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CONTENTS
EDITOR Gp Capt R Vijayakumar ﴾Retd﴿, VSM
READERSHIP OUTREACH Gp Capt Dr R Venkataraman ﴾Retd﴿
Sundar R Vakeeswari M DESIGN D Rajaram, Tayub Refai MADRAS MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION Management Center, New No.240 Pathari Road, ﴾Off Anna Salai﴿, Chennai 600 006 Ph:044‐2829 1133 / Email:mma@mmachennai.org | mandate@mmachennai.org | www.facebook.com/mmachennai
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MAR 2022
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EDITORIAL
Gp Capt R Vijayakumar (Retd), VSM
A lot to watch out for this March!
I
ndia’s latest economic survey offers a healthy
Convention Committee, and our Knowledge Partner,
revival picture and projects 8.5% growth in GDP for
McKinsey & Company, for tirelessly working over the
2022-23. The fiscal situation is comfortable, thanks
to buoyant tax revenues and successful post-pandemic recovery
initiatives
among
others.
The
budget
last few months to make the convention a grand success. I also thank the sponsors for their support in organizing the celebrations of propagating management movement in this part of the country. Please watch the
attempted a balancing act in a competing domestic and
convention live on Saturday, 12th March 2022. Click to
global environment. This increases the challenges and
view.
trade-offs confronting monetary policy. Keeping this in mind, this year’s MMA Annual Convention will focus on the key issues that underpin India’s ability to deliver on its promise.
institutional reforms if
Annual Convention at MMA The
MMA
We need significant
Annual
Convention
Corporate Governance is not to has
been
remain an illusion. The cause of
conceptualized over the course of three exceptional
investors trust must never get
sessions and through conversations with several
short shrift. It is vital to India’s
prominent
industry
experts/economists/thought
leaders. I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate Mr Suresh Raman, Chairman, MMA BUSINESS MANDATE
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economic success and faith in the process and systems. 5 MAR 2022
MMA Women Convention
Hopefully, India will project a well worked out proposal
Come March, usually it is time for our women members to interact with the women thought leaders, entrepreneurs and corporate executives at the annual MMA Women Managers Convention. The event is a celebration of the spirit of women, and the many
that IOC members will find attractive and award us the hosting of 2030 Winter Olympics. Let’s hope for the best!
The Ukraine war
diverse roles they play. We, at MMA, believe that
After the end of Cold War, many former Soviet
Women’s Day Celebration is not another shallow
Union nations have joined the North Atlantic Treaty
exercise in tokenism but is a celebration of spirit of
Organisation (NATO). Russia is concerned by the
women. The MMA Committee has decided to host the
security implications if Ukraine too were to join the
Women Convention in person on Saturday, 26th March
bloc. Ukraine made a strong statement that any military
2022 on the theme “Marching Ahead: Inspiring Change
escalation could bear a heavy cost. But ignoring global
in Human kind.”
pleas, Russia launched a multipronged invasion of
More recently, the burden on women has become heavier, owing to the pandemic. The result is a nonstop, high-stakes juggling act. Today there is some light at the end of the Covid tunnel, and we are here to explore what awaits! How do we march ahead and rise to the occasion to aspire for greatness?
Ukraine. The Russion aggression is a danger to the world. While we may have defence and other ties with Moscow, India must act now, at this moment, in a sensible and logical way and as an exponent of nonviolence. With Russia and China enjoying veto power, any UN resolution considered against Russian interest is bound to fail.
In this context, the Convention Committee headed by Dr Ranjini Manian and knowledge partner, EFL, are putting together a great convention with a galaxy of outstanding speakers. The convention content and structure have been finalized with great care, keeping in view the aspirations and expectations of our women delegates. Look forward to seeing you at the convention and you can also watch it live.
India has advised its citizens, including students living in Ukraine, to return home. The free world calls upon the Russian President to re-consider and withdraw his troops and start dialogue with Ukraine leaders and other world leaders. At the moment, peaceful coexistence should be the top priority. In this context, MMA in partnership with KAS and ORF is organising a conclave on the theme, “Ukraine Crisis: Is Global Focus Moving Back to Europe?”
A step closer to the Olympic dream!
international
experts,
with a galaxy of
including Mr Kanwal Sibal,
It isn’t the medal, but the honour nonetheless. In
Former Foreign Secretary, Government of India, sharing
2023, India will host the annual session of International
their insights on 22 March 2022 at Hotel Leela Palace,
Olympic Committee in Mumbai. It is inspiring to know
Chennai.
that at this year’s conclave in Beijing, India received 99% of the votes for hosting the meeting after a gap of 40 years. What Indian sports enthusiasts are keen to know is whether India would be in a position to make a winning bid for an opportunity to host the summer Olympic Games. I strongly believe that India would have the added advantage of being a major economy which could swing a few votes just based on this fact. 6
MAR 2022
Corporate governance There is never been a dull moment with issues of corporate governance in India. Board room and chat rooms have been equally spellbound by the latest revelations emerging from the country’s premier bourse, National Stock Exchange (NSE), that an outsider was said to have guided its Management with business
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and regulatory advice. Despite the total freedom and
A crypto ban would be hard to enforce, given the
authority granted to the exchange’s top executives, the
secrecy with which password “Keys” can be held.
board members betrayed the trust of shareholders
Moreover, why forgo a loss of tax revenue? People
whose
should be left at liberty to buy the tokens they want.
interest they had to protect.
Hopefully,
regulators will not resort to a routine approach to governance issues, but will seek to balance flexibility and accountability with iron hands. Convulsions of
Caveat Emptor.
Young professionals giving back to society
outrage after a particular episode will not take us very
I am delighted to note that a new generation of
far. We need significant institutional reforms if
wealthy Indians with a desire to give back and build a
Corporate Governance is not to remain an illusion. The
better country is driving philanthropic activities. The
cause of investors trust must never get short shrift. It
world giving index ranks India 82nd.. The US, which
is vital to India’s economic success and faith in the
experienced significant wealth creation in the early 20th
process and systems. In this context, I am delighted to
Century, is ranked first globally. As philanthropy grows,
share with you a proposal under consideration to set
advisors and facilitators are needed to assist givers in
up an MMA Centre for Business Ethics to focus on how
creating an enduring and sustainable impact. There is
to build ethical leadership to strengthen ethical culture
no harm in enjoying wealth, but many of us have more
in organisations and promote ethics research in India.
than required, so why not we use some of it to help
This quote of Mahatma Gandhi is very relevant: “We
others? And to start asking ourselves how are we paying
must be the change we want to see in the world.” To
off our debt to society and our planet?’
spearhead that change process in ethics and business, I am sure that the MMA Center for Business Ethics will play a vital role. I am also delighted to share in this issue an article with an embedded video on the theme, “Ethical Blindness: Why ethical awareness is the bedrock for success and sustainability?" Please do share your view to strengthen our endeavour to promote ethics and trust as a culture in our society.
RIP Lata Mangeshkar An era has ended. Lata Mangeshkar’s voice transcended generations and it remains eternal. In a way, she led a full life and let us cherish the lovely moments she gave to this country. That she could rise to impossible heights in the world of music in those days where sound technology was at its nascent stage by dint of her hard work and sheer discipline sends a
Not even a tulip
message to budding singers and management profes-
In her budget speech, the Finance Minister
sionals. “After silence, that which comes nearest to
introduced a 30% tax on income earned from transfer
expressing the inexpressible is music,” said Aldous
of virtual digital assets. The budget’s move was taken
Huxley. Lataji has exemplified this truth in her music
as an implicit admission of the legitimacy of crypto
journey. The magic was her mellifluous voice.
token as an asset class. In this context, the RBI Governor’s flag of caution deserves attention. Urging investors to recognize the risk of putting money in crypto, he said, “The crypto currencies have no
As always we would be happy to hear your view, comments and suggestions. Stay safe, stay healthy and keep learning!
underlying (asset) not even a tulip.” This was a likely reference to a 17th century bubble of tulip prices inflated by a frenzy of buying in Europe that left many speculators with huge losses after it’s inevitable burst. BUSINESS MANDATE
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Mr Ramkumar Shankar, Managing Director, Chemplast Sanmar Ltd, talks about the evolution of industries and how employee expectations and outlook have changed in recent times.
T
here are many clichés in life, in general, and in industry in particular. One of the most wellknown clichés in recent times is the term, ‘The
New Normal.’ This is a term that one just cannot escape from. It is used to refer from commodity prices and logistics to environmental norms and just about every business situation. While this may seem a highly overused term, one cannot escape the fact that indeed there have been significant shifts in industry over the last many years. Conditions have changed; needs have changed; approaches and methodologies have changed. The tools at our disposal have evolved. Opportunities which were not there earlier have emerged and where opportunities emerge, so do challenges. It would be interesting to take a giant step back and understand what really has changed so much. What is this new normal? For that, we would need to look well into the past and understand the path that has been traversed. Klaus Schwab, the Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, in a very widely read article in 2016, identified four phases of industrial growth. 10
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The Four Industrial Revolutions The first phase, which he calls the first industrial revolution and what we say as Industry 1.0, saw the advent of the Machine Age, with the usage of water and steam power. This was the first significant step moving away from the dependence on human and animal power to mechanical power. This opened up huge new possibilities in expanding output, as one was no longer restricted by what was physically possible. This was a phase that ran from the mid-18th to around the mid19th century. Sometime around the mid-19th century, the
next
phase—Industry
2.0
began.
This
transformation was driven by the proliferation of electric power in industry. Railroads connected places and enabled movement of goods and people, thereby reducing distances as a constraint. Telecommunications evolved further, linking distances. All of these enabled mass production and further industrialization. Industry 2.0 went on till the mid-20th century, interrupted by two World Wars. Progress was obviously incremental during this phase. Once World War II ended, the next
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era began. This was Industry 3.0, which ushered in the
return on capital and returns to labour. Many
‘Digital Era.’ This saw a massive growth of electronics
traditional jobs are being pushed to extinction while
and information technology. The shift from analog to
new job opportunities open up. Reskilling is of
digital progressed at an extremely fast pace during this
paramount importance. No individual in the workforce
period. Industrial processes changed and the size of
can afford complacence or hope to remain relevant
both manufacturing units, and indeed companies,
without effort. The pace of change has shot up
increased multifold. In communication, transportation,
multifold. If one does not keep up, it is very easy to be
product discovery and delivery and in many other
left behind. This dizzying rate of change places
areas, including the way we lived, there were seismic shifts. Maximum disruption happened during this period,
With the world in their hands,
and people had to evolve quickly to live with and
expectations of the workforce
manage this disruption. We are now in what Klaus
today have gone up and
Schwab called the Fourth Industrial Revolution of
acceptance levels are very
industry or Industry 4.0. This builds on the third phase,
different from what they were.
further digitizing the word. This is the era of metaverses and to quote Mr.Schwab, 'the fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, the digital and the biological spheres.’
