Roundtable By BIMTECh On 'Art And Science Of Developing Leaders' Session 3 - 'Building Global Leaders In Uncertain Times'

Online, August 16, 2012 (Newswire.com) - The thought leaders in management studies, Birla Institute of Management Technology(BIMTECH) - recently convened a high-power panel discussion on the crucial issue of 'Building Global Leaders in Uncertain Times'. This was the last of the three-series roundtable on the 'Art and Science of Developing Leaders' jointly organised by BIMTECH in association with People Matters and AON Hewitt. The event, held on the 3rd August 2012 evening at the Leela Kempinski, Gurgaon, was broadcast on NDTV Profit, the exclusive media partner for the three-series roundtable.

Welcoming the large gathering of prominent corporate personalities, Dr H. Chaturvedi, Director, BIMTECH, observed that succeeding in a volatile business environment requires frequent adjustments, and demands management intensity at operational level.

"This topic is relevant to all stakeholders today - including society - as well to those who are responsible for leadership development. Today, we are going through the toughest of crises. Post-recession, the recovery of the US economy has not been very impressive; there is a lot of political turmoil in the Middle Eastern countries, and issues related to sustainability are affecting businesses today. Even in our country industrial production is declining, the rupee is melting, inflation is rampant, and policy paralysis and government issues are all-engulfing. We need to ask ourselves if complexities and turmoil are the new 'normal' or not; and if they are, how do we tackle them."

Dr. Chaturvedi, Director, BIMTECH then handed over the responsibility of moderating the panel discussion to Mr. Sushant Upadhyay, Chief Commercial Officer, AON Hewitt. Mr. Upadhyay set the ball rolling with an interesting metaphorical anecdote about a corporate executive who thought he needed a break.

"This executive went to a farm, but very soon the lack of work got him fidgety. The farmer took pity on him and asked him to clean the farmhouse. The executive did this in 2 hours flat! Since he wanted more work, the farmer tasked him to kill a hundred chickens. The executive was again back in 2 hours - all chickens killed! The farmer, now thoroughly impressed, gave him the relatively simple task of sorting potatoes the next day according to big, medium and small sizes. The executive just sat staring at the pile of potatoes till the evening. This confounded the farmer and he queried him on this apparent inaction, despite commendable efficiency the previous day. 'I'm an executive,' the young man replied. 'You asked me to clean dirt and chop heads; that's easy for me. But sort potatoes? Deciding what is big, medium and small? That's decision-making. I got confused.' That is sadly the truth. Decision-making is confusing to most because we are so used to following templates and constructing them that we lose the capacity of coming up with our own ideas."

Mr. Upadhyay then threw the floor open to the panel to discuss this realm of uncertainty and how to deal with it.

"In one of our meetings, I asked Chandra Kochhar, CEO, ICICI Bank, as to what according to her is the top characteristic of a leader," Mr Ajay Soni, Asia Pacific Leadership Practice Leader, AON Hewitt, began. "She said, 'the ability to build each other'. The entire world is looking towards India and China these days. While in China, for a client roundtable, I asked each panelist to share two problems they were facing; almost everyone said - how to develop leaders quickly, and how to give our leaders a global perspective. I believe there are 3 things that companies need to do to create great leaders - Plan global talent on the basis of their global strategy; Focus on talent identification and career mapping; and Customize learning opportunities from local to global."

Sharing his thoughts during this 90-minutes panel discussion, Mr Pritam Singh, Director General, IMI, pointed out that uncertainty in an organisation is actually the result of not being connected to the world.

"I think that is very important to be connected and aware about the global world in order to reduce the most of uncertain mind frames and create global leaders.

Mr Dev Bhattacharya, Group Executive President & Business Head at Aditya Birla Group, brought in a touch of spirituality, viewing the current business scenario as an opportune time to go back to the Indian concept of Karma.

"Let us reconsider the dictum that this world has enough for everybody's need, but not enough for even one man's greed. Ultimately, we will have to go back to our ancient traditions; the best time is now. The Indian business leadership programmes should be based on Mahatma Gandhi's principles. He truly remains the most charismatic global Indian Leader. I think that the holistic approach of living for others will help managers connect to the mindset of the masses."

For Mr Rajeev Bhadauria, Director - Group HR, JSPL, uncertain times are a win-win situation for both managers and organisations, provided the HR knows how to go about his job.

"In JSPL, we have devised a structured approach to grooming global leadership that helps us thrive in these times. We have a programme called 'Leadership Exploration and Development' which involves a lot of field and forum. The unstructured part is in the form of Breakthrough projects. If successfully, these projects yield many times the value of the investments made. It's a win-win situation really, where the organisation not just gains in profits but in the process grooms managers who can operate in unexplored and uncertain environments. The managers develop traits of leadership, and start viewing projects from 'what's in it for me' perspective."

During the post-event dinner, Professor K.K. Sinha of BIMTECH shared that many of the suggestions received from the corporate bigwigs would form a part of the BIMTECH curriculum. He felt that these platforms were probably the best way to understand the industry requirements and develop a pipeline for, not just managers, but leaders in uncertain times, at BIMTECH.