People Matters

CEO - The first 100 days

By Dr. Anil K. Khandelwal

Jun 3rd 2012

Conventional wisdom suggests that CEOs must understand the organization inside-out within the first 100 days before they unleash any concrete action. Is this valid anymore? Given the competitive pressures of modern times, a CEO’s task is cut out from day 1 and his challenge begins from that very day. During the transitional period, CEOs are expected to create the desired momentum, build credibility and secure some early wins to lay a firm foundation for firm success. Whether the CEO is l... Read more »

Emphasis on Contextual Content

By Deepak Chandra, Deputy Dean, Indian School of Business (ISB)

Apr 4th 2012

Executive education primarily caters to the top two levels in the organization. Depending on the size of the business, the top two levels could mean the person leading that organization or the division (business unit), and the CXO reporting in to the CEO/ business head.Learning at the senior level includes people who want to know more about their particular functions, or those who are leading a particular function, but need to make decisions based on the understanding of other functions. Busin... Read more »

A Leader’s Combat Zone

By Prof. (Col.) Sudhir Raje, Professor, Atharva Institute of Management Studies

Apr 2nd 2012

Business in the globalized economy is a civilized version of war. Companies, not countries, are battlefield rivals and we have entered the era of total competition. There is a battle-ready competitor somewhere, who is busy thinking how to beat you. The ancient Chinese Strategist Sun Tzu who wrote ‘The Art of War’ said “Rules of the war never change only weapons change”. Many methods used in sales campaigns, marketing strategies and competitive tactics, are in fact base... Read more »

Board Leadership

By Dr. Anil K. Khandelwal

Apr 2nd 2012

Recently, a member of the Board of a large company told me that a Board member is like a passenger in a bus of which the CEO is the driver. Startled by this, I asked him ‘why he felt so?’ He narrated that the key role of a CEO is to drive the company and if he does not engage the Directors and use their expertise, they are as good as passengers in a bus. The metaphor of the passenger used for Directors is not without significance.Apart from providing leadership to the management te... Read more »

Higher Ambition Leadership

Oct 2nd 2011

Flemming Norrgren, Professor of Management, Chalmers University in Gothenburg & Director, The TruePoint Center, shares with People Matters the emerging concept of ‘Higher-Ambition Leadership’ as studied through the stories of 36 CEOs who share a higher ambition to create economic and social value in meeting the new standards for leadershipHow do you qualify ‘Higher-Ambition Leaders’?‘Higher-Ambition Leaders’ are those CEOs who ran their companies above t... Read more »

In Search of Change Maestros - Series VIII

By Dr. Pritam Singh and Dr. Asha Bhandarker

Sep 1st 2011

Looking Beyond - Creating India’s Global FootprintHaving taken over the Aditya Birla Group at a mere age of 28 years, Kumar Mangalam Birla shares the transformational journey and the values and management style that helped him bring about the required change in making it a truly global MNCExcerpts from the book In Search of Change Maestros* by Dr. Pritam Singh and Dr. Asha BhandarkerKumar Mangalam Birla took over the reins of Aditya Birla Group (ABG) in 1995 after having lost his father,... Read more »

In Search of Change Maestros - Series VII

By Dr. Pritam Singh and Dr. Asha Bhandarker

Jul 1st 2011

Chairman and Managing Director, Larsen & Toubro, A.M. Naik’s passion and commitment enabled him to bring about the required changes to grow the company’s revenue from Rs. 109 billion to Rs. 46,108 billion. Practicing the philosophy of ‘change is a way of life’, he has driven growth at L&T through emphasis on ethical governance, customer centricity, people power and entrepreneurial innovation. In a conversation with the authors, he talks about the crucial need fo... Read more »

Talent & Organization Challenges in M&A: An Indian Perspective

Jul 1st 2011

Post deal organization, HR transformation, cultural alignment and change management are the four aspects that can help accelerate the M&A process, say Deepak Malkani, Lead; Jayesh Pandey, Senior Executive and Rhiju Bhowmick, Manager – Talent and Organization Performance, AccentureMM&A activity in India continues to remain strong. The total deal value increased from USD 24bn in Q-1 2010 to USD 29bn in Q-1 2011. With deals on the rise, corresponding attention must be given to the e... Read more »

Implications of Cross-border Deals

By Anupam Prakash

Jul 1st 2011

Anupam Prakash, Partner, Mercer India, talks about the opportunities for Indian companies in cross-border M&A, and the crucial role that people and human capital considerations play in ensuring a successful transactionToday, in my view, there are two countries which have a great opportunity in exploiting cross-border M&As: China and India. The reason for this is that these two countries are used to scale and size. They have large domestic markets, know how to sell at scale, know how to... Read more »

In Search of Change Maestros - Series VI

By Dr. Pritam Singh and Dr. Asha Bhandarker

Jun 1st 2011

An optimist who sees an opportunity in every problem, M. Damodaran (Retired IAS and former Chairman, SEBI, IDBI and UTI) re-energized the future of two giant companies – UTI and IDBI. The architect of change was able to bring back the lost glory two crown jewels of the pre-liberalized Indian financial sector and restored the trust of people in them. Excerpts from the book In Search of Change Maestros* by Dr. Pritam Singh and Dr. Asha BhandarkerHaving started his career in the Tripura c... Read more »