Today's workforce has a respect for deeds, not for positions, persons or even age.
In this current milieu, the gap opens up between BUSINESS MANDATE
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There is already a talk about
force. They would be a subject for a conclave in the
Industry 5.0, which talks of even
years to come!
deeper cooperation between
This demographic classification is important
people and machines. But what
because, when one was born defines the kind of change
about the people side of
that one has seen and the thinking that defines the
industrialization?
response to this change. For instance, I would qualify as a Gen X. We as a generation were needed to adapt to so many things—in communication, from the rotary dial phones for which we needed to reserve and wait;
enormous stress and strain on the workforce, especially
(How many of us remember the OYT and non-OYT
mentally and brings into sharp focus the need to
scheme?) to the push-button phones to pagers, which
address the impact on mental health as well.
we in India have mostly skipped; to mobile telephones
Those then were the four broad phases of evolution
to now the era of smart phones.
that the industry has been through—Industry 1.0—the
We moved from manual typewriters to electronic
mechanization phase, followed by the electrification
typewriters to computers that filled the room, to floppy
phase, then the automation phase and now the
diskettes and all the way to where we are today. In
digitization phase. There is already a talk about
television, we had just Doordarshan. We have seen an
Industry 5.0, which talks of even deeper cooperation
explosion in programming channels to where we are
between people and machines. But what about the
today. The advent of the Internet and World Wide Web
people side of industrialization? As the ways of
have essentially democratized access to information
business have changed, so too have people, their
and knowledge and created a level playing field. We
attitudes and approaches. They too have evolved with
have witnessed tectonic development in so many areas.
the times, especially in the latter part of the 20th Indeed, the Baby Boomers and the Gen Xers have
century.
seen the maximum changes in one lifetime, in almost
Baby Boomers to Gen Alpha
all spheres of life. Now, multiply that by a factor of 10
Demographers have these very engaging labels by
and that is the speed at which development is
which they classify people since World War II. They
happening. That is what the millennials and the post
start with those born between 1946 and 1964 and call
millennials are going through. The workplace has also
them the Baby Boomers. These are people who were
seen the same rapid changes over the past few decades,
born during the economic boom that came about post-
starting from the very products that are produced.
war. The generation that came after this, those born
From products being manufactured to meet existing
between 1965 and 1980, were turned Gen X. Following
needs, today needs are being created around products
them are the millennials or Gen Y born between 1981
or services that have been already designed. Cab hailing
and 1996 and then the post-millennials born between
services, smartphones, tablets, etc., are all prime
1997 and 2012.
The next generation—Generation
examples. Similarly, the existing paradigms in the
Alpha, spanning 2012 to now is not yet in the work
workforce have changed dramatically both due to
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changes in the industrial construct and due to the
Already businesses in the US and Europe are being roiled by
evolution of employee expectations.
what is being called the Great
The world in your hands
Resignation. In the US alone,
The personality and character of today's workforce
post the pandemic, within the
have also changed dramatically. The explosion in
last six months between April
smartphones has meant that today's employees are
and September 2021, it is
very well informed and exposed to what is happening
estimated that 24 million
elsewhere. We would all remember this very early
workers have resigned and
cellular services ad in India, which said karlo duniya
exited the work force.
mutthi mein—that is, “Take the world in your hands.” Truly, that was prescient. For, that is exactly what has happened.
this. All of this has been further complicated by the
With the world in their hands, expectations of the
Covid pandemic and the havoc that it has brought on
workforce today have gone up and acceptance levels
health—both physical and mental—and the restrictions
are very different from what they were. Today's
on so many things that we have so long taken for
workforce has a respect for deeds, not for positions,
granted. These restrictions have pushed us to make so
persons or even age. One can no longer expect or
many adjustments to how we do things—be it at home
demand respect because of the position one holds or
or at the workplace. These are likely to pose a fresh set
one's seniority. Respect has to be earned. There is very
of challenges, whenever the world ultimately emerges
little fear of losing jobs, or of saying the inappropriate
from the pandemic. I hope that Omicron is the last of
things or of just about anything.
these variants.
They don’t stand and wait
The great resignation
The millennials and post-millennials have the
Already businesses in the US and Europe are being
confidence, maybe sometimes not so well founded on
roiled by what is being called the Great Resignation. In
reality, which shapes their behavior and approach to
the US alone, post the pandemic, within the last six
situations. Emotional connects are less of a given than
months between April and September 2021, it is
before. There is more of a transactional construct to
estimated that 24 million workers have resigned and
most interactions and relationships. There is an
exited the work force. This extraordinary situation has
immediacy of needs bordering on impatience. John
been attributed by sociologists to the pandemic induced
Milton's lines on 'they also serve who only stand and
existential questions that people have grappled with
wait,' would fall on deaf ears today. For, very few are
and the decision of many to just abandon the stresses
prepared to wait for their turn in the sun.
of making a living.
Walls are breaking down, opinions are freely shared
A similar situation is actually playing out in China,
and social media offers a more-than-ready platform for
though not much is heard about that, with what is called the ‘lying flat movement.’ This started as a push
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back against the 9-9-6 schedule or 9 to 9 work day, six
to work for a company that prioritises outcomes over
days a week.
output—In other words, in organizations that value action over activity.
Life‐work balance There is a shift in work focus worldwide from a work-life balance to a life-work balance. The priorities have changed. Businesses are now grappling with decisions on the balance between working from office and working from home.
Thus, this is just a small example of how employee outlook and expectations have changed in recent times. Not all of them may be acceptable; not all of them may even
be
practical
but
the
change
has
to
be
acknowledged, identified and definitely cannot be ignored. This then is ‘The New Normal,’ a rapidly
An article in the Harvard Business Review in May
changed
and
changing
industrial
and
business
2021 on ‘what your future employees most want,’ talks
environment and a highly evolved, confident and non-
of a talent accelerator study conducted among over
conventional workforce and a complex interplay
2,000 knowledge workers and 500 HR Directors in large
between the two.
corporations based in the US. As per this study, 88% of knowledge workers stated that when searching for a new position, they will look for one that offers complete flexibility in working hours and location. 83% feel that workers would be more likely to move out of cities and other urban locations, if they can work remotely. Interestingly, over 85% said they would prefer
Business leaders would need to manage this intricate and delicately balanced equation between business requirements in a world which is in churn and employee sensitivities and needs. It will not be easy. But as yet another advertisement goes, 'Impossible is nothing.'
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Mr P Jayadevan, Executive Director & State Head ‐ TN & Puducherry Indian Oil Corporation Ltd ﴾IOCL﴿, touches upon the importance of grooming leaders by assessing their strengths and weaknesses. He also sheds light on how they managed to coach and mentor 14 of them, through a very systematic process at IOCL.
C
oaching is a noble act of changing individuals
foot in all the boats and whichever goes faster, we get
and developing them to take on new roles.
onto that. IOCL is the energy security keeper of India
There are many factors in production and
and we cannot afford energy poverty in our country. It
any
is therefore a much complex situation that we face
organisational or production set-up. We may feel that
today. Compared to all these challenges, transforming
changing human beings is the most difficult thing to
individuals is easier. In public sectors, transforming
do. But, I don't think so, based on my own experiences
individuals and coaching are required. We join public
in the oil and gas industry which is undergoing major
sectors at a lower cadre, grow and retire and thus have
transitions today.
a long term relationship. Any positive change that
human
beings
are
the
most
flexible
in
The big transition Our PM has addressed COP26 and talked about India's energy transition plans from conventional to
We are all generalists in public
renewable energy. We have a big challenge in IOCL
sector and not much of
handling our portfolios, being in an oil and gas
specialists. We keep on shifting
industry. We are now into solar, wind, hydrogen, biofuel
from one department to
and electricity as well. We are going to produce
another and there is very little
batteries. All these energy forms need much higher
prominence or value given to a
infrastructural needs. We need to prepare ourselves to
specialist in public sector.
handle these new forms of energy, any of which might proliferate in the next five to ten years. We keep our 18
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happens to an individual, will contribute much more
there
to the organisation in the public sector than in a private
development. We have a Learning and Development
sector where people keep on changing. In public sector,
Department and Training Department, but they focus
we do have a long and heavy tail. We need to transform
on programs for a group of people.
them as well. All these factors favour a coaching system in the organisation. We are all generalists in public sector and not much of specialists. We keep on shifting from one department to another and there is very little prominence or value given to a specialist in public sector. So if you have to become a leader, you need to have better qualities, deep
has
to
be
some
system
for
individual
Tweaking the appraisal system In the early part of 2000, I was heading a small unit and I had 14 officers and 50 workmen under me. We have an annual performance appraisal system in order to rate them for giving promotions or rewards. When this appraisal was happening, I did a small exercise.
inside you. In spite of all this, my experience says that
I asked every officer to write down two strengths
in public sector, human resource development is yet to
and two areas of improvement for every other officer
mature, though there are initiatives happening. We have
including me, naming the officer who is being evaluated
industrial relations, employee relations and human
but without writing the name of the officer who
resources department. We have not gone deeper into
evaluated. All these were put in my in-tray. I compiled
human resource development.
all comments received for every officer, put them on a
I have had some experiences during my last 20 years in coaching, though I am in this organization for more than 34 years. It has given me some insights that
single sheet and gave them back to the concerned officer. I asked them to ponder over the comments and called them for a discussion after two days.
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All the officers, naturally, accepted their strengths but
not
all
of
them
accepted
their
areas
of
We had some structured way of mentoring but I found that the
improvement. Some officers concurred with the areas
experiment did not go well
of improvement pointed out to them and promised me that next year, I would not see those comments. To my
because the officers who were
surprise, those officers really worked on those areas
supposed to get mentored,
and vastly improved. Another set of officers accepted
never asked their mentors for
their areas of improvement but expressed their lack of
any help...
knowledge and tools to overcome it and wanted handholding. I was totally at dark as to how to help them to improve, as I was not a psychologist nor a certified coach. I did this assessment of strengths and
Selecting the directors
weakness exercise for four years and completed it in
My third experience though was different. Recently,
2006, at the end of which, I had a clear picture of all
I was heading the Secretariat of our Chairman. We have
the officers assigned to me during those four years and
a process of selection of Directors in the public sector.
understood them thoroughly.
