I am a diehard fan of Ninja movies. In fact, ‘Seven Samurai’ is my all-time favourite, and in spite of having watched it umpteen of times, I never grow tired of it. Well, if you are into Ninja movies, you will understand, what I mean.

Now, Samurai and Ninja are different, though people tend to confuse them a lot. While both samurais and ninjas are Japanese warriors, their mindset and modus operandi differed from each other.

A samurai warrior belonged to an elite class and was attached to a powerful political figure and adhered to a high code of honour called Bushido. A ninja, on the other hand, was a low class mercenary infamous for his sneaky ways and could be hired by anyone to kill.

He didn’t follow any rules or codes. He was not fussy and didn’t worry himself with who did what and why. He would simply go and execute seamlessly working as a specialist, yet be effective and efficient in his approach and come out clean without leaving a trace.

Now, being an experienced player in the field of retail, I could not help but draw a strong analogy between samurais and ninjas and the roles of leaders today.

The samurais are the leaders of the past, who are old school, rigid and go by the book. They believe in drawing their power from their position, authority and title. They lead and manage using tried and tested processes and collect accolades and applause for victories that involve little or no innovation.

Their every decision needs to be politically validated and motivated. While, this may have proved to be successful in the 80s and 90s, if you want to be a leader in the 21st century, you need to shift gears. You need to be a ninja.

Ninjas are not worried about the politics of the organisation or the bureaucracy. They come in, do the job stealthily and exit without attracting unwanted attention to themselves. They are restorative and proactive.

They do not attempt to be superheros who sweep in when there is panic, but rather foresee the problem even before it occurs. It means they move stealthily through the oragnisation, sealing the leaks and filling in the cracks that go beyond the boundaries of their role.

If there is a challenge, problem or something that needs to get done, they can and will do it. Their reward comes from their work and their work speaks for them.

Today, as organisations continue to expand their global reach, they need more ninjas... and not samurais. However, our hiring strategies and our development plans still prefer to select and churn out more and more samurais.

Organisations are, in fact, willing to compromise and settle for the cheapest samurai instead of hiring a professional ninja. This needs to change, if we are to survive in an environment that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguos (Vica), we need ninjas.

A retail ninja would need to have the following attributes:

* He has a global perspective. A retail ninja understands how the business world works on a global scale in order to make strategic decisions for the company. He has the ability to manage business using the best people from around the planet. That ability stems from the experience of networking at the highest levels in global boardrooms.

* A retail ninja is a systems thinker and goes beyond his functional areas of expertise. For instance, apart from his expert field of finance or marketing, he knows about supply chain, logistics and operations as well. He has an in-depth knowledge of the ‘whole system’ and how each component interacts with and affects the other. This way he knows how his one decision can set the reaction in the entire system in motion.

* A retail ninja is inspiring and influential, and can inspire and influence a team of people. He is able to clearly and succinctly express himself. Apart from strong verbal and written communication skills, he possesses masterful oratory skills.

* A retail ninja is technology savvy. Technology empowers people and offers new ways of doing old things, or coming up with entirely new things, largely in the interest of the organisation and its stakeholders. In this era of technology, a leader has a good understanding of technology and and how it can affect the organisation.

* A retail ninja has a very strong business acumen. He has a good knowledge and undersanding of the key drivers of growth. He knows how to make sense of complex situations and can take decisive actions keeping in mind the implications arising out of them for all the concerned parties.

In the highly challenging and complex retail world, global leaders might not wear all-covering black outfits or brandish swords, but they fiercely work like ninjas. They are the game changers in retail to help organisations not only survive, but also thrive.

— The writer is a Partner — Leadership Transitioning with Stanton Chase Middle East, ranked among the Top 10 executive search firms in the world.