Beyond the Apparent

- 2019
 This Kaustubham
belongs to

..............................................
 FOREWORD
Dear Colleagues, Industry Friends and Students,

It is with immense pleasure and satisfaction I pen the prelude for the upcoming edition of
the journal Kaustubham- the annual student publication of the Centre for HRM & LR. This
initiative by students is a sincere attempt to zip up the communication between TISS, industry,
alumni, and the student body. I wholeheartedly applaud the Editorial Committee for taking up
the task and espousing the legacy. I have treasured each and every issue and thank the Editorial
Committee for a brilliant, stirring experience with every issue.

In this issue of  Kaustubham, which centres around the theme “Beyond The Apparent”,
many authors from assorted fields such as eminent industry leaders, senior armed force officials
and celebrated academicians have contributed their write ups. The journal encompasses myriad
themes such as the dilemmas of an HR practitioner, leadership and the importance of courage,
importance of perspective in shaping the role of HR, personnel management in armed forc-
es to name some.  Mr. Prasenjit Bhattacharya, CEO, Great Places to Work has written about
The Past Present and Future of Workplace. Mr. Vasudevan Narsimhan, Director – HR, KEC
writes about how Your Future is already Disrupted.  Ms. Whitney Johnson, Innovation and Dis-
ruption Theorist pens about The Wave of Disruption. Mr.  Saurbah Jain, Vice President, Paytm
talks about Role of Startups in Higher Education. Mr. Matangi Gowrishankar, the Former HR
Head, Asia Pacific, and Global Capability Head – British Petroleum, inscribes about the key
traits to be the best Business partner we can be. I hope that the readers would enjoy reading all
these articles.

I hope that the journal endures to expand its reach to realize its vision of being a truly
archetypal student publication and progressively reaches out to the masses through its vivacious
blend of intellectual prowess in the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences.

Any recommendations or reproach on the magazine would be most welcome.

Happy Reading.

Dr. Sasmita Palo

Professor & Dean,

School of Management & Labour Studies,
Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.
 CHAIRPERSON’S NOTE
It is necessary to engage with the constantly changing environment around businesses.
Businesses can innovate strongly when they are aware of the environmental disruptions around
them. These disruptions emerge from a sense of the expansiveness of voice. All innovations
expand the voice of actors. The invention of the printing press led to a serious expansion of
voice and posed challenges to social and temporal structures.

The emergence of the digital space similarly poses challenges to existing structures of
business and social relations. Brands have to respond to the multiple sources of communication
that can emerge in the social media. The possibility of controlling narratives has become
restricted. At the same time, the social media frames narratives in a certain affective way that
challenges the charm of many old world melancholic articulations. In the midst of all these
transitions, businesses craft the logics of innovation and disruption.

Often, businesses can limit imagination as they focus on instrumental outcomes. The
emphasis on instrumentality prevents organisations from envisioning multiple future scenarios
and how they can reach some of them. Scenarios are about multiple paths through which the
environment evolves. On the other hand, instrumental outcomes are about the evolution of
the business entity keeping several environmental contexts constant. In order to think about
scenarios, organisations need to suspend mindsets of instrumentality and envision broader
purposes for which they exist.

Questions of purpose and existence open up prospects of conversations.

Unintended conversations are often the basis of evolution. Planned conversations
often merely optimise the status quo. The capacity of organisations to integrate
spontaneity through digital transformations outlines their ability to be open to
conversational interruptions. Rather than linear trajectories of growth, it is the ability of
organisations to follow interrupted reflections that enables robust forms of evolution.

In this issue of Kaustubham, there are several articles that engage with the ethos of
innovation and disruption. These articles reflect the need for organisations to break free from
the status quo and respond to stakeholder desires for more evolved offerings. They also reflect
the need to think about how HR can engage in effective business partnering roles by charting
imaginations and scenarios based on the collective evolution of resources and personnel. These
articles throw light on the need to think about multiple intersections between people, resources,
environments and deep reservoirs of organisational wisdom.

Dr. Premalatha Packirisamy

Associate Professor & Chairperson,

Center for HRM & LR,
School of Management & Labour Studies,
Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.
 SPECIAL NOTE
My heartiest congratulations to the Editorial Committee, HRM & LR, TISS Mumbai for
coming out with this year’s “Kaustubham”. The Editorial Committee members have put in
a lot of hard work and effort in publishing its annual journal Kaustubham. Over the years,
Kaustubham has matured and has become an important outlet for the discussion and debate
of the contemporary issues faced by human resource (HR) practitioners and thought leaders.
I would summarise the positioning of this journal as “Issues That Matter to HR”. I think
this statement truly encapsulates the relevance of this journal. Additionally, Kaustubham has
differentiated itself by making the relevant content accessible in simple and easy to comprehend
language. This unique positioning of Kaustubham differentiates it from most academic journals.

The theme for this year’s edition is “Beyond The Apparent” and it encompasses myriad
themes such as dilemmas of an HR practitioner, leadership and the importance of courage,
importance of perspective in shaping the role of HR, personnel management in armed forces
to name a few. The writers include eminent industry leaders, senior armed force officials and
noted academicians. Some of the writers include Prasenjit Bhattacharya – CEO, Great Places to
Work (The Past Present and Future of Workplace), Vasudevan Narsimhan – Director HR, KEC
(Your Future is already Disrupted), Whitney Johnson – Innovation and Disruption Theorist
(The Wave of Disruption), Saurbah Jain – Vice President, Paytm (Role of Start-ups in Higher
Education), Matangi Gowrishankar – Former HR Head, Asia Pacific and Global Capability
Head – British Petroleum (The Key Traits to be the Best Business Partner We Can Be).

Lastly, I am pleased to share this year’s “Kaustubham” which brings together articles on
diverse and contemporary themes highly relevant for naïve as well as seasoned HR professionals.
On the whole, I believe that Kaustubham is a must read text for the HR fraternity. Once again,
I congratulate the Editorial Committee for their dedication and enthusiasm in bringing out
Kaustubham year after year with significant quality improvements.

Dr. Gordhan K. Saini

Assistant Professor,
Center for HRM & LR,
School of Management & Labour Studies,
Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.
 EDITOR’S NOTE
“A seeker of truth looks beyond the apparent and contemplates the hidden.” - Rumi

What is knowledge and what does it mean to know? This is not only an existential question,
it is also an academic question. One of the perspectives on this question is that to have a
perspective is to know something. The very phenomenon of having a perspective showcases
the act of knowing. In the context of this edition of this journal, knowledge is the informed
perspectives of the practitioners and academicians who have written for the journal. Human
Resource Management is a developing field and a repository of perspectives serves as the
foundation for enriching the field. Within this paradigm of knowledge, to have access to more
perspectives is to have more knowledge.

It is the human condition to accept the apparent as a fact. We hold onto our opinions
strongly, bringing a rigidity which precludes an accurate understanding of the state of affairs
and the myriad interconnections underlying the surface. Below the superficial, opinion-based
observations lies a structure of unapparent interconnectedness, and then there are also apparent
correlations which we mistakenly take to be causal relations. W. V. Quine spoke of knowledge as
a man-made fabric which impinges upon experience only along the edges. Our endeavor here is
to collect these experiences and enlarge the fabric of knowledge.

In this edition we have attempted to cast a watchful eye on the patterns emerging throughout
the business world, and locally in the function of Human Resources. The attempt has been to
glean insights from multiple perspectives and walks of life, and to create an opportunity for
the readers to make interconnections across the articles and the numerous perspectives that
they represent. We hope that the presaging nature of the content, along with the reflective
observations, provides the readers with a view of that which is apparent as well as that which is
beyond the apparent.
Meet the Editorial Committee!
Apurva Kirti
A post- graduate in
Botany, an introvert,
loves petrichor, Rafa
and Biriyani.
Mausham Kumar
An engineer, and
now a budding HR
professional who
likes to contemplate
in solitude, writes on
socio-political issues
and aspires to become
a prolific author.
Parth Khare stargazing, road trips
A poetry fan and an
economics dilettante,
doing Engineering was an
enlightening experience
from him, both literally
and metaphorically. He is
interested in Medicine,
Psychology and is an auto-
didact to the core.
and a wannabe Shayar
Vibhuti Raina
An Engineering
Graduate, a travel
buff, an avid reader
with an insatiable
appetite for Sufi
A complete and utter
music.
binging on TV shows.
Abhishek Pareek
A die-hard
fan of Daniel Day
Lewis; mesmerized
by the works of
Shankaracharya and
Wittgenstein.
Abhay Karkun
An Engineer, a travel
enthusiast, and a
voracious reader. He
is a die hard fan of
Roger Federer; loves
playing cricket and
watching hollywood
action movies.
Anupama Gachhayat
A computer science
graduate, she loves
and instrumental
classical music.
Niranjan Kumar
A mechanical
engineering graduate,
a dreamer, a believer
who believes together
we can change the
world.
Shrutam Jani
Potterhead; loves
drinking chai and
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
No man is an island in itself, and no work is completed without the selfless and generous
help of countless individuals, and institutions. It is with extreme gratitude in our hearts that we
thank the countless people who have helped us throughout our journey.

At the outset we thank the Dean of The School of Management and Labour Studies, Dr.
Sasmita Palo for her continued support for all our endeavors. We also thank the Chairperson for
the Center for Human Resource Management and Labour Relations, Dr. Premalatha Packirisamy
for her encouragement and impetus to always strive for better. We thank all our professors, from
the deepest recesses, for being our pillars of support in testing times.

The contributors to the magazine deserve interminable applause, for it is their ideas,
thoughts, and words which have shaped the journal for the year. We thank each one of them for
their laudable effort and encouragement by way of writing for Kaustubham.

We would like to extend a special vote of thanks to all our sponsors and partners for their
valuable collaboration with us.

The Student Union of TISS was our glimmer of hope in the dark, providing us with
continuous support and insights, and most importantly, helping in the production of the journal.
The guidance they provided was invaluable!

Lastly, we would like to thank the students of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai,
for every insight of theirs, every word of encouragement and for every moment that they
shared with us in the making of Kaustubham.
CONTENTS
1 Disruptions
06 Ride the Wave of Disruption - Be - Matangi Gowrishankar
Whitney Johnson
14 Your Future is Already
Disrupted.. - Vasudevan
Narasimha & Vivek Rai
20 Managing in the Times of
Disruption - Vivek Mehra
38 Artificial Intelligence in Legal
Space - Jaideep Kewalramani
52 How Neuroscience is Shaping
Our People Practices - Anindya
Kumar Shee
75 Future of Consulting in the
Era of Digital Disruption -
Dr. Renu Rajani
2 Revolutionizing HR
11 5 Insights to be the Best
HR Business Partners We Can
30 The Case of Analytics and
AI-Based Learning: The
Future of Corporate Training -
Dr. Jasmine Gupta
34 Through the Eyes of the
Beholder - V J Rao
43 Are We “Human Resource
Function” Ready to Handle
the Changing Dynamics and
Business Transformation? -
Milind Mutalik
73 Unravelling Human Resources
with Anurag Rai
78 How to Hire a Star Performer
- Jayant Hudar
3 Leadership and Motivation
23 Man Management : Lessons
from the BSF Model - Ravi
Kumar Ponoth
57 Leadership is Not a One
Time Affair - Ameya Karambe
64 Motivating a Borderman -
Sanjiv Krishan Sood
 4 Emotions & Behaviour

18 Role of Start-ups in Higher

Education - Saurabh Jain
54 Explore with Courage and
Gratitude - Manish Advani
60 The Construct of
Mindfulness: The “Potential
Project” Perspective - Marut
Bhardwaj
62 What the Sages Said About
Emotional Intelligence -
Rashmi Datt
69 The Power of Humility and
The Greater Fool Theory -
Birender Ahluwalia

5 Employee Relations

01Workplace Culture - Past,

Present & Future - Prasenjit
Bhattacharya
09
Managing Millennials in the
Multi-Generational Workforce
- Bhrigu Joshi
26A Story of Two Strikes and
Some Suggestions - Satyarth
Priyedarshi
47 Robots and Us: Reimagining
Employment Relations -
Amitabha Sengupta
 Workplace Culture - Past,
Present & Future

By PRASENJIT BHATTACHARYA

Great Place to Work® Institute, India

Chief Executive Officer

The Past career when a multinational bank with presence all over
the world selected me and I quickly rose to become
In case you are over 40 years of age, try and the Head of Compensation. The bank, in those days,
remember your first job. I remember mine vividly. It belonged to the select group of big corporates who
was at a progressive local company. As I went to my were valiantly upholding the colonial culture in the
first boss, a 55-year-old veteran in an old established country. Not just in dress (formal-tie and jacket) or in
organization, he asked me a question, “Are you an customs (Friday lunch at the Club), but also in policies
MBA, son?” “Yes”, I replied. (in the Compensation function, we used to refer, in
hushed tones, to a select group of brown sahibs who
“In that case you are like a virus in our system. We were on “expat terms”).
will produce enough antibodies to eject you fast”, he
said, half in jest. Not the most inspiring welcome for a The HRD movement had not made much of a
24- year-old! It never occurred to me to contest his view. dent in the organization, but some progress was visible.
Years later I realised that I was following an unwritten They had just dropped a requirement in the service
rule of the workplace culture. rules that stated that the Senior Manager will invite the
executive and his fiancé for a cup of tea. The unstated
And yes, he was right. I left in a year’s time! reason was to ensure that the social class structure of
the bank was not disrupted! Thanks to such measures of
Fast forward to my next job. This time I joined a “liberalisation”, people from middle class backgrounds,
well-known multinational – a technology leader in its like me, could now get into the bank.
field. I got an opportunity to work in the newly set up
HRD department in one of their plants in another city. In those days of limited automation, my entire
(In those days, organizations were rapidly transforming department - including me - had to work late nights
from Personnel to HRD). One of my tasks was to during the “increment season”. My boss, who was an
invite dignitaries from our Head Office to address us in expat, would leave for his club at 6 p.m. This kind man,
our newly minted “Training Room”. I had two tasks – knowing that we would be working late, would peep into
arrange for a sapling to be planted with the name of the our section on the way out, pat our backs and exhort us
dignitary on a suitable plaque and get my managers to to work hard. “Work hard, you have a bright future in
come to the training room, listen to the senior official the bank,” he would say. He would not say anything
speak, and make notes on notepads which proudly bore concrete, but most managers like me would interpret
the name “HRD – Training & Education”. In case the it as a chance to go and work outside the country in
visiting dignitary was an expat from our HO whose one of the numerous global offices of the bank. Much
spouse had accompanied him, my wife was given a role later, I realised that this too was an unwritten rule of the
too – organising a city trip and shopping experience workplace culture!
for the lady. (The visiting senior executive was always
a man). At that time, I did not know that I was yet You must be wondering which are these unwritten
again following a very important, unstated rule of the rules of the workplace culture that I am referring to?
workplace culture. Thanks to the American author-philosopher Peter
Block I learnt how to articulate them.
I finally got what was considered a big break in my

1
 Rule Number 1: Respect for Authority (Plant a
sapling & call all managers to take notes from an
authority figure)
Rule Number 2: Denial of self-expression (Do
not speak up in front of your boss, even if you do
not agree with him)
Rule number 3: Sacrifice in the present for un-
named future rewards (Work hard, one day you
too will be able to leave early and go to the Club)
Rule Number 4: The belief that the above is
right. (All successful senior leaders have followed
the above rules).
who do not come to you for access to your power and
often not taking care of your health – these are but
small prices to pay for the power you wield.
It is as if you are high on some addictive substance;
except in this case, power is the cocaine to your system!
Power, not technology, drove the biggest gamification
of workplace culture in the past. If you are a large
legacy organization, chances are that the top 5 per cent
of your senior managers are still addicted to the power
game. But it is working less and less with the bottom 70
per cent of the people – the Gen Y and the millennials.

In case you are wondering what the basis in Patriarchy is not working in producing sustained
Organizational Behaviour for the above rules is, let me business results. You want proof ? If your senior
hasten to tell you that the origin of the above rules has management is in a patriarchal mindset, compare your
nothing to do with workplace culture per se. shareholder returns over the last ten years with the
overall share market growth. Unless you are in a niche
They are the characteristics of a societal system area, a monopoly and not dependent on talent, you are
called Patriarchy. at best keeping pace with the share market. The best
workplaces are delivering 4 to 5 times higher returns
Most of us who grew up in a joint family will than the standard Sensex, Russel 3000 or S&P 500
understand the respect the patriarch (head of the family) baskets.
wields in the family. Most of you who are the youngest
daughter-in-law in a joint family, will understand what In my subsequent two parts, I will discuss why large
denial of self-expression means and what it means to parts of patriarchy in workplace culture will die and why
sacrifice in the present for unnamed future rewards. the best workplaces have found a better way to manage
their culture.
When we joined organizations, we brought our
societal culture along with us. Patriarchy with its The present
emphasis on class, religion, gender and age – all of it
found its way into our organizational culture. At least Why is Patriarchy dying?
in the past.
Patriarchy, like many other societal structures, is
Do these rules work today? For many, they do not. based on power. Over the last two decades or so we
In the next section of this article, I will probe why they have seen some significant developments. Chief among
don’t work any longer. them are the explosive growth of smart phones and
mobile data consumption, social media and access to
What makes patriarchal cultures work? The key information, use of technology for machine learning
driver of a patriarchal culture is power. Power demands and artificial intelligence (Internet of Things). Women
control. now routinely outnumber men, not only in traditional
courses like nursing and B. Ed, but also in MA, MSc and
People give their lives to their organizations so that M.Com (Masters in Arts, Science and Commerce).
in return they can wield more power: A bigger office,
authority to sign bigger contracts, cancel leaves of The middle class and higher middle class have seen
others, reserve a suite permanently in a hotel, a private a significant increase in terms of real purchasing power
jet even. And when you become the patriarch you wield and gradually the percentage of people in extreme
absolute power. Your picture will be put up in many of poverty (earning less than 2 USD a day) is coming down.
your offices, books will be written on you, buildings will
be named after you. And of course, money will never Power being a zero-sum game cannot increase or
be a constraint. You have earned it the hard way. Not decrease in absolute terms. Power is shifting from the
spending time with your family, not seeing your children organizations and their representatives (the managers) to
grow up, not having trusting relationships with people talent. While job creation has not gone up significantly,

2
thanks to technology, demand is at an all-time high for
digital native artisans. A digital native artisan is not only
comfortable with digital technologies but knows how
to use it to fulfill a market need.
None of the current day educational institutes
produce digital native artisans. At best they can produce
talent who are tech-savvy and understand current
business models of the kind Amazon, Netflix, Uber
or Airbnb has. Digital Native Artisan or a DNA is
more than skills – it is about an attitude of continuous
learning and unlearning.
Moreover, the biggest change in workplace culture
in the present is the realisation that to attract and retain
talent you will have to do exactly what you do to attract
and retain customers.
I call it a mindset of Employee = Customer.
Take the example of a retail company which has
hundreds of distributors, who deliver to thousands of
outlets that will in turn deliver to the end customers.
Who is the customer in this case? The company
knows that
it must track
the final
customer
(popularly
called as a
customer
segment of
N=1) but
is equally
focused
on the
experience
of the
distributors
and retail
outlets – both of whom are important parts of the
value chain.
An Oyo Rooms will be an example of such a
Company. Recent examples of discontent among the
partners in the value chain for Uber, Ola, MakeMyTrip
(GoIbibo) and many others show that engagement
and trust with partners is very important. However, if
you really think about it, the value chain does not start
outside the legal boundaries of the Organization. Value
is created by its own employees first.
An Organization whose mindset is to squeeze
3
partners in the external value chain will most likely also
do the same with people in the internal value chain. An
Uber does not recognise its drivers as employees, even
though it controls many significant aspects of what the
driver can do (but not how much time he must work).
How is the mindset of Employee = Customer
demonstrated? Some of the key features of a great
place to work today are as follows:
1. Employee experience is as important as cus-
tomer experience. Employees are important not just
because they are loyal and productive, but also because
of the impact they have on the employer brand. Manag-
ers at all levels meet their team members, actively listen
to them and are perceived to be both approachable and
capable of giving straight answers.
2. Employees are dealt with as individuals by man-
agers and while everyone aspires for purpose, auton-
omy and mastery, managers know that they need to
teach, coach, support or delegate depending on where
the employee is in a competence versus commitment
matrix.
There is
always a gap
between what
we perceive to
be a superior
experience
and how it is
perceived by
the recipient.
As quoted
in Harvard
Business
Review, Bain
& Company
in a survey of
362 companies,
found that while 80 per cent of the companies believe
that the customer experience they provide is superior,
only 8 per cent of the customers described their
experience as superior.
Engaging your people may be easier than delighting
your customer. However, not without the mindset of
Employee =Customer.
The future
Last year over 700 companies registered with
Great Place to Work® Institute in India alone to do
a workplace culture assessment. Yet, in the list of the
100 best companies announced by the Institute in
their prestigious annual Study with The Economic
Times only 19 companies were new! What do these
companies do to create such high employee experience,
as evidenced by the high entry barrier to the list of 100
best workplaces?
are responsible for one another. When Marc Benioff
created Salesforce in 1999, he made sure that ‘Ohana’
was in the company’s foundations. For every company
that is embarrassed to use the word family in context of
their culture, you may like to know that there is a best
workplace like SC Johnson that proudly advertises that
it is “a family company at work for a better world”.

We know the best workplaces create a high trust- 4. Fair performance appraisal – Unlike the past,
high performance™ workplace culture by using the a combination of data analytics and technology is mak-
following levers: ing fair performance appraisal an achievable possibility.
At GSK traditional incentive schemes for sales roles in
1. Career & Growth Opportunities – Bajaj Fi- many geographies are being done away with. So confi-
nance has been able to grow their business consistently dent is the organization that driving right behaviours
over the last many years as a bulk of their front-line and activities will lead to sales, that it is doing away with
staff promotion is automatic on meeting pre-set crite- a culture of sales at all cost. Practices like auto-promo-
ria. This practice of “Auto-promotion” creates trans- tion in front line sales are significantly contributing to
parency, sense of fairness and positive ambition in bringing down perceptions of favouritism and politick-
many employees. At Classic Stripes the highest weight ing.
in the Key Result Area of each manager’s appraisal is
given to developing the second and third line managers The future brings its own challenges. The key
in their function. challenges to my mind for the best workplaces will be
the following:
2. Pride in your Organization’s brand – Each
employee at NTPC knows that every 3rd bulb in the 1. Getting your business model right – No
country is lit by electricity produced by NTPC. Employ- matter which business you are in, right now someone
ees may have small dreams but helping them achieve is trying to disrupt your business. Gone are the days of
them generates a sense of pride. Personal goals of new one business model working for long periods of time.
Euro-champs (sales force of Eureka Forbes) are put If you are struggling with getting your business model
down on a Dream Card, which is filed in his personal right, you will find it difficult to be a great place to work.
folder with HR. During quarterly reviews, the employ-
ee’s leader sits and checks where he/she stands with re- 2. Transparency & Feedback – SAP Labs In-
gards to fulfilling the dream and helps chalk out plans dia is a great place to work. They have an interesting
for the same. These dreams could be simple, yet im- practice called “speed-mentoring” where mentoring
portant such as buying a car or contributing financially happens in 15 minutes! Like anything that SAP Labs
to a sister’s marriage (note that these are actual exam- do, they take feedback on the mentors. Currently, they
ples). are running at a 95 per cent advocacy rating i.e. 95 per
cent of their people who have experienced this form
3. Family feeling – Contrary to assertions by of mentoring will recommend it to their friends. Even
business leaders on how they are a pro-team and not great workplaces like J&J and Unilever are struggling
a family, evidence shows that best workplaces are not to manage their brands in an age where one incident
significantly better than others in weeding out non-per- can get magnified and communicated everywhere in no
formers. They do not have to try too hard because they time at all.
are significantly better in making people performers!
80 percent of employees in the best workplaces be- 3. 24 by 7 Leadership – Transparency also means
lieve that their culture is marked by both high trust and gone are the days when leaders could say the right things
high discretionary effort, as opposed to only 67 percent at the right time to the right people. Today you have to
of the rest. No wonder, Sales Force, the number one say the right things, all the time, to all people! Saying &
workplace in the world (Yes, it is Sales Force and not Doing what you say has always been a leadership trait.
Google!) takes a huge amount of pride in their ‘Oha- Today, a leader must “live” what he says 24 by 7.
na’ culture. In Hawaiian culture, ‘Ohana’ represents the
idea that families — blood-related, adopted, or inten- “Can I not be myself at work?” asked a CEO with
tional — are bound together, and that family members some exasperation. “You can be your best self at work,”

4
was my answer. Leadership has become a spiritual
journey of self-development. Those who came to
positions of leadership only due to the lure of power
and money will fall by the wayside. I know of a CEO
who commissioned a feedback survey and is simply
too scared to disclose the results to his colleagues!
Sadly, for him, his colleagues do not need a feedback
report, they know! Remember, you can stop your HR
function from taking feedback from employees, or
edit uncomfortable areas in the feedback tool, but you
cannot stop people from posting their experience in
social media.
4. Great Place to Work for ALL – Best work-
places like Salesforce are taking a stand. One of their
core values is Equality. Salesforce does not just limit
themselves to equality within their organization. When
it comes to equal opportunity, equal rights, equal pay
and equal access to education, Salesforce will mobilise
public opinion, lobby and do what it can to create an
equal world. The Great Workplaces of future will use
their high trust-high performance™ workplace cul-
tures to bring about a faster social change.
To create a great place to work for ALL we will have
to reach to the last basic unit which impacts employee
experience – the manager! If you are a senior executive
today concerned with protecting your employer brand,
you may have missed the fact that people are already
talking about you, not just your Organization. Are you
a great people manager? This information will be soon
available to ALL.