We have six internal and six external candidates and
Mentoring that didn’t take off
they go for interview by the Public Sector Selection Committee.
Subsequently, we introduced a mentoring system in our organization. The young officers who joined us,
We had to appoint a Director for Marketing. In the
were given mentoring. They had mentors within the
list of shortlisted candidates for the position, six names
organization.
the
appeared. I went through those six names and I
controlling officers or the officers to whom they report
discussed with our Chairman. I found that almost all
to. I thought this was not correct, as a controlling
of them had leadership qualities. But they had gaps in
officer might impose certain things onto the officer
some areas like listening skills, communication skills,
reporting to him. It could be handled better.
self-awareness and integrity as well. So, probably we
Initially,
these
mentors
were
were not able to get the best of the leaders for the I brought in three retired officers to do mentoring. I had 17 officers with me. I made them into three batches, connected them with the three retired officers —six in each batch—and then allowed them to do the
organization. Had we initiated coaching and course correction for them four or five years back, we would have got six excellent candidates for the directorship. That was the inference or learning which I got.
mentoring process. We had some structured way of mentoring but I found that the experiment did not go
I tried to have a coaching process at the Chairman's
well because the officers who were supposed to get
level, but unfortunately, it did not really materialise. I
mentored, never asked their mentors for any help,
came back and got a posting in Chennai as Head of
except one officer who met with an accident, sought
Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and approached a
some help when he was in the hospital bed. That was
professional coaching organisation. They helped me to
my second experience.
set up a coaching process. In fact, I was very
20
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MMA ANNUAL CONVENTION 2022
BETTING ON THE
FUTURE
HOW INDIA CAN MAKE THIS DECADE ITS OWN SATURDAY, 12 MAR 2022 ( 9:30 AM - 3:30 PM)
Click to view the invitation
EMINENT SPEAKERS BHASKAR BHAT, DIRECTOR, TATA SONS
DR RADHA RANGARAJAN, CTO, HEALTH CUBE
K ANANTHA KRISHNAN, CTO, TCS
KANIAPPAN P, MD, WABCO INDIA
PROF V KAMAKOTI, DIRECTOR, IIT MADRAS
T T RAMGOPAL, GL. HEAD - ANDROID, GOOGLE
SHIVANSHU GUPTA, SENIOR PARTNER, MCKINSEY
NAVEEN UNNI, MANAGING PARTNER, MCKINSEY
PRASHANTH VASU, HEAD OF STRATEGY, RAMCO GROUP
RAVICHANDRAN P, PRESIDENT, DANFOSS
B ASHOK, CEO, RRPL
MRIDULA RAMESH, CEO, SUNDARAM CLIMATE FOUNDATION
SATHYA NARAYANA MEHTA, SR. GM HR, TCS
VIVEK SUBRAMANIAN, CO-FOUNDER & ED, FOURTH PARTNER ENERGY
MAHESH PANCHAGNULA, DEAN, AL & CORP RELATIONS, IIT M
DR SSV RAMAKUMAR, DIRECTOR R&D, IOCL
R VELUSAMY, AUTOMOTIVE DIV, MAHINDRA RES. VALLEY
Delegate fee: Members: Rs.1,500 + GST 18%. Non-Members: Rs.2,000 + GST 18% PRINCIPAL SPONSORS
Nomination: mma@mmachennai.org 9444700068 / 96770 77700 PARTNER IN EXCELLENCE
CO-SPONSORS
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apprehensive when I started it, because, in Public
After three months, when the coachee and coach
Sector, coaching had rarely happened as a process of
came to an understanding on the three areas they
leadership development. So I had to start afresh.
needed to improve, they came back to me. We sat again, to validate if these goals would serve the interests of
Coaching the coachables
the organization and not just cater to the individual’s
Initially, I took two officers for the coaching
personal development goal. I had to differentiate them,
process. I was totally involved right from day one, on
depending on the capability of the officer to become a
which we had an initial meeting. Here, the coaching
leader tomorrow.
philosophy and the value proposition was detailed to the officers. In that three-way meeting, the consultants assessed the officers if they were coachable or not, whether they had the willingness to come forward, understand their own areas of improvement and then work on them.
Finally, we arrived at the three goals. They sat through again for next 3 months and worked on those goals. We had a dipstick to check if the development actually happened and then closed it. That's how the whole
coaching
process
went
through,
on
an
individualistic and one-to-one basis. The coach and the
Then the other processes that were implemented
coachee sat together and improved upon the areas,
included psychometric tests, asking the officer to
which we had identified. It was an extremely satisfying
narrate a story, getting 360-degree feedback and then
experience for me. Since then, we coached another six
consolidating the feedback as one story about the
officers. We are doing another 10 now. So overall, in
officer. Both the coach and the coachee sat together to
my small set up that I have in Tamil Nadu, we have
identify three smart goals they needed to achieve. This
done coaching for 18 officers by now.
was a three-month long process. 22
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Lessons from coaching
This is my experience with coaching. There are
It's a great journey forward and during this journey. I also picked up some inferences. • We need to have the developmental process almost error free. While this process is on,
some shortcomings which I would throw open to the coaches to really work upon. I do have a couple of suggestions related to coaching as well. One, recently I have seen team coaching which is
an
being propagated. That's a good concept. It's for a
apprehension if the information they share
limited period for a group. There is a coaching process
would be kept confidential. If confidential
which is to be instituted. I have not experienced it but
information gets leaked out, it can go against
I feel, it will do good for some project based
the officer. So as a sponsor of this program,
assignments.
many
the
of
head
the
of
coaches
the
would
organization
have
has
the
responsibility to see to it that the information shared
remains
confidential.
That
is
extremely important in a coaching process. • Second, the sustainability of this program matters a lot. What happens after six months? Will the coached officers go back to old ways, due to their job pressure?
To take care of
this, we introduced a sustainability tracker. The coaches were available for some more
The next point is related to young lady officers. During our annual performance appraisal last year, in a specific grade, we had 98 officers—28 lady officers and 70 male officers. When I rated them, I found that 21 out of 28 lady officers were outstanding while only 15 out of 70 male officers were outstanding. I was reflecting upon my organization and I don't find these young officers getting into a management role. Something or the other happens to the lady officers over a period of time.
time and were hand-holding the trainees subsequently as well. I was also tracking many
These officers were in the 25-30 age group, either
of the officers and if there was any remark
married, or about to get married.
against them by any of their superiors, I
married and have their first child, they try to take a call
would take it forward for improving them.
whether the family is important or the career is
• Third, in Public Sectors, every process has to be a little more democratic and transparent.
When they get
important. Many of them tend to go towards the family and sacrifice their career.
There are people who would come back and
I think there is a great opportunity of coaching
question why somebody was selected for
them at this juncture. If we could do a one-to-one
coaching and ask, “Why not me?’ So one has
coaching of those young officers at that point, giving
to be very mindful about the selection of the
them opportunities and looking at their individual
people for coaching as well.
issues, I am sure that lady officers can get into much
• Lastly, can we have internal coaches? In huge
bigger leadership roles.
organisations, an internal coach can one day become the superior or subordinate. That's a big setback for the process. So I decided myself not to encourage any internal coaches.
Leadership
Coaching
will
lead
to
Coaching
Leadership, and, Coaching Leadership will be the trend of tomorrow.
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23 MAR 2022
24
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In Leadership Shastra, Mr. Pradeep Chakravarthy examines how developing a comprehension of our past could be the key to understanding our own selves, our actions, motivations and of those around us. Mr S L Narayanan, Group Chief Financial Officer, Sun Group, led the discussion with Mr Pradeep Chakravarthy, Author; Mr R Seshasayee, Vice Chairman, Hinduja Group and Mr Venky Rajgopal, Managing Director, Indian Terrain Fashions Ltd.
S L Narayanan (SLN): You are from a family of very
seemingly disparate things together and putting a book
successful businessmen. Knowing the social milieu today, it
out of it. I have been speaking about the applicability
is normal for boys from business families to get into either
of
engineering or finance. You have chosen a very different
leadership for about a decade now. I hear two answers:
path. What really were the motivations and how did this
One, they say, “I hated history in school. It was
book on Leadership Shastra germinate?
irrelevant and boring. Why do I need to know when a
Pradeep: Two things. One, I studied in a school called 'The School' run by Krishnamurti Foundation of India. In retrospect, I find that we were taught to make connections between things which people normally would not make connections. I have been able to
history
to
management,
self-awareness
and
king died and when he lived?” Two, the other group of people said, "I loved history in school. The teacher made it interesting with the stories." So it seemed that the story telling ability of the teacher mattered more than history itself.
connect leadership and history reasonably well. The second reason: my dad never had to run a company. It
So I suddenly saw history was
meant I had a lot more freedom. My first understanding
very similar and very different.
of nuances in organizational culture came when I did
It goes back to Yudhishtra's
my two years of internship at four different TVS companies, which was a remarkable blessing. In that two years of six months each, in four different companies, I understood that within the larger TVS
quote, "The most wonderful thing in the world is that everyday people are dying, but
culture, there were many differences as well. All of
the people who live think that's
those experiences served me well, in putting two very
not going to happen to them."
