being

apprehensive towards it. The sooner one accepts that change is inevitable and rather
start forming a way to work around things for the greater good of the team, the
smoother would be one’s path to being a great leader.

 Significance of a balanced approach towards leadership – There is no one fixed

style of leadership that works well in all scenarios. One needs to be receptive to
change and adapt as per the changing nature of things. More so, it is not just a rational
mindset towards things that is essential, but that balanced with emotional intelligence
would take a leader a long way.

I’m a believer in the fact that your emotions are yours alone and hence you should
be the one who knows how to control it. Over time, I found dealing with my emotions
easier and that helped me deal with others better” – MS Dhoni

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 MS Dhoni – A study of his leadership style

 Art of managing failures – The ability to stay calm and composed with a seemingly
uncluttered mind is what stands Dhoni aparts from any other captain India had over
the last five decades. Such an attitude towards managing with pressure situations and
even failures soothes the nerves of the rest of the team and ensures that they stay
focused and continue to believe in themselves.

 Art of managing success – A more important aspect than reaching the top is to
maintain one’s position effectively without getting the victory to your head. Dhoni
dealt with his early success with a lot of maturity with his feet firmly on the ground,
which eventually laid the foundation of his phenomenal success. It requires a great
degree of level headedness and humility to handle fame and money at an early age.

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References

 Movie - MS Dhoni – An Untold Story

 Goleman, D. (2000, March-April). Leadership that gets result. Harvard Business Review
 Sadikot, Shirin (2014, July). The art of leadership – by MS Dhoni. BCCI News
 Ellis, Bret. (2018, February). Dacts on MS Dhoni you may not know. IndiaTv
 CricketCountry Staff (2017, December). MS Dhoni is a role model. CricketCountry
 Raj, Rohan. (2018, November). MS Dhoni’s ultimate sacrifice for the game. MenXP,
Hindustan Times
 Dhoni- The Art of controlling mind. ICC News

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