About the Author:

Prasenjit Bhattacharya is a Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai alumnus who has worked in different
capacities in the HR domain for more than 27 years. He is is the CEO of Great Place to Work® Institute,
India, as well as, a Director at Great Place to Work® Institute, Sri Lanka.
5
 Ride the Wave of Disruption
Disruption and Innovation Theorist
I t’s no secret that the business world thrives on
innovation. Whether it’s a shiny new phone
design or a radical way of looking at global problems,
everything needs to be faster, better, and stronger than
its predecessors. Businesses need to make sure they
are creatively firing on all cylinders, and more than
marketing, research, and product testing, if you want to
remain a competitive and innovative company you need
to make sure that the human element of your business
is operating smoothly—starting with giving human
resources a seat at the table.
While often associated with the hiring and/or
firing of employees, I believe human resources can
also have critical insight into how capable a company
is of innovating at any given time. By taking the pulse
of the office, you will see who is restless, who seems
disengaged, and who may be ready for a significant
change or “disruption” in their career. In a worldwide
Gallup poll, it was reported that only 15 % of employees
feel that they are engaged in their work. In the U.S.,
84% of employees reported feeling “trapped” in their
current jobs, with only 22% feeling that they have
anything like a clear career path in their current job.
How can innovation occur if employees feel disengaged
in a dead-end career?
Employees don’t typically begin their jobs being
dissatisfied. Most begin with excitement, albeit coupled
with a sense of overwhelming. When an employee is
inexperienced and gaining knowledge at a relatively
slow rate, they are at the beginning of a greater learning
curve, or “S” curve (so named because of the shape
the learning curve takes on). Imagine a chart with
the x-axis being Time and the y-axis being Learning.
Initially, an individual begins a job with little time and
little learning. As they continue to grow and develop,
they will eventually speed up and move along the S
curve, gaining confidence as they gain competence.
Eventually hitting the “sweet spot” (the knee of the
6
By WHITNEY JOHNSON
LinkedIn Influencer
WLJ Advisors, LLC
S curve), employees are at their peak productivity,
feeling engaged and enjoying the perfect balance of
competence and challenges.
But change, not stasis, is the natural mode of
human life. Change promotes growth; stasis results in
decline. Brain science strongly suggests that cognitive
challenge in the form of new things to learn and
problems to solve keeps our brain lubricated with feel-
good dopamine, elevating our mood, our sense of well-
being, and ultimately, staving off the onset of cognitive
decline. As an individual continues along their learning
curve, eventually they will master what originally
challenged them; tasks will become easier and easier,
and boredom is likely to result. Once they have reached
this plateau, the only way out is for the individual to
find a new learning curve—either through jumping
(self-initiated discovery), or being pushed (forced to go
a new way).
I think of these S curves as waves – thrilling,
challenging opportunities we can successively surf
to new learning and competency. I see S curve waves
everywhere and believe we need to catch a new wave, or
waves, on a more-or-less regular basis.
In times past, our career wave may have taken shape
with a low-end, entry-level position, perhaps preceded
by formal education but in many cases not, followed
by a promotion or two, occasionally more. But a career
was often spent in a single place, with a single employer
performing, for lengthy stretches of time, a single
task set. Not so anymore. Successfully managing our
careers in today’s rapidly changing work environment
requires an understanding and acceptance of the value
of personal disruption – periodically leaping from peak
performance on one wave to catch the low-end of the
next – and agility at making these sometimes-daunting
leaps from confident, expert competence to once again
becoming a novice on a new learning curve. Chances
are, if we don’t disrupt ourselves, choosing our own
waves to surf, we will be disrupted at times and in ways
we do not prefer – firings, layoffs, feeling left behind by
the constant unfolding of new technologies – aimlessly
adrift like flotsam on the currents or washed ashore
and then abandoned like the ocean wrack on the beach
when the tide recedes.
Your company is a collection of learning curves.
Everyone—including you—is somewhere on the “S”,
and once this can be seen and acknowledge within a
company it can be utilized to help keep employees
engaged in their work. Great teams are built when you
optimize these curves. Just as an investor’s portfolio has
diversified holdings (e.g., you don’t put all your money
into a single company), your team should include
employees who are at different phases of development.
Aim for an optimal mix of low-, middle-, and high-end-
of-the-curve employees: roughly 15% at the low end of
the curve, around 70% of the team in the sweet spot
middle of the curve, and 15% at the high end of the
curve.
Individuals at the low end of the curve will most
likely be your newest team members, or individuals who
recently jumped from one curve to the next. One of the
greatest advantages of these team members is that they
are not blind through familiarity, and are more likely to
ask why you are doing something, or why something is
done a certain way. They may be slow to learn at first.
Have patience. Be willing to invest time into them to
aid them in their growth. These fresh eyes can open the
door to innovation if we are willing to take the time to
listen and help them gain momentum into their “sweet
spot.”
In the sweet spot, or steep part of the curve, an
individual will know enough, but not too much; things
are hard, but not too hard; easy, but not too easy—much
like Goldilocks, everything is just right. They can handle
the questions of the people at the low end of the curve,
and they are confident in what they are doing. They are
engaged. If you push them, they will innovate.
In many fields, an employee can be in this sweet
spot for years. Be cautious, however, when hiring that
you don’t hire someone straight into a sweet spot. The
7
temptation is always there to hire someone who can hit
the ground running and do the work now, but when you
do that you are setting the stage for disruption to occur
far earlier. If you hire someone who has to stretch in
order to fulfill a role you are giving them, they are more
likely to be engaged and content in a position for a
longer period of time; someone who already knows
how to do the job well will be bored within months.
Once an individual has mastered every task
required with ease and confidence they are at the top
of their learning curve. They may serve as mentors to
those below them, and wonderful resources of “tribal
memory,” but they can also become complacent with
how things are, and mentally check out. They are no
longer enjoying the feel-good effects of learning, so
they become disengaged. Individuals in this stage don’t
innovate, but they are at high risk for disruption. If a
person can’t grow with a company, they will grow away
from it. Think about previous high-performers who are
currently under performing: what changed? Could they
be at the top of their learning curve, ready for a new
challenge?
You don’t have to lose employees to disruption. If
you can offer new learning curves within your company
you can satisfy that desire for growth and keep the high-
performers in the family. Limiting people to certain
roles or positions holds no benefit for your business.
It feels safer to keep someone who is a master at their
job in the same position, but forcing stagnation on
someone we value will only lead to alienation. Trust that
together you can create the right conditions to benefit
the company, while also challenging the employee
beyond what their current circumstances allow.
If you want to build an “A-Team,” take the pulse
of your workforce, and know where people are on their
learning curve. Don’t expect that just by having good
people at a good company everything will work out—
after all, great bands break up every year. A company
will be disrupted when too many of its employees
are ready to be disrupted. Conversely, a company will
innovate when its employees are ready to innovate.
Would you rather be disrupted, or innovate?
About the Author:

Whitney Johnson was named one of the world’s fifty most influential management thinkers by Thinkers50
in 2017. She is the author of the bestselling Build an A Team (Harvard Business Press, 2018), a Financial
Times and CEO Read, Book of the Month, and the critically-acclaimed Disrupt Yourself: Putting the
Power of Disruptive Innovation to Work (2015). Publisher’s Weekly described it as “savvy...often counter-
intuitive...superb” while the Boston Globe called it the “’What Color is Your Parachute?’ career guide for
the entrepreneurial age.” Through writing, speaking, consulting and coaching, Whitney works with leaders to
retain their top talent, to build an A team, and to help them earn the gold star–be a boss people love.

She formerly was the co-founder of the Disruptive Innovation Fund with Harvard’s Clayton Christensen,
where they invested in and led the $8 million seed round for Korea’s Coupang, currently valued at $5+ billion.
She was involved in fund formation, capital raising, and the development of the fund’s strategy. During her
tenure, the CAGR of the Fund was 11.98% v. 1.22% for the S&P 500. She is also formerly an award-winning
Wall Street analyst. She was an Institutional Investor-ranked equity research analyst for eight consecutive
years, and was rated by Starmine as a superior stock-picker. As an equity analyst, stocks under coverage
included America Movil (NYSE: AMX), Televisa (NYSE: TV) and Telmex (NYSE: TMX), which accounted
for roughly 40% of Mexico’s market capitalization.

Whitney is a frequent contributor for the Harvard Business Review, she has over 1.5 million followers on
Linkedin, was named one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices in the Influencer category for 2018, and her LinkedIn
course The Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship has 1 million+ views. She is a member of the original cohort
of Marshall Goldsmith’s #100 coaches.
8
 Managing Millennials in the
Multi-Generational Workforce
G lobally, millennials account for 27% of the
world’s 7.4 billion population. In India,
millennials are 34% (at 440 million) of the country’s
total population, and their percentage is likely to further
increase in the next 3-4 year time horizon. India’s
millennial generation is bigger than China’s or the U.S.,
which will boost the nation’s work-force to the world’s
largest by 2027. In India as of now, 46% of the existing
workforce is millennials; and this percentage of likely
to increase to more than 65% by 2024 as per various
researches. In certain technology driven industries this
percentage has already crossed 80%! By no standards
can we ignore the presence and growth of millennials
in the Indian corporate sector.
So what are some of the unique expectations of
millennials? Are they really so different from Baby
Boomers, Gen-X and Traditionalists; or is it only a
perception? Do we really need to treat millennials
differently? Frankly, there are no easy answers to these
questions. One school of thought would like to treat
millennials as a unique cohort based on their life stage
expectations, whereas another school of thought would
not like to generationally stereotype millennials and
rather treat them as unique individuals. It’s an interesting
case to debate from both sides.
Millennials have grown in an era of choices, in an
era of open and unbounded communication, and in
an era when technology is redefining the ways of life.
Broadly speaking there are four things that characterize
millennials. First, millennials are at a career stage where
there is huge headroom for growth. Most of the
millennials are at the junior or middle management levels
and are on a lookout for accelerated learning and career
advancement opportunities. Frankly, whether they get
these opportunities within or outside the organization
is not of much importance to them, but growth is
definitely on top of their minds. Second, millennials
expect continuous two-way communication with the
9
By BHRIGU JOSHI
MakeMyTrip.com
Director – Human Resources
leadership team. Gone are the days when employees
used to be satisfied with top-down communication
through e-mails or notice boards, nowadays millennials
want their voices to be heard on regular basis. One of
the classic use case of this expectation is continuous
exchange of feedback between the employee and the
manager. It’s not only that millennials expect feedback
from their managers and others, but also they want to
give feedback to their managers and others. Third, there
is an interesting shift in loyalties of millennials. There
was a time when employees used to have loyalties to
the organization, then there was a time when employees
used to have loyalties to their respective managers, now
employees have loyalties to the kind of work they are
asked to do in the organization, in simple words whether
the work is meaningful or not. So what does meaningful
work mean? It is an opportunity to holistically solve the
problem for the business. Doing a particular piece of
work without understanding the big picture is no longer
considered to be meaningful. Millennials clearly do not
want to be another brick in the wall. Fourth, millennials
believe in the concept of outcomes and not output.
Which means that they would want to be measured on
the end impact of their work and not on quantity of
output they produce. And they would like to be in full
control of their work, with full flexibility and autonomy.
They do not like to be tied down to physical work-
spaces and bureaucratic processes. They want to deliver
the outcomes on their own terms.
So does that mean that the employees of the other
age groups do not have the above listed expectations?
Of course they do! But millennials tend to put more
weight on these expectations because of their career
lifecycle stage and the socio-economic environment
in which they have been brought up. It may also be
interesting to debate whether all the millennials have the
above listed expectation; or are there certain exceptions?
Of course ‘YES’, there will be alot of exceptions; it will
be incorrect to paint all the millennials with the same
brush. At best, the above list of expectations can only
be broad guidelines to manage millennials. Individual
nuances should definitely be taken into account while
actually creating a strategy to manage them. So given
the multi-generational workforce and the divergent
set of expectations, what can be the most appropriate
talent strategy for managing millennials?
Talent strategy for managing millennials can be
built on 3 key imperatives. First is the imperative of
personalization. Millennials have grown in the era with
a lot of choices. This is clearly different from the era
in which the Baby Boomers, Gen-X and traditionalists
grew in. One size fits all approach may not be the best
reflection of their preferences. Is there a way to provide
a personalized experience to employees? The answer is
a resounding ‘YES’. This is made possible with the help
of using the right technology and the right operating
model. Employees across generations can be offered
a unique value proposition across the recruitment,
onboarding, performance management, learning,
recognition and rewards, keeping in mind their unique
context. Customization at scale is the new mantra for
managing the new workforce. Second is the imperative
of creating meaningful work. Breaking down the work
into its lowest common denominator without making
employees understand the big picture is no longer
considered meaningful.
Organizations must learn the art of creating small
meaningful gigs and then distributing these gigs among
its employees working from within or outside of the
physical boundaries of the organization. Each gig is
associated with tangible outcomes and clearly defined
impact areas. The third is perhaps one of the most
interesting imperative of managing millennials – it is
the departure from the war for talent and going towards
renaissance for talent. In other words, it means that
organizations need to move away from buying talent
and invest more in developing talent from within. This
may even involve cross-training, talent mobility and
reskilling of the workforce. It will open-up multiple
opportunities for the growth and learning starved
millennials and other relevant employee cohorts. On
the other hand, organizations will be able to avoid
unnecessarily burning money in the hyper-competitive
talent market. The three imperatives put together will
lay the foundation of a robust talent management
strategy for the millennials. While it is important to
design the talent strategy keeping in mind the unique
characteristics of millennials, we must be cautious not
to over generalize the debate. The strategy must keep in
mind the co-existence of multi-generational workforce
and the fact that not all millennials think alike. It must
strike the balance between ‘millennials as a cohort’ and
‘millennial as an individual’.

About the Author:

Bhrigu Joshi currently works as Director – Human Resources with MakeMyTrip Group. He has been identified
among top 16 Young HR Leaders in India by Peoplematters and DDI in 2016 as part of ‘Are You in the List’
awards. Also he has been identified as India’s 40under40 in HR by Jombay in 2018. He is a well published
author on subjects like Agile HR, Gig Economy ,Post Merger Integration and Digital HR. Bhrigu has done his
Masters in HRM & LR from TISS, Mumbai.

10
 5 Insights to be the Best HR
Business Partners We Can Be
By MATANGI GOWRISHANKAR

Strategic Advisor
Ex-Global Head of Capability Development
British Petroleum

H uman Endeavor is about being the best we

can be. We strive to ensure that our efforts
lead to positive contributions and that we are recognized
stead throughout my career – enabling me to drive
business driven, commercially sound HR solutions.

for these. Ideally, we continuously learn and adapt and
strive for excellence. While the need for acceptance
and belonging is strong, it is rarely something that we
can ask for – rather, it is earned by who we are, the
values we live by and the standards we set. The insights
I share in this article are relevant for how we evolve
as professionals and leaders in any sphere of work. I
have used them in the context of being an excellent HR
business partner. They are in no way complete - but a
good starter for ten!
As in every area of life, I believe that being a good
professional is about building genuine partnerships
and being seen as a trusted advisor. When our business
leaders use us as a sounding board for a wide range
of issues – is when we will know that we have arrived!
These insights have been gained through a range of
experiences big and small – and I hope they will offer
some fresh perspectives.
1. Understand the business. There are a few
reasons why this is critical. We get to understand
the fundamentals of the business and what impacts
profitability. It encourages us to be commercially
savvy, and demonstrate business acumen. By being
close to the people doing the job, we understand what
drives employees – what makes them succeed or fail
and the everyday pain points. This understanding and
appreciation enables the HR professional to engage
actively in business conversations, design and implement
solutions that are fit for purpose and for maximum
positive impact.
I have never regretted my decision to spend several
years in operational banking before moving into the
HR arena – that deep business knowledge, customer
interface and managing a P&L have stood me in good was leading the cultural transformation of a traditional,
I would encourage HR professionals to regularly
engage in visits to the market, shop floor, factory or
whatever is the “coal face” of the organization. You
will be amazed at what you learn about the business.
Business leaders will truly appreciate your efforts and
you will build great credibility.
2. Stay contemporary with HR capabilities
and be solution focused. We need to recognize that
change is everywhere, including in our function. It may
have taken us a while to transform from Personnel
Management to Human Resources Management
(HRM) – however, what is unfolding before us today is
a metamorphosis from HRM to leading Organization
Effectiveness. This is a subtle change, as metamorphosis
is – yet, it is a change that we need to get our arms around
if we are to be seen as value creators in the business.
There are multiple businesses out there serving equally
different customers and client groups – their people
challenges are just as diverse and clearly, one size does
NOT fit all. The VUCA world affects all areas of work
– HR included! Just as we invest in R&D for product
innovation, we really need to see HOW an HR service
actually solves the business problem. Remember that
our credibility and worth as an HR partner is not judged
by the number of HR practices we have operating in
the business, but by the quality of the interventions we
make and how these contribute to making things better.
It is really important to see how key HR practices as
we know them are evolving, know when to use them,
how to use them, and measure success in real time with
a finger on the pulse of the organization. Remember
when you are close to the business, you will learn how
well your solutions are working.
One of the most challenging roles I undertook

11
family-led organization to be a more nimble, business was in a different stage of evolution and many
professional and modern organization. I had never countries were seen to be critical for the success of
encountered something as complex as this in my career the global business. It was important for my team to
until that point. HR processes as we know them were distinguish between what were in country initiatives
non - existent and the organization seemed stuck in and what needed to be driven systematically across the
the 1950s. It would have been easy for me to jump region. Whilst each country had its own HR strategy
headlong in and start putting every known process in linked to the ambitions of the local business, we ensured
place, but the organization was far from ready and I that leadership development, talent management
would have certainly experienced “organ rejection” had and succession planning were driven centrally – thus
I done that. What I did do was to spend the first year ensuring that all countries in the business had a solid
to create personal credibility and seed the business case base line foundation to meet the business challenges for
for change with the top 100 leaders and the Union. the future. This also ensured that we built HR capability
Through open houses, communication forums and consistently.
leadership development initiatives, I got them to tell me
what was needed to make us a more competitive and 4. Demonstrate and embed Integrated
successful organization. They told me that we needed thinking. We often bemoan the fact that people work
strong HR processes, they helped me prioritize, leaders in silos and the left-hand doesn’t know what the right
volunteered to champion key initiatives and together hand is doing. Stop and think, we in HR are as guilty
over the next three years we built an organization that of this as the next person in the business with our
every employee was and continues to be proud of. It CoE structure. The role of the business partner is to
was a defining moment in my life. simplify things for the business, solve problems for
them, and so,it is vital for us to integrate our solutions
3. Get the job done: Take pride in being an into a seamless offering to make the right impact for
excellent executor! I recall the essence of a quote the business. Remember that there are intended and
from Baltasar Gracian’s book “The Art of Worldly unintended consequences for everything that we do. For
Wisdom”. The wise are the easiest to deceive. They example, a state of the art performance management
know many things about the higher purpose of life and system cannot gain credibility if it is not supported by
the universe. Let the wise get a touch of the practical – excellent line manager skills, an open and transparent
Know how to get things done – it may not be the most reward process that leads to employee-centric talent
important – but it is the most essential. A critical part development initiatives all of which support the goal of
of our success as business partners is to understand the building a strong organization for business continuity.
culture in which we operate, the stage of evolution of Our effectiveness is hugely influenced by knowing
the company and our ability to get things done. When when, where and how to intervene.
we are able to customize the solution we offer, to make
5. Always hold the balance of being an
them Relevant – Realistic – Reforming, it is then that we
employee advocate & an organization advocate. I
are able to create value. Take the time to understand the
norms and mores within the organization, how thingshave learnt that personal and functional credibility is
get done, who the influencers are and how to influence
best achieved when we can hold the tension between
– that is when we can get the job done and take pride
individual and organization needs. They do not always
in a job well done. Too often, as HR professionals we
need to be at variance, but when they are – the HR
struggle because we have not taken the time to diagnose
business partner has a key role to play. We need to be able
the issues, articulate the problem we are trying to solve
to demonstrate the courage of conviction to do what is
and most importantly not spent the time to seed ourright, to speak up for all stakeholders, influence a culture
ideas and get the buy-in of our key stakeholders. There
of dignity and respect and foster a leadership presence
is also a strong desire for us to be seen as “strategists”
at all levels that creates a workplace that is valued by all.
and be respected for our “functional expertise”. The
We know that HR alone is not accountable for this –
reality though is that we are most successful when we
but the culture we seek to influence and build, hopefully
have taken a practical view of what needs to be done
ensures that we are seen as an impartial party who will
and spent the time to embed those solutions that make
advocate for what is right, not what is convenient. I am
a real difference. That is strategy in action. a great believer in the famous Shakespeare quote -“this
above all to thine own self be true” – be known for
In my Asia Pacific role, I was responsible for being a champion of what is right, rather than a person
leading HR across 16 countries in the region. Each who stands for nothing.

12
 In my experience, there two biggest dilemmas we
face as HR professionals, and these are in two categories
– standing for the credibility of the stated values of the
organization and the validity of the processes we set up.
For example, in one organization, we had spent years
grooming a person to take on the head of the function
role with every succession plan discussion validating
the individual’s capability to do so. Yet, when the
opportunity arose to appoint the person into the role
– there were second thoughts based on some external
assessment which clearly was below par. It was then
that I chose to escalate the matter to the highest level
to ensure that the individual was given the opportunity
they had worked so hard for. It was satisfying to see the
individual succeed. Had I not intervened and provided
fresh perspectives with the most influential people in
the organization – we would have lost a valuable asset
AND the credibility for our function. The dilemma
around the values clash is definitely more challenging
to handle. However, I have learned that when we
challenge respectfully, on the grounds of what is right
– we eventually succeed. I have a number of examples
through my career where I have stopped people from
being wrongfully fired, spoken up when someone was
being excluded, stopped hiring an incapable person and
challenged organization changes that would not serve
us for the future. One of my guiding principles has
been “The standard that you walk by is the standard you
set” – we need to believe in and uphold doing what is
right. It is a tough stance to take, but one that will build
long-lasting credibility.
I fully appreciate that as professionals we are driven
by our personal need to succeed. That we are impacted
and influenced by our peers, our definition of success,
what we want to achieve and all those things that drive
human behavior. Please take a moment to think about
WHY you are in this profession, WHAT you want to
build as your personal brand and the legacy you want to
create. There is a need to constantly calibrate ourselves
and find for ourselves that TRUE NORTH – that will
guide us in all our endeavors.

About the Author:

Matangi Gowrishankar has deep experience across diverse industries having held key business and HR
Leadership positions both in India and overseas. She is passionate about leading transformation through
organization and leadership development. Currently, she is a strategic human resource consultant and holds
several independent director roles in India.

13
 Your Future Is Already
Disrupted…
By VASUDEVAN NARASIMHA
Thrush Blubirdz Advisory LLP
Assistant Manager – Human Resources
I often get asked as to how the future will be
disrupted? I would wager that the future is
already disrupted.
Personally, I believe that the following “5 – D’s”
would be game changers:
1. Demography: The industry and the academias
flooded with articles that point to how 50% of
the workforce will be Millennials in the future.
However, for most of us, the future is already
here! KEC International Limited, where I
currently work, is a 70-year old EPC Major,
which came into the fold of the RPG Group
in 1982. 70% of our workforce comprises of
Millennials with 15% boomers and the rest
being Gen X. So technically, we have baby
boomers building the vision, driving strategy,
making policy and - expecting the Gen X to
implement them through the Millennials. I am
sure this is the case with many organizations in
India.
2. Diversity: In a global company with multiple
cultures trying to work toward a common
vision,the ability to integrate diverse cultures
with speed is a strength an organization needs
to have. KEC has a footprint across 61+
countries and operates in 31+countries at any
given point in time. We get 1-3 months to
mobilize resources for a project in some corner
of the globe for a period of 24-36 months and
then out we go once the project is complete.
14
Managing Partner
By VIVEK RAI
KEC International Limited
Try and imagine the challenges this holds in
aligning people to vision, strategy,and culture.
Think about the diversity of languages, cultures,
traditions and the many people with different
perspectives that will need to be in sync.
This is the future. Organizations will need to
stop managing diversity and focus on being
inclusive i.e., turn the diversity paradigm upside
down; when you start with inclusion, diversity
will not matter. It makes terrific business sense.
We need to start designing for integration.
3. Dispersed Talent Pool: Our talent pool is
truly global. Organizations have moved to
virtual offices. Businesses have operations
across geographies with maximum contact
through video conferencing and calls. The
question we need to ask is - How do we get
to translate strategy, execution, and learning in
such a scenario?
4. The dearth of Ready Talent: Add to the
cocktail the constant refrain that one hears of
the Dearth of Ready Talent –the kind of talent
“we” need. We have 2 options – build our own
or provide for the risk cost of acquiring “ready”
talent in the future. The demand that this will
place on us will test our ability to integrate that
talent. Make or Buy. Imagine a business that is
poised to double every 5 years or less. How do
you respond to this?
 5. Digital Learning: Innovative technologies, simply because the earlier generations haven’t
work options and practices are disrupting how lived their context.
we learn, where we learn, and what we need
to learn. Education is moving from traditional • i-Gen are entering the industry as we speak.
classrooms to learning that flows through our Millennials had at least seen certain transitions
lives. People of all ages are experiencing and (from landline to mobile to smart phones) or
engaging in continuous learning channels that from a 20-channel cable TV to an unlimited
are contextually relevant and available 24x7. digital subscription. The i-Gen have been born
Thanks to the digital revolution; Opportunities into it. Are we prepared to engage them?
and resources for learners are abundant; they
are all pervasive. However, we need to challenge • Gen X & Baby boomers must adapt their
every aspect of the learning continuum, learning learning style. The earlier gen had a deposit
processes and learning infrastructure. The latest box mentality – learn for the future. Today, it is
versions of Google Hangouts, Google Drive, futile to store learning in deposit boxes. Hence
Workplace by Facebook, Slack, and other millennials learn only that which is essential for
enterprise IT products now give employees the them at that specific point in time and more
opportunity to share content, view videos, and importantly nothing more.
find context-relevant documents in the flow of
their daily work. This is where digital learning • Modern Learner: The following aspects will
is taking us. converge to provide an experience to the
Modern Learner (Deloitte Findings). Keep in
Irrespective of how you look at it, one fact is mind that it is not necessary for the modern
indisputable: technology, platforms and skills are learner to be a millennialori Gen. The modern
getting obsolete at the speed of light. In a world of learner could be from any generation:
exponential change, existing knowledge depreciates at • Untethered – Spread Globally, Works away
an accelerating rate. The most powerful learning in this from office location and not bound by
kind of world involves creating new knowledge. This permanent contract to a single company.
kind of learning does not occur in a training room; it In other words, Agile.
occurs on the job, in the day-to-day work environment. • Information on demand – Just in Time,
The half-life of a learned skill is less than 4.5 years. Just Enough, Just for Me
Today, access to technology and knowledge in many • Collaborative – High levels of interaction,
instances is better outside the organization than within innate desire to co-create and leverage
it. As the gap grows between what employees want and professional networks
expect and what they receive, their trust in the ability of • Empowered – “If I don’t get what I need
institutions to serve their needs erodes. from the company, I will seek it outside”;
employees will want to continuously update
With improvements in technology, will come the their capabilities and focus on cross-
ability to deliver focused learning. Josh Bersin says - functional knowledge and growth.
The #1 growth area in the future is not MOOCs or
Video, or even mobile learning – it’s “personalization”. Now that we have established the context within
We live in a world where an employee’s learning needs which we will be operating and the changes we will be
are unique to them, while we architect a meaningful confronted with, are we ready to leverage the changes
set of programs around macro and micro-learning for in our context to our advantage?
them, they want to learn when they want in the most
natural way possible. The only certainty about the future is that it
won’t resemble the past. We now appreciate that
• Millennials, in my view, are not very different in the rules of the future will define the norms of the
what they want - the difference is that they do present. We no longer have the luxury of time to define,
not hesitate to act and are willing to pay a higher design, develop, deliver, manage, and measure change
price to get what they want. They have more and how we can respond to the future, it is already upon
options to play with. The earlier generations us in ways we may have not recognized. Convergence
did not have that luxury, they feel challenged of technologies has been and will continue to drive the
by the way millennials learn and work today new ecosystem.