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25 MAR 2022
Similar, yet different
The Deccan Sultans and Unity of Command
My understanding of history was very different. I
SLN: The chapter on the Deccan Sultanates talks about five
had the privilege of spending summer vacations in
kings who were constantly at loggerheads with each other
Tirunelveli, my mother's ancestral house and I was the
and, therefore, they could never vanquish the Vijayanagar
sixth generation to live in that. It was about 10,000
empire under Krishna Deva Raya and his successor Rama
square feet. It still stands and the upstairs alone was
Raya. Then one fine morning, they sank their differences,
about 5,000 square feet. It was filled with junk that
presented a united front, went with a vengeance and ran
belonged to six generations before me and I very vividly
over their neighbour leaving the once magnificent city of
remember a math notebook that was from about 1900,
Hampi in ruins. With that as the context, I want Mr
where some ancestor of mine in an ink pen had
Seshsayee with his iconic experience in Unilever and Ashok
scribbled about how he or she hated math and had
Leyland, to throw some light on how simple things like unity
drawn a little doodle. Such visuals are powerful, aren't
of command or a constancy of purpose play a key role in
they? It showed me that here was someone who did not
organizational effect.
like math like I did; also, the style of the writing, the doodle, the text, the font and the paper were very different from mine. So I suddenly saw history was very similar and very different. It goes back to Yudhishtra's quote, "The most wonderful thing in the world is that everyday people are dying, but the people who live think that's not going to happen to them." 26
MAR 2022
Seshasayee: It is very critical to have unity of purpose or unity of command and consistency of purpose. That's fundamental to not merely success, but even survival. The Indian corporate history is replete with instances of family groups within a company fighting with each other or looking at cross purposes, creating a lot of friction and eventually impacting the
BUSINESS MANDATE
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company and its very survival. With the exception of a
few, like the TVS group, large businesses which were
If you find that the structure is not appropriate to the strategy
started by families across the world have found that
or the processes are not in
it's very difficult to take them forward successfully beyond the fourth or fifth generation. A common
place, sooner or later, that
purpose is important but having said that, I want to
business will get into trouble.
make some provocative observations. It is not about just the unity people or groups of people working for
~ Seshasayee
a common purpose but the need for alignment of different aspects of running a business—the strategy, structure, people and processes—all have to come together for a common purpose in a seamless fashion.
completely in a shambles, with weapons strewn all over
If you find that the structure is not appropriate to
the place and not organized as well as you've done. But,
the strategy or the processes are not in place, sooner
you know, he wins wars. His weapons are constantly in
or later, that business will get into trouble. But it is not
use."
necessary that all of them must have equal importance. Sometimes strategy becomes extremely critical and even a little bit of weaknesses or lapses in the processes or the structure could be more than made good by a wonderful strategy. I have seen a telecom company that was extremely successful as it captured the imagination of the market. Their back office was in a mess for quite some years. They made aggressive moves on strategy and then managed to get the back office in shape. In Tamil literature, there is a story about poetess Avaiyar and King Athiyaman, who was the chieftain of a small fiefdom. She was very friendly with the king and admired his winning the battles and the way he was expanding his kingdom and sang richly in his praise. His rival king who became jealous of the way that Avaiyar praised his counterpart, asked the poetess to visit his fiefdom as well. She finally relented. The rival chieftain took her around his palace and armoury. Avaiyar saw all that, came back and said, "Everything is wonderful. The weapons are in the right places and polished very well. But Athiyaman's armoury is
This is a very important lesson for leaders to focus on strategy, much more than spending time in housekeeping. There was a company that I greatly revered. In the 90s, I took my senior management for a visit to this company because it is one of the champions of TPM. I wanted my colleagues to learn from this company as to how they did that. After spending almost day, we came back and said, 'Excellent. This is really the way that we should go about.' However, that company ran into trouble pretty soon because the leadership was too focused on the processes, somewhat like Motorola, which pioneered the concept of Six Sigma. This is not to mean that the processes are unimportant. They are very critical, but sometimes strategy is more important than structures; sometimes structures and people are more important than processes; and sometimes, the process becomes very critical. You need to look at the context in that moment and decide on the most important thing to do.
BUSINESS MANDATE
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27 MAR 2022
You have to bring to the table
the HCL organisation where everybody was competing
everything that you have and it
with each other and then came a day, when the unified
is not just courage and blind
front made more sense and the company restructured
optimism. It is the
pretty quickly.
determination to build
Malik Ambar and Indian Terrain
something which will last.
SLN: Venky, you had a remarkable career starting off as an IPS officer, then as an entrepreneur. I just couldn't help draw
~ Venky
a parallel with the life of Malik Ambar, which has been narrated beautifully by Pradeep. Malik Ambar is a slave from somewhere in Africa and landed in Arabia. He was traded
SLN: Let me share my own experience from my days in HCL Technologies Limited. HCL Technologies was a listed company, which was mostly into outsourced R&D services. There was another company called HCL Infosystems, which is their hardware company. There was a joint venture with Perot Systems of Dallas, which is called HCL Perot systems. The three companies had HCL prefix and all three competed in the market. As long as the Y2K boom was there, there was enough pie for every company. So it really didn't bother. Post-9/11, when the market went for a toss, there was a lot of negative feedback from prospective customers. The ERP business of HCL Infosystems, which is an island of software business in a largely hardware company, was butting heads with the ERP business of HCL Tech and which ran into trouble with another team from HCL Perot systems. So Mr Shiv Nadar decided to demerge the ERP business of HCL Info systems and merged it with HCL Tech; HCL Infosystems became a pure play hardware company after that. He
and some other former slave bought him. Finally, he wins his release. He lands up in India and with his charisma, builds an army of mercenaries. He was extremely effective as a local warlord, supplementing the aggression of rulers and kings who hired him. I'm not saying that you're a mercenary! (laughs) But somewhere I saw that you started your career as an IPS officer and then morphed into an entrepreneur and a hugely successful one at that. Can you share some of your experiences?
Venky: Malik Ambar is a character that inspires tremendous curiosity. How did a black man—a slave from Ethiopia come to India as a slave, remained a slave for 20 years of his life and then break free to become a leader and ruler? Given the circumstances of that time, stitching the resources to lead is a remarkable story. Perhaps, the difference between him and me, on a lighter note is that he started as a slave and all that lay ahead of him was his ambition, desire and determination to become what he eventually became. In my case, at least, that's how my parents thought, I started as a prince—a fourth-generation police officer and ended up as a slave—an entrepreneur!
divested the 50% stake that HCL Tech had in HCL Perot Systems and after that, they never really looked back,
We are family of civil servants, typical Delhi
as there was a unified offering. So, at a time when the
University students where every other guy along with
market was big, there was some creative tension inside
me wanted to join the IAS, IPS and IFS, that was the
28
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29 MAR 2022
creme de la creme as we were told in the academy at
The export was completely cartelised. There were only six
that time. To give that up after 11 years was like
guys from India who managed
choosing to become a slave!
to control that entire thousand
Adversity is a word used in every in every context,
—odd crores of rupees trade of
whether it is in battle or life. How do you really
garment export to Russia. My
overcome it and over a period of time, consistently
reaching Moscow itself was
establish a situation where that adversity no longer is at your doorstep? That transformation needs a level of
absolutely intolerable for them
perseverance, determination and courage, which sees
because I presented a threat.
you through that period. Let me tell you a little story which best enumerates this. Celebrity
Fashion
was
~ Venky a
minuscule
apparel
manufacturing set up in the year 1990. Twelve months into its existence, the company was nearly extinguished.
the venue where the exhibition was to take place, the
I had no money and no background. It clearly was a bad
organizers looked at my invitation and said, "Sorry we
idea. At that point, a friend of mine, who later went on
don't have your name here. So we can't give you
to become the Indian ambassador to the US and who
accommodation or a place to put up your products in
knew about my quitting the IPS job and now going
the exhibition."
bankrupt as an entrepreneur, asked me, "Why don't you try Moscow? Russia is a destination to get some business."
Just imagine! It was one year after having quit the IPS. I had two kids and was on the verge of bankruptcy. This was my last attempt and here there was this cartel
It's a long story and eventually I managed to reach
which prevented me from accomplishing whatever I
Moscow to participate in an exhibition for apparel
had gone there to do. This is where perhaps my
export to Russia. The export was completely cartelised.
background, the training of the Indian Police Service
There were only six guys from India who managed to
helped me.
control that entire thousand—odd crores of rupees trade of garment export to Russia. My reaching Moscow itself was absolutely intolerable for them because I presented a threat.
At that time, I did not feel fear. I felt extreme anger at what these people were doing. And I said, 'Listen, I'm an Indian citizen and I have to be protected.' I marched to the residence of the Indian Ambassador. He was a
The day I reached Moscow—my first travel overseas
dramatic personality in the Indian Foreign Service then.
—it was around minus 20 degrees. The Customs there
I somehow persuaded him to see me. And I vividly
were told to vandalize my samples as if they were
remember that moment. It was an afternoon in Moscow.
checking it. They gave me an accommodation to stay
I was unbathed for three days and I had no place to
and I had no idea about it and ended up 40 kilometres
stay. I told him the story and beseeched him saying, "If
outside Moscow City. When I finally found my way to
you are an ambassador and protecting us, you have to
30
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ensure that I am allowed to present what I came here
can overcome or overwhelm you. Once you've embarked
for." Now it could have gone anyway. I remember he
on a journey, you can be very sure that adversity is your
was smoking a pipe. He put it down and said, "If you
first companion. You have to bring to the table
can go and have a shave and wear a suit, come to the
everything that you have and it is not just courage and
Embassy for dinner."
blind optimism. It is the determination to build
That night, I had dinner with him where he introduced me to the Russian Trade Commissioner to India and that was all that was needed in the next 24 hours. I got a place to display. The Ambassador himself accompanied the Trade Commissioner to visit my minuscule stall and destiny worked. I managed to find a small foothold in business in Russia.
something which will last.
Aurangazeb and Unwieldy Companies SLN: The Mughal empire under Aurangazeb extended from Kabul on the west to Chittagong in the east and from Kashmir to Cauvery. But despite the massive land mass under his control, things became too unwieldy to control from Delhi and a lot of local satraps were a law unto themselves.
I always tell my colleagues, "Never, ever fail to try
Over time things, started unravelling. Many iconic
because you think this is not a solution or it is beyond
corporations have bit the dust—from Polaroid and Kodak to
you." That moment which started off as perhaps the
more recently Enron, Lehman Brothers and in our own
most adverse circumstance, ended up being my first
country, there was the time when the Dalmia group was big
win, so to speak like Malik Ambar's first win. It was my
and more recently, the Jaypee Group, the Anil Ambani Group
first bridgehead to learn how to transform myself from
and Bhushan Steel. There are several stories of large
being a civil servant into an entrepreneur.
companies going down the tube.
What Malik Ambar story shows is that human spirit BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence
31 MAR 2022
Governance is also a very vital issue and I don't
Governance is also a very vital
hope to see any company survive with poor governance
issue and I don't hope to see
practices for long. Not having the right values in the
any company survive with poor
company and a leader who does not believe in and act
governance practices for long.
based on those values can take the company to a
Not having the right values in
failure.
the company and a leader who
SLN: How does Indian Terrain, the underdog compete with the giants in the market?
does not believe in and act based on those values can take
Venky: The most visible brand of Indian history is Chhatrapati Shivaji. His story resonated with me,
the company to a failure.
especially the manner in which he took the big bullies on. He wanted Swaraj and he is a shining example of ~ Seshasayee
what it means to be a leader. I wanted my brand to be Indian national in character. People wondered what our USP was. Getting retail space was a challenge. Salience
Seshasayee: While success is somewhat boringly
was very important.
uniform, failures are startlingly different. Each has a
Times of India started trading advertising space for
different cause. If your business is out of context, not
company equity and I jumped at their proposal, much
moving in the same direction as that of the customers,
against many people's advice. It was the best thing I
what you have built will collapse and that is one big
did and Times gave me great visibility for two years in
reason why businesses fail. You have to constantly be
all their publications. The blitz we created in those two
ahead of your time and align with market changes,
years helped establish Indian Terrain, in a small
technology changes, etc.
manner, though. We were able to make a marker!
