People Matters

The Leadership Factory

Jan 12th 2010

A very happy new year 2010 to our readers and sponsors. The inaugural issue of this year is focused on Leadership and grooming leaders for tomorrow. With its phenomenal growth in terms of investment and business opportunities, Indian companies require leaders at all levels – to grow new business lines, ensure succession planning in a highly competitive talent market and to question the status quo.Herein lies the biggest challenge for top management – companies need to spend conside... Read more »

Institutionalizing Leadership - The HUL Story

By People Matters

Jan 12th 2010

An organization that is serious about leadership development makes it a way of life. Hindustan Unilever has been consistently producing CEOs and corporate leaders for India INC for more than 25 years now; the leadership development process at Levers is more of a tradition, institutionalized over the last many decades. With more than 1000 alumni sitting on boards globally, HUL is a source of inspiration for many companies.The key tenets of this solid tradition have been -- commitment from top l... Read more »

Grooming Leaders for Adaptive Challenges - The ICICI Way

By People Matters

Jan 12th 2010

When vast opportunity and a meritocratic culture are complemented by a robust process for managing talent, leadership development becomes a successChanda Kochhar joined ICICI Ltd as project trainee in 1984. When, within 10 years of joining, she was sent to ICICI Bank as part of the core team to setup the bank, it was clear that she had been chosen for a more ambitious role than her peers. An internal process had been set in motion, whereby she would be provided with more opportunities to build... Read more »

Culture and Process need to go hand in hand

By Chanda Kochhar

Jan 12th 2010

Chanda Kochhar explains what Leadership means at ICICI and why it is important for their businessYou have come from the entry level to CEO. What, in your experi-ence, have ICICI done different from its competitors with respect of grooming leaders?I believe that what is different in ICICI is firstly the kind of culture of the group and secondly the robust process that we use to identify and groom talent. ICICI, as a group, has gone through tremendous growth and diversification. We operate in a ... Read more »

Leveraging on Business Diversity - The ABG Way

By Ester Martinez

Jan 12th 2010

Diversity in exposure is a key tool for developing leadership potential to its fullest.For Aditya Birla Group (ABG), leadership capabilities can be found in every person, the difference is the potential they have within and the different exposure that they require to develop that potential. “Leader-ship development at ABG aims to provide with the opportunity to develop the full potential of every employee. We differentiate employees with different potential levels in terms of the exposur... Read more »

Creating Role Models for Future Leaders - The Infosys Way

By Ester Martinez

Jan 12th 2010

Leadership Development not just as an initiative but as an integrated program.With its focus on quality delivery of services and its image as one of India’s most ethical organizations, Infosys Technologies is a model company in Corporate India. By ensuring immaculate succession planning, the company has also demonstrated its ability to anticipate future needs and groom leaders.Today, with 100,000+ employees and an employee growth rate above 25%, it is interesting to learn the company&rsq... Read more »

Growth needs to stem from a vision

By Kris Gopalakrishnan

Jan 12th 2010

Kris Gopalakrishnan shares how leadership development plays an important role in succession planning and how this activity cannot be accidental for growing organizationsWhat does Leadership mean at Infosys? Has this definition of leadership evolved since the inception of the company? What do you look for in young talent as an indicator for leadership potential?Leadership at Infosys means taking on the next level of growth. That has 3 implications; firstly, this growth needs to happen at all le... Read more »

Stable Leadership is Very Important

By Nandita Gurjar

Jan 12th 2010

A culture of investing in people’s development at every career stage has led to high retention, says Nandita Gurjar, HR HeadPart of the company’s vision is to be preferred choice of global talent; how do initiatives like leadership development fit into that vision? How do you integrate employees from all nationalities and global locations into the program?These processes are implemented across cities and countries. We just ensure that there is a strong connection and a relationship... Read more »

Leadership for sustainable success - The Wipro Way

By Ester Martinez

Jan 12th 2010

Aligning leadership behaviour with core vision and values“Leadership at Wipro means the ability to win the hearts and minds of all our stakeholders whether internal or external. It means leading others with humility and yet having big dreams. It means the self confidence to accept that you are wrong and resilience to fight back,” says Azim Premji, Chairman of Wipro.Azim Premji inherited his father’s cooking oil business in 1966. When he repositioned it into an IT services org... Read more »

What I look for in young leaders…

By Azim Premji

Jan 12th 2010

Intensity to Win, Acting with Sensitivity and Unyielding Integrity, Excerpts from an interaction with Azim Premji, Chairman of WiproWhat does Leadership mean at Wipro?Leadership at Wipro means the ability to win the hearts and minds of all our stakeholders whether internal or external. It means leading others with humility and yet having big dreams. It means the self confidence to accept that you are wrong and resilience to fight back. Leaders also need to challenge themselves and their team m... Read more »