15

A leader cannot shirk the responsibility as that
aspect of his role will not fall away, as leaders we will
need to get in front of the game. The challenge is are
we as a Function engaging enough with these challenges
and prepared to take them on. This is a question each
of us needs to contend with.
For the CHRO, I have one thing to say – If you
are gonna lead, start playing. HR needs to own and
drive the agenda for digitization of the HR Function
and help the organization go digital. The HR Function
‘gets it’ better than anyone else or any other function,
but how many of us HR functionaries ‘get it’. It is not
that we can’t get it. The issue is, are we engaged enough
to get it?
HR leaders will need to lead from the front. Here
are a few things we can do to stay ahead of the game:
1. Setting standards: Each function, in its
corporate history, has led the way when it
comes to making themselves credible and
relevant; why can’t the HR Function lead the
way in what it does and knows best?
2. Digital v/s Digitization - the divide: I hear the
terms Digitization, Digitalization, Digital and
Digitized being bandied about, as if, they come
out of a thesaurus and are words that mean the
same. The simple truth is, the purist would die
if this were within his earshot. I am not going
to get into any more arguments. I will let the
purists play and offer a truce.
3. Digitally enabled HR: Simply put, we in HR
are deploying digital technology to configure
and digitally enable HR processes by putting in
place a solution that allows HR processes to be
Standardized, Scaled and made Sustainable and
delivered with greater access at a time and place
of choice of the user (read mobile), making it
easy and more efficient. Such a configuration
can only be best done by people who understand
the HR processes.
4. Strategic HR: Let us not lose sight of the fact
that digitizing HR has to have a purpose. Some
would argue that digitization helps transform
HR functions and makes them more strategic.
Isn’t it ironical that you need to have been
16
strategic enough in the first place to know how
digitization would help?
5. Ownership and Transparency: Feedback from
employees indicates that digitized HR processes
create a higher level of transparency; they value
the sense of fairness. In their opinion, it also
makes the work place equitable and empowers
them. Any OD specialist will tell you how
liberating and dramatic the impact of HR
digitization can be for employees.
6. Data to Insight: Digitization improves the
efficacy of HR processes at the very least,
and at its best, allows us to move from data
to information and information to insight and
from insight to high impact people practices.
7. Adding Value: For long the attempts at
digitizing HR were focused on making it cost
effective. No longer. If digitization does not
lead to HR adding greater value, then your
efforts have been in vain. True, HR digitization
reduces administrative tasks, helps build process
excellence, boost productivity by reducing non-
value adding tasks and provides more time
for all stakeholders including HR Business
Partners. But, what will you do with that?
8. Business Partnering: When HR digitization
is complete it allows more time for business
partnering, that, is the ultimate goal for any
strategic HR function. Putting that into play
is a different ball game and digitization is just
an enabler. What will partnering mean in the
future?
9. Analytics: Then there is the whole wide world
of people analytics, predictive or otherwise and
how that could change our world on decisions
pertaining to people, talent, policies and
practices.
10. Lastly, if the function is going to have a voice
in this crucial change sweeping our world, the
CHRO plays a critical role in shaping it. This is
the future and HR leaders cannot ignore it. It
is important that they engage with the agenda
of HR digitization and lead from the front, but,
if you’re going to lead, then, you need to start
playing first!
About the Authors:

Vasudevan Narasimha:

Vasudevan Narasimha is a Human Resources leader with extensive India and international experience in
Manufacturing, Banking and Infrastructure sectors across Asia, Africa, Middle East, Europe and the Americas.
He has lived and worked in various states of India, China, Taiwan and Singapore. He has demonstrated
leadership in Global, Country and Business Human Resources roles and provided functional leadership
in developing, aligning and delivering HR and business strategies with leadership teams in driving growth,
performance and managing change in large people organisations.

He is a thought leader in the Digital HR space and a digital evangelist and led the implementation of the state
of the art digital technology framework for HR. On 1 January 2019, Vasu set up an Advisory firm to work in
the areas dear to him, Human Resources, Education and Start-ups. Prior to this he was the Executive Director
– HR at KEC International Limited an RPG Group company.

Vivek Rai

Vivek is a TISS Alumnus of 2017 Batch and is working with the RPG Group. He is currently involved in
Employer Branding, Talent Management and HR Business Partnering.
17
 Role of Start-ups in Higher
Education
E ducation is like a TREE. It has roots which
can be equated to the pre-kindergarten
education. Then after the kindergarten for the next 10
years education follows a linear path in many if not all
the schools around the world. That can be equated to
the trunk of the tree. Then after 10th class in India and
some other countries around the world, the branches of
education start to diverge. Generally in India, we have
education divided into Arts, Commerce and Science
from class 11th.
In college, there is a focus on specializations. Similar
to a tree the branches divide and we have lots of small
branches at the top. Each branch is a specialization. We
have very specific college degrees with specialisation
in topics like nanotechnology or animation these days.
In the medical stream we have lots of specialized
branches. We generally have bachelor’s degrees
followed by master’s degree and doctorate at the end of Once you choose arts you cannot learn about engineering
the education tree. The more you study the more you and once you choose engineering you generally find it
specialize.
The specializations help a person to focus on a
particular area and gain expertise. New specializations
are constantly arising. The problem these days is
that the speed of change in the world is so great
that no matter what you study something new
crops up from another area and changes the best
practices in your domain. Especially the changes due
to technology and globalization have made it essential
to understand various areas all at once. Most colleges
in countries like India are ill-suited for imparting multi-
disciplinary knowledge.
An example can be the creation of a mobile
application. To create a mobile application you need
knowledge of all 3  — art, science and commerce.
You need to understand the customer. You need to
understand the pain points of the customer. You need
knowledge of design to create a good user experience.
By SAURABH JAIN
Paytm
Vice President
You need knowledge of commerce to sell it. You need
technical knowledge to make it. It is difficult for any
one person to have all these forms of knowledge.
Therefore, all big technology companies have a cross-
functional team with product manager, designers and
programmers. The problem is that all 3 roles need
knowledge about the domains of each other. All 3 roles
need multi-disciplinary knowledge.
Universities like Stanford allow a person to create
his or her personalised course. We have Americans at
the forefront of digital products precisely due to this
ability. Steve Jobs had attended a calligraphy course
due to which he was able to put fonts into Apple’s
computers. This led Apple to become famous within
the designer community.
In countries like India this is generally not possible.
difficult to learn design at the same time.
I wanted to do chartered accountancy and computer
engineering at the same time. Unfortunately, it was not
possible. My father was a chartered accountant who died
in a road accident when I was in class 10th. Thus my
mother wanted me to become a chartered accountant to
take over his once-thriving practice. I wanted to become
a software engineer. The education system policies were
against doing both at the same time. Generally, both are
considered difficult. So a person pursuing both would
be unthinkable. However, I used to study chartered
accountancy for 2–3 months a year and for the rest of
the time I self-studied computer science. I have trained
hundreds of engineers in top corporates on Java (Micro
Edition) and HTML 5 and I know multiple computer
languages. I am also a qualified Chartered Accountant.
I also wrote India’s first book on mobile application
development in 2003. Thus, although the system did
not allow me to, I was able to pursue both streams
18
parallelly. companies like Coursera and Udacity, the need for a
formal classroom lecture has diminished. The need
Another big problem with higher education is the for alumni and mentoring is still there but even here
cost of education. Generally, in the USA it costs more networks like The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE) and
than USD 100,000 for a good college degree. Even meet-up groups come to help.
in countries like India, the cost of higher education
can be in tens of thousands of dollars which is way Thus, overall the start-ups provide better conditions
more than what most Indians can afford. The cost of a for learning and growth while at the same time they
college degree is more than the cost of opening a small are sometimes cheaper than university fees. Also, we
business. That’s very high! have role models like Bill Gates who left prestigious
universities to find start-ups.
A third problem in countries like India is that some
universities are very slow to update their curriculum. In fact, open universities and even established
I once heard about a famous open university in India universities should start programs where the student
asking about Windows 95 in 2010 exams! can just start a start-up and come to university only
for help and guidance. That way the university can
All these problems can be solved to a certain accommodate more students and reduce the fees. The
extent by converting higher education degree universities can provide mentoring, support and alumni
to a start-up. It cost me less to open a technology network while the student can remain free to learn
start-up than it costs people to earn an engineering according to the needs of the product and market of
degree. We can have start-ups as the core engine of his or her choosing instead of a rigid curriculum. The
many of the higher education programs. Specially degree could be awarded based on validated learning a
degrees in computer science, electronics and MBA are student makes in his start-up.
highly suited for learning while being an entrepreneur
or intrapreneur. When I am talking of start-up I am Eric Ries, the author of the famous book ‘Lean
referring to a student opening a start-up or a student Startup’, refers to validated learning as learning which
working at a start-up company in a role where he or a start-up makes based on experiments to confirm
she has freedom to create a product. Many small start- a hypothesis. This way all degrees can become
ups including mine readily want to offer such roles to entrepreneurial.
interested students.
My experience tells that even though these kinds of
The rate of learning is far higher when a person programs may not be helpful to all students, the most
is running a start-up than when he or she is learning entrepreneurial students will find such programs very
for formal exams. The flexibility and relevancy is valuable. The most entrepreneurial students are students
also more. We used to have education before jobs who have the highest potential to rise in future. The
because a person could not be handed over precious countries of the world need such students for creating
resources of a company before any form of formal future jobs. Students who are low in entrepreneurial
training. These days companies want entrepreneurial energy can continue in the expensive traditional
people. Some companies give special preference to programs offered by universities. They can go into lots
failed entrepreneurs in recruitment. The cost of being of linear or static jobs we still have in the job market.
a technology entrepreneur is way less than the cost of Although with the advent of Artificial Intelligence and
a good college degree these days. So the problem of automation the need for such jobs will evaporate in
mishandling of precious resources does not arise. years to come.

Also with the advent of YouTube, open courses Thus, start-ups should have a big role in higher
from prestigious universities and online education education in future.

About the Author:

Saurabh is Vice President at Paytm. He is heading the ‘Paytm - Build for India’ program and also has an active
role in startup products, developer relations, social impact / CSR, education and training within Paytm. Saurabh
also manages the relationships with various industry bodies including NASSCOM, CII, FICCI, PHDCCI.
Saurabh is a Chartered Accountant with keen interest in technology. He is the inventor of PERSONAL
Persistent Messaging System (PPMS) and Neuro Symbolic Network Generation And Execution System for which
he had got provisional patents. Saurabh Jain is also the founder of Fun2Do Labs.
19
 Managing in the Times of
Disruption

By VIVEK MEHRA

SAGE Publications India Pvt. Ltd.

Managing Director and CEO

O ver the last two decades or so, the word

disruption has acquired a positive twist
representing ‘a light at the end of the tunnel’. It no
as a bookmark or by turning the corner of the page.
Text on the page was highlighted by some sort of a
marker. But, over the last 50 years, another type of
longer means an interruption or an interference. book started taking shape. These were books that didn’t
Businesses are being disrupted at an unprecedented have any paper or ink and contained knowledge that
pace. Many ride the wave but most end up too weak was recorded on different types of media. The earliest
to survive. There is no magic formula that works. But version (of non-book recorded knowledge) was one
I believe there are some basic principles that remain which had some sort of grooves cut on vinyl. This
unchanged, no matter what the disruption is or how was followed by a magnetic tape containing recorded
it is brought about. Managing an organization in these knowledge. Before long, compact discs read by lasers
unpredictable times requires a greater understanding of and devices read by computers started redefining books.
disruption and its symptoms. These were, however, marginally successful in replacing
classical paper books. There were advantages to storing
Note: In no way do I claim that there are only 3 knowledge digitally. It was retrieving knowledge that
ways to manage businesses in disruptive times. There created the problem. The quest then began to replicate
are multiple approaches with multiple options. I have the look and feel of a real book in digital form; without
presented my top 3. paper and without ink. Today an e-Book has made a
subtle yet conscious entry into our lives. We may swear
To my mind, there are two distinct types of by a printed book but in disseminating knowledge the
disruptions. There is one that happens in real time digital world is a reality, co-existing with the traditional
and can be called ‘explosive disruption’. In contrast to analog world. Together, they have augmented
this there is another sort of disruption that takes place dissemination and not replaced one form completely
quietly. It provides no warning and before one realizes, with another.
the status quo has been disrupted. I choose to call this
‘silent disruption.’ These two types are best illustrated Explosive disruption
with an example. Both of these are realities in today’s
world. They can affect businesses positively as well as Here is an example of how disruption takes place
negatively. visibly. There used to be a classical definition of a
‘library’. It meant a physical structure that housed
Silent disruption knowledge, generally, in some sort of printed form.
Within these structures were housed entities that are
Here is a live example of ‘silent disruption’. For best described as ‘reference material’. These constituted
350 years books were defined as printed papers bound books, periodicals, images (both still and moving) and
together and holding the content of a consistent type. audio files (including human voice). The library had a
Books had elements that were consistent across all cataloging system that allowed a user to quickly find
types. There was a front cover and a back cover. The what one was looking for. A system of accessing the
insides contained statutory pages such as a copyrights knowledge within the walls of the structure co-existed
page, a table of contents page and these were generally with a system that tracked knowledge ported out of
followed by chapters housing knowledge of some sort. the walls. Supplying these repositories were publishing
One could mark a page with a physical object such houses that specialized in curating knowledge and

20
structuring them more suitably for referencing. As
knowledge became digitized, it became more searchable.
Porting knowledge became easier and most of all,
systems tracking porting dramatically changed. Today
we rarely consider the World Wide Web as a ‘library’,
but in reality that is what it is. With this change came a
clear and ‘explosive disruption’,
academic or reference
publishing has all but vanished
as a commercial venture.
Publishing houses have had to
revisit how knowledge is curated
and made commercially viable.
The change isn’t complete and
even the changed models are
undergoing metamorphosis.
The analogy of disruption needn’t be restricted to
publishing, it is a phenomenon that has or will affect
every industry, product and service. A more direct
disruptive force that is product or service agnostic
is Artificial Intelligence (AI). I classify AI as a silent
disruptor because it is already making inroads into our
lives and we aren’t (yet) conscious about it.
What needs to be managed in a time of disrup-
tion?
Managing in a disruptive environment requires
an understanding of the forces at play. Depending
on where one sits in an organization’s management
structure, interpretation and importance of forces at
play will differ. However, for the senior management,
the approach has to be consistent and focused. Here
are the top 3 focus areas as I see them:
1. Understanding disruption
2. Create and manage a business transformation
plan
3. Action plan for VUCA situations
Within each of these points resides a universe
of ideas, thoughts and processes. Defining them will
stimulate detailing of each of these areas.
Understanding disruption
Any and every organization is a complex, living
entity. Disruption or change is never understood
consistently across this entity. The most important
step is acknowledging that the business or service is
undergoing some sort of disruption and quantify its
effects as best as one can. Once this is done, the top
21
management needs to agree on communication that
is clear, consistent, and balanced about the future of
the organization. More often than not I have observed
that organizations don’t want to acknowledge a change
or disruption until it is too late. Then begin a series
of knee-jerk reactions to contain and explain the
situation. A more effective part
is communicating the ground
realities and the steps that
senior management is taking
to ensure the future of the
organization. The entire
organization must understand
and believe that they have a
future. Conversely, confused
communication could derail the current functionality
of the organization.
Creating and managing a business transformation
plan
Once there is an acknowledgment of a changed
or a disrupted environment, the organization must
transition into a business transformation mode. It
begins with creating a medium-term vision which is
backed with a short gestation transformation plan.
There is very little room for a long-term business
vision given today’s dynamic world. The basis of the
transformation plan has to be grounded in how the
business affects the people (in the organization) and
the business environment (in which the organization
works). When discussing people, one generally tends
to read this as ‘removing dead wood’ or ‘trimming the
fat’ in an organization. On the contrary, people are the
most valuable asset in any transformation plan. People
carry the DNA of the organization and are most
likely to predict the outcome of any change. It’s true
that some folks may not have the skills to manage the
transformation. But to survive, the organization must
attempt skilling their workforce and making them ready
for the future. This should be undertaken before a
decision to ‘trim the fat’ or ‘remove dead wood’ is taken.
To me, the answer of simply reducing the workforce or
replacing it is never a sustainable one. Yes, replacing the
workforce with a more skilled workforce will have its
benefits but a greater risk is that of losing the company’s
history. Sometimes this can prove dangerous.
Action plan for VUCA situations
VUCA is the acronym for Volatility, Uncertainty,
Complexity and Ambiguity. By its very definition it
can’t be planned for. A management team, however, can
come with an action plan on handling contingencies.
The trigger to implement or visit the plan must be the
key matrices that move beyond a defined or predicted
matrix. Once triggered the plan would come into play
in addressing the change. Sometimes these could be
small changes but need senior level authorization for
implementation. At other times situations may demand
a more speedy and radical response. Either way, there
has to be a contingency plan actively worked on and
put into place to ensure that dramatic change (in the
business environment) is speedily addressed.
Over the last two decades the world has changed
more than it did in the preceding five or six decades.
In the times to come,the changes could be silent,
speedy and devastating. However, the fundamentals of
managing these changes will not really change.

About the Author:

He started his career working for a major fashion house in New York. The official title was Assistant Manager
Imports. He was also a model for the same fashion house. His career has been a collage of experiments and
the never-say-die spirit coupled with a burning desire to succeed kept him going. He got into technical writing
and had aspirations to publish a novel. This led to a career in publishing and today he is the head of a major
publishing house, and successful. He strives to build SAGE into a centre of excellence not just as a publisher
but as an employer.

TEED
GUARAN

22
 Man Management : Lessons
From the BSF Model

By RAVI KUMAR PONOTH

Border Security Force

Retd. Additional Director General

T he classical definition of man management

viz: controlling and organizing people has
limited relevance in the context of an Armed Force of
from the same social milieu as in the defense services,
particularly the Army. While majority of the officers
had an urban orientation, the lower ranks were drawn
the Union like the Border Security Force (BSF). While from the rural peasant folk and had the solid support of
the terminology “man management“ essentially has joint families back home. For them, staying away from
its origin in the corporate world, the Armed Forces their families for professional pursuits was the order of
adopted it mutatis mutandis, in order to effectively the day. Since the BSF was then deployed entirely on
address the politico-socio-economic changes that came border guarding role, the daily and yearly routine was
about among the rank and file. Military leaders, includingset and known to all. All ranks got their earned and
that of the BSF, were earlier trained and groomed to casual leave as per the leave roster and much difficulty
“Command” and not “Manage” the men. While the was not felt by them to manage their commitments back
exercise of command is a combination of professional home. Discontent among the rank and file, fratricide
ability, courage, commitment and emotional connect and suicides were extremely rare occurrences. The
with the men, management, perhaps, tends to be less officers at the functional level exercised their command
emotionally connected. effectively and the men generally maintained high levels
of discipline and loyalty. Man management then chiefly
The concept and precepts of man management in comprised impartial allocation of duties, timely rest
the Border Security Force (BSF) have, over the years, and relief, nutritious and palatable food, leave on one’s
remained in a state of flux. The BSF, which was raised turn, sports and recreation and first class training. The
in the wake of the 1965 war with Pakistan, initially scenario is comparable to the old industrial houses of
comprised re-embodied Armed Police battalions with the fifties where the equation between the management
a mix of police and army leadership. Though the top and workers was generally on an even keel and were
leadership was police and the Force was raised under insulated from the effects of IT revolution, political
the home ministry, the cutting edge level leadership maneuvers, unhealthy and cutthroat competition,
was predominantly drawn from released Emergency poaching etc.
Commissioned Officers from the Army. Consequently,
at the functional level, “commander- men” relationship Changing Scenario
as then existing in the Army naturally evolved while at
the higher levels “police culture” dominated the military The latter half of the eighties witnessed the
culture. Command or Man management functions in disruption of civic life in Kashmir with the onset of
the BSF have perpetually remained a victim of the insurgency and sponsored terrorism. Left with few
aforesaid cultural conflict. In the corporate sector, options, the Government ordered induction of the
similar dissonance of approach can, perhaps, be BSF into the Kashmir valley to tackle the menace of
identified between IIT-IIM graduates and homegrown terrorism. Besides being an unfamiliar and formidable
managers. challenge, induction of a large number of BSF units
and the ever increasing demand for more units in
The Old Order Kashmir threw the life of BSF personnel completely
out of gear. All the elements of man management prior
Though raised from re-embodied armed police to Kashmir days suddenly disappeared from the life of
battalions, officers and men in the BSF generally came BSF personnel, thus subjecting them to a tremendous

23
quantum of both physical and mental stress. Rest, relief
and timely leave became a far cry. To compound the
stress was the gruesome sight of one’s own colleagues
getting killed or maimed for life. The situation along
the international borders also deteriorated steadily due
to the nefarious acts of our unfriendly neighbor in the
west and trans-border criminals in the east, thus making
the life of BSF personnel increasingly tougher.
When the working conditions in the Force posed
operational challenges as above, the society as a whole
was also undergoing transformations. The institution of
the joint family was dying down, the rural folk, both men
and women, were getting educated and the IT revolution
was rapidly changing the speed of dissemination of
information as well as the very profile of the average
young Indian. Information or knowledge of specialized
nature which was earlier available only to those who had
exposure to higher education and had the privilege of
foreign travel suddenly became available to the common
man at the click of a button. The tough and hardy men
from the rural masses found themselves compared
with the Rangers of the USA or the Russian Border
Guards. Concomitantly, the earnings of similarly placed
personnel in the private sector increased manifold.
Hoards of villagers migrated abroad and brought in
foreign exchange to village homes which imposed vast
disparity between the spending power of members of
the same family. Suddenly, a career in the Armed Forces
became the very last option for the young educated
village boy and deficiency in various ranks increased by
the day.
The leadership of the BSF at the highest level by
officers from the IPS who came on deputation threw up
yet another challenge. Majority of the IPS officers who
were groomed as SPs and DIGs in urban environment
and were excessively sensitive to political demands
found it difficult to read the pulse of the Force and
attempted to enforce Man Management practices
from their experience in the police which were not in
conformity with the psyche of the Force which, in turn,
affected exercise of effective command at the functional
level. Chain of command, which is an important tool
of Force management, was given a go by.
Unlike the Army, the BSF, as well as other Armed
Forces under the Home Ministry, has primarily three
levels of induction, namely, Constable, Sub-Inspector
and Assistant Commandant. The fourth and final is
at the highest level on deputation from the IPS. The
arrangement worked smoothly for about a decade of
raising of the Force. Thereafter, expectations of career
24
progression rose at all levels of direct induction in the
Force. The level of frustration was compounded by
the socio-economic changes in the society. Grievances,
which used to be addressed in-house piled up and
representations to the Home Minister as well as writ
petitions became rampant. The cumulative effect was
the degradation of operational efficiency and discipline
of the Force which rendered effective man management
a tough challenge. A situation, perhaps, comparable to
a limited extent with the challenges being faced by the
corporate world today in which loyalty of workers is
directly or inversely proportional to factors like the
package on offer, the opportunities elsewhere, scope of
growth within, ever-rising cost of living, gender issues,
and where targets are blindly set by superimposed
leaders without regard to the psyche and work culture
of the enterprise.
In the backdrop of the changed socio-economic
conditions prevailing in the country, the vastly
upgraded profile of the rank and file in the Force,as
well as the information explosion that has gripped
the world at large, the suggested model for effective
man management in the BSF may have the following
ingredients:
1. Leaders who inspire confidence in the men by
virtue of their professional acumen, ground
level experience, courage, both, physical and
mental, and most importantly total impartiality.
Superimposed leadership on short duration
deputation from any other service does not
augur well for a Force like the BSF which has
been entrusted with vital national security
functions.
2. A model of growth for all ranks which provides
for identification of merit and commitment,
and rewarding them by way of accelerated
career progression.
3. Effective grievance redress mechanism and easy
access thereto. The institution of special courts
or tribunals to hear petitions filed by the Force
personnel on the pattern of the Armed Forces
Tribunal shall bring relief to the aggrieved
personnel whose cases are decided by the civil
courts after considerable delay.
4. Absolute transparency in all aspects of
administration. Except for secret operational
matters, the men have to be taken into
confidence about the whys and wherefores
 of decisions. Matters directly affecting the their joys and sorrows. It should be borne in
various classes of personnel should be left to mind that the present lot of men are intelligent
be largely decided by their representatives and enough to see through genuine compassion
not imposed on them by the leadership. and a show of it.