Unwieldy companies can become dysfunctional.
All our competitors are western inspired. Though
When I joined Ashok Leland, the British Leyland was
we had our name as Indian Terrain, our stores and
unwieldy and faced lots of labour problems. They had
models were all western. In 2004 or 2005, when I went
143 companies then. Every year, they had to do wage
to a fair in Italy, I was introduced to the iconic Italian
settlements with the Unions for about 70 companies.
brand owner Mr Brunello Cucinelli who runs a billion
It became a mess and they brought a South African CEO
dollar garment business.
to head it.
He made me realise that Indian Terrain must be
He had a single objective of making British Leyland
Indian in character to connect with Indian customers.
the
From then on, we are proud of being a Chennai
government and attracting capital from the competitive
company and connecting with Indian ethos. That was
market. Prior to that, the vision statement ran into a
a single biggest differentiator for us that made us
few pages. He wrote a book, 'Back from the Brink.'
survive and made our customers like us.
completely
32
MAR 2022
independent
of
support
from
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33 MAR 2022
In her fascinating, deeply researched book, Ms Mridula Ramesh takes us through 4,000 years of history to track how India’s water has reached a critical point. Mr N K Ranganath, Grundfos Water Ambassador and Mr G V Ravishankar, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital India, interact with Ms Mridula Ramesh, on what it takes to secure our future.
Ranganath: People were thinking that getting water was
in the investor community, I heard about carbon
their birth right. Though there is enough water available, it
mitigation. To attract funding, you have to manage your
is not available in the right place, at the right time and in the
carbon emissions. Conserving water has been treated
right quality. Usage of water responsibly is the duty of
like a step-child and not been given any importance.
everyone.
Mridula Ramesh: The
Carbon, no doubt, is very important. If you put out heart
of
any
change,
CO2, it stays in the atmosphere for hundreds of years
understanding or approach is philosophy. If we get the
and
philosophy right, everything will follow from there.
supercharges the water. That translates to the wet
Sustainability comes from the root word, 'maintain
getting wetter and the dry getting drier.
increases
the
warming.
The
temperature
from below.' Water is the foundation of sustainability but we all take it for granted. My journey is everybody's journey. I didn't care about water as long as it did not affect me. Nine years ago, we ran out of water at home.
I saw a lot of books on India's
That's when water became visible to me—visible when
rivers, drought, farming,
it became absent.
sewage treatment and rain
I learnt about climate change. I realised the seriousness of the water problem and wondered why
water harvesting. But I didn't find one book on India's water.
no one was talking about it. In the last few years, as I participated in the climate related dialogues, not only in India but in the world, in every discussion, more so 34
MAR 2022
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~ Mridula Ramesh
I saw a lot of books on India's rivers, drought,
We have been taught in Geography that Indian
farming, sewage treatment and rain water harvesting.
monsoon
But I didn't find one book on India's water. Poet Kalidas
temperature contrast between land and sea. But now,
in his work, 'Meghdoot,' beautifully describes India's
this no longer holds good. We have global effects like
water as a product of sun, sea, mountain and land
El-Nino, Indian Ocean Dipole, The Madden Julian
including forests. Because it is the combination of the
Oscillations, etc. Climate change disrupts the traditional
Himalayas, the Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal and the
rainfall pattern.
Arabian Sea, it has four characteristics.
is
a
land-sea
breeze
driven
by
the
In the 1870s famine that India had, according to
One, it varies geographically. In Jaisalmer, we get
official estimate, 5.5 million people died. People died
an average of 165 mm of rainfall. Across the country,
in Madras, Madurai and Arcot. In some of the famines,
we get 5 metres of rain, in a matter of months. So, it is
40% of the Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh died. We
meaningless to talk about average rainfall in India.
forgot how variable India's water could be. Climate
Second, we have one of the seasonally, variable water in the world. It is much skewed. We have to manage this skew.
change takes on each of these and makes them worse. It increases the rainfall in Jaisalmer. It brings down the summer rainfall and increases the winter rainfall in Chennai. Instead of the rain falling constantly over 40
Third is the temporality. If you take the average
hours, it now pours in 30 hours but with increased
number of rain days, Indian cities are outliers. Rain
quantity and intensity. Therefore, not including water
water harvesting is very important to store water and
in sustainability is a scary thing.
recharge the ground. BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence
35 MAR 2022
I grew up in Chennai. We were a family of seven in a small
Earlier, the lakes were a source
2BHK household. We had the same water problem that many
of spiritual status and cash flow.
Chennaiites faced—water would not come when we opened
Each tank was like a cash flow
the taps. It came only at times. We had to take our pots, go
machine. If you clean the tank,
to the street, stand in a queue and collect water. I always
you get karmic points.
had a fear that someday as we grew up, there would be no water. I am now in Bengaluru. It gets lot more rainfall than Chennai. Despite that, I woke up in 2018 or 2019 to an article
~ Mridula Ramesh
that one day, Bengaluru could run out of water by 2020. Why does a city like Bengaluru that gets so much rainfall and has so many lakes still run of water?
hotspots, performance areas, etc., so that they thrive.
For many Indians, getting water is a luxury. The
In Madurai, when the Mariamman Temple Teppakulam
water problem gets worse due to the seasonality,
(tank) was renovated, within a year of renovation, we
temporality and climate change factors. Madras gets
found that 123 livelihoods came up around the tank.
about 45 rain days in a year. Bengaluru also gets
Tanks prevent rain water flooding. They become a place
approximately around that. We use water every day. So
to hang out. It lowers our monthly water spend, easily
we have to even it out.
by 100 rupees.
Those days, we had distributed tanks. T Nagar was a huge tank many years ago. Chennai Boat Club was a 2 miles by 3 miles lake. They used to hold the winter regatta for a mile long course. Now we have floods in Chennai. In Bengaluru also, systems of tanks have been encroached.
Have you come across any example where water went back to the community and got protected?
One of my mentors, Shri Rajendra Singh of Alwar has done that. His work is the most profound example. Water was always a community-managed resource in India but became centralized during British rule. The
At Sundaram Climate Institute, we did a study and
British reports decry the lakes in Chennai and describe
found that if we rejuvenate the tanks, the ground water
them as a cesspool and a source of malaria infestation.
level goes up by 100 to 200 feet. Earlier, the lakes were
For the British administration, centralizing water supply
a source of spiritual status and cash flow. Each tank
ensured
was like a cash flow machine. If you clean the tank, you
infrastructure gave them great returns on their invested
get karmic points. If you maintain the tank, you get
capital. With centralisation, many good things like
status and village festivals. Fishing, livestock, lotus
fishing from the lakes also disappeared. It is very
flowers were sources of huge revenue. Today, most
important that community must be involved in
lakes are pathetic with junk and solid waste. What
developing and safeguarding the water bodies.
status can they give you?
better
control
and
revenue.
Building
In Gujarat, by pumping water in, people pushed back salinity
We should develop sustainable tourism around
of the ground water by ten kilometers. There are private
water bodies like selfie-spots, cycling track, Wi-Fi
companies who are doing similar works as part of CSR
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initiatives. We are the first borewell manufacturers in India,
bullock cart, he should pay 25%. If he used a mechanical
starting them in 1954. Now, many farmers, during rainy
wheel to draw more water, he should pay 30% tax.
season pump water back into the borewell which recharges the aquifer. There are three levels in an aquifer. The first level gets recharged easily. If you go down, there are issues and it may take several years for water to percolate down. We must have short, medium and long term plans to manage water. I am not against RO in houses. But we should use the discharged water from RO for watering plants or other
Compare it to today's scenario. In Bengaluru, if you use a borewell, you pay Rs 10 for 1000 litres. If you use piped water, you pay Rs 22 for 1000 litres. If you are richer, you get cheaper water. If you are poor and you depend on the tanker water, you pay around 30 paise per litre.
purposes. I read that Chennai once had 300 man-made tanks
The popular narrative, unfortunately, is that water
which were connected to one another. Today, we have hardly
is a birth right. This is a post-1960 narrative. In all of
40 of them and they also need to be restored. Is technology
Indian history, water had a price. It was a season based,
a panacea? What is your stand on technology versus mindset?
variable and progressive pricing. We need to crack this
Access
to
technology
and
money
are
not
bottlenecks in solving our water problem. There are many
technologies
which
are
available
today.
Technology can be dangerous too. Borewell, as a technology, has been hugely transformational in India.
narrative of water as a birth right, to solve our water problems. Why does not the market level this field?
Market needs a signal. Today, it is profitable to market a pair of jeans than a litre of water. Where are
The bottleneck is the philosophy. The genie in the
our startup investments? The forest-water link is one
room is the value of water. How do we value it and
of the most underappreciated and critical links in India.
price it? We live in an economic world and there is no
For the British, forests were important because of the
going away from that. In an economic world, what is
timber. Today, 60% of the forest value comes from the
priced is prized and what is unpriced is invisible. In
trees. They literally miss the value of the forests for the
Arthasastra, Chanakya talks about progressive water
trees.
tax, where the rich pay more. If a farmer took water manually, he should pay 20% of the tax. If he used a BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence
37 MAR 2022
True. There is no business case for starting a business for
Decentralised water distribution,
water. If PPP comes in, all the risks are one-sided. When
where the benefits and costs will
Tsunami came, many areas, especially Nagapattinam, became
somewhat match, is the best
extremely saline. We put five or six of our own portable RO
workable solution to manage
systems in that area, along with others, to provide clean
India’s water problems.
drinking water. We took care of the capex and trained all the women. We requested for charging only for the opex on a per litre basis.
