People Matters

Entrepreneurial Path Breaker

Mar 15th 2011

Though she calls herself an accidental entrepreneur, Kiran’s drive to create a brand for India and work towards bringing down the cost of critical drugs has led Biocon to afford its place in the global bio-pharma industry. Dr. Pritam Singh and Dr. Asha Bhandarker  speak to the lady herself to learn more about Biocon, its journey, and the crucial value system that has made the dream a realityPS: How would Kiran Mazumdar Shaw describe Kiran Mazumdar Shaw? KM: I am very impatient... Read more »

Leadership: In Search Of Change Maestros

By Dr. Pritam Singh and Dr. Asha Bhandarker

Jan 15th 2011

As India becomes a central and important player in the global economy, identifying, recognizing and honoring its leaders and their contribution creates a very useful guide for understanding the leadership traits that succeed in the Indian eco-system. It also helps create role models for a new generation of entrepreneurs. In their latest book, In Search of Change Maestrosi, Dr. Pritam Singh and Dr. Asha Bhandarker from MDI study the methods of seven successful Indian business leaders and outlin... Read more »

The ‘By Indian Standards’ Conundrum

By Rajeshwar Upadhyaya, Director, Par Excellence

Aug 16th 2010

Amongst the curious phrases that have evolved in India’s continuing struggle with the English language, none is more meaningless than the robust favourite “By Indian Standards.” It makes no sense. Either you have standards or you don’t. The insertion of a third, Indian, option, is actually an advance justification for failure, an acknowledgment of mediocrity, and a contentment with the status quo. None of these are particularly laudable, but the tragedy is that they are... Read more »

The Intellectual

By Shantanu Dhar

Jul 1st 2010

In fond memory of HCL Technologies Co-founder, Subramanian Raman and his simple, yet effective, management styleOn a recent flight, I discovered that the person next to me was a business head of a midsized manufacturing organization. His eyes also lit up when he discovered that I am an HR professional. The gentleman, a senior profile in his fifties, decided to talk about competency management in an organization.He asked me, `What is a competency ‘?`Identifying those ingrained behaviors t... Read more »

Conflict and Resolution in the Myths of Oedipus and Brahma: A reflection of their respective world views

By Rajeshwar Upadhyaya

Jul 1st 2010

Man’s is a lonely predicament; and religion has sought to extol his ‘aloneness – sometimes providing a rationale for existence and evolution. All religions, without exception, seek to provide man with a deeper, saner reality – something more fundamental than that which ordinarily meets the eye. At the depths of truth, words conjure up meanings that belie their etymology and therefore words will have to be seen as reflective of states of mind. The deep recesses of the h... Read more »

On Leadership Employee Engagement & Business Performance

Jun 1st 2010

Neisha Lobo, Head - Leadership Development, Hewitt Associates India explores the association between employee engagement and company performance & further, between effective leadership and employee engagementMuch has been debated on the age-old question of what are the true traits of a good leader. One of the traits that often gets missed out is the ability of a good leader understand motivation drivers and drive high employee engagement levels.People Performance is a Key Business AgendaAf... Read more »

Success In The New Normal

Jun 1st 2010

In an exclusive interaction with Deepak Mohla, MD, Inspire One and Jim Tapper, CEO, CHPD, People Matters explores the new business dynamics ahead and how organizations can best equip themselves for successFrom your opinion, how have Indian businesses been affected in the last 18 to 24 months by the Global Downturn? Deepak: The downturn did not impact all areas of Indian industry. There were parts of industry which were impacted more; some were impacted less and some got impacted only for a sh... Read more »

The Self Destructive Imperative of Nepotism

By Rajeshwar Upadhyaya

Jun 1st 2010

In his usual thought-provoking style, Rajeshwar Upadhyaya, uses the exaggerated caricature of Dhritarashtra as a mirror to our society, which accepts nepotism as the normIn the Mahabharata, there is one person who had the power to prevent the inevitable catastrophe of the final battle at Kurukshetra. He never exercises this power. Contrary to popular belief, this person was not Krishna. The only person with a realistic chance of preventing war, at least almost until the bitter end, was the Kau... Read more »

Real Leaders or Leaders-In-Name-Only?

By Tommy Weir

May 1st 2010

In conversation with Tommy Weir, Ph.D., Vice President Leadership Solutions, Kenexa on the basics of building leadership capabilities for sustainabilityCompanies across the world have realized that identifying and developing leaders will drive superior performance. Does the process of leadership identification and development go beyond performance to become a matter of sustainability and survival?Many organizations misunderstand the difference between having people in leadership positions (lik... Read more »

Who you are Influences what you do

By Santhosh Babu

May 1st 2010

The behaviour of a leader reflects his self image. But before making an attempt to change his behaviour, it is imperative to ascertain the cause behind itHarsh Banerjee is a senior executive in a Telecom company who thinks he is the Alpha Dog among the pack and behaves exactly like that - intimidating his juniors, supporting and protecting his followers and shamelessly demonstrating narcissistic behaviour. He seems to be in a world of ignorance even though everyone talks about how insensitive ... Read more »