5. The realities of working conditions obtaining 10. Finally, and most importantly, officers should
in the Force should be explained to all ranks not fight shy of accepting responsibility for
at the induction level itself so that they do not failures while passing on the credit for successes
entertain false hopes and aspirations. to the men under their command and getting
them suitably rewarded.
6. According due recognition to the role played
by the men, howsoever routine it may seem, so In the Armed forces, including the BSF, the men
that they derive pride in the discharge of those are expected to risk their very lives even on verbal
functions. orders of their superior officer for which the concept
of leading from the front by the officers is an essential
7. Enforcing discipline with compassion. pre-requisite. The corporate world managers, though
not exposed to such threats, will be well advised to
8. Ensuring that all the entitled privileges and selectively and genuinely adopt some of the above
benefits are fully made available to the men. In mentioned ingredients of man management which will
case of any deficiency on this count due to the go a long way in maintaining the morale and motivation
paucity of resources, it should be explained in of the workforce. It may also be worth remembering
detail. that irrespective of the nature of employment, socio-
economic impact on the psyche of the men and their
9. Make efforts to break the communication hopes and aspirations as well as class conflicts are all
barrier between officers and men. Officers pervasive. If an officer in uniform can get the mission
should not project a holier- than- thou image impossible accomplished by leading from the front so
before the men. Rather, try to be one with them can the corporate manager!
by participating in group activities and sharing

About the Author:

Shri Ravi Kumar Ponoth retired as Addl. DG of the BSF after rendering more than 38 years of distinguished
service in the BSF. Having commanded troops at all levels and in all operational environments up to that of
the Eastern Theatre of the Force, Shri Ponoth has in-depth knowledge and hands on experience of both
micro and macro level issues affecting the Border management of the country. He is a graduate from the
Defence Services Staff college, Wellington and recipient of the Police medal for Meritorious Service and the
Presidents Police Medal for Distinguished Service.
25
 A Story of Two Strikes and
Some Suggestions

By SATYARTH PRIYEDARSHI

Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited

Head of Product Marketing, Jio Chat

The First Strike: Royal Enfield Reuters reported that there were additional issues
including the company joining the NEEM (National
Introduction Employability Enhancement Mission) initiative by the
government.
The ad opens up with a serene violin playing in
the background with a man getting ready for work in In this case, NEEM employees were being asked
a middle class Chennai household. As he gets on his to be absorbed into the regular employee base. The
Royal Enfield motorcycle, his daughter runs up to demand looks genuine, but if you look deeply it was
him and plants a goodbye kiss. The man rides on the asking for two things. To bring these workers under the
motorcycle and passes through the bylanes of what you union, which they would. This would reduce businesses
can see is Chennai. A Rajinikanth movie “Enthiran” capability to hire more NEEM trainees and in a way
poster in the background, and city people going around end the program.
their work. He reaches the factory, which is the Royal
Enfield factory and with the same love, starts working Costs
on a motorcycle. You can see the care he is taking in
polishing the motorcycle. Soon the motorcycle is done The Labor Department was also called in to help
and he is proudly standing next to it. resolve the dispute and act as an intermediary. The
strike ended when the management engaged with
Very few brands have shown the pride in the workers and promised to pay the bonuses. While
workmanship that a worker takes as shown in this ad. the management agreed to crucial points related to
compensation, it didn’t agree to all the points of
Very few brands have gone to the market with a demand.
tagline like “Hand made in Chennai”.
The strike continued for 50 days, and it’s estimated
I don’t know of a motorcycle brand which has ever that the company lost production of around 28,000
put their factory and worker as the hero. motorcycles. It was roughly 4% of the year’s production.
In 2016, Royal Enfield posted a Net Income of Rs. 1560
Workers’ Strike Cr. from 666,490 Units. If the unit economics remains
the same, then every motorcycle is a profit of approx.
Cut to September 24, 2018, the workers at Royal Rs. 23,000.
Enfield plant at Oragadam, Chennai declared a strike.
The strike was called by a Union which had recently A loss of sales of 28,000 units equals loss of net
been formed and not recognized by the management. income of around Rs. 65.5 Cr.
Their paperwork with the labor commissioner had been
pending. Their demands included payment of bonuses There were roughly 700 employees in the strike. So
since 2015. Additional demand included allowing the loss of net income by one employee not coming in
workers to carry cell phones on the shop floor, which to work for 50 days came to around Rs. 9.35 Lakhs. For
had been disallowed along with reinstating of 120 each day the worker didn’t turn up, the company lost Rs.
probationary employees. 18,000 in Net Profit.

26
 The workers had a salary of more than Rs. 10,000. Market, which had seen heavy flooding hadn’t bounced
So Bonus payout was not mandatory for RE under back. Its one of RE’s strongest markets.
labor laws, but the demand was forced anyways. There
was no demand for a salary hike or revision. Butterfly effect

Loss of investor confidence A completely unrelated event happened when

Eicher stock had been facing headwinds due to a
loss in sales owing to Kerala floods. It lost additional
market capitalization due to loss in investor confidence.
Its still trading 20% down from the strike day. The
decline also includes regular market dynamics. But the
overall market capitalization for Eicher Motors came
down to Rs. 63,000 Cr. from a Jan opening of Rs.
81,000 Cr.
A company depends on its market capitalization
to take loans and pledge shares. This money is used
in working capital, and produce vehicles. A capability
which was impacted. A financial manager will tell you
that money wise, paying Rs. 9 Lakhs to each of the 700
people on day 0 is better than 700 people going on
strike for 50 days. The company will not earn a profit
on 28,000 bikes but will prevent higher losses on brand
value and customer satisfaction. But the management
was caught off guard by an unrecognized outfit claiming The Second Strike: PESTEL in action at the Great
to represent workers interest. Bombay Textile strike of 1982
IL&FS which is into infrastructure lending collapsed
in September 2018. This created a perceived liquidity
crunch in the market and NBFCs suffered the brunt
of it. Because of this, larger banks also went back
to an introspective mode to assess exposure. All this
turmoil also created issues in leveraging loans for
many businesses. The equity market dropped, further
impacting Eicher Motors.
If it had been any other company, it would have
gone under. But thankfully it was a market leader in its
segment with a profitable business. What would have
happened if this was a company which was struggling or
had low cash reserves? Each one of the above reasons
could have been handled, but combined, it would have
wiped a lightweight company out.
This could have been the end of Royal Enfield.

There was a loss of consumer trust as most It is not fear mongering, but a very real scenario.
motorcycles are built on advance customer orders I took Royal Enfield as an example, but I could have
and then delivered. The brand lost some appeal on its taken any manufacturing company in India and shown
message of an employee crafting it by hand. you how manufacturing is being killed bit by bit by
activism, liquidity, policies or unforeseen circumstances.
Competition Surfaces
Above all, one company going under scares away
The strike ended on November 12, 2018. On 16 new entrepreneurs from coming in. One of the best
November 2018, Mahindra & Mahindra announced examples where 65 businesses and 250,000 people did
the launch of Jawa. Jawa had been one of the go under is the Great Bombay textile strike.
two motorcycles that had given Royal Enfield any
competition. Other being Rajdoot. The dealerships In 1982, Mumbai saw the worst strike ever called
across India was announced to open in early December, the Great Bombay Textile strike in the history of
and deliveries by Feb 2019. Online booking though has the country. Before the strike, the city used to be a
started. manufacturing hub with 65 mills supporting over 2.5
lakh people.
Meanwhile, during this, Harley Davidson which
had stepped into the Indian market a few years ago Political Systems:
also announced on plans of launching a 250cc-750cc
bike. This is the range in which Royal Enfield and Jawa The strike worried the political establishment.
operate. If the strike were to succeed, it would have spread
to other industries and made one Union Leader have
Natural Calamity unimaginable clout. This would have had an impact on
If these were not enough, RE was also plagued the political dynamics of Maharashtra, upsetting many
by another bad news. The loss of sales in its Kerala established leaders.

27
 for both mother and child. It’s best done by practiced
So the government didn’t intervene for over a year. and safe hands. And in some cases, only the child
The workers kept at it, thinking that because the mills survives. In all the cases, it leaves a scar for life and
were the bread and butter for the owners, eventually breaks down the trust between the management and
they will have to relent. The political will from the the workers. I don’t think RE will be taking out an ad
Leaders on workers and Government side pushed the glorifying its workers anytime soon. (I would like to be
strike beyond a breaking point. There is no way that any happily proven wrong on this one).
of these parties were aiming for the 65 mills to close
and 250,000 people to be jobless, but they couldn’t stop Solving problems on the table is much more
the train from going off tracks as well. beneficial than outright war. Be it countries or
businesses. But sometimes the leaders on either side can
Economic Systems were also at play here. Mumbai be immature or poor decision makers, and in that case,
had become expensive with the high cost of living than nothing can save the business anyways.
other Indian cities. So while other cities could produce
textiles are lower cost, it was becoming difficult for mill Aftermath
owners to do so in Mumbai. But workers lives were also
getting worse and worse because of stagnant wages. In The great strike did achieve its political objectives.
1982, inflation grew high due to oil prices jumping due The union leader lost its massive appeal. But in this
to Iran-Iraq war, and patience ended. fight, 250,000 people lost their jobs. 65 mills shut down
completely for it was not possible for them to continue
How have social norms changed? business in an ever competitive environment. Some of
them relocated to places with cheaper labor and more
Newer factories in Gujarat and abroad were getting conducive business environment. It was a lose-lose
into newer artificial fabrics which were low maintenance, situation.
held on to color better and were more fashionable and
in vogue. These factories had a better margin, for the Ease of Business Ranking: Manufacturing still
newer fabrics were cheaper to make than cotton, but not as easy.
demanded a novelty premium in the market
The GOI is trying to grow businesses on the ground
Technology and avoid bad situations with various initiatives. It has
managed to grow multi fold in the Ease of Business
The competition was newer with newer technology Ranking. India is one of the countries where the law
mills. These needed lower labor and could produce provides working women with 6 months of maternity
products cheaply than Mumbai mills. leave, one of the highest in the world. There are many
other metrics where India has grown, including ease in
Socialistic laws meets capitalist economy. getting electricity.

The labor law mandated that anyone being paid
less than Rs. 10,000 a month was entitled to a bonus
of around 8%. This bonus was to be paid out even if
the business was unprofitable. If after this the business
did manage to make a profit, there were hefty taxes
on corporate profits leaving little money for upgrade
or employee welfare. You couldn’t reduce workforce,
as that would again lead to face off with unions. If a
business faced one rough year there was no way for a
business to go except down, unless floated by private
capital.
View - A Strike is a caesarian operation
But in reality, we are just above Africa and Latin
America. The journey till here mostly included
streamlining bureaucracy. The next steps are going to
be harder as they need robust institutions like banks,
judiciary, and education.
We had electricity, it just took more time for it to be
given and we streamlined it. We had company registrars,
just took more time to register, we streamlined it. The
existing resources have been aligned better.
But has the business become easier for companies
like Royal Enfield? I don’t think so.

A strike however carefully done, is like a caesarean Why?

operation to deliver a baby. It works, but it is dangerous

28
 Ease of business ranking is closer to a vanity And it falls on the government to build an
metric. Something that measures a part of the business, environment that nourishes this economy and its
but doesn’t actually give you actionable information citizens and keep the balance. But we as citizens also
to improve. Every business has to work in a Political, have to do our part and participate in this process and
Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, Legal there are examples coming out from outside India.
system (PESTEL framework) and very few of the
metrics actually judge these. Thousands of Google employees walked out of
offices across the globe in November to protest against
For example, it doesn’t take into account Labor the handling of sexual harassment allegations by the
Laws. And for good reason too. An external body company (#GoogleWalkout). The employees voiced
like the World Bank can measure certain aspects like their concern on social media, built up support and
performance, but can’t ask sovereign countries to make got coverage everywhere. As a result, the CEO had
laws or judge their legal framework. And until it can to acknowledge the problem publicly and commit to
measure PESTEL, it will show a partial picture of the making amends in their handling of sexual harassment
business. claims. The power in the new economy lies with the
dissemination of knowledge and public perception. If
Conclusion and an example of a protest labor is being mistreated, today in the age of social, no
company can afford not to address it.
Most of these labor laws and situations outlined in
RE and the Great Bombay textile mill strike still exist. We too will have to learn these methods of protests
There have been new initiatives to relax the labor laws and communication, which get the point across doesn’t
with NEEM programs, any attempt by any government kill the business.
to change this becomes a political issue to pander to the
vote bank politics. One of the reasons for the RE strike For this competition on a global scale is not just for
also was the workers under the NEEM scheme. productivity. It is for efficiency, it is among laws, and it is
among citizens and their education and their wellbeing.
We need to improve these laws as the warning It is among profit margins, processes, and technologies.
signs are also coming from outside the country. The countries now are competing as a whole, and not
Singapore Deputy PM recently commented that India’s in parts.
demographic dividend will convert to demographic
debt if the anti-employment labor laws are not changed. We were stuck in time for the most part after
Singapore consistently ranks in single digits in ease of independence following a particular method to achieve
business ranking and is now considered a first world our economic and social goals. Now we need to learn
country. new ones.

The nature of the world has changed. A farmer The balance in this world is maintained by its
today is not only competing with someone from India constant movement forward, and all changes have to be
but from someone across the globe. So is a businessman. done while moving forward. It’s hard. It’s like a painting
while pedaling a bicycle, but that’s how it is.
This economy is precariously balanced and
interconnected. A default on an Infra financing Because if the cycle stops now for a second, we will
company can kill a business in a completely different fall and be left behind.
part of the economy.

About the Author:

Satyarth is an Award Winning business leader and a Linkedin Power Profile for 2018 currently heading
product marketing with JioChat. Before Jio Satyarth has held leadership positions with companies like Google,
Infibeam, Flipkart and Borders and has worked in diverse locations from the Middle East to far-east Asia.
Satyarth likes to read, write, speak and interact and influence the next generation of leaders right now on
college campuses.

29
 The Case of Analytics and AI-
Based Learning: The Future of
Corporate Training
By DR. JASMINE GUPTA

Kotak Mahindra Bank

VP - L&D and Digital Adoption

W hat is the future of Corporate Learning?

Gone are the days when a classroom
session of six to eight hours was all that the Learning
and Development departments could look forward
to. Also gone are the days when organisations were
satisfied with a formal online Learning Management
System(LMS) e-learning solution for their employees.
1. What could have been done to prevent such a
situation from arising?
2. What can be done now to correct it?
3. What role can L&D play and how fast, so that
the damage is minimalized?
The answer lies in Analytics based Learning.

With more and more millennials joining the ANALYTICS BASED LEARNING
workforce, it has become crucial for organisations
to align their learning interventions with the needs It is also called triggers based learning and it is
and challenges of this younger employee segment. achieved through the integration of the business/CRM
With attention spans getting smaller and the need systems with the learning/LMS systems through an
for availability of learning at a click, learning and algorithms based analytics engine. The learning triggers
development is undergoing sweeping changes. emanating from the analytics engine are personalised
for each individual employee, just-in-time is when the
In order to ensure that learning ultimately employee needs it to improve his performance, pre-
translates into higher efficiencies and performance, it is emptive is based on the employee’s on-the-job behaviour
imperative that learning keeps up its pace with business or business market conditions, and completely KPI
requirements in dynamic environments. linked. Let’s see how it works.

I would like to share a short story. I am a Millennial.
I have three years of sales experience. I joined a new
XYZ Company some six months back. I remember
I was very excited and optimistic on my first day of
joining; I went through a six-day Induction Training
and learnt everything that was required to manage my
new job role. I remember my supervisor introducing
me to my teammates and all key customers as soon as I
joined the job floor. It was all so great.
Every job role has a set of KPIs to be achieved.
For every KPI there is a threshold score that the
employee needs to achieve by performing certain jobs/
tasks. On the basis of these thresholds,parametric rules
are created that set-out triggers on the basis of which
various learning objects are assigned.

However, it has been six months into this new job

and I am still not achieving my KPIs (Key Performance
Indicators). The super–supervisor has called me for a
one-to-one meeting to discuss what’s wrong and I am
completely confused. I am doing exactly what I was told
to do. And here I am, still struggling. So what’s wrong?
Is it me, my supervisor or that induction training?
The questions that emerge from this episode are:

30

As can be observed in the above diagram, data is
pulled from all relevant CRM, HRMS and Business
systems into the Analytics engine and on the basis of
the parametric rules created the learning objects are
assigned to each individual learner. Thus analytics based
learning enables customization to the unit of one, which
means personalized learning is offered at the level of
each individual employee.
LEARNING OBJECTS AND DASHBOARDS:
The learning object can be anything that can help
the employee improve his/her skills. So it can be:
1. A two-minute micro video or
2. A case study based on gamified learning or
3. A joint buddy customer call or
4. A supervisor mentoring session or
5. A two-hour classroom session through role-
plays.
The learning triggers are communicated to the
employee and the supervisor by email or SMS or mobile
app notification.
Various dashboards – individual employee specific,
regional and national level leaderboards can be generated
and shared at regular time intervals to monitor and
measure learning impact.
31
BENEFITS
Now let’s go back to my story. How can analytics
based learning make a difference in my life?
Pre-emptive Learning: As soon as I join the
new organisation, based on the purchasing profiles
and propensities of the customers that I am going to
manage or the business potential of the region/area I
am going to operate in, learning objects are administered
to me immediately on my joining. For example, my job
role involves selling 25-30 different types of products.
Now,if I have been allocated a region with maximum
businesses into imports/exports, it is important for me
to develop knowledge and skills related to trade and
forex, import-export laws, trade regulations, EXIM
policies, etc.
Next, after two to three months of performance in
the region, if my customer call-and-meeting reports do
not show a significant lead generation of trade products,
another learning trigger is sent my way to help me
course correct and improve performance. Thus, my on-
the-job behaviour is tracked continuously to determine
my learning needs.
Just-in-time Learning: It means that not only are
the learning objects offered to me immediately based
on my performance gaps, but also that they are offered
on my Business/CRM system itself –the system that I
use day in and day out for my business needs– so that I
need not have to navigate between business and learning
systems. Or it can be on a CRM/learning App – so that
I can learn and relearn whenever I want, even while
sitting in my customer’s waiting room while referring
to the minutes of my last meeting with that customer.
Personalised Learning: It is personalised learning
because it is directly linked to my performance across
various KPIs. I am administered learning dosage for
those KPIs in which I am struggling below the set
thresholds. I, therefore, get an opportunity to improve
on my gaps on a real-time basis, eventually eliminating
the need of that dreadful one-to-one meeting with the
super-supervisor.

JOB ROLES
Analytics/AI based learning can be applied to
all job roles, whether it be sales or relationship roles,
service roles or leadership roles and in all industries,
ranging from FMCG, automobiles, pharmaceuticals,
manufacturing, to advertising, BFSI, technology,
telecom, and infrastructure. The important thing to
note is the availability of data. Analytics needs Big Data,
so, while data for sales roles can be easily available at the
organisational level, data for service roles can be service
audit reports and scores, mystery shopping results,
customer survey results, etc. Data related to leadership
roles can be a combination of performance numbers,
employee survey results, skip-level meet results, etc.
LEARNING LEVELS
Multiple learning levels can be created based
on the frequency of an employee falling in various
trigger baskets. For example, if an employee falls into
a particular learning gap trigger for the first time, he
is allocated a knowledge-based learning object. If the
same employee falls in the same trigger basket for the
second time, which means his performance gap has not
improved, he is assigned a skill-based learning object.
The third time he gets offered a behavioural learning
object. The fourth time he is sent for a supervisor
counseling session.
The need for
the number of
levels required can
be determined on
the basis of the
complexity of the
job role.
The important
aspect to note here is
that any performance
gap, be it due to lack
of knowledge, skill or behaviour, can be corrected
through analytics based learning.
ROI – Return on Investment
The biggest challenge faced by L&D (Learning and
Development) is how to demonstrate RoI. The issue
becomes inconsequential when organisations go for
analytics based learning.
32
Revenues are directly linked to an increase in
productivity and performance of its employees. Thus
the impact of L&D on business gets measured on a
real-time basis when L&D and business work closely
together by integrating their systems for analytics based
learning.
MILLENNIALS
Now, let’s see how and why analytics based learning
is suitable for Millennials. Research suggests that
Millennials learn differently.
1. Technology: Millennials are the first generation
to truly grow up with technology. They prefer anytime,
anywhere learning in which learning objects are assigned
to them on learning apps or CRM/other business
systems which they use daily, just-in-time, when they
need it.
2. Goal-based: Millennials need a reason to learn,
a reason that is tied to a real-world purpose or goal.
Hence, they value the KPI focused learning triggers
that help them translate learning immediately to on-the-
job performance improvement.
3. Micro and Varied: Millennials are not interested
in mundane courses. Also, they don’t have the attention
span or time to sit around and complete hour-long
courses. So, when a variety of bite-sized learning
objects, focused on
specific KPIs are
offered, they take to
them effortlessly.
Thus analytics
based learning
is most ideal for
millennials who will
form 80% of the
future workforce of
India.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
The future and scope of analytics-based learning get
amplified 10 times by introducing Artificial Intelligence.
By using machine learning programs the entire process
can be automated so that the engine starts learning on
its own and sends out triggers on the basis of its own
learning of employees’ performance. AI thus enables
automated personalization of learning.
 Just like Google Now or Amazon make personalized branding. While this is great for senior level matured
offers to enhance customer experience, we at L&D too employees, who know what they need to learn to grow,
can offer customized learning to enhance employees’ it may not work for junior or middle-level employees.
learning experience.
Hence, AI combined with analytics gives far superior
The important point to note here is that AI, in this results for business performance improvement.
case, assigns courses based on the user’s performance
data and not his/her interest. There is also a use case of To conclude, the time has come for L&D to start
AI where users are offered courses related to their areas using the power of Big Data, Analytics and AI to get
of interest. For example, a user who has shown interest itself aligned to business and truly earn its seat on the
in learning about personal branding or has read some table.
courses on personal branding in the past, he/she gets
suggested/offered more courses related to personal

About the Author:

Dr. Jasmine Gupta is Vice President - Learning and Development and Digital Adoption with Kotak
Mahindra Bank. A PhD in Management and a Triple Gold Medalist in MBA, she has 15 years of corporate
experience in banking and L&D. A TEDx speaker, she is also invited to speak at various National and
International summits and conferences on Business, Banking, Management, Learning and Leadership in
India, Europe and South East Asia. She is an ardent researcher and author of two academic books. Her
research papers have been published in leading International and National journals, books and magazines.

She is a Top Performer Banker who has been awarded for her achievements at International Conventions
in Sydney-Australia, Geneva-Switzerland and Bangkok. In the past, she has represented India as Youth
Ambassador at the Global Leo Meet (Youth body of Lions Clubs International) at Chicago, USA. She
has also been a Cultural Ambassador to Osaka, Japan under the Indo-Japan Student Exchange Program
between Gujarat University and Otemon Gakuin University.

She has served as President of Leo Club and Leo Youth Director of Lions clubs International, and undertaken
many community service and youth development programs. She is a non-profit Social Entrepreneur who
actively works for providing Financial Literacy to low-income and under-educated women, children and
the needy, thus helping them live a respectable life with self-esteem.

She also excels at Dancing and Fine Arts. A Bharat Natyam dancer, she has participated in many International
Folk Dance Competitions in France and Spain. She knows English, Hindi, German, French, Gujarati and
Japanese languages.
33
 Through the Eyes of the
Beholder
By V J RAO

Executive Director
Totus HR School
Ex - Head of L & D, Suzlon Energy Ltd.

P roduced by General Electric Theatre

(broadcast by CBS radio and television)
and aired in 1953 was the episode “The Eye of the
and people agendas concern them the most, it tells us
something about their expectations. When organizations
commit significantly higher budgets every successive
Beholder”, starring Richard Conte and Martha Vickers. year to staff HR functions and fund HR programs, it
tells us something about what they value. When more
Containing all the drama of a murder mystery, and more students choose HR as their profession, their
this video portrays how five people perceive Michael choice tells us something. When you learn that the
Gerard, a painter, during a 12-hour period. One sees engagement scores of HR teams itself are very low, it
him as a “ladies’ man”, another as a “good boy”, the tells us something about how they feel.
third as insane, the fourth as a gangster and the fifth as
a murderer. Like in the case of Michael Gerard, HR’s value and
place is in the eyes of the beholder and that can be
Produced as a television serial, this has perhaps quite hard to understand and accept, especially for its
emerged as the single most powerful, popular and practitioners.
educative video to illustrate the subject of perception
and more specifically how our perceptions can easily be In fact, every CEO, consultant, author, and every
influenced by our beliefs based on our past experiences, single person seems to have an opinion on HR and
fears, and expectations. This classic also illustrates often not in an appreciative manner and no other
the dangers of judgment, projection, prejudice, profession evokes as many varied views, expectations,
predisposition, and preoccupation. and emotions as the HR profession does.

What is true for Michael Gerard is certainly To understand this uniqueness better, it might be
true for HR! useful to draw a distinction between the HR function
and its practitioners.
Type the phrase, “why we love HR” and Google will
return a million search results. Type the phrase, “why we The functional perspective
hate HR” and Google will return another million search
results. That tells us something about what might have The way HR as a function is perceived is in good
been in the minds of the beholders. measure influenced by the role expectations placed on it
by the leadership – in other words how HR is positioned
When the July-August 2015 edition of the Harvard within the organization.
Business Review carried a cover story titled, “It’s
Time to Blow up HR and build something new” it How much does HR as a function count in the
certainly created a stir. So, what did the beholders have way the organization is managed?
in their mind?
From our experience across the world, we find
When stand-up comedians pick on HR to evoke the functional positioning ranging from a high level of
laughter or when young employees routinely rant about centrality to a moderate level of centrality to a low level
HR on social media, there is an underlying message. of centrality.
When business leaders routinely confess that leadership

34
 being triggered about the function and professional.

High centrality Moderate centrality Low centrality

Such positioning, in many ways, determines what

is expected from the function. This gets demonstrated
in how much the function is included, valued and
consulted in all employee and organization related
decision making.

Where the centrality is very high, the function

ends up having a say in everything that is important and
significant within the organization. Such inclusion goes
beyond HR matters.