~ Mridula Ramesh
Thanks to self-help groups, this went on well for 5 or 6 years, after which the government asked us to take back the systems. When we asked for the reasons, the government
workable solution to manage India’s water problems.
said that they had dug borewells and were providing free
Farmer suicides have plummeted in India, except in
water to the people. The water quality was horrible though,
two states—Maharashtra and Karnataka. These are the
with 2000 ppm of salt. Saline water is 20,000 ppm. People
states where onions are grown. Most onion farmers are
prefer to buy free water rather than pay10 paise per litre of
small, they depend on rains and are completely exposed
RO water which was not only clean but also saved them from
to the volatility of water. We need to get more buyers
many diseases. The mindset is an issue. They don't calculate
for
the health cost of water.
infrastructure and the farmers depend on the local
Though people face water shortage, when asked if they would be ready to pay more if they get 24 x 7 piped water supply, they replied in the negative. In short, they want free water supply to be provided by the government. Water pricing becomes an emotive issue. We need a sustained narrative. How can our women be productive if they spend two hours of their time, getting up in the middle of the night and fight with others on the street to fetch their water? We pay a heavy cost. Water is also a social multiplier. Once we fix water, lot of other things get fixed. Girls start going to schools, marriages get fixed and we get better outcomes. Unfortunately, water has moved from being a responsibility to a right. The failure to stay with farm laws tells us how difficult it is to bring reforms in India. Reforms in the water sector also have to be carefully worked out. Decentralised water distribution, where the benefits and costs will somewhat match, is the best 38
MAR 2022
the
onions.
There
is
not
enough
market
traders. If a farmer sells to ten buyers, the dynamics will change. The other thing which we all can do is to question what we eat. If we eat rice and wheat and the government provides them in ration shops, the farmers will grow only rice and wheat. If they grow millet and we eat rice, what will the farmers do? The change has to start from the demand side. What can individuals do to solve the water problem?
I have been insisting on decentralisation. Let’s not try to solve India’s water problem. The biggest advantage of India is its population. One Chennai is equal to four Singapores. If we can get just one quarter of Chennai to adopt meaningful regulations and practices, it can trigger a wave of innovations that brings jobs, contributes to GDP and creates water resilience. Each of us must feel that water is our responsibility. If we do so, then there is hope.
BUSINESS MANDATE
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BUSINESS MANDATE
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39 MAR 2022
When ethical blindness occurs, managers tend to make decisions only using a business‐frame or a legal‐frame, ignoring moral aspects. The failure to visualize moral components in a decision‐problem causes even good managers to make bad decisions, at times with disastrous effect,
Mr P Jeyadevan
organisation and to keep it very stable. Technology
Executive Director & State Head ‐ TN & Puducherry, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL)
plays a big role in helping us to be transparent. We need
E
thics is related to moral and physical values. During primary classes and later during engineering
education,
we
could
clearly
coherent communication across the organisation on the Code of Ethics. Today, there is a blitzkrieg of startups. I strongly suggest that startups must have an ethical foundation before they scale up.
distinguish between right and wrong; in science and
Dr L S Ganesh
engineering, there is only one right way of doing
Professor (Retd), IIT Madras
things.
that some of my 'rights' were someone else's 'wrongs'
E
and some of their 'rights' were my 'wrongs.' The answer
normally talk of the conduct of the human society.
that I found to navigate this dilemma is to have an
There are four contexts of life for every human being.
But when we went to management classes, there was a dilemma, especially with case studies. I found
ethical headlamp to look at issues. With this, we can look at right and wrong in a balanced way and all of us
thics is defined by what it is. There is a subtle difference between morals and ethics. When we talk about morals, we bring in the concept of
God and Mother Nature. When we talk of ethics, we
• Me alone—Ethical behaviour is demanded as ethics must sit in your thoughts, words and
will be able to work on a similar decision-making process, which is beneficial to the organisation, both in the long term and short term. Ethics is a real
actions. • Me in my family—You are dealing with whom
cementing factor to build the structure of an 40
MAR 2022
BUSINESS MANDATE
you know and they also know you.
fountainhead of excellence
• Me at work—You are with your colleagues,
phenomenon because many people are not aware of
subordinates, peers, superiors and supply
the basic tenets of ethics. They say that all is fair in love
chain partners.
and war. If all your life is spent in love and war, does
• Me in public—These days we all are virtually
it mean that all you do can be unethical? It is a funny
in public. You deal with people whom you
kind of stance that many people take. You have to be
don't know.
clear as to whether you have committed an error or a
Ethics must be understood and practised in all
mistake or a sin. This distinction can be had only from
these four contexts without violation. There are also
your intention, which only you can judge. Nobody else
personal ethics, interpersonal ethics and systemic
can judge your intention. You are the master of your
ethics (public rules and regulations and public order).
intention and knowledge.
Ethical
blindness
seems
to
be
a
widespread
Dr V R Menon
You have to be clear as to whether you have committed an
Ethics Coordinator, IOCL, TN & Puducherry
your intention, which only you
T
can judge.
According to Harvard Business Review (Dec 2001), good
error or a mistake or a sin. This distinction can be had only from
~ Dr L S Ganesh
he destruction caused by ethical blindness is much more than what is caused by corruption and, therefore, the topic of ethical blindness
requires increased focus by managers and executives. managers often make unethical decisions and don't even know about it.
BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence
41 MAR 2022
Were the managers of NASA intentionally unethical? They
Wells Fargo
were good guys but the
Let me first touch upon three interesting anecdotes.
cognitive space of their mind
First, The Wells Fargo case. It was the number two largest bank of the world in 2006. When Jim Collins
was fully occupied more by
wrote the famous book, 'Good to Great,' Wells Fargo
those timelines and there was
figured in his list of 11 good-to-great companies. In
no space for moral evaluation.
2015, there was a damning article in the Los Angeles
~ Dr V R Menon
Times which said that over 1.5 million unauthorized accounts were created by the sales executives of Wells Fargo with fraudulent signatures of customers.
NASA was going through a difficult time with public and political pressure weighing on it. They were
Why did they do that? Because their Retail Banking Head, Carry Tolstedt, was very strict about targets; the number of accounts created by customers reflected in the share price. If the sale people were not able to do it, then she humiliated them. A US Consumer Financial Protection Agency fined Wells Fargo 185 M$ for the scandal. Both the CEO John Stumpf and Carry Tolstedt had to resign, foregoing their severance packages. The question is, were those sales executives intentionally unethical? Interestingly, John Stumpf, the CEO was adjudged the best banker of the world by the Morning Star Magazine, a year before this happened. Carry Tolstedt was adjudged the 37th most powerful women in the world by Fortune Magazine. They were very efficient people but the pressure of targets made them unaware of the ethical implications of their
supposed to do some 50 launches a year but were hardly able to do three. Those pressures and timelines worked on the NASA managers and they somehow convinced Morton Thiokol not to raise any objections to the launch. It was some sort of group think. They unanimously agreed to launch it. In the end, Challenger crashed killing all seven astronauts on board. Were the managers of NASA intentionally unethical? They were good guys but the cognitive space of their mind was fully occupied more by those timelines and there was no space for moral evaluation. The effect? NASA never really recovered from that. Their space shuttle program was stalled for 32 years.
The Ford Pinto Fiasco The third one is a very commonly discussed case of Ford Pinto car. Lee Iacocca, the famous management
actions.
guru was the Chairman of Ford. He asked his team to
The Challenger Tragedy
make a 2,000$, 2000 lb car in 25 months because
Most of you would have heard of the horrific tragedy of NASA space shuttle Challenger. At that time,
Japanese small cars were selling well in the market and Ford wanted to give a stiff competition to them.
Morton Thiokol was a consultant to NASA. A day before
Ford Engineers worked hard and efficiently and
the launch, he suggested to NASA not to do the launch
they produced the car in record time, not costing more
because he feared there was a faulty component which
than 2000$, but during that process, they ignored some
could cause problems.
of those very safety aspects which would have prevented accidents. One of them was a safety
42
MAR 2022
BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence
mechanism that would have cost just 11$ but then it
In simple language, they were ethically blind. This shows how
would have crossed the red line of 2000$.
the stretch targets can cause a
Terrible accidents started to happen and people in
lot of unethical behavior
the car were burnt to death when an accident
unintentionally.
happened. The management had to take a decision
~ Dr V R Menon
whether to recall the cars. Just like we do in normal situations, they did a cost-benefit analysis. If they recalled and fitted the 11$ dollar mechanism and made the cars safer, they would have spent 137.5 M$. If they did not do it, what were the costs? They calculated the cost of litigation, cost of funerals, cost of sundry expenditure and cost of pain. It was much cheaper than the cost of recall.
there was little moral evaluation. The third one is from Dennis Gioia, Recall Coordinator, Ford, about the Ford Pinto fires. He was the recall coordinator when the accidents started to happen. Denise Gioia finally quit in disgust.
In the end, they did not recall. Accidents started to happen and images of people burning came in newspapers. There was tremendous pressure on Ford and it stopped production of the cars and Ford Pinto disappeared. Were the Ford engineers intentionally unethical? No. They were just efficient. But it brought down part of the organization due to ethical lapse.
Thus they spoke
He later had this to say: "After I left Ford, I now argue and teach that Ford had an ethical obligation to recall. But, while I was there, I perceived no strong obligation to recall, and I remember no strong ethical overtones to the case whatsoever.” In simple language, they were ethically blind. This shows how the stretch targets can cause a lot of unethical behavior unintentionally.
Now let us see what important people said about these three cases. “I really feel for Carrie and her team. We do such a good job in the area. I will fight this one to the finish,” said John Stumpf, CEO. This is when the Los Angeles Times report blew up in his face. He was trying to justify his executives being blind to the unethicality of such a vast nature.
Obedience to Authority Let me move on to excessive obedience to authority and power, and the role they play, and talk about the Milgram Experiment and Stanford Prison Experiment. In the Milgram Experiment process, Prof Stanley Milgram was investigating how obedience to authority leads to unethical behavior. He assigned some
The second is from Lawrence Mulloy, NASA Program Manager. When Morton Thiokol suggested postponing the launch, he blurted out, “My God, Thiokol, when do you want me to launch? Next April? If we miss the window now, then the next window for launch will be after few months." What this shows is that his cognitive space was filled with timelines and
participants as teachers and some participants as learners. The teachers were supposed to give electric shock to the learners if they didn't learn enough, progressively increasing from 15 volts to 450 volts. Actually, no voltage was applied but the teachers did not know that
BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence
43 MAR 2022
In such a culture, the consequences do not come into your mind. Cognitive
Toxic Organizational Culture When the organizational culture is only based on
disengagement happens. This can also cause ethical blindness.
the bottom-line mentality—increased profit at whatever cost without looking at the sustainability of the society,
These issues are very relevant
what will happen? The toxic organization's culture and
to all organizations.
the pressures of the organization will make banal even
~ Dr V R Menon
evil things. 'Banality of evil' is a famous phrase used by the philosopher Hannah Arendt, talking about very
and they believed that they were applying electricity. Milgram asked the teachers before they started the experiment if they were willing to apply 450 volts and all of them said, 'No.' But as the experiment progressed, Prof
Stanley
Milgram,
gave
very
authoritative
instructions, "Do it, Do it." 65% of them applied 450 volts. 100% of them applied 300 volts. As there was no compulsion, they could have quit the experiment. They did not, because of the magnetic power of authority.
nasty criminals. In such a culture, the consequences do not come into your mind. Cognitive disengagement happens. This can also cause ethical blindness. These issues are very relevant to all organizations.
Bounded Ethicality What psychological mechanisms can cause ethical blindness? One is the use of euphemisms—use of nice words instead of harsh, blunt words. For example, I may want to tell my subordinate to go and bribe some
This is especially true for us in Indian conditions.
government authority to get an approval. If I say, "Go
We respect individuals, elders and teachers. We touch
and bribe," immediately the moral emotions like shame
their feet and therefore there is an innate process which
and regret come up and these are stumbling blocks for
makes us obedient to authority and that can cause
our unethical behavior. When we convert them as good
unethical behaviours.
words and say, "Go and give a gift to that person," we suppress those moral emotions and get affected by
The Poison of Power
'Bounded Ethicality.'
The Stanford Prison Experiment was conducted by Prof Philip Zimbardo in the Stanford University lab. He took random participants using a public advertisement. He segregated them as prisoners and prison guards to understand their behavior. It was supposed to be a 14day experiment but he had to stop the experiment on the sixth day because the designated guards started to become abusive to the prisoners. Power engulfed them and without that awareness, they started abusing, maybe because of pent up anger or so. The context of power and role can make us ethically blind.
44
MAR 2022
Mythical numbing happens if you are in an organization, in a location or in an operational unit where unethicality abounds, everybody is getting bribe or something like that, then even if you are of an utmost, straightforward character with integrity of the highest order, still you get affected. After some time, you get numb, just like your senses become numb if you are in the Arctic region. That, in turn, affects your ethicality. Slippery slope is another aspect. We start with the smaller deeds like taking a stationary home from office and incrementally, increase our ethical
BUSINESS MANDATE
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In‐group bias, implicit prejudice,
him something unviable. He rationalises his action and
conflict of interest and over
becomes immune to his unethicality.
claiming credit are examples of implicit biases. These are deep‐ rooted.
Some of the Possible Remedies: • Shape the environment with transparency, salience and openness.
~ Dr V R Menon
• Rely more on data and less on intuition. • Make your ethical stand know to others. • Remain vigilant to implicit biases.
violations. Our mind does not have the capability to
• Take ‘joint decisions’ and have a devil’s
understand that incremental increase and then we fall into the depth of unethicality.
advocate. • Follow the Publicity Test of Ethics
Ethical Practices: Indian Oil Way
Implicit Biases In-group bias, implicit prejudice, conflict of interest
In India Oil, we have a full-fledged vigilance
and over claiming credit are examples of implicit
department and ethics codes. Our vigilance department
biases. These are deep-rooted. For example, when we
is represented at the board level. We have strong
have in-group bias, we tend to unconsciously favour
foundations, yet we are moving beyond all those things.
people from our group and disfavour people from outgroup. These biases cloud our objectivity and cause ethical blindness.
We have a State Ethics Committee (SEC) formed by senior officers. We plan, initiate and monitor various ethical initiatives for improving the ethical culture. That is the major point, the top of the pyramid. The SEC
Moral Disengagement Though we know we are unethical, we disengage. Displacement of responsibility (we only follow orders and our boss is to blame for unethicality); diffusion of responsibility (all have unethical behaviour, hence my action is not unethical); attribution of blame (finding
reports to the State Head. There is a lot of support from the top management that is very important. Below the Ethics Committee, we have created Ethics Circles, like we have Quality Circles in many companies. Ethics Circles are created in all operational units.
others to blame for our unethical actions) and
We have a mix of officers and staff who meet
distorting consequences (we tend to believe that we
regularly and whose primary function is to understand
caused good, though we caused harm and selectively
if there are any ethical infractions happening here. If
remembering the good things) are all examples of moral
so, what actions can be taken? They discuss and
disengagement. For example, I give a stressed target to
suggest. They also plan and take part in many socially
my subordinate and an impossible time frame. He
responsible projects, promote volunteerism like blood
understands that it is neither impractical nor viable. So
donation camps or tree plantation projects, or
he either manipulates the data to show a good
collecting clothes and giving to the needy in the society.
performance, or achieves the target using unfair means.
Because of these positive actions, people’s energy will
He would still think it is not his fault as his boss gave
be diverted and used for a positive purpose. It improves
BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence
45 MAR 2022
Ms Sarada Jagan
We changed our Vision
MD (HR & Corporate Services), The Sanmar Group
Statement to read what it is
O
today. In short, it is: Where integrity meets excellence. ~ Ms Sarada Jagan
ur ethics philosophy and practices are written in a manual that runs to around 200 pages. We took KPMG's help in 2002 to articulate in
a formal manner what the group has been practising ever since Mr Sankar ran the Sanmar group. We conducted sensitisation workshops to employees to
the ethical climate of the organization. Another is the
understand what ethics means to them.
Ethics Training. Our unit conducts training within Tamil
We changed our Vision Statement to read what it
Nadu. We have trained all executives in business ethics,
is today. In short, it is: Where integrity meets
including ethical blindness. We have trained all staff
excellence. We don't want to do business any other way.
members for ethics and social responsibility. They
We want to do it with integrity. The Ethics Manual
create a solid foundation on which we can build on.
addresses our Vision and our guiding principles or the
We have also created an anonymous ethical feedback mechanism where people can report, without fear of retribution, violations including mis- reporting of data and sexual harassment. We have a set protocol on how to handle all these cases. The SEC goes into it, recommends action and submits to the State Head.
philosophies. To make people understand them, we have come up with general business principles, illustrated with examples and recommended what one should look at and what one should not look at. We also have our Code of Conduct. We have Ten Codes. We have systems in place and an ombudsman to administer all these. We end these manuals with 42
Increase Salience
typical dilemmas that we face in business situations
We also wanted to increase the Salience of Ethics
and ask our employees to choose the option that is
in the organization. We have frequent ethics broadcasts
appropriate for Sanmar group and understand why
so that they reach all the employees. We have also fixed
Sanmar wants them to do it that way. New employees
posters
social
on their first day in our company undergo a quick
responsibility, the importance of sustainability and
session on Ethics. At the end of the session, a
about ethics. The purpose is to increase the salience.
declaration is signed by them that they have
in
all
operational
units
about
• I suggest that a body to promote ethical awareness may be formed under the aegis of MMA to promote ethics in the corporate world. MMA can also conduct regular training sessions/workshops on Ethics. Organisational members can collaborate and exchange best practices.
understood the Ethics Code and they will abide by its letter and spirit. We do ethics dipstick tests periodically to find out gaps and provide re-training where required. In the last three years, instead of classroom training, we have branded all these initiatives and coined it emotively as, 'Ethically Ours." 'It is not ethics of Sanmar but our ethics.' This has led to greater employee involvement.
46
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BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence
BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence
47 MAR 2022
V Narayanan, former Chairman of Pond’s India Ltd was an inspiring visionary. He built a culture of character and competence and inspired ordinary people to do extraordinary things in the businesses he helmed. The Second V Narayanan Memorial Endowment Lecture instituted by well‐wishers and Pond’s veterans was held recently in memory of Late Shri V Narayanan.
Mr Jerry Rao
for different situations. This is where Mr V Narayanan
Founder and Former CEO Mphasis
set a great example. According to the Bible, Moses is the leader chosen by the God of the Hebrews, to bring that
the Hebrews out of Egypt. Then Moses dies. There is a
people are born leaders is
new leader—Joshua, whose job is to take them into the
simply not true. It was a very
Promised Land. I think the underlying message in the
clever theory that was useful
myth of The Exodus is that in different situations, we
for
need different leaders.
The
old
theory
aristocrats,
monarchs
and industrialists in the olden days to perpetuate their
In the area of politics, the British public actually
position. This is not a genetic trait like height or weight
understood it. Winston Churchill may have led them
or diabetes. It's a learned trait. The second thing we
through the war. But the moment the war was over,
know about leadership is that it is situational. No
they defeated Churchill and gave the power to someone
person is a leader in every situation. When you are on a plane, the captain of the plane is the leader. If there is an emergency, you have to follow the pilot’s instructions. Leadership is not something like ‘a man
for all seasons’ kind of story.
style in different situations.
The third thing about leadership is it is derived from situations. We need different kinds of leadership 48
situational. It means that one has to change one's leadership
A Moses and a Joshua
MAR 2022
Leadership a learned skill. It is
BUSINESS MANDATE
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else. If Churchill had been re-elected, I don't think he
situation. How does one change for situations and
would have given India Independence in 1947. There
transform oneself from a Moses into a Joshua?
might have been a violent insurrection and all kinds of problems. The British public were clever. They changed the leader, knowing that the situation required a different leader. So, leaders are not born. Leadership a learned skill. It is situational. It means that one has to change one's leadership style in different situations. In the German army, they used to have different generals for offence and defence. Heinrici, for instance, was one of the greatest of German generals. His specialty was
According to ancient Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar, a leader must learn flawlessly, unlearn and get rid of the dust in the brain and apply what he/she has learnt. Learning and unlearning are part of a leader’s evolution. The skills that will be useful in defeating a country militarily and the skills that will be useful in negotiating with the leadership of the country about freedom are two different skills. These are two different situations.
all defence. Nobody has heard of him like they have
No knowledge will be useful, which is purely
heard of Rommel or Guderian. It doesn't matter. He was
theoretical. We all, as managers, must understand that
the best in defence. There are some who can do both.
there is no point in knowing theoretically and doing
Narayanan was one of them. He was able to straddle
nice PowerPoint presentations, if we cannot use them
multiple situations and multiple challenges.
in practice.