When the centrality is moderate the inclusion

and the consultation are restricted to functional aspects. When the function is positioned as highly central
However, within the functional domain, there is a high and the professionals are extremely helpful, recipients
level of inclusion and consultation. The position is an are delighted. On the other hand, when the centrality is
expert function. low and the professionals are also not helpful it leads
to a feeling of frustration. When the function is given
When the centrality is low the function does not its place of prominence but its functionaries are not
get included or consulted even in HR matters. helpful it does lead to a sense of anger. Finally, when
the centrality is not very high but the professionals are
The Practitioner perspective doing their best to help in whatever manner possible,at
least the moments of truth are positive and there is a
The way the practitioners or the HR professionals sense of being pleased.
are perceived is in good measure influenced by the
role expectations placed on them by their diverse When the function is positioned as peripheral but
stakeholders and of course the way these expectations the professionals are helpful, recipients are satisfied.
are perceived to have been fulfilled.
Like the story of Michael Gerard, all of this
In other words, what was my experience of does not even consider the aspirations, dreams, and
interacting, engaging with and depending on the expectations of the practitioners themselves.
HR professional?
So, the next time we encounter a perception about
In our experience, we find the perceptions about HR, it might be useful to see the vantage point from
how helpful HR professionals were when approached which it emanates. What is important to recognize is
for any kind of assistance ranges from being seen as that there is a distinction between the function and
helping at one end to being seen as almost hindering the functionaries. The positioning of the function is
at the other end. The perception of helping and attributable to the culture of the organization whereas
hindering is from the vantage point of how much the the perception of the functionaries is attributable
HR professional is seen as furthering the goals of the to the capabilities and behaviors of individuals. It is
people that interact with them. important that we do not confuse one for the other. It
is therefore imperative that even as the function is
Extremely helpful Moderately helpful Least helpful provided a central position, the functionary at each
level needs to be capable and credible in respecting
the positioning and adding value to the centrality
accorded to the function.
When we combine the role expectations from
Positioning of HR – the contextually evolving story
the function with the actual experiences with the
The positioning of HR in many ways seems to be a
professionals we end up seeing several possible emotions
35
function of the buoyancy in the economy. them. Employees also expect HR to influence the
Organizations in rapidly developing countries like way they are treated by their managers. Employees
India have seen a very strong reliance on their HR to demonstrate a market-oriented approach when they are
realize their growth aspirations. If Indian businesses hired but expect special consideration when the business
have grown dramatically in the last two and a half needs to restructure. Leaders and managers want HR
decades, at least some of that is thanks to HR as a to demonstrate empathy but also take tough actions.
function reinventing itself constantly to meet the Leaders and managers want the freedom and flexibility
growing role expectations. If Indian businesses have to take reward decisions but HR is also expected to
gotten better at the art and science of adding hundreds ensure fairness and equity. Depending on how HR
of thousands to their workforce and developing and responds to these varying expectations and depending
nurturing them, it is thanks to HR transforming itself. on whom you ask, you will get a different view about
If Indian businesses have been doing a reasonable job HR. However, all these perceptions are indicative of
of growing talent from within, at least some of that is the centrality of HR in the minds of people and that is
thanks to HR contribution! good news. It is just that given the fact that it touches
everyone’s life, each of them feels qualified to have a
Contrary to common perceptions, the HR function view or opinion on how HR should be run.
in India has been hugely innovative and has constantly
and continuously evolved itself to meet business needs. Professional capabilities – A mixed bag

Be it the innovative Voluntary Retirement Schemes If we begin to recognize that there is an increasing
in the 90s, designed and implemented to reduce costs, or tendency to accord a more central status to the HR
the productivity based wage settlements, or the use of function, at least in rapidly growing and competitive
TQM to build employee engagement and commitment, economies with equally competitive labor markets, it
or the adoption of supply chain models to scale up in follows that the expectations of the professional – the
recruitment, or the use of People Capability Maturity face of the function is growing quite high rapidly. Be
models in IT and the engagement practices in ITES, it feeling furious or feeling frustrated, it is evident that
or the use of technology to automate and enhance HR professionals evoke strong emotions when they
employee experiences in the delivery of HR services, are perceived to be hindering the goal achievement of
or the smart adoption of e-learning solutions, or the employees. The large-scale addition of numbers to the
constant innovations in leader development; we see profession with little training and preparation is certainly
more and more instances of HR across businesses adding to the poor perception of at least a good number
moving along the continuum from being positioned as of HR professionals. Clearly, HR professionals can do
peripheral to central. a lot more to enhance the way they are experienced by
those who engage with them.
Looking at the positioning of HR from a role
expectation perspective is not complete without That indeed is both the challenge and the
recognizing the conflicting expectations. In other opportunity. With the right capability, which includes
words, whose needs and expectations are HRs expected functional competencies, human skills and mindsets,
to fulfill and are there indeed conflicting expectations? the perception of HR professionals can change quite
dramatically. Having facilitated hundreds of HR
For example, employees may want HR to take a professionals in their capability development journeys,
strong stand with leadership on the issues that impact we have significant hope and optimism.

36
About the Author:

In a career spanning 41 years, VJ has been an Operating HR, L&D and Business Excellence head across
a wide range of industries such as Engineering and Projects, FMCG, IT, ITES and Financial Services. For
over 30 years, he has held significant leadership roles in Hindustan Lever Ltd., Cadbury India Ltd, Godrej
GE Appliances Ltd, the Tata Group and Suzlon Energy Ltd. He has worked across countries and led global
initiatives in the areas of Leadership Assessment and Development. He has been on the Board of One of
the Tata Group Companies. He has held the role of Group Head of Learning and Development at the Tata
group and also held the position of Director – The Tata Management Training Centre. He has a deep insightinto
Business, Organizational and Human processes and systems and has been instrumental in the Companies that
he has worked for receive PCMM certification and ASTD awards for L&D and Talent Management. He
has also held the role of Ombudsman and Chief Ethics Officer in Companies. VJ is a graduate in Science
(Chemistry and Physics) from Bombay University and holds a Masters Degree in Personnel Management and
Indutrial Relations from TISS and a degree in General Law.

He is a freelance consultant working in the areas of Leadership Assessments and Coaching. He has undertaken
over 80 feedback coaching assignments and several Executive Coaching assignments over the last six years
including that of very senior leaders both in India and Overseas. He has conducted Coaching assignments over
extended periods in person and over phone and is currently coaching CXOs of largeIndian Conglomerates, a
German Company and an FMCG Company. For the last three years he has been a Behavioural Enabler for the
LDP participants of L&Twhere he coaches about 5 participants in each batch over the nine month duration
of the LDP. He is an Adjunct Coach with the Center for Creative Leadership, USA (CCL) and is an accredited
CEO Coach with the Coaching Foundation of India(CFI).

He is also an Executive Director of the Totus HR School, that works with Companies on developing the
capabilities of their HR professionals. He has just coaauthored a book on Contemporary practices in HR in
India which is to be released in April 2018. The book is called “HR Here and Now” and has been received
very well received by Academicians as well as Business Professionals.

He supports certain NGOs and Voluntary organizations. He is a Partner with Social Venture Partners, Pune
that supports NGOs in the area of livelyhood creation.

37
 Artificial Intelligence in Legal
Space
Ex - VP Operations, Thomson Reuters
T he term ‘Artificial Intelligence (AI)’ was
originally coined by John McCarthy in the
year 1956, an American computer scientist. In simple
language, AI is an area of computer science that
emphasizes on creation of intelligent machines that can
work and react like human beings.
On February 01, 2018, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
stated that the Government think-tank, Niti Aayog
would lead the national program on AI. In keeping
with this objective, the government is set to support
start-ups and centers of excellence with respect to AI
training and research activities. Hence, it is established
that AI is here to stay for the long run, either in the
form of smart assistants like Alexa, Natural Language
Processing (NLP) to process sentence formation
and emotions or even Machine Learning platforms.1
The government in India has made a bold move by
announcing a “National Centre for AI” in their annual
2018 budget presentation. Most Indians are surprised
that the Government & its leadership is aware, well-
informed and actively propagating AI.
Ranging from transportation and manufacturing,
education, defence, healthcare to Internet of Things,
AI has now entered all the nooks and corners of the
market. The entire spectrum, right from start-ups to
corporate boardrooms are embracing and evangelizing
Artificial Intelligence.
Over the past few years, India has undergone
many regulatory and technological changes. If
observed closely, the introduction of AI in India has
transformed almost all the major professional sectors
in India, including the legal sector. However, no Indian
legislations currently recognize AI as a legal person that
can have legal rights and duties while performing tasks.
1 Available at https://indianexpress.com/article/
technology/opinion-technology/why-we-need-to-have-regula-
tion-and-legislation-on-artificial-intelligence-quick-5151401/
38
By JAIDEEP KEWALRAMANI
CEO, Legasis Services Pvt. Ltd.
It is interesting to know that while India is building
blocks to reach the world of AI with efficiency, Saudi
Arabia has already granted citizenship to ‘Sophia’, a
humanoid. She is a manifestation of AI and she has
a rockstar status. It’s a little-known fact that she has 7
siblings.
As AI accelerates more deeply into the business
mainstream, the key challenge for many businesses
would be a support from leadership, as in how can
this rapid shift in the technological culture affect the
culture of organizations and their visions. Microsoft
Services CTO, Norm Judah rightly said, “If the CEO is
open to the possibility, and has the right culture in the
organization, I think there are great scenarios that can
come out of that.” In coming years AI will certainly
have a transformative effect on consumers, enterprises
and government. In fact, experts predict that robots
will replace humans in one-third of today’s traditional
professions by 2025.2
As per Deloitte, “Over 100,000 jobs in the legal
sector have a high chance of being automated
in the next twenty years”.3 I truly believe that AI
technologies can play beneficial roles in helping General
Counsels perform their jobs more effectively as it could
be a valuable tool that can transform the working of the
entire legal team in an organization. If outsourcing of
legal tasks change the way businesses engage with law
firms, legal AI will prove to be revolutionary.
Considering the current Indian scenario, use of AI
in the legal space, especially in areas like Legal Research,
Due-Diligence, Legal Analytics, Contract Management
and Patent Application, can be the real game changers
2 Available at Christoffer O. Hernces, Artificial Intelli-
gence, Legal Responsibility and Civil Rights, available at https://
techcrunch.com/2015/08/22/artificial-intelligence-legal-respon-
sibilityand-civil-rights/
3 Available at https://blog.ipleaders.in/ai-in-legal-profes-
sion/
for the industry. Many Indian Start-Ups have already monitors the law around the clock to notify users of
begun their journey by introducing next-gen legal new court decisions that can affect a case.5
research platforms that can really help law firms as well Andrew Arruda, the CEO and Co-founder of
as companies to conduct research and due-diligence in Ross Intelligence, mentions that despite having surplus
no time with accuracy. However, at the same time, it attorneys on tap, still about 80% of Americans who
can be observed that the Indian legal industry has not need a lawyer can’t afford one. However, by using
been much open to technological changes as they may AI lawyers like ROSS, law firms could charge lower
seem to be comparatively expensive and inaccessible. fees since they wouldn’t be paying humans to handle
With the introduction of AI technologies and other clients’ cases. In addition, those lawyers currently out
technological changes, the CEOs and the General of work could use AI services like ROSS, which offer
Counsels will expect significant reduction in costs, a lower barrier of entry into the market, to create more
improvement in timelines and competitive advantage in affordable options for clients.6
the long run.
I believe that the immediate use case for AI in the
This certainly doesn’t mean that AI would replace legal domain are as follows:
lawyers. In the first phase, AI-based tools will replace
all rule-based tasks, followed by activities that can be a. Legal Research – In day to day activities, lawyers
contained within a framework. For example, simple require deep legal research. While arguing cases, they
contracts like NDAs or lease agreements could be self- need thousands of references from relevant case laws
negotiated by AI tools and leave the final review for a and judgments to make their case stronger. AI would
lawyer. In simple words, it can be understood that an help in creation of research database and library
associate or partner with a law firm who spends roughly that would in turn help lawyers in increasing their
30-40% of the time on the non-core activities, could productivity and efficiency by focusing more on core
now with the help of AI manage to spend only 5-10% business activities.
time in such activities and a greater percentage towards
performing core activities that require more of a human b. Compliance Management – Using AI
intellect. technologies, legal professionals could significantly
improve their compliance mechanisms by providing
The new-age legal research start-ups in the US are automated guidelines pertaining to each applicable law.
leveraging big-data analytics to advise on whether a
case is winnable, sentiment analysis of judgment text to c. Due-Diligence – In order to ensure industry
find the reasoning of Judges and the logical deduction best practices and good corporate governance, due-
of how a Judge might rule. Nearer to home, in India, diligence with the help of AI would give a sigh of
start-ups have now started providing AI-enabled case- relief to the lawyers as they would prioritize their time
law research tools driven by summarisation algorithms by concentrating on issues that are important with
coupled with machine-learning algorithms for ranking reference to such due-diligence as this would set them
and showing the most relevant cases. Such tools help free from the normal tick-box approach.
to inform lawyers on which cases are better suited to
be cited in the Courts over others and also provide While we talk about extensive utilization of Artificial
analytics on how the network of cases are inter-related. Intelligence, we should also take into consideration the
4

ethical issues/dilemmas that may arise in the cultural

It is interesting to know that world’s first artificial context of India. Three prominent areas that will need
intelligence lawyer has been employed by Baker & to be addressed are (a) Can AI tools deliver advice with
Hostetler, a law firm in the US which majorly handles passion and empathy? (b) confidentiality of information
bankruptcy cases, uses the robot to assist its various and (c) treatment of client-attorney privilege.
teams in legal research. The robot called ‘ROSS’ is
built upon Watson, IBM’s cognitive computer. With The rapid pace of AI’s acceleration is faster than
the support of Watson’s cognitive computing and most legal professionals realize or fully comprehend.
natural language processing capabilities, lawyers can
ask ROSS their research question and the robot reads 5 Available at https://www.livemint.com/Politics/bQN-
LHR96A5G4Kvg81JwWFM/Worlds-first-robot-lawyer-ROSS-
through the law, gathers evidence, draws inferences and hired-by-US-law-firm.html
returns highly relevant, evidence-based answers. It also 6 Available at https://www.businessinsider.in/The-
4 Available at https://inc42.com/buzz/ai-machine-learn- worlds-first-artificially-intelligent-lawyer-was-just-hired-at-a-law-
ing-legal-services/ firm/articleshow/52296964.cms
39
However, there is a lot that needs to be considered
while reaching a conclusion. Use of AI can prove to
be a boon as well as a bane for the legal industry. Yet,
considering the long-term impact and an optimistic
view of AI in the legal space, it can be concluded that
in a country like India, where legal assistance costs are
astronomically high for a middle-class person, utilization
of AI in the legal industry would make such assistance
approachable, less costly and less time consuming for
a common Indian man. Money will no longer be the
barrier to effective legal advice.
Sundar Pichai rightly said “Building general
Artificial Intelligence in a way that helps people
meaningfully – I think the word moonshot is an
understatement for that. I would say it’s as big as
it gets.”

About the Author:

Jaideep is the CEO of Legasis, a market leader in Legal & Compliance Solutions. He is an executive program
graduate from Stanford University & repatriated to India in 2012. Jaideep has 21 years of experience & has
held leadership positions with organizations like Thomson Reuters. He holds a patent in AI & is a hobby
macro-economist.

40
 Are We “Human Resource function”
Ready to Handle the Changing Dynamics
and Business Transformation?

By MILIND MUTALIK

Accolite Software India Pvt. Ltd.

Chief People Officer

Summary: • Technology Savvy towards HR and business tools.

• Evolution of HR Role and Function.
• Change Dynamics of Business world – External
context impacting internal changes, change in the
world of work and leading to challenge for HR role
and function and Leadership.
• Challenges to Human Resource Function.
• Organization Leadership challenges.
The evolution of Journey of the HR Function:
1. Post-Independence till about 80’s with more
focused on:
• Personnel Management: - with Administrative,
Compliance, Specialized function and traditional Uncertain, Complex and ambiguous. The changes are
mindset.
Expectations from HR function role holders are
of a tall order to take up the role of transformational
leader to make organization successful.
In my experience of about 3 decades in the
profession, this is the most challenging time of business
transition.
The features are:
• The rapid pace of transition and disruptions.
• Absence of strategy, agility and direction it will be
a state of chaos.
The Business world situation is “VUCA” Volatile,
dominating the disruptions.

2. Post 80’s and till 90’s – Human Resource Based on the above context and more is
Management: Globalization, Liberalization and happening in the business world “HR Readiness
privatization: for the new business world” is mandated.
• Over and above administrative function,
enlargement of the scope of activities, approaching Changed Dynamics:
proactive.
• HR involved in resources planning, business
partnering, focus on value-added activities,
retaining, motivating, engaging resources, safety
security, employee and union relations, benefits and
compliance.
• Technological interventions with HRMS systems,
PMS systems and other employee life cycle support
modules, Employee surveys.

3. Post 2000 and during current period, expectations

from HR functions to play the transformational
roles:
• Strategic HR Partner.
• HR business Partner.
• Organizational development champion.
• Culture and image ambassador

43
Technological Disruption:
Big Data architecture, Advance neural machine Amazon, Uber etc.
learning, robotics Artificial intelligence tools, additive
manufacturing with 3D, Mobile Internet technologies, 1. A more personalized product or service.
wearable technologies, cloud-based services, Social 2. A closed-loop process: Used Products –recycled-
media, online meetings, augmented reality, Internet of
things, design thinking,
Outcome:
Changes in the way we communicate, commercial
and personal sphere. Apps, WhatsApp and social media 5. A more collaborative ecosystem.
tool have made us change the way we do banking, 6. An agile and adaptive organization: Use of technol-
traveling, Purchasing and even learning.
Challenges:
Mc-Kinsey Research points out 5 Key Themes for
Corporate Sector:
• Serving Informed customer
• Creating flexible and adaptive operating models
• Drawing non-traditional resources and partner-
ships’
• Adopting growth and innovation mindset
• Focusing on accountability, Integrity and sustain-
ability.
The Transformative Business Model HBR 2016. by
Stelios Kavadias, Kostas Ladas, and Christoph Loch:
44
Not that all are successful in all that they do but
these are the new age organizations Air bnb, Alibaba,
reduces overall costs.
3. Asset sharing.
4. Usage-based pricing.: Charge customers when they
use the product or service, rather than requiring
them to buy something outright.
ogy- Innovation – real-time adaptation to change-
Greater value for the customer at a lesser cost to
the company.
The World of Work:
Leader’s challenge is to make the new world of work,
better for employees.
Work Places - Physical sizes have changed highlights
are:
• Global workforce and business networking: The
outsourcing, working from a different country lo-
cation is a new normal.
• Creating Employee experience than that of Physi-
cal work-place with amenities. (The employee does
not want to engage in 2 to 3 hours
of travel to work-place for the lux-
ury and facilities of the office.)
• Flexibility - remote working and
hours to work.
• Evolution and trends of Start-
ups and mid-sized organization,
reducing the need of the bigger
workplaces and co-working spaces
is a common norm.
• Captives and technology
back-offices still have their big
places managed and having their
vendor partner resources working
in their centers.
Points to Ponder:
• Will there be a permanent
workplace in future?
• Freelancers, customers loca-
tions, suppliers’ locations will be
collocated and distributed around
 the world, and work platforms with Tech-tools
would challenge the physical consolidated work-
places?
Work force mix, and demographics has changed:
• Major part of workforce in India consists of young • Will chat boats and other tools lead to reduction in
talent with average age less than 35, be it the service
or manufacturing industry.
• Mobility – Irrespective of gender, age profile-
wherever work takes me (Generally preferred urban
places for the workforce to relocate).
• Careers – Exploration -> Establish -> Maintenance
-> Disengagement – Active Career Span Reduced – Human Resource function needs to understand and be
Establish to Disengagement … No Investment by on top of the whirlwind of changes:
Organizations due to skill obsolescence.
• Generations at Work:
• 2000 - Gen-Z/I/Tech/Net - 17-18 Years.
• 1982 to 2000 - Millennial - 19-36 Yrs.
• 1946 to 1981- Baby Boomers - 37 to72 Yrs.
Points to Ponder:
• As a part of the Gig economy, would human re- • Work on the best of the employee experience which
source be serving more than one employer to be
engaged?
• The reduction of career span would lead to early
retirement and question on the active life span with-
out work?
• The skilling landscape is very vast to be aligned by
the education systems to make the job ready, em-
ployment-ready resources?
Work itself, work delivery and content has changed: Points to Ponder:
• Social, mobile apps and working on interactive
tools.
• Teams and team-work competencies.
• Strong expectations on objective, Performance
Measurements
• Organizations will have to offer less traditional ways
of working and more flexibility to attract and retain
their best talent.
• Work delivery and Learning and development deliv-
ery through technology even in the manufacturing
sector along with IT/BPM sectors is undergoing
change.
• Contextual factors, Mobile internet, cloud technol-
ogy Processing power, Big Data, New energy sup-
plies and technologies Internet of Things Sharing
economy, crowd sourcing Robotics, autonomous
transport Artificial intelligence Adv. manufacturing,
45
3D printing Adv. materials, biotechnology.
Points to Ponder:
• Will Robot and Autonomous driving lead to job
losses?
required resources?
• Will there be completely new jobs and skills emerge
and how the resources will be trained on it?
Challenges to Human Resource Function:
• Learn to unlearn,reinvent, review and revive: radical
shifts are changing the world of work, and HR lead-
ers need new strategies to ensure that their compa-
nies are future-ready.
• Relook at all HR life cycle processes right from- at-
tract, appoint, on-board, engage, retain, develop,
succession and exit management.
is the key to social success of the organization.
• Be active with HR Analytics for predictive decision
making, Design thinking for better user experience,
which must be considered part of HR Agenda.
• Your organization and talent needs to be dynamic
and agile, fully engaged, who are ready to take on
whatever business challenges may come — even
those we can’t yet imagine.
• Would Traditional HR learning make the HR re-
sources to be ready for these challenges?
• HR needs to play a strategical role in enabling busi-
ness success responding to change and disruptions,
is HR ready?
• Demand on HR to be analytical, number savvy and
technology savvy makes other business functions
feel they can do HR role as HR is often not ready
with skills required?
Organization Leadership future orientation with
tight grip on the present:
• Leader as a Coach- Leaders will have to develop and
resolve the problems and work as a coach then just
giving instructions.
• Think and act differently to be competitive and sus-
tain; Ability to think about new solutions, to sustain
 adopt a strategy and solutions which helps your or-
ganization stand tall in the competition.
• Influence, execution, collaboration and inspiration
– wholesome leadership with influencing, inspiring
and resulting in strong execution along with collab-
orations.
• Building talent, ensure the alignment for future
needs by creating a talent pipeline.
• High level of technological understanding and un-
derstanding of the changing landscape of technol-
ogy.
• Learning and developing and Managing Knowledge
as a new competency.
• Culture of High trust and growth mindset.
Points to Ponder:
• Too many demands from the Leaders role, would it
be possible to deliver at all ends?
• Dynamics of talent and changes on many fronts,
creates challenges for the organization culture?
• One Size does not fit all, Size and Scale matters,
needs different structures, strategies and manage-
ment style to make different demographics work
together?

Summary and Conclusions:

Context Leaders Role HR Functions Role

1. External Context, technological • Keeping active watch on the
advancement, leading to Inter- changes and advancement in
nal changes in Businesses. your businesses and connected
business.
• Give confidence to your orga-
nization and your teams
2. World of Work: Work Plac- • Ensure to make the employees
es have change. Work force comfortable while delivering
demographics have changed efficiency and productivity.
and change in Work itself, work • Leadership will have to own
delivery, content has change the diversity and culture agenda
during this transition time to
set the right direction.
• Be first in championing the
new technological and other
business-related changes.
• Proactive understanding of the
Talent and People change.
• Ensure building and changing
the policies and processes to
make work easy for all stake-
holders.
• Ensure a close connect with
leadership and people to have
right, ear to ground and impact
of the changes.

References:

• Challenges: Mc-Kinsey Research points out 5 Key Themes for Corporate Sector: Report Institute August
2016
• The Transformative Business Model HBR 2016. by Stelios Kavadias, Kostas Ladas, and Christoph Loch.

About the Author:

Mr. Milind Mutalik is currently the Chief People Officer at Accolite Software India Private Limited. He has a
vast experience of 25+ Years in the Human Resources Domain and has worked across multitudes of sectors
like Consultancy , Manufacturing, and ITES/ IT Services Organisations. Milind is a Masters in “Human
Resources”, He has completed a “Post-Graduation” Certification from the prestigious “XLRI- Jamshedpur”
in Human Resource Management. Milind’s illustrious career took off when joined Cognizant Technology
Solution (Erstwhile T-Systems India) in the year 2004. He worked there till 2010, where was the Sr.Manager
HR for Pune Centre Operations. Milind then moved to Synechron Technologies where he was the Senior
Director of the Human Resource function. He served at Synechron Technologies till October 2015. Milind
then joined DBL Food as the Vice President of Human Resources in December 2015 and continued working
there till September 2018, where he worked closely with Management on the Strategic Business Agenda.