Learn and Unlearn
License, MRTP and FERA Chains
Why are some leaders able to do that? Let me now
Someone like Narayanan epitomized the art of
move from science to the art. Till now, we looked at the
excelling in theory and practice. He was a CEO and MD
research on leadership. We know that it's not DNA
at a time when the Indian manager was in chains, tied
driven and it's situational. It has to change as per the
between industrial licensing, MRTP and FERA. You had
BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence
49 MAR 2022
to operate with your hands and legs all tied up and at
Charisma is not something
the same time, keep up the organisation’s morale. You
inherited. It is acquired. It is as
had to keep your customers happy and brand values
much about leaders as it is
intact. You had to make sure that your market share
about followers; research is still
didn't go down and there was customer delight,
going on about the
managing products with an extraordinary brand
contribution of followership to
history. You had to be faithful to the brand legacy.
leadership. Narayanan was a
It was a very difficult task. Narayanan and at least
charismatic leader because of
a dozen other people of that generation of managers
his qualities and achievements.
managed that. Think of just one challenge they faced. You had to go and tell your foreign investor, "The Indian Parliament has passed some law. I know you people have been operating in this country for many
mention of the expression 'charisma.' Charisma comes
decades. But we are going to dilute you, using a share
from an old Sanskrit, Persian word. It talks about
price which is totally unfair to you. We are going to
miracles and magic. In the paintings of early Christian
bring you down to 40%. But don't worry. Be patient.
saints in Greek orthodox and Catholic churches, there
Hang in there for ten or twenty years. We will continue
will be a sun around the head of the saint. That is the
to do business and over time you will recoup."
Charisma itself. That is a holy touch given to the saint. Charisma is supposed to be very central.
Can you just think of the challenge? I am certain I would not be able to do it. But at least half a dozen
Charisma is not something inherited. It is acquired.
managers of Narayanan's generation did it. Navigating
It is as much about leaders as it is about followers;
FERA, MRTP and Industrial Licensing was as difficult
research is still going on about the contribution of
as Moses trying to bring Hebrew slaves out of Egypt.
followership
to
leadership.
Narayanan
was
a
charismatic leader because of his qualities and It was unthinkable before 1991 that two foreign companies will be allowed to merge or one foreign company will be allowed to buy the equity of another foreign company. All that under FERA were impossible. Then suddenly things changed. The controller of capital
achievements. It was also because of people like Balaraman and Atul Vohra as his followers, giving their leader that charisma. There is a symbiotic relationship. That is why enduring organizations have both great leaders and great followers.
issues went away. This required a different approach. Very few managers have been able to straddle different
There is no such thing as a great leader without
time periods. Narayanan was one of them. To go back
great followers. The best example in the last 150 years
to the myth of The Exodus in the Bible, he was able to
is Mahatma Gandhi. A good leader like Narayanan
be a reasonably good Moses and a very good Joshua.
encourages and programs their subordinates to succeed and better their leaders in what they do. People who
Charisma—Leaders and Followers
are insecure and scared that their subordinates will
In all leadership studies, you will find a lot of 50
MAR 2022
outperform and replace them can't do that.
BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence
Mr Thyagi Thyagarajan
I think Narayanan started in sales. He never compromised on customer satisfaction and customer
Former Regional Director & SVP
delight. He was obsessed with the fact that Pond's
GlaxoSmithKline, Asia Pacific
vanishing cream or Dreamflower talc or some of those
I
other brands had extraordinary association of customer satisfaction.
first met Mr Nari (Mr Narayanan's
nick
name)
when I came back to India
after a stint in the UK. I joined
Selling the Backwater In those days, for a variety of historical reasons, Cheeseborough Pond's was headquartered in Madras (now Chennai), which was a bit backward those days. All the big companies were in Bombay and a few dying British companies were still in Calcutta. It was very difficult to attract talent to Madras.
as a special assistant to the Managing Director. It took some time for me to settle back into India. I decided to expose the company, to talk to people from different backgrounds and different industries and see what we can do with that knowledge, the pharmaceutical industry being pretty insular. They get very special in many ways and I felt important for the company to be
Narayanan had the unique ability to convert that into a positive. He sent a subtle message that Madras might be a backwater but one could learn more and do better than going into the big ocean and getting lost. Since he had credibility and high integrity, the message got through. Instead of complaining, he changed the challenge into an opportunity and an armament in his armoury.
exposed. My boss at the time was one Mr Humayun Dhanrajgir. He was a classmate of Nari in Lovedale. He suggested to me to consider inviting Nari for our first talk and I got in touch with Nari. He came to Mumbai and spoke
about the
Pond's story.
It was a
mesmerizing, captivating talk delivered in typical Nari style—precise and factual and yet, underplaying his
I was also a big supporter of making Madras a big centre for banking operations. We were able to attract a lot of people. I had our credit card marketing head office in Madras. Then I convinced HTA, our advertising
role. It was a phenomenal story though, which resonated with everybody.
Power Packed Independent Director
agency to transfer one of their brightest people to head
After the talk, he spent a few minutes with me and
HTA Madras. He later went on to head their India
asked about my background. He realised that I was
operations and take up prestigious roles.
Pond's Balaraman's classmate and I could straightaway
According to me, the managers of today must take interest and play an active role in the community. It can be sharing of knowledge, associating with management organisations like MMA or contributing to the community in other ways. They must grow beyond the company.
connect with him. He joined our board. I joined the board of Glaxo India in an executive capacity and he came in as an independent director in a non-executive capacity. He did that role for close to 20 years. This is before the company introduced ceiling on tenures. I had 20-odd years with Glaxo as a board member.
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Nari was instrumental in requesting Mr N Sankar,
For many people, being on a
who was Nari's very close friend and Chairman of the
Board is a prestige issue but not
Sanmar Group, to induct me onto Sanmar Group's
for people like Nari. When we
Board. As a board member, I met him over 100 times
asked him to join our board, the
and had the opportunity to interact with him many
question he asked was, "Why
times.
do you want me on the board?"
On the very day, I joined the company, there was
He wanted to act as a sounding
an ominous signal for me. The government amended
board and help us navigate the
the Act for drug patents and also withdrew the Drug
tough times.
Price Control Order (DPCO). These were two important events in the history of Indian pharmaceutical industry. I had to manage with my hands, feet and
worthwhile. It's always a longer term with India but it
everything else tied.
is a rich country of a billion people and for a healthcare At Glaxo, we wanted a high-quality board, not to supervise us, but to give us advice and from whom we could learn how to navigate in a highly regulated industry like Pharmaceuticals. Since we had a heavyweight board with people like Deepak Parekh and Nari, we were able to persuade our parent company to look at India as a special case and to view everything from the product portfolio angle and that we had to be different including on pricing.
company which has the vision of being a global company, how could you not for prioritize India? We are able to have that understanding with the parent company. That was thanks to the role the independent, non-executive directors played. I saw Nari do that. For every board meeting, he would come fully prepared. He would read the minutes from top to bottom, underline the key points and would ask probing questions, always in a constructive way.
As an
independent director, Nari was influential beyond
Retaining Indian Colour Jerry mentioned about foreign companies being asked to reduce their share holding to 40%. We did that and when we had the opportunity, we were able to persuade our parent company to go from 40 to 51 and more recently, in the last few years to 75%. One of the advice I gave to our parent company in the UK was not to go for 100% because the fact that we were 50 or 75% gave us an Indian colour. We will be seen as an Indian
measure.
For many people, being on a Board is a
prestige issue but not for people like Nari. When we asked him to join our board, the question he asked was, "Why do you want me on the board?" He wanted to act as a sounding board and help us navigate the tough times. I have always seen the independent nature of the board as a positive and not as a body that is trying to put a spoke in the wheel and obstruct the CEO's plans.
Following Nari’s Footsteps
company amongst the MNCs. We were able to do that because we had people of
Later on, when I became an independent director
the calibre and integrity like Nari, who were able to
in a couple of companies, the model I had in mind was
persuade the foreign investors that India was
that of Nari’s. He was a person who could serve any
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board, even if he didn't have the domain knowledge of
Great leaders do not think that
the industry. He would make it a point to be very well
they alone are responsible to
informed and educated on issues pertaining to the
drive the company. They believe
industry. From the questions he asked, you could never
in collective intellect. They
guess that he was not from the pharmaceutical
should also ensure that in their
industry.
team, they have one or two people who have the courage
So having a board with capable non-executive directors of the calibre of Nari was a great advantage.
to question their decisions and
When Mr Sankar invited me to join his board in Sanmar
to push them back.
Group, I participated in their Board meetings and Nari was also on that Board. I knew that Nari and Sankar were friends and had known each other for 50 years.
decided to compensate their release reasonably well. But in the board meetings, Nari who chaired the
That had the full support of people like Nari.
audit committee would ask tough questions. He would challenge and sometimes question the position that Sankar took. Sankar was one of the best CEOs I have ever seen. He knew his business and how to run his
Post the merger, Glaxo being the larger partner, we decided to break away from the past. We wanted to completely move away from our Worli office to a new location. Those of you who know Bombay will
company like nobody else could.
appreciate that the location of Glaxo factory is iconic. When I was asked to join their Board, I asked Sankar why he wanted a powerful board, being a private
It's called the Glaxo bus stop. It is a landmark in Bombay.
company. His reply was a lesson to me. He said that his position needed to be challenged and smart people on the board would be able to see if he missed a right turn or not. The second reason that he pointed out was that as he wanted to induct his son into the Board, he wanted to have wise people around.
Stakeholder
management is talked about widely today. Nari
When we sought Nari's advice, he said, "Why should you move your entire set up from Worli? You can keep your HQ there and relocate your manufacturing operations." His point was deeply philosophical and his advice was not to forget the roots from where one came from. It was not a mathematical or economic argument. We should not forget the origins of our organisations.
practised it from day one.
This is something that has since stayed with me.
Don’t Forget Your Roots
Great leaders do not think that they alone are
In 2009, when Glaxo and Smithkline decided to
responsible to drive the company. They believe in
merge, we had to take a lot of difficult decisions. We
collective intellect. They should also ensure that in their
had inherited nine factories. We needed just two. We
team, they have one or two people who have the
had to downsize our operations significantly and take
courage to question their decisions and to push them
out a large number of people. As many of them had
back. A leader must not be surrounded by yes-men.
spent their lifetime with us, the Board unanimously BUSINESS MANDATE
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Mr V Balaraman, former President of MMA and
chemicals to justify their continued existence in India
former MD of Pond’s India Ltd who succeeded Mr
while Narayanan chose the route of exports. While
Narayanan spoke about how Narayanan handled the
continuing with talcum powder, Narayanan allowed us
challenge posed by the then Union Minister Mr George
to start manufacturing of shoes, leather garments,
Fernandes and converted an adversity into an
mushroom and thermometers and we exported them.
opportunity. The minister wanted each company to
The exports brought in substantial revenues to the
bring in high technology and provide great value
company. For a period of ten years, the exports were
addition to India. He wondered what contribution could
far more profitable than the talcum powder marketing.
come from a talcum manufacturing company. The
Narayanan trusted people, gave them challenging
government levied steep excise duty on talcum powder.
assignments and gave them the freedom to fail and
Hindustan Levers chose to invest in fertilisers &
learn.
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