46
 Robots and Us: Reimagining
Employment Relations
R obot & Frank is a 2012 American science
fiction movie set in the near future in which
the protagonist, Frank Weld, is an aging jewel thief with
a diminishing memory,living alone in a bucolic house
in New York. His worried son buys him a domestic
robot to aid him. The sleek, white,5 feet tall robot
has been programmed as a caregiver. It cleans, cooks,
plants a garden, takes Frank on walks in the woods and
suggests regulating his sodium intake. Frank gradually
thaws to the robot when it occurs to him that it can
help him to restart his vocation as a burglar. The story
then unspools a relationship which develops between
a man and a machine in which the machine develops
human-like attributes. Ford, the director,and Schreier,
the writer, explained that their intent in making the film
was to present their belief that technology is “not bad
or good but it will change the way we relate to each
other. There’s no stopping it.
Digital technology is indeed causing seismic shifts
in the real workplaces. The conventional work of the
Fordist regime was highly standardized, divided into
clear jobs, and tightly controlled. The emergent work
and production processes and the new employment
relationships are a ‘distinctive new terrain’ that differ
from the norms, practices, and relations of the industrial
era. Today the changes are also occurring at an alarming
pace. It is said that it took five years for Apple to
transform the music industry, but Uber and Airbnb
took less than two years to reshape the transportation
and the hospitality sectors. The irony is that while one
can measure the pace of digital disruption in months,
an organization and its employees take ages to fully
embrace such fundamental changes in the way they
operate. In sum,the lives of the employees,the way work
is organized and the system of employment relations
have all been deeply shaken.
Employment Relations: the foundation
An employment relation begins between an employer
47
By AMITABHA SENGUPTA
Faculty, SIMSR
Visiting Professor, TISS
and an employee as and when the latter commences
work for the former in exchange for payment of wages.
Such a relationship can be between the two individuals,
or between one employer and multiple employees, or
multiple employers dealing with multiple employees.
The exchanges, arising out of these relationships, may
happen at the individual or the collective level. The three
actors in employment relations fall into three clusters
– primary, secondary and tertiary. The primary cluster
covers the employer and the employee, connected by
a web of rules, agreements, procedures, and formal
or psychological contracts. The management and the
union constitute the secondary cluster. Employment
relations in an organization get shaped largely at the
primary and the secondary levels. The tertiary actor
is the state, who brokers harmony between the other
two, and legislates to provide a stable framework for
employment relations and employment standards.
(Farnham- Employee Relations in context. Chartered
Institute of Personnel & Development; 2000).
Impact of Technology on employment relations
The work
Data, as it is said, is the new oil. The digital age is
affecting employment relationships at three levels: the
nature of work, the employee- individual and collective,
and the employment relations system itself. A newly
coined term “digital work” refers to the shifts in the
content and the organization of work. In work content,
there is increasing automation of manual and routine
work, and a slow but steady change of remaining tasks
towards brain and information work. Given that all
information today is either digital, has been digital,
or could be digital”, information work of employees
depends more and more on digital tools and media.
One key impact of this is felt in employee competency
– where the thresholds have undergone swift changes.
A broader set of technical as well as mental skills
to systematically acquire, process, produce and use are typical temporary employees who seek permanent
information have been clubbed under an omnibus employment but who may hold low employment
phrase called digital literacy to describe an important prospects or skills. In contrast ‘boundary less contingent
requirement of the new employees. workers’ view themselves and their careers as external
to conventional organizational positions and career
The organization of work has also changed. paths,prefer temporary work, possess high skills and are
Aided by digital technologies, traditional tasks are part of dual-earner marriages.
being unbundled and then re-bundled. Work is being
organized into new avatars like virtual workplaces, The Trade Unions
virtual groups, teams or communities, and even virtual
organizations. The underlying intent behind these In the 19th and 20th centuries the trade unions
different ways of organizing work is to enable and facilitated the rise of the middle class, and secured
connect employees across the borders of geography, access for all workers to benefits like the minimum/
organization and time through technology. This poses fair wage, the 8-hour day, maternity leave bonus, and a
certain unique leadership challenges for managing work host of legislations aimed at welfare, safety and health.
communities which could be distant and strangers to They also helped workers learn. In matters such as
each other, particularly for monitoring performance developing pay structures, professional training, and the
and providing performance feedback. like, unions remain important partners for employers’
associations and governments. In a digital workplace,
The employee however, the picture has changed. The diversity and
multiplicity of work preferences are trending toward
The employees today are made up of traditional independent work and self-employment. The Union
employees (the digital immigrants) and the new membership has been steadily going south. According
employees (the digital natives, or millennials or the to a recent report, just over 1 in 10 workers are in a
internet generation) and there exist generational traditional union. Purely for the private sector workers
divides, which many worry are likely to cramp up the only, the number is just 6.6 percent. Digital platforms
understanding and harmony of a unitary workforce. seem poised to play a growing role in representing
The new generation of employees is characterized workers.
by distinct attitudes, qualifications, behaviours, and
expectations, shaped largely by the early, intimate and Now, collective bargaining doesn’t appeal to
enduring interaction with digital technologies. This workers who are self-employed, work on contract, are
new cohort of people is generally characterized by entrepreneurs, or change jobs frequently–the average job
marked digital qualifications, multitasking capabilities tenure has fallen to 4.4 years. And traditional unions are
(in particular fast and parallel information processing), no longer called upon to protect the digital employees.
affinity for networking, learning by doing and preference Rules that dictate exactly how, where, and when workers
for instant gratifications and frequent rewards. can do their jobs are irrelevant in the age of flexible
hours, global markets, ever-changing job roles, and
Beck identifies four groups of emergent employees telecommuting, both for employers and employees.
(Beck U. 2000. The Brave New World of Work. In flattening hierarchies and team-based work cultures
Polity Press: Cambridge, UK.): the ‘Columbus class’: even the frontiers between labour and management are
the owners and managers of capital who receive key blurring in many contexts. As anxiety about inequality
economic benefits but experience time poverty; the and the erosion of the middle-class rises, so does the
‘Precarious’ employees, who possess high levels of awareness that still more seismic changes are awaiting
skill and high earnings; the ‘Working Poor’ who may in the landscape of work where long-term employment
find it necessary to hold several jobs or employment is on the wane. Flexibility is a buzzword for both
relations at one time; and finally, the ‘Hopeless’ people professional and low skill workplaces. The new reality
who live in poverty and may have abandoned all hope of ephemeral relationships between employers and
of returning to the formal workplace. employees is manifested in Uber-style instant consumer
services. In sum, an aggressive individualism slowly
The emergence of new types of workers is sapped the core themes of solidarity and collectivism
explored in Marier, Barringer, and Milkovich’s study among working class people. Will the trade unions
of contingent workers. They use a different taxonomy movement get resurrected, as it had in the past? It will
of contingent workers. Traditional contingent workers depend on whether a compelling need for solidarity

48
rises above the level of individual aspirations in the First, HR has to comprehend the business
future. environment and the relevance of any technology for
competitiveness. The digital age is moving at such a fast
The Employment Relationship pace that it is altering the way organizations operate,and
requiring them to develop new ways of thinking about
Traditional organizations were based on control, service delivery that influence the way operating models
participation and structure, bureaucratically organized are designed. Decision making is increasingly devolved
in hierarchical, rational, and centralized work systems. to the natural level, making it leaner and flattening the
Flexible production and the use of computer- organization. With the digital transformation, leaders,
mediated information systems and telecommunications who were always outcome focused, are now enabled
disrupt this basic arrangement. The consequences are to measure and test the soundness of decisions in real
decentralization of work systems, diffusion of power and time. Mobility and flexibility have become the defining
decision making,relaxation of rules of production,use attributes of employees to remain relevant. HR needs
of cultural rather than structural methods for employee to be more pre-emptive with regard to the digital
enrollment in change. Employee empowerment and self- transformation as it plays an important role in shaping
management is thus a key feature of new work systems, the organization’s digital identity. It is a challenge and a
enabled in part by digitalization. Thus employees own real complexity to plan future capabilities of a workforce
organizational goals, actively monitor and control their in the digital economy; as is the ability to integrate the
own behaviour and that of colleagues. Responsibility, right people into a dynamic organizational context and
authority, and accountability devolve downward to non- help existing employees and leaders gain new digital
managerial workers blurring the opaque lines of power competencies to be able to drive transformation.
between management and the managed. (Introduction
to the brave new workplace: organizational behaviour Several roles emerge out of the above. Firstly, HR
in the electronic age. Robert. P. Gephert, JR. Journal of must be digitally immersed so that it can anchor the
Organizational Behaviour. 23, 327-344, 2002) technology adoption by the employees. The perceived
usefulness (Davis, F. D. 1989, “Perceived usefulness,
Administrative HR functions such as payroll perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of
processing, attendance management or record keeping information technology”, MIS Quarterly, 13 (3): 319-
were already digitized,and now strategic HR functions 340) can be addressed with customized communication;
such as compensation, performance management or the perceived ease of use can be improved by abundant
development are also being brought under the fold of and relevant training. Secondly, HR must be the
digitization. Moreover, digitalization has also affected interpreter of the emerging reality for the employee.
HR organization with employee self-service and virtual There is a view that when full-scale robotics and AI
HR opening new ways of managing employment will arrive in a broad-based, affordable, easily justifiable
relations. An emergent phenomenon known as e-HRM way, enormous waves of workers will surely be put out
refers to the planning, implementation and in particular of work and be ill-prepared to take on very different
application of digital technologies to support and jobs (Globalization, robots and the future of work: an
network the HR profession. While this has downsides interview with Jeffrey Joerres. Amy Bernstein. October.
also in the form of lack of user acceptance, threats 2016.HBR.3) It will pose challenges similar to the ones
to privacy, loss of personal contacts, downsizing the witnessed by the US in the early 19th century, when
HR-department or burdening HR professionals with the Luddites got enraged as ‘machines were going to
technical and application tasks, this has opened up steal their jobs’, but the same responses are no longer
opportunities in terms of cost, speed, and quality of an option. In this fast-changing environment, HR will
HR processes. have to do the tightrope walk between managing legacy
skills and building future skills, while the future skills
Employment Relations re-imagined are still opaque.

HR, as the custodian of employment relations, Extreme work and the new work of HR
needs to go beyond mere cost savings and value
addition, and also take stock of the changing nature of Finally, in a hyper-competitive market place, client
the organization, the future of the traditional work, and demands, tighter than ever deadlines, unpredictable
then reinvent itself. work flows and communications technology seem
to have ushered in a new cohort called ‘extreme

49
professionals’ (The dangerous allure of the 70-hour a good HR professional would often serve as the
workweek. Hewlett and Luce. HBR. December. 2006). A go-to man in the organization to provide a healing
large number of millennial, fired by the urge to succeed touch, much like the enigmatic Leo in Herman Hess’s
and the hefty compensation package, are enjoying the Journey to the East. I heard the story of an adored HR
thrills in longer hours, additional responsibilities and man, who, on a typical day,would first be visited by a
soaking in more pressure than before. Being available distressed boss complaining about an erratic junior,
24/7 is considered critical for success, the new mantra followed later by the erratic junior dropping in to talk
is a seventy-hour week. The workplace is the fulcrum about his dominating boss, and both going away with
of social lives for many of them. Their passion and pearls of wisdom from a trusted confidante providing
investment may serve the companies in the short run, wise perspectives to resolve the differences.
but there are perils of burn-outs in the long run. The
extreme work model portends challenges for nurturing HR again needs to see the white spaces between
real talent, particularly women, that otherwise could be
the fine prints of organizational work flow to strike a
groomed for top leadership. fine balance between serving the two key stakeholders-
the employee and the employer. HR professionals need
What role does the HR professional have in this to embed work-life balance throughout the employee
volatile workplace? In the conventional workplace, scorching trail and design individual HR policies to fit
before ‘business partnership’ role gained currency, together to this end.

About the Author:

Prof. Amitabha Sengupta currently teaches HR, leadership and Management Consulting at KJ Somaiya
Institute of Management Studies & Research, Mumbai as a full time faculty. He also taught at Tata Institute
of Social Sciences (2009-2012) and Xavier Institute of Management Studies and Research (2009-2013). Prior
to joining the profession of management teaching, he worked from 1975-2011 in industries in various sectors
(Jute manufacturing, Steel, Liquor, Consumer Products, Battery, Petroleum and Management Consulting &
Executive Search) and the leadership roles held by him included the positions of General Manager- HR,
Mumbai Refinery (2003-2009), and VP- Management Consulting at CHR Global (2010-2012).

Prof. Sengupta holds a PG Honours Diploma from XLRI, Tatanagar (1973-75), a Diploma in Human Resources
Management from Corneil University (1993), and a Master’s degree from Calcutta University (1968-1970) in
Social sciences and he is also a Master Trainer in NLP (USA), an accredited Executive Coach (International
Coaching Community, Sao Paolo), an accredited Assessor by CIA and IMC in Business Excellency Models. He
is proficient in French, Hindi and Bengali.

Professor Sengupta is a specialist in design and conduct of Assessment Centers and an accredited Executive
Coach (ICC, Sao Paolo).He also was trained in Performance Coaching by John Whitmore in Performance
Coaching and conducted coaching sessions with clients in Pidilite, Go Airlines, Ambuja Cements, among
others. He is the author of Human Resources Management: Concepts, Practices and new paradigms published
by Sage. He also authored two case studies for Ivy Business School on strategic alignment of HR strategy with
business strategy at India First Insurance and Technology adaption at Ambuja Cements.

50
 How Neuroscience is Shaping
Our People Practices
By ANINDYA KUMAR SHEE

Cipla Ltd.
VP & Global Head - Organization Development

I n the recent past, there has been a growing

interest in using the advances in neuroscience
for solving difficult people problems in organizations,
issues are mostly counterproductive as they will draw
out defensive responses from the employees. Either
the employee freezes, defends or sulks which is often
like cultural transformations or changing a leader followed by a resignation letter. The right response
behaviour. often requires the manager to put the employee at ease
and then trigger his thinking brain to understand and
This has been popularized by consultants like deal with the problem in a logical and cogent manner
David Rock who has discovered simple rules on the without making him defensive or unsafe.
way we learn and behave. This has deep implications for
HR managers and behavioural scientists, especially in 2. The brain tries to hardwire everything so as not
the way they train their leaders. This article is an attempt to overload our ‘thinking brain’. Repetition and positive
to give some practical tips from the popular works of acknowledgment of an act leads to the hardwiring of
these experts. the thinking brain. Remember the first time you were
learning to drive a car, you required the instructor to call
1. Our thinking brain (the prefrontal cortex) is you out to slam the brakes when faced with a sudden
the youngest part of the brain from an evolutionary obstacle. This is required as your thinking brain during
standpoint. Like a computer RAM (Random Access the learning phase is too slow to react to situations in
Memory) it gets overloaded and overwhelmed very the absence of the hardwiring of the required skill.
quickly when faced with multiple cognitive challenges.
This is also known as ‘The Amygdala hijack’ to explain Implications for HR: If HR wants to embed
the phenomenon where our automatic brain takes charge processes, ethics, values, and principles in an
and prepares our body to respond to an emergency. At organization, it will have to continuously repeat the
this moment, the stronger deep brain (amygdala) takes communication, create visible examples, positively
over with its 3F (Fight, Flight, Freeze) response. reinforce behaviours and develop integrated processes
till it becomes second nature to the people. Until and
• Fight: Our impulse to fight an unpleasant unless it is hardwired, employees will neither remember
situation or a perceived threat. nor follow these rules.
• Flight: Our impulse to run away from a threat.
• Freeze: Our inability to act in front of a clear 3. Hardwiring leads to automatic perceptions. All
and present danger. of us have mental maps based on our memories and
experiences; each of us will react to the same situation
Implications for HR: All three responses were differently. This creates what is known as bias.
useful when human civilization was in the ancient
and the medieval age or when in a war situation with Implications for HR: For many senior leaders it
clear and present danger. However, this may not be is possible that they are holding on to an outdated map
the best response in a corporate environment full of of the world. When they are in positions of seniority,
knowledge workers. It is important for HR to train these unconscious biases may come in the way of a
managers and leaders to respond to a situation and not good decision. For example, a leader has a mental map
react. Traditional responses of shouting and screaming that all millennials have a sense of high entitlement
when faced with under performance or any delivery and are not interested to work hard beyond what is

52
the minimum requirement, then, this bias will work as it forms new connections based on new experiences
against any millennial in his/her team. It is important to and connects them with old insights and knowledge. An
bring the bias to his awareness and point out evidence older employee may not do well on a timed scholastic
contrary to his world map. aptitude test compared to a freshman but will beat the
freshman hollow with wisdom and can see patterns
4. Once the brain records an event it is impossible which others cannot see.
to erase it. However, one can layer it by developing new
wirings. This principle is used by Alcoholic Anonymous Implications for HR: Use senior employees as
(AA) and other de-addiction clinics where when one mentors and consultants, especially in talent scarce
has an impulse towards a destructive habit, the therapist domains where expertise is hard to get. It may be a good
replaces it with a new habit which is more constructive. practice to keep the expert on a flexible contract past
their retirement age in the organization to benefit from
Implications for HR: This has huge implications their decades of wisdom and tacit knowledge. It is also
for how the HR coaches and trains leaders. Just by important to have good physical fitness interventions
telling leaders to be more collaborative or empathetic like an in-house gym, marathons, yoga, etc.
will most often not move the needle. The way forward
is by bringing the behaviour to their consciousness Tail piece:
by asking skillful questions and then use their motive
of development to move forward in the path of their Neurosciences has the potential of changing the
choice. A telling or mandating approach will only make HR and Organization Behaviour landscape and the way
the behaviour more entrenched where the leader will the subject is taught in the universities. Understanding
simply dig in. However, it is much easier to teach them the principles creates a very different organizational
a new skill (read wiring) which can address the issue. architecture built around:
1. Changing behaviour by creating awareness
5. Active disconnecting improves creativity: Most through active will and objective evidence rather than
insights come when one is relaxed as this is the time through sermonizing and advocacy.
when the fore brain is not overloaded with data and can 2. Reinforcing behaviours through positive
think actively by creating new connections. encouragement and nudging rather than through
threats.
Implications for HR: Ensure that employees take 3. Increasing innovation and productivity by
enough breaks and downtime to recharge themselves. emphasizing physical to mental balance rather than
Higher work hours do not necessarily convert to high through aggressive reviewing and policing.
productivity or creativity especially in jobs where 4. Performance management through inquiry and
innovation and knowledge content is high. truth-seeking rather through fear and fault finding.
Neuroscience and positive psychology require
6. Exercise improves the neuroplasticity of the hard work, self-control, and belief to start with, but
brain: The brain continuously learns and evolves, even the results are more sustainable in the long run over
later in the age when the body starts aging, by forming traditional methods based on compliance, directives
new connections. Unlike the popular belief, the brain is and coercion.
continuously evolving late into our eighties and nineties

About the Author:

Anindya has over 20 years of diverse experience across the life cycle of HR and Organization Development.
He has held key roles in leading organizations in areas of Rewards, Leadership development, Organization
Development and HR business partnership. He has worked with Indian and MNC organizations in sectors
as diverse as Oil and Gas, IT, pharma, FMCG, consulting and banking. Currently he is the global head of
Organizational Development at Cipla. Anindya is a B.Tech from IIT(ISM) and has an MBA in HR from
XLRI, Jamshedpur. Currently he is pursuing his doctoral studies in organization behavior with S. P. Jain,
Dubai campus.

53
 Explore with Courage and
Gratitude

By MANISH ADVANI

Mahindra Special Services Group

Head - Change Management and Marketing

Introduction pearl industry, just imagine if Major Holmes would have

not discovered oil then what would have been the state
On 24 November 2018, I had the honour and of the country. In the VUCA world in which we live
th

privilege of addressing over 400 CFOs at the Annual in today where we experience Volatility, Uncertainty,
International Conference of the Bahrain Chapter Complexity, and Ambiguity if we are continuously in
of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. the exploration mode then we will not only be able to
The theme of the conference for the year 2018 was survive but thrive under all circumstances.
“Embrace Change and Grow”. Almost everyone is
getting impacted by disruption due to advancement in In the event where I was invited to speak in the
the area of Artificial Intelligence, Robotics; Machine Kingdom of Bahrain, they had also invited Sadhu
learning, Deep Learning etc. Few weeks prior to the Brahmaviharidas from BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha
event I went deeper into the theme - Embrace, Change for the key note address. During his address, he shared
and Grow and came to the conclusion that we cannot the story of Socrates who once went to the market
embrace change and grow until unless we promote the place for the first time in his life. Socrates was a Greek
culture of exploring which I felt requires one to have philosopher also known as one of the founders of
the courage and attitude of gratitude. Western philosophy. The day Socrates went to the
market place, it had become the news of the town,
Exploring everyone in the neighborhood was curious to know
what Socrates is doing in the marketplace, a place
On 23 November 2018, a day before my talk, the meant for worldly people. When Socrates came out of
rd

organizers had arranged a car for me to see different the market place he was asked a question what are you
places in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The first place my doing in the market place, he said I came to see the list
driver took me was the Oil Museum which was built of things which I don’t need. When I heard this story
in the year 1992 to mark the 60th anniversary of the I was thinking how many of us do analysis of skills or
discovery of Oil; this museum is housed in a white- things we don’t need, we get so attached to our degrees
stone building surrounded by sprawling pipelines. This and the industry experience etc that we at times become
is the first place in the entire Gulf region where Major over obsessed and conditioned with the same, instead
Frank Holmes a quartermaster in the British Army who of being conditioned if we learn to detach ourselves like
was posted to the Middle East region during World the renounced people then I think one will be fearlessly
War I, discovered the oil. While I was on my way to able to explore with an open mind. In my personal life,
the 2nd location, I was going through the history of I explored different occupations from being an Audit
the Kingdom of Bahrain in which I found something Assistant in a Transport company, sales person in a
interesting. In the early 1900s, the Kingdom of Bahrain retail store, to Web Developer in an IT start up and now
was the leading country in the world in Pearls, it was as a marketer and a business development person at the
also known as the international hub pearl trade and also Mahindra Group. My journey of exploring different
known for cultivating pearls of the highest quality, there options in different geographies helped me in big way
were over 30,000 divers who would go deep in to the sea in evolving on my career path. In my current role as
with a mission to find pearls, anyone who found pearls the Head of Change Management, Marketing & Public
his fortune changed for good. It was in the 1930s when Relations, I make attempts to challenge the status quo
the Kingdom of Bahrain witnessed the collapse of the by embarking on unconventional ways to position
54
brands and develop business for my organization. me in a situation where my tail will be put to fire, in
case of Hanuman he saw a big opportunity in crisis, in
There is another good approach which one can that moment of crisis instead of being frustrated he
keep in mind during one’s journey of exploring is the thought of a much bigger plan of setting the fire in the
OODA. This loop was conceptualized by US Air Force entire city of Lanka.
Lt. Colonel John Boyd. OODA stands for Observe,
Orient, Decide and Act. On another front in Mahabharata, there were two
parties battling which each other namely the Pandavas
Courage and the Kauravas. Pandavas comprised of 5 people
Yudhister, Bhima, Arjun, Nakul and Sahadev while
The 2nd place which I visited by chance was a Kauravas comprised of 100 people with two being
tent of a Bahraini named Rashid whom I saw from a the most prominent Duryodhana and Dushasana.
distance on my way to a place named the Tree of life. Out of 5 pandavas one of them known as Bhima had
Rashid had few youngsters next to him digging a hole a son named Ghatochkach who had come to assist
in the ground. Out of curiosity I asked Rashid what the Panadvas half way through the famous battle of
are these youngsters doing? He said they are making Kuruksehtra. Karna who was fighting from the side
a hole in the ground so we could have the camp fire. of Kauravas was instructed by Duryodhana to kill
Rashid said every winter most of the Bahrainis set up Ghatochkach as he was killing many soldiers of kauravas,
tents in the desert. I even saw when Krana shoots an arrow on
tents next to an oil pipeline. the chest of Ghatochkach he is
With his permission I went about to fall, in that situation
inside the tent to get the feel Bhima instructed Ghatochkach
of how these people live. It was to increase his size and fall on
a simple setup with only basic the enemy’s side. Ghatochkach
amenities. For someone like me who had the mystical power to
who has never lived in a tent, change his size in the situation
this is something which requires when he is about to die follows
courage. I also realized if we are his instruction. When I saw this
able to live a life in a tent then episode on television I felt if a
we will have the courage to take man about to die can have the
risks in life during our journey courage to do something big
of exploring. why can’t I have the courage.

When I think of courage, Erica Jong, the famous

two personalities whom I
admired as a child come to
my mind. One of them is
Hanuman from Ramayan and
another is Ghatochkach from Mahabharat. In Ramayan
after Ravana kidnaps Sita, Rama goes in every direction
looking out for her. While moving around he happens
to meet Hanuman who is worshiped as a Monkey God
in India. Hanuman introduces Rama to his king named
Sughriva who soon becomes an ally of Rama. Sughriva
sent his army in all directions to find Sita, Hanuman
is the one who was successful in finding her. After he
meets Sita, messengers of Ravana are able to catch
Hanuman, they bring him to the court of Ravana where
they decide to put Hanuman’s tail on fire because he
intruded in their Kingdom without their permission.
If I was in his situation, I would have been frustrated
thinking I had a good intention of helping someone
in the time of need and the higher power has now put
American Novelist said
“Everyone has talent. What’s
rare is the courage to follow it to
the dark places where it leads.”
Gratitude
When we are in the journey of exploring with
courage we will not be on highways at all the time, there
will be times when we have to go through bumpy roads.
In those situations we might get frustrated and give up
but if we have the attitude of gratitude we will be able
to learn in life. Instead of being frustrated if we listen
to the lessons that situation is trying to teach us then
we will be able to evolve. Oprah Winfrey in one of the
interviews had said she was able to learn in life because
she regularly practices Gratitude. The last place I visited
in the Kingdom of Bahrain is known as the tree of life.
In middle of the desert there is a famous tree which has

55
been there since over 400 years. It was worth traveling
over 40 miles from the place where I was staying to
learn the few good lessons from the Tree of Life in the
Kingdom of Bahrain. To understand the value of this
tree one has to go back 400 years when there was no
electricity, people travelled by foot or on camels in the
hot sun, in the middle of the desert when they must
have seen this tree, this tree would have given them
hope, shelter and comfort. If you go deeper and analyse
for this tree to stand and serve others for over 400 years
the tree must be having a very strong foundation, to
see or feel that foundation one has to go beneath the
surface, I felt that if we as individuals around the world
live a life based on a strong foundation of gratitude
then we will be equipped to serve many people around
the world like the tree of life. Today over 50,000 people
annually go to see the tree of life in the Kingdom of
Bahrain.
In this world many people hanker for love and
appreciation, if we follow in the footsteps of tree of life
then for generations we will be loved and appreciated.

About the Author:

Manish Advani, also known as ‘The Coconut Man of India’, is a 7 Times TEDx Speaker, an award-winning
storyteller, songwriter, Change Leader and a Brand Builder known for his unconventional ways of positioning
individual and corporate brands in the industry. Manish got his Management Degree with Summa Cum Laude
from New Jersey Institute of Technology. He has completed Brand building program from Stanford and One-
year management program from Harvard. Manish has been listed as the Top 100 Story Tellers of India and
Top 100 Influential Marketing Leaders of India.

Manish heads Change Management, Marketing & Public Relations for Mahindra Special Services Group
(MSSG), one of India’s leading corporate security risk consulting firm. He has over 2 decades of industry
experience working on client engagements from small scale companies to large B2B & B2C organizations
like Microsoft, Ciba Vision, Kraft Foods, Jaguar & Land Rover, Hindustan Unilever, Arvind, IFFCO UAE
and others in varied roles including Change Leader for driving change, Sales &. Marketing Leader to expand
customer’s base and also revenue, Public Relations by engaging clients and communities in a meaningful way,
and also assist clients in protecting their brands through Brand Risk management.

Manish’s work has won the International Green Apple Award for India at the House of Commons in The
British Parliament, won the Skoch Blue Economy Silver Award, Public Relations Council of India’s Silver
Award, The Leadership Review Award, NITIE’s - On the Job Achievers award and has been listed in the
Limca Book of Record. Manish was also sponsored for the “Film Making for Social Good” Program under
renowned film director Ajita Suchitra Veera by the US Consulate.

Manish’s sessions &. workshops have been well received in organizations like the Confederation of Indian
Industry, International Advertising Association, National HRD Network, Larsen & Toubro, Johnson &
Johnson, EBSCO, Citibank, Kotak Group, Barclays, Zycus, Tata Power, Tata Power Solar Systems Limited,
MAN Group, Trent, Tech Mahindra and many other academic institutions like the IIM’s and the IIT’s. Manish
has also done sessions for Children in some of the leading schools like The Bombay Scottish, Maharana
Mewar School run by The Royal Family of Udaipur, Mahindra World School. Recently Manish was invited
to address 400 CFO’s in the Annual Conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India in the
Kingdom of Bahrain.

56
 Leadership is Not a One
Time Affair
General Manager - Strategic HR & OD
W e hear, speak, and read about leadership
daily; we all want to be leaders but what
is leadership really? According to my experience &
observation, leadership is the ability to create impact
and compel lasting, positive change in lives of others. It
comprises of understanding what motivates people and
how to unleash the power of influence in yourself and
others to achieve a greater vision for humanity at every
level. I have been writing a series called Great # Leaders
quotes on my LinkedIn account and I have written quite
a few quotes which ultimately imply that every great
leader is a master of his/her psychology first. The first
person to be influenced is none other than yourself.
Leaders influence themselves first, then influence
others. Look at any good leadership program, 95 % of
times it will begin with a program which talks about
self, example: Managing self, personal effectiveness
etc. These programs are to build the fundamental of
self. Leaders are the master of the art of influence of
themselves first and with others. They can act as a force
for good and serve something that’s larger than self
– they create a permanent and lasting change around
them. Leaders inspire themselves and others to do, be,
give and become more than they ever thought possible.
Great leaders live a life of leadership from the inside
out, the live their values and lifts others up in a massive,
positive way. They create positive trends, from the
inside out.
I am sure many of you would have read this story
before but I would like to reiterate. This story is about
a deep water diver named Mel Fisher. Fisher spent 16
years of his life fervently searching out the sunken
galleon, “The big A”, part of a Spanish fleet that was hit
by a hurricane in 1622. The vessel sank while carrying
riches from Colombia, Peru and Mexico to Spain: at
least 40 tons in gold and silver.
Fisher was born in Indiana. He worked as a chicken
farmer, studied engineering at Purdue University, joined
57
By AMEYA KARAMBE
Carnival Group
the Army Corps and opened one of the country’s first
scuba diving shops in California in the 1950s. He and
his wife Dolores, “Deo,” trained upwards of 65,000
students in scuba breathing techniques before moving
to Florida to help out in a treasure hunting expedition.
After finding parts of a 1715 Spanish fleet with a
partner crew in the Keys, Fisher was hooked. Treasure
hunting became a family enterprise, with all hands on
deck. He saw success with his invention of a hole-
duster (or as he called it, a “mailbox”), which was a tube
that sucked clean surface water near the boat propeller
down to the sea-floor below, clearing silt and debris.
In 1985, Fisher’s persistence paid off. The mother
lode was found! A large portion of the Atocha was
discovered, yielding gold coins, artifacts, precious
stones, jewelery, silver, and more. Fisher made his dream
come true by believing each day that “Today is the day!”
Imagine 16 years of daily searching for the thing,
the biggest challenge with leaders or businesses for
that matter is that they think they have maxed out with
businesses, they think they have tried everything. It
becomes a belief, which controls innovation, you miss
the answers. Mel Fisher found the treasure because he
had 3 beliefs
1. There is a treasure
2. I will find it
3. It is worth it.
Isn’t it true in leadership & business? Unless a
leader or business owner does not think that there is a
treasure in his business which he will find & it is worth
it, will he find the treasure? This treasure discovery is
also an act of influence on self which later will extend
to others.
This is a clear cut example of how one influences
self and people around him get influenced by the skills will also do it but what will you do with the skill
qualities that the leaders demonstrate. without execution. Execution is more important than
Knowledge. Knowledge is trump by execution every
As I always say Leadership is if you are able to single day- this execution comes from changing the
influence the other person’s thoughts, feelings and psychology.
action. The greatest form of leadership is servant
leadership, where you are able to influence the thoughts, The question is how do you change the psychology
feelings and actions for a greater good. People who are & how do you give up old beliefs and build the new
able to master this are the people you know off, they are ones.
captains of industry, celebrities, some of the greatest
teachers, some of the greatest scientists because ideas We as human beings are never one way; we are a
will die on your lips if you are not a person of influence reflection of the states we live in. The human brain
and this is what leadership according to me is. processes information/input very differently when
you are in bad state v/s when you are in a happy or
Influence is an internal thing, influence comes passionate state - when you feel determined, resolved.
from a certain set of behaviours and beliefs which
makes one an influential force. My experience says it Learning how to change your own state is the
is 80 % psychology and 20 % mechanics. The journey crucial thing for a leader. We all have bad days, good
of influence requires the leader to destroy few/some days, bad times, good times, it is all about the state. You
limitations in your own mind. The reality is, it all comes can train yourself like an athlete to be in peak state all
down to psychology- Mind-set. What you do doesn’t the time, you can prime yourself to that state. This is
matter if you aren’t in the right mind-set. one of the most powerful ways according to me.

If you look at any business the choke hole in the We need to also now focus on some of the qualities
business is nothing but the psychology and the skill set that Leaders possess, following are qualities which
of the leader. Skill-set also can be developed only when according to me are crucial: -
there is some tweak in the psychology.
1. Decisiveness: Decisions shape the tomorrow.
There are so many small businesses where the owner
might have great ideas, write great codes, programs, 2. Resourcefulness: You can always get the
they may be incredible innovators, they are tremendous resources you need as a leader if you’re resourceful
influencers but often they don’t know the economic side enough
of their business. They find themselves getting in trouble
because someone is giving them financial information 3. Influence: they know how to propel themselves
after the fact. They don’t have true financial intelligence and others to move forward in life. In order to influence
to make decisions and they get caught up. This reminds people, they know what already influences them. This
me of an example of a very close friend who has a cloth one quality is our major focus in this article.
manufacturing business, he knew everything related to
product, right from the cheapest way of procurement, 4. Serving a purpose higher than self: great
to product, best way to promote, market yet, knows leaders, they serve something more than themselves are
how to manage teams well, he was great at all this but purpose-driven
what he did not know was finance. He would ask his
CFO how are we doing they would say you are doing 20 The ability for you to become a great leader is well
% profit but at the end of the year he would find that within everyone’s reach. It’s simply a matter of learning
there is no cash left. This was a clear cut skill problem- what skills and qualities make a good leader and how to
my friend lacked a skill. Sometimes it is a skill problem apply them to your own life.
but he was not accepting it and was not willing to learn
these skills. You can get those skills if you change your I am a personal believer that Experience is the only
psychology is right. When you allow the environment teacher and it teaches you real-world practical lessons.
to control your psychology you are not going to win. I have been leading teams & being on a mission of
helping people achieve their highest potential and also
Changing the psychology of the leader change lives like to share a few lessons which I learned the hard way
& businesses faster than anything else. Changing the and would like to suggest that everyone must follow:-

58
 1. Look in the mirror: you must first focus on 3. Proximity is power: By positioning oneself close
improving yourself. As I once tweeted “for Mastering to people who possessed the expertise, skills, qualities
influence mastering your own psychology is the first and connections one desires, one can have a direct line
step”. One of my bosses Jimmy George would always of access to opportunities that can help one achieve
tell me to work harder on yourself than you ever do on his/her goals.
your job. This has been my mantra which I follow till
date. It’s amazing how many people believe that once
they obtain a certain title or level of leadership, people
2. Look at the bigger picture: One’s vision must be will automatically respect and listen to them. They
larger than self, larger than the moment. Communication believe that with that title comes influence. That is
becomes the key once you look at the larger picture. not correct. Leadership is not a one time affair; it is a
Martin Luther King’s speech of “I have a dream” is the continuous journey.
best example.

The communication of your larger vision is also

the key.

About the Author:

Ameya is a Masters in “Human Resources”, He has done also done “Post-Graduation” Certification from the
prestigious “XLRI- Jamshedpur” in Human Resource Management.

Ameya has an interesting career track that took off when he joined Hostway Corporation- India in 2007 as
a Web Solutions Associate. It was at Hostway that he dived deep into the sea of management and saw an
interesting light in behaviors of individuals & its correlation to the Mind-> Character-> Behaviors-> Habits
->Success. It was then he started seeking an answer to a question “What makes each human being unique”,
Seeking an answer to this question his career took a turnaround by choice to HR & Behavioral Sciences.

An engineer turned behavioral student today, his deep interest lies in HR, NLP, Behavioral Sciences,
Organizational development, Employee Engagement, Relationship Management & Business HR. He also has
a deep inclination towards fitness and spirituality.

Currently he works for the diversified conglomerate in Mumbai as AGM- Strategic HR & OD. His last
assignments were with Mahindra and Mahindra, Kanakia Group- Mumbai (Real estate leader in India) &
HDFC AMC. Ameya truly believes that life is beautiful & everything is always supremely well. Ameya loves
unconditionally helping people, helping people is his passion.His passion led him to use technology to help
people, he created a whatsapp community called “HR Jobs” which helps HR professionals get their dream
roles, the slogan of which is Roles match Souls.

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 The Construct of Mindfulness:
The “Potential Project” Perspective

By MARUT BHARDWAJ

Potential Project
Country Director

H
in action!
ave you ever watched a Cheetah, Neuroscience and research have reiterated and
readying for a kill? That is Mindfulness strengthened the claims that meditation practitioners
have been making for years. Mindfulness has a positive
impact on our physiology, psychology, and work
Mindfulness is a buzzword today being performance. At the physiological level, researchers
used loosely to mean different things. While have demonstrated that mindfulness training results in
fundamentally, it’s been well defined as the ability a stronger immune system, lower blood pressure, and
to be “completely present in the moment, in a a lower heart rate. In addition, people who practice
gentle, non-judgmental way, Mindfulness refers to mindfulness sleep better and feel less stressed.
both a practice and a state of mind. The more you
practice it, the more it becomes your state of mind. Neuroscience has also conclusively proven that
Mindfulness training increases the density of grey cells
Mindfulness is about in our pre-frontal cortex, the part
becoming conscious of your of the brain that thinks rationally
thoughts, your feelings and and solves problems. Because of
your emotions, it is about this increase, cognitive function
increasing your Self-awareness improves, resulting in better
to create greater mental memory, increased concentration,
effectiveness, so you can realize reduced cognitive rigidity, and
your full potential at both faster reaction times.
professional and personal level.
Effectiveness in this context is With all these benefits,
the ability to achieve your goals, research has found that people
objectives, and wishes in life. who practice mindfulness techniques report an overall
increased quality of life.
In India, we have read about mindfulness and its
tools and techniques in a multitude of different scriptures The benefits of mindfulness have also been
for thousands of years. In our work with organizations demonstrated in an organizational context. For example,
around the world, we keep the practice and definition Jochen Reb, a researcher from Singapore Management
of mindfulness simple and close to its ancient roots: “ University, evaluated the effectiveness of some of
Paying attention, in the present moment, with a calm, the Potential Project’s Mindful Leadership programs
focused, and clear mind.” at Carlsberg Group and If P&C Insurance, a large
Scandinavian insurance company. He found significant
At the core of the practice of mindfulness is the improvements in focus, awareness, memory, job
ability to manage ones attention. When you learn how performance, and overall job satisfaction after
to manage your attention, you learn how to manage only nine weeks of training for 10 minutes each
your thoughts. You learn to hold your focus on what day. Attendees also reported reduced stress
you choose, whether it’s this page, an e-mail, a meeting, and improved perceptions of work-life balance.
or the people you are with. In other words, you train Other researchers have found similar benefits from
yourself to be more present in the here and now. mindfulness training in corporate contexts, including

60
increased creativity and innovation, improved employer- and attentive.
employee relations, reduced absenteeism, and improved
ethical decision making. There are two key qualities of mindfulness—focus
and awareness.
But mindfulness does something far more
powerful than all of the above—it constructively alters Focus is the ability to concentrate on a task at hand
our perception of reality. Through repeated practice, for an extended period of time with ease. Awareness is
mindfulness triggers a shift in cognitive control to the ability to make wise choices about where to focus
frontal brain regions. This your attention. Optimal
enables us to perceive our effectiveness is achieved
world, our emotions, and when you’re simultaneously
other people without fight- or- focused and aware.
flight and knee-jerk reactions
and to have better emotional Focus and awareness
resilience. are complementary. Focus
enables more stable
This change in awareness, and awareness
neurological wiring helps enables focus to return to
us perceive situations what we’re doing. They
and make decisions more work in tandem. The
from the conscious mind, more focused we become,
avoiding some of the traps the more we also will be
of our unconscious biases. Operating more from the aware—and the other way around. In mindfulness
prefrontal cortex also enhances our executive function, practice, you enhance focus and awareness together.
the control center for our thoughts, words, and actions.
A well- developed executive function allows us to better Not coincidentally, mindfulness also makes us
lead ourselves and others toward shared goals. With happier. The more present and attentive we are,
stronger prefrontal activity, we deactivate our tendency regardless of what we do, the happier we become.
to be distracted and we become more present, focused,

About the Author:

A Strategy professional with more than 26 years of Corporate experience, with CXO roles for over the last 12
years, Marut has extensive experience in launching Greenfield companies.

With 12 years of contemplative practice, Marut felt called to bring the Meditative practices to the workplace
for as many executives in India as she could, and that led her to leave the commercial ventures and devote
herself to bring Mindfulness into workspace to create Kind, Calm and Wise Leaders. Presently, Marut is the
Country Director India and a Senior Consultant and Trainer with Potential Project International, a Global
Leadership Services firm with presence in 28 countries. Her passion for Mindful Leadership has led her to
bring the immensely popular Mindful Leadership Summit to India three years in a row - 2016 to 2018.

She is also a contributor to the book The Mind of the Leader, authored by Rasmus Hougaard (founder and
CEO of Potential Project and global leader in mindful leadership and mindful organizations), being published
by Harvard Business Review in 2018. Marut is passionate about working with leaders to enhance performance,
effectiveness and well-being. Her area of specialization is in organizational excellence and workplace wellbeing,
developing and delivering customized, evidence-based solutions to diverse work environments.

61
 What the Sages Said About
Emotional Intelligence

By RASHMI DATT

Dialog Services
Chief Emotions Officer

T hings are stormy between me and my father. There are several misleading notions about emotions
He is 91 years old and insists on living by that exist today. As a coach, I hear people say, ‘I am too
himself. He is becoming more stubborn and difficult emotional. I want to control my emotions’, and on the
by the day. other extreme I see people who are not in touch with
their emotions. They talk, explain, rationalize, blame,
In my weekly visits, I sometimes try to resolve an describe at great length, but they avoid feeling, because
issue, such as by finding a new part-time housekeeper, it entails pain.
because he is always finding fault with them. Sometimes
angry words are exchanged between him and me. He These notions come from commonly held
doesn’t like me telling him what’s best for him, and I’m judgments, which tell us that Anger, Fear, Shame,
exasperated because if he were to listen to reason (me), Sadness are ‘negative’ feelings, while Joy, Love, and
life would be much simpler. Often when I sit in the Courage are ‘positive’ feelings. The belief says that
car during the half-hour drive back home, I feel sad, negative emotions are inherently bad or maladaptive for
helpless, even furious that he doesn’t let me help him. our psychological well-being, and positive emotions are
And ashamed that I’m not more patient with him. And inherently good or adaptive. This is so decreed based
somewhere buried under all this is a deep love for him. on whether an emotion obstructs or enables a person’s
ability to pursue goals, attain resources, and function
I also know that the intensity of my emotional effectively within society. Negative feelings should be
reaction is not ‘rational’. If an onlooker (like my controlled, we are told: overcome, avoided, transformed
husband) were to deal with the situation, he would not or healed; and positive emotions maximized.
be so triggered. I get hooked because there is a history
of (in my eyes) excessive control he exercised on me as Emotions as understood from the Natya Shastra
a child and teenager. and Yoga Sutras

Our driver Maru Ram, who has been with us for
the last 18 years is a silent witness to the tears which
roll down my cheeks. And to the shouting match in
the house earlier. He offers no comment. He quietly
absorbs the flailing energy. I know that he never
discusses or gossips about family matters. In fact, Maru
is a deeply spiritual person with weekly fasts in prayer to
his family god, Hanuman. His non-judgmental presence
makes me feel anchored. It helps me find my own inner
witness or ‘see-er’.
However, as explained by our ancient Indian texts,
emotions are not good or bad. They are just bundles of
energy which move through the body. This is generally
felt as sensations of contraction such as tension, or
expansion such as calm. The Latin derivative for the
word emotion, emotere, literally means energy in
motion.
A healthy person experiences all emotions FULLY,
but is able to meet the next situation without any residue.

The above is an example of the nature of emotions,
and their impact on our lives. They are strong energies,
and they can hijack our rational thinking. And if
unbridled, they have the potential to throw our actions
off-course.
According to Natya Shastra, said to be written
by Bharatmuni a few thousand years back, there are
nine Rasas (juice or essence). The Navrasas are Anger
(Raudram), Fear (Bhayanakam), Sadness or Compassion
(Karuna), Disgust (Bhibhatsam), Joy (Hasyam), Courage

62
(Veeryam), Curiosity (Adbhutam), Love (Shringar), and This form of ‘doing nothing’ and simply observing
Calm (Shantam). Love has been called as the Rasa-Raja, and allowing these feelings to flow is key to self-care. It
or the King of Emotions. means we are not fixing or changing, or allowing their
presence to decide our self-worth, or dwelling on the
The hundreds of emotions that we experience story of ‘why’ or finding someone to blame. It means
are combinations of these primary rasas. For example, a commitment to acknowledge the inner parts of us
jealousy is a combination of fear and anger. Depression which erupt because they have been shamed, banished
is a combination of sadness, fear, anger, and disgust, and discarded in the past.
and so on.
As J. Krishnamurthy said, ‘The ability to observe
How to deal with emotions without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence’.
This observation is kind and neutral, unlike the
When emotions arise, we usually either anaesthetise judgment that usually accompanies our emotions.
ourselves (by drinking, eating, shopping, binge-watching When we feel angry or jealous or fearful, there is shame
Netflix, etc.), or are swept away in its force by wallowing accompanying the emotions, as a voice inside says, ‘you
in it (shouting, losing one’s temper, crying without are a bad person for feeling so, it’s pathetic that you
restraint), or pickle ourselves in it by dwelling in related can’t control yourself ’.
thoughts which go round and round the head.
When we simply allow ourselves to feel the
Why do we do this? As young children, when natural emotions in a presence of love and empathy, we
impulses were expressed, we experienced reprimands, encode a new circuitry of slowly finding back our inner
rejection, ridicule, and repression from well-intentioned emotional regulator - and the painful intensity starts
or ignorant caregivers and adults around us. The diminishing as we start to self-modulate our reactions
impressions were absorbed into our sensitive and not to the external world. Then we find ourselves on our
yet matured nervous systems which did not have the way back to our ‘home’ - to the majestic vastness of
capacity to regulate the intensity of the hurt and anger. who we are in essence - at ease, loving and flowing.
Out of the need to escape from the disorienting states
of vulnerability and pain, we developed strategies of Emotions will always come, whether it is when I
fight, flight, or freeze. visit my father and have a disagreement with him, or
you clash with a colleague who is throwing an axe in
What if we could instead engage with the emotion your wheel, or a boss who doesn’t listen because he
by ‘doing nothing’, but just watching and following with thinks he knows better. But if we connect with our
curiosity the sensations arising? By simply being aware inner ‘observer’ who witnesses without judgment, the
of sensations such as heated skin, shortness of breath, emotion or the energy in motion will move on. And
tight jaw and face muscles, the gripping intestines. And then you access your inner ‘driver’, you will have the
what if into this non-evaluative curiosity, we brought in resources and the drive to meet the next situation or act
a loving embrace, a warm holding, a relentless self-care? upon your goals to reach the next step.

About the Author:

Rashmi Datt facilitates growth and learning agility in individuals and organizations using the framework of
Emotional Intelligence and the process of Psychodrama. Psychodrama uses guided drama to simulate reality
where people can explore situations and problems in a safe, trusted environment. It’s a powerful process for
rewriting old scripts to create new neural pathways and responses to difficult situations.

She is the author of two books “Managing Your Boss”, which was translated into two foreign languages-
Mandarin and Bahasa Indonesia; and “And the Lion Smiled at the Rabbit: Manage Emotions to Win”.

A post-graduate in Management from BITS Pilani, she worked for 8 years with Pfizer, Mumbai before starting
Dialog Services in 1993. She is certified: in using MBTI; in using Culture Transformation Tools for assessing
and transforming organization cultures from Barrett Values Centre, USA; ICF accredited CPC (Certified
Professional Coach); CPP (Certified Psychodrama Practitioner) of psychodrama, sociometry, and group-
psychotherapy from the Moreno Institute, Germany.
63
 Motivating a Borderman

BY SANJIV KRISHAN SOOD

Border Security Force

Retd. Additional Director General

A s a young Assistant Commandant way

back in 1978, I was posted on the Line of
Control immediately after passing out from the BSF
The troops, besides being faced with
life-threatening situations on a daily basis also have to
face acute administrative and personal life issues. Long
Academy after induction training. I was put as the duty hours extend, sometimes, to 16 hours a day. The
Company Commander of training company. For the living conditions are not very good, a problem further
final test of the Company, the troops were camping on aggravated by the rapid expansion of the force. Coupled
a mountain in bivouacs made by joining two Six feet by with the afore mentioned are the family problems that a
Three feet groundsheets. It was raining heavily. After soldier is not able to attend to, being away from home.
the day’s activities got over I went towards the officers’
mess detachment looking for a place to sleep. There The leadership therefore has its task cut out to
appeared to be none and my query to the mess NCO keep up the morale and motivation of troops under
went unanswered. Finally, after some time a senior their command. Measures have to be taken at two levels
officer informed me that I had to spend the night to ensure that jawans give their best. On one hand
with troops as my company was under test. The only there are the institutional measures aimed at general
concession I got was that I could have one bivouac wellbeing of troops as a group. At another level, the
exclusively to myself. junior leaders have to exercise initiative and ingenuity
to keep their command motivated in performing day to
That is how I learnt my first lesson of command day operational and administrative activities.
– that the commander is not entitled to any additional
privileges. If the troops sleep on the ground, the Institutional measures include providing adequate
commander sleeps on the ground too. The commander opportunities for career progression, ensuring proper
carries the same weight that the troops carry and he living and working conditions, and capacity enhancement
eats the same food that the troops eat. That was the day of troops to carry out their duties properly and prepare
when the troops accepted me as their leader. The troops them to undertake higher responsibilities.
followed my orders in letter and spirit, and the older,
more experienced jawans literally took me under their BSF has a narrow pyramidal structure affording
wings and guided me on various aspects of operations limited opportunities for career progression. Measures
and administration. like Assured Career progression, therefore have been
introduced which involves granting higher pay scale if
The organizational setup and the functioning of one is not promoted even after a certain number of
the BSF are entirely different from normal corporate years of service. Successive pay commissions have
functioning. It is therefore important to familiarize the brought about further improvements in the scheme.
readers about the Force. The largest border guarding
force of the world and the first line of defense of India The troops remain deployed in remote areas away
was raised on 1st Dec 1965 in the aftermath of the Indo- from their families. Measures like enhanced entitlement
Pak war. The force is mandated to ensure the security of leave and liberalised leave travel concessions have
and integrity of the borders of India with Pakistan and been introduced. Troops are also granted leave liberally
Bangladesh. In addition, it is also tasked to assist the to attend to important family needs.
civil administration in internal security, anti-militancy
operations, and elections. Since the troops spend most of their time on

64
border out-posts(BOPs), every effort is made to ensure with State Governments to persuade them to initiate
that the conditions at BOPs are appropriate so that the welfare schemes for BSF personnel and families of
troops get adequate rest and leisure during their free martyrs. BSF also has a well-planned system of ensuring
time. The ration scales entitled are much higher at 3850 the welfare of families. This is particularly important in
K/Cal per day keeping in view the amount of physical an organization like BSF where most of the troops stay
activity the troops have to undertake in the performance at border out-posts, away from families. The program is
of their duties. aimed at honing the talents of families and also provide
them with avenues for enhancing family income through
Frequent interaction amongst troops and skill development. Such programs alleviate the mental
commanders ensures high morale. The systems of daily stress of troops and assure them that their families are
evening “Roll Call” and periodic “Sainik Sammelans”, well looked after and thereby act as a motivating factor.
where leaders interact formally with troops to address
their problems, have been institutionalized. Troops Having discussed institutional measures, let us
are encouraged to project problems relating to their discuss various aspects which are important for ensuring
work environment as well as personal problems. These high morale of troops in the face of life-threatening
forums are also used for public appreciation of good situations. Instead of going forward and describing a
work. This develops self-esteem and also encourages theoretical construct, I will attempt to bring out various
others to achieve excellence. Moreover, the troops can aspects through anecdotes from my own experiences in
also seek personal interviews of commanders in order service and also from the experience of my colleagues.
to resolve issues which they might not be willing to raise
in public during roll calls and Sainik Sammelans. There was an instance in mid-nineties when I was
posted as a Second-in-Command of a battalion, waiting
BSF also has a well-established system of rewards to take over command. Deployed on the International
and punishments. Commanders at various levels are Border in Jammu, which Pakistan considers to be
delegated certain powers to reward troops for good disputed, a report was received from one of the
work done. These range from giving cash rewards and companies (A battalion consists of seven companies)
appreciation letters for a particularly good work besides that one border pillar had washed away in heavy rains
award of various medals in recognition of continued at night. Visit to the spot confirmed the same and
good performance and conduct. Medals are also Pakistan’s side was contacted and informed that the
awarded for gallant actions during operations. These Pillar will be reconstructed lest encroachment takes
measures go a long way in motivating other troops to place. They initially agreed that we could reconstruct it
give their best. The BSF Act, 1968 also provides for but later retracted after receiving orders from their wing
stringent punishments for deviant behaviors, this is headquarters. They promptly deployed an Observation
essential to deter the bad elements. Post and weapons to keep watch over our activities
and prevent us from reconstruction. Orders from our
For efficient execution of operations, well-trained headquarters, however, were explicit that the pillar
troops are essential. This is possible by preparing them had to be reconstructed at any cost. My commanding
for their responsibilities through proper training. BSF has officer asked me to prepare a plan, which I did, and
a well-structured capacity building system in place, with volunteered to lead the troops going for the task. We
training institutions catering to the needs of personnel accomplished the task taking advantage of rains and
at different levels. Three premier training institutions darkness about a week after the pillar had been washed
cater to the induction and specialised training needs away. All hell broke loose next day and there was a heavy
of different levels of commanders. Besides imparting exchange of fire between the two forces for the next
basic induction training, these institutions prepare few days and a permanent post had to be established in
commanders for higher levels of responsibility through the area to ensure Pakistanis did not disturb the status
specially designed programs at each level. Besides these quo. Although we did not come under fire during the
premier training facilities, there are several second-tier reconstruction yet the very fact that I led the team tasked
training institutions which cater to the training needs to accomplish the mission created a positive image
of troops. Training is an extremely effective method of amongst troops about me. The rapport created came in
motivation as it generates confidence amongst troops good stead when I commanded that unit for four years,
and empowers them. both on the International Border and also in fighting
insurgency in interiors of Manipur, at Churachandpur.
The organization also works in close cooperation I must confess that I was mortally scared of the enemy

65
bullet during that one hour that it took to accomplish the
task. But I had to overcome those fears because I could
not abandon my troops. So the lesson drawn is that
whatever may be the circumstances, the commanders
have to lead troops from the front. Another lesson
drawn is that there is a very thin line between bravado
and foolhardiness. Had we not planned the operation
properly we would have faced causalities. Troops are
quick to discern these qualities amongst their leaders. In
retrospect, I can say that nothing motivates more than
the success. The incident besides inculcating confidence
amongst the troops also went a long way in inculcating
the same in my own abilities.
Another
time a young
officer
displayed
exemplary
bravery in
repelling a
heavy fire
assault by
Maoists on his
post. Deployed
in the Maoist
infested remote
interiors of
Chattisgarh,
his aggressive
domination of the area had pushed the insurgents
to the wall and they decided to assault his post. The
officer had invested his time in preparing the defences
around his post and familiarising the troops with tactics
adopted by insurgents. The alert, well-motivated troops
immediately occupied the prepared defences as soon
as the fire assault came. The officer kept moving from
bunker to bunker encouraging the jawans and ensuring
proper fire discipline so that they did not waste
ammunition. The robust response from the troops
compelled the insurgents to retreat after suffering heavy
causalities. There were no causalities of troops. The
officer lead from the front and exercised his personal
influence and saved the day for his troops and earned
a good name for the Border Security Force. Proper
preparation for contingencies and ensuring that troops
are familiar with them enhanced the confidence of the
troops and consequently their motivation to withstand
the adversity they were faced with.
The leader sometimes also has to ignore deviant
behavior. I remember an incident when a jawan returned
66
a couple of months late from leave. I had always dealt
with such cases with an iron hand. However, the
individual concerned was a dedicated soldier having a
clean record. Hence, instead of summarily dealing with
the case, I acceded to his request for a private audience
and regularized the entire period of absence when he
explained the reason for his overstay, which related to his
sexual health. This act of compassion lead the individual
and his colleagues to have faith in my ability to discern
a deviant behavior from a genuine error or a mistake.
Familiarization with the individual characteristics of
his troops helps a commander in understanding their
state of mind and customizing responses to keep them
motivated.
A jawan when
addressed by name
by his commander
always feels elated
because he gets
a sense that his
commander knows
him. The current
Director General
has started a drive
called “Know
your personnel
(KYP)” which
is an appreciable
formal effort
towards enhancing
camaraderie.
We, in forces, never expect a soldier to do
something that we wouldn’t have done ourselves. It is
also important to ensure that troops are aware of the
difficulties likely to be faced in accomplishing a task.
This is done through proper briefing about the likely
threats and getting them to practice contingencies. The
commanders have to take ownership of the orders
given by them. This is especially important in case of
an operational failure which sometimes occurs in-spite
of thinking things through. Blame for failure should
not be put on troops and genuine mistakes must be
condoned.
General impression amongst people about forces
is that there is a one-way stream where the commander
gives orders and troops have to obey unquestioningly.
That is not always true. A good commandeer always
values advice from senior, experienced troops. The
mutual trust between the commander and the troops thus
developed is the true recipe for success. Regimentation,
therefore, is extremely important. Commanders and
troops who spend a long time together come to know wrong path. That is the reason that the legal provisions
the strengths and weaknesses of each other and thus in forces are very stringent.
complement each other in difficult situations. This is
done by undertaking various group activities like team The force’s ethos are very different from the
games and welfare activities in the family welfare centers. corporate world. Since the troops often have to operate
in a life-threatening environment it is imperative that
Finally, it’s not always possible to get your troops there is total harmony in the operating groups. This is
going just with friendly talk. At times one has to tease, possible if the commander has invested in building a
shout and even threaten them to make sure they team through personal example by leading from the
continue to perform. Sometimes it becomes essential to front and keeping his troops adequately motivated
initiate formal disciplinary actions against errant troops through various measures discussed above.
to set an example and deter others from following the

About the Author:

Sanjiv K. Sood is a Retired Additional Director General of the Border Security Force. Having put in over 38
years of meritorious service he has served along all the borders of our country with Pakistan and Bangladesh
including 8 years on LC and in sensitive Samba Sector of J&K. His interests include Border Management,
Security related issues and role of security forces in Security Matrix of India, politics and humour.

He can be reached at
Email :sks_2@rediffmail.com
M: 8986765347, 7011258574
Twitter: @sood_2
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 The Power of Humility and
The Greater Fool Theory

By BIRENDER AHLUWALIA

The Positivity Company

Chief Executive Officer

T here is a very interesting behavioural

economic theory called The Greater Fool
Theory. When you hold an investment, and you think,
you cannot make any more money out of it, you look
for a greater fool to sell your investment to. Someone
buys the asset from you, thinking, that they can perhaps
make more money than you did.
The investment keeps changing hands, with higher
valuation, till the last person who cannot make money
from the investment. That person is the greatest fool.
Usually, the cycle never stops. Someone always figures
a way out. That is the underlying spirit of intellectual
competitiveness that drives market forces. You feel you
know something that others do not know. You feel you
are better than everyone else.
by combat. Battle lines are constantly being drawn and
redrawn. With battle lines comes polarisation leading to
a further deepening of trenches.
Perhaps the time has come to take a step back
from our stated positions.
For many years we seem to be stuck. For that,
we need to have the humility to say, that something is
broken, and to seek a second opinion.
Many of you would have seen this little clip go viral.
It stars Jeff Daniels who plays the role of Will Mcavoy,
the main anchor at a news channel, and he is asked the
question, “What Makes America the greatest country in
the world”. Watch here what happens.

We are now witnesses to the emergence of The last line is perhaps the most telling, “the first
universal competitiveness. At the unit level, individuals step in solving a problem is recognizing that there is
compete against each other for scarce jobs. Teams one.” Here is the interesting bit, which never went viral.
and functions compete for resources. Companies In the first season, Will Mcavoy goes on to reconstruct
and businesses compete for market share, tough the entire news philosophy of his channel. He starts by
commercial negotiations, and favourable regulatory saying that he has been wrong. It speaks of humility.
interventions. Political parties compete to secure
electoral and ideological influence. Governments are Jennifer Johnson, the sorority girl, lands up at the
now overtly competing to secure future resources, Mcavoy’s office to apply for an internship. She talks
geographical dominance and perhaps even religious about the greater fool, and how she is driven to become
dominion. Countries have formed treaties, groups, the greater fool. More often than not, it is the perceived
leagues, councils, alliances and Unions on the lines of greater fool who has the humility to say, let me find
ideology; ranging from terror, currencies, debt, trade someone who knows how to solve the problem. If
blocs & commodities, human movement & migration, they cannot, well, they learn for the next time. So you
speech, human rights and industrial strengths. will wonder what is the link between the greater fool
theory and humility. Let’s explore one of the pioneering
This competitiveness makes for very interesting minds in the investment world, Sir John Templeton. A
television viewing and digital dissemination. We are billionaire investor and considered to be a pioneer in
now subject to a barrage of opinions and news. Our mutual funds.
feeds and personal opinions are fed into our friends’
feeds and now battles are fought on individual but In his book, “The Humble Approach”, he states,
interactive digital screens. Tweet for a tweet, share for “Maybe the earth was designed as a place of hardship
share, comment for a comment; we are being saturated because it is the best way to build a soul—the best way

69
to teach spiritual joy versus the bodily ills”. It is fair openness to new information about oneself and the
to say that Templeton, counted humility as a foremost world. Fourth, high focus on others relative to the
virtue and strength in leaders. This is what he said: self; keeping their achievements and capabilities in
the perspective of the world and that one is part of a
When we think of other leaders, we see obvious universe; Fifth, a belief that other people are equally
paragons of humility. Warren Buffet who continues to worthy, and that everyone can contribute.
live a modest lifestyle. Rahul Dravid, who now coaches
the junior Indian Cricket team is another epitome of The opposite of humility is high self-focus. An
humility. While we still consider humility as a virtue, we exaggerated positive view could actually be sign of
think of it as something “nice to have”. Some even liken arrogance or narcissism. An exaggerated negative view
it to be the privilege of the rich (I have loans to pay). would lead to depression or low self-esteem.

We know instinctively that humility is a virtue The humility stakes are worthy of our studied
worthy of possession and use, but we seem to know consideration:
very little about it. To that end, the John Templeton
Foundation has funded studies on humility to the tune Humility and charity: In their study, they found that
of millions of dollars. people who scored high on humility were more likely
to give to charity and help others.
A good place is to start with the roots of the word
humility. Humus means earth or ground. Humilis means Humility and academic performance: Students
“on the ground”. That is why we use the phrase, down- who demonstrate humility perform better at academ-
to-earth, being grounded, a grassroots person. Aristotle ics. How was that?
called it the golden mean between arrogance and lack
of self-esteem. Humility is about seeing the self and • Students who were more humble could
others as worthy of equal dignity, and sharing human accurately estimate the time they would need
strengths and limitations. It is the way you can describe to study for a particular test and then put in the
yourself without positive or negative exaggeration. It is necessary effort.
when you can make an accurate assessment of yourself • They would develop strong role models and
and have the ability to non-defensively acknowledge that attempt to learn from them.
perhaps you do hold some limitations, imperfections, • If they received poor test scores or feedback,
and knowledge gaps. they were quicker to take action for the next
test, than their less humble friends.
When people who are at the pinnacle of
achievement in their field want to get even better, this Students who were humble reported higher scores,
phenomenon is observed. Think of how musicians, general mental ability, conscientiousness, and self-belief.
sportsmen and business leaders evolve? They have the Research even showed that students with lower mental
humility to understand that there are frontiers that they ability but higher humility, compensated with higher
can breach. They always remember the principle of trial effort.
and error. It is a process of learning.
Humility also has an impact in the business
At the business level, humility is a process where world: For too long, we have attributed the leader to
decisions are made by those with knowledge rather know and do everything for us. We see the leader to be
than grade and entitlement. With the support of the a dominant and aggressive person. Phrases like “nice
John Templeton Foundation; Sonja Lyubomirsky guys finish last” have pushed humility into the back-
and Elliot Kruse, Joseph Chancellor and Peter ground.
Ruberton have done some stellar research.
• Humble employees, when they are praised,
They propose that humility has five hallmarks: want to become better at their work. They
deploy more effort and challenge themselves
First, a secure and accepting self-identity, where even more.
you are aware of your own values and beliefs; Second, • Research shows that employees who were better
freedom from distortion about one’s strengths and at estimating their strengths and weaknesses
weaknesses, knowledge gaps and imperfections; Third, received better supervisor ratings during their

70
 performance appraisals.
• Followers of humble CEO leaders felt more
empowered.
• Some research also shows a significantly higher
proportion of wildly successful companies
have a humble leader at the very top.
How does that happen?
When leaders have the humility to acknowledge
areas of ignorance and inexperience, they were able
to foster learning and adaptation. As mentioned
earlier, humility is letting the person who has the best
perspective and knowledge make the decision. Many
call centers have given the customer service agent
the full authority to resolve a customer issue. Many
organisations now leave the hiring and remuneration
decision to the hiring manager. In part, it is humility
that drives the process.
Humility is also known to play
a key role in providing customer
care. Ever seen a haughty or
arrogant shop assistant? On the
other hand, leaders with high
levels of narcissism were more
prone to commit white-collar
crimes.
What are the types of humil-
ity?
A team of psychologists
recently published a paper titled
“Distinguishing intellectual
humility and general humility”. They propose that
General Humility is an accurate view of the self and
the ability to control your egocentrism to cultivate a
perspective of the other.
People who have a need for power, have a desire to
win in every situation. When faced with the dissent of
angry faces, their response is to establish dominance.
They respond to anger with anger. Escalation is an
obvious outcome. People who are more humble would
temporarily tone down their own message and try and
take control of the situation by bringing in calm and
sanity.
Why is intellectual humility needed?
We often overestimate our strengths and under-
estimate our weaknesses. I still have to come across
71
a performance appraisal, where an employee started
by saying that their performance did not deserve the
highest rating. When presented with data, we tend to go
with the reports we first receive and discount the news
you get later on. If you love a hotel or a brand, you will
refuse to hear any news that negates your opinion. That
is why news channels start with the big news first. They
are aware that the more news that they give you, there
are lesser chance of retention.
I know many board members who would say that
they needed more time to process the data. They had
no qualms of indicating that they were only human.
We would think that it was procrastination. Looking
back, perhaps they were being human and practicing
intellectual humility.
Therefore you need to have the humility to
move beyond the first couple of data points that are
presented, and overcome our own biases. Intellectual
humility is correlated with
forgiveness, helpfulness and a
lack of aggression. Intellectual
humility leads to higher and faster
learning and personal growth and
better relationships.
What humility is not?
It is not about being below, as
much as it is about not being above
someone. Humility is not about
being the proverbial doormat,
sucker, nice guy, weakling, and
spineless. It is not about being a
procrastinator or indecisive. It is not about avoiding
conflict to appear being the nice guy. It is most certainly
not about suppressing your own emotions.
There is an unsaid story in field sales. We would
fight it out in the market and every retail outlet. In the
evening, competitors would sit down and get drunk
and curse our bosses. Now I am beginning to learn that
value. Humility is about operating through a response,
which moves the learning and results forward.
Why is humility difficult?
It is just our reflex. When someone talks about their
new home, you want to immediately show them your
home ideas. You want to help them with your expertise,
however unsolicited it may be. It is that person who will
always align the painting. When someone is learning
something new, you do not simply hear the person, but
you want to jump in to direct them to the best teacher.
You need to be aware, are you doing this to demonstrate
your own knowledge and prowess? Interestingly, the
higher your influence and position of power, the more
you are likely to want to use it. Not necessarily in
designation though. I have seen many humble senior
people with equally arrogant receptionists and assistants.
So how do you build humility so that you are not
the last greater fool?
Lyubomirsky and her colleagues propose three
strategies: The power of “I don’t know”:
Gratitude is a sense that you have benefited from
the actions of another. Lyubomrisky and her
colleagues conducted various experiments and
found that Gratitude and Humility were caught
in a virtuous cycle. Gratitude works in a very
interesting way. When you express gratitude,
your focus of attention shifts to the experience
of receiving something of value. You feel a
sense of optimism that there are people out
there, who have helped you in the past. It urges
you to reach out and repay the gratitude in a
pay-it-forward manner.

1. Self-Affirmation: Think about some deeply Our business operating environments are just
held values. Say capital punishment, dowry, too complex for a single person to know everything.
arranged marriage, abortion, food preferences, Further environments will keep changing, and leaders
alcohol or smoking. The theory states that will have to rely on others to keep them informed about
individuals who reflect on closely held values both subtle and seismic shifts.
they are less likely to feel distressed and
more open to accepting information, which Leaders who have the courage to stand up and say,
contradicts their sense of self. It could even “I don’t know”, will be the leader of the future. “I don’t
be your habits. For example, if you like playing know” stated from a position of humbleness will trigger
the guitar or drinking coffee. To promote self- responsive, learning, adaptive and innovation processes.
affirmation, select one strength or value that
you want to explore. Now write an essay on To conclude, our views are becoming sharper and
how your strength is portrayed in your life. uncompromising. Right from politics to workplaces to
families and individual relationships. You might want
2. Bringing Awe to your Life: Awe is a very to consider that perhaps we could experiment with
fascinating emotion. Think of the last time humility.
you felt in awe. I feel awe when I look out
at the brilliant colours of the sea. When I Greater fools will have the ability to tame
visit a religious place where thousands have the competitive reflex of “I” to drive diversity of
congregated. Brilliant colours of a glorious contradicting and controversial views. Greater fools
sunset or a full moon in a clear night bring out who have the humility will not be hardened by the
the sense of awe in me. strengths and beliefs of the past, but guided by deep
inquiry of self and others. They will help those who
3. Writing a Gratitude Letter Robert Emmons help people discover their role in the larger tapestry of
defined gratitude as a tendency to first organisation purpose will lead the process of change.
recognise and then emotionally respond with
thankfulness after attributing benefits received We need many greater fools to take us forward, to
through benevolence to an external moral help us lead more positive lives.
agent.

About the Author:

Birender is the Chief Optimist and Chief Executive Officer of The Positivity Company, and an ardent believer
in the science of Positivity. At The Positivity Company the belief is around the research that leaders who are
more positive are more effective and more productive; and that you can train people to be more positive.
Birender can be reached on birender.ahluwalia@gmail.com

72
 Unravelling Human Resources with
Anurag Rai

Anurag is a Certified Executive Leadership & Team Performance Coach.

He helps Corporate Leaders & Teams to maximise their performance; In a
career spanning 32 years, he has held various positions such as Chief People
Officer, Senior VP & Global Head HR across various organizations such
as Spark Minda Group, Sterlite Technologies Limited, Dell International
Services, Suzlon Energy. His Executive Leadership Development program
covers the leaders from Family owned businesses and MNCs.

HR is expected to be business oriented and drive & demanding, and hence it is crucial for business
profitability and at the same time embody empathy. managers to leverage left & right brain, consciously, for
How do you think these two fits with each other? continuous and optimum results.

It’s very important to appreciate that at any
performing workplace, every manager needs to
consciously & consistently strive for a healthy balance
between task and people, and be efficient & effective.
To accomplish this, hard-skills & softer dimensions
(including empathy and resilience) are the definite
requirements for managers & leaders, always.
To my mind, HR leaders - in partnership with line
managers & leadership – must help converge, all energies
of all employees to maximise all-round performance &
profit.
Reflection is considered important for self-im-
provement. How relevant and important do you
think this is for organizations and employees?
This is a very relevant topic in today’s business
world, wherein business situations are very dynamic What according to you is the primary cause for
73
Generally, at workplaces, more significance is
attached to strengthening the left-brain dimensions.
However, the current volatile; uncertain Geo-political
situation necessitates leveraging the power of the right
brain also, including intuition; which basically means
deriving deeper insights from reflections.
It basically means, reflection is key for business
leaders and therefore it’s essential to learn the art &
science of the whole brain utilisation and be equipped
to deal with dynamic and complex market situations.
Recently, there is a shift taking place, wherein reflection
is becoming an integral trait of effective leadership
and assistance is being provided to acquire said skill. I
believe, this is a noteworthy and welcome change in the
business world.
emotional dissonance at workplaces? address these necessities and help mitigate millennial’s
expectations from managers. This intervention &
In my opinion, emotional dissonance can be caused investment has definite gains too.
due to several reasons, including an individual’s values
and motives, personality traits, ego traps, fears, mindset Do self-aware people make a high performing or-
and even unconscious biases. Therefore, knowing ganisation or we can have system and practices in
one-self comprehensively is essential. Knowing self an organization which helps people know them-
includes – deeper understanding of one’s personality selves better and drive high performance? Which is
traits & watch out areas, key motives & preferences, more feasible and why?
unconscious biases, fears, ego traps & derailing factors
etc. It is believed that self-aware leaders can lead self &
others, much more authentically & responsibly towards
Furthermore, it is necessary for a successful leader desired outcomes & goals. Once an individual is
to proactively recognise the impact of emotional supposed to be emotionally intelligent,then navigating
dissonance and quickly overcome or minimise the self & others is much easier, productive & positive.
ramifications of the same to bring in certainty in
business results. Additionally, self-aware leaders can cope with
pressure and demands with much more ease, and hence,
How do we incorporate changes at workplace to the higher predictability of results. I firmly believe that
limit the emotional labour and burnout in employ- comprehensive self-knowledge guides leaders to make
ees? the right choices, judgments & business decisions.
Ultimately, such abilities contribute to predictable
As mentioned earlier, knowing and valuing performance & profit – which is always valued by
oneself as a “significant entity” is a true blessing. investors & shareholders.
Moreover, personality science offers valuable & worthy
insights,which empowers an individual to lead oneself How can corporates help institutions in building
towards a desired direction with ease. It further helps to professionals with higher level of consciousness
channelize one’s energy in positive directions, for best and self-awareness?
results.
Frankly, all investment on people human capital
I believe that every manager, leader &organisation building areas depend on organisational values & belief
has an opportunity to invest &value these aspects, to system. So far, not many corporates have undertaken
maximise performance & achieve other intangible direct investment on self-awareness subject, and it
gains, along with ahead of time preparedness to deal appears it’s mostly due to incomplete understanding on
with burnout issues. potential value creation & benefits to business. Having
said this, I believe recent trends show a meaningful
How, as HR managers, can we motivate senior shift in this regard and commitment is visible in new
leaders for mentoring the millennial population generation leaders. It is a praiseworthy direction to
which is often deemed as an altruistic practice? achieve wholesome benefits because it will help raise the
performance of managers, leaders & teams, including
While as a practitioner I believe motivation is employability & career advancement opportunities.
always intrinsic, true business managers need to always
meaningfully engage, empower and inspire team Further, as I see, one of the major reasons to
members& millennials to challenge status quo & stretch make these shifts is also because majority of executive
to get more. leadership development programs, offered globally by
In fact, HELPING is an integral part of a managerial reputed institutions and leadership academies, have
role and providing continuous meaningful help to team now incorporated a battery of tests to help raise self-
members & peers is a workplace &business necessity. awareness dimensions and it’s an integral part of the
Strangely, for some reason this high value aspect is not curriculums. To my mind, reasons for doing this are
explicitly stated out at workplaces and therefore many enough & evident – it aides & adds value to leaders’ life-
managers are simply indifferent to this requirement. cycle in an enterprise and even in achieving consistent
Therefore, there is an urgent necessity to develop new results.
role-descriptions for first & second line managers, to

74
 Future of Consulting in the
Era of Digital Disruption
By Dr. RENU RAJANI

Infosys Limited
VP & Delivery Head - Financial Services

I n 1990’s when I passed out my MS in

Management from one of the top B-Schools
in the USA, I considered Management Consulting as
technological disruptions. The future of Consulting is
“redefined” in the current agile, modular, collaborative,
and “Digitally disruptive” era.
the top choice for my career. Being a woman, I was
cautioned by several friends and well-wishers that Digital transformation is making the consulting
consulting career meant living out of suit-case and firms rethink their models and services to better cater
globe-trotting job to be a true partner to the clients. to client needs. Today lines between business vs IT have
blurred – Customer Experience, Agile/Continuous
The world of consulting in those years seemed very Integration/DevOps, Social Media, Mobile & Channels,
rich, I enjoyed juggling the domestic assignments in Analytics, and cloud are leading the paradigm shift in
Management & IT Consulting across industries covering consulting.
business process improvement, strategic and operations
consulting including supply chain optimization, cost Digital revolution has brought IT departments
reduction to name a few. Some of the hot IT consulting – development, testing, operations and business
areas included enterprise resource planning (ERPs), departments – supply chain, ERP, BPM, e-commerce
IT health assessment, IT Packaged product selection, together to work as one team. A new niche and
helping customers with authoring their requests for independent breed of consulting firms and many a
proposal for IT services, etc. Then came eCommerce start-up digital consulting businesses have emerged
boom in 2000s and there was a flood of engagements that are challenging the market share dominance of the
for eBusiness planning, eBusiness incubation, VC large consulting firms.
funding proposals, etc, riding on eCommerce wave.
The Digital Age Consultant
While I was trained in top ERP products and supply
chain consulting, in a big-5 consulting organization, we As the market moves towards customer experience
focused on meeting the vision of the engagements, based services, organizations are looking for ‘do it all’
aligning our involvement to steering the program, and category of consultants. As the business grows and
having a partner organization to actually implement transforms companies are also not certain on the best
ERP products. Driven with the desire to involve deeper approach and way forward, this makes a consultant’s
in IT, in early 2000, I moved to IT service provider role all the more important and in demand. They want
industry. to rely on the consultants’ expertise not only for defining
business strategy but for end-to-end solution advisory.
In this article, I would talk about (i) shifts I see (ii)
what a digital age consultant would look like (iii) How I Expectations from the consultants is to be more
vision future of consulting industry (iv) What would I adaptive and delivery oriented with following key
do differently if I get back into consulting. drivers -
• Complete Integration – Consultants are
Digital driving a shift in the way Consulting no more expected to play role of an external
worked advisor. Consultants are expected to be part of
The World of consulting services once showed complete business lifecycle with both strategic
immunity from the economic downturn and the and implementation know-how.

75
 • Faster Delivery - Projects have shorter time
span, and are more iterative. Consultants are
expected to align to this pace of business and
deliver more tangible outcomes on the go.
Customers expect omni-commerce to deliver
completely integrated anytime anywhere
solutions. Consultants are expected to drive
change management, which is becoming very
critical to adapt to speed and benefit from the
incremental change.
• Knowledge of the Customer – Consultants
are required to have an in-depth knowledge of
end customer and leverage that to customize
changes to the approach and deliver better
business results. The businesses are relying
more and more in consultants’ expertise of
knowing the market trends and statistically
forecasting customer expectations.
Future of Consulting
The expectations from technology consultants
have already started to change and moving towards
customer experience delivery and niche areas such as
analytics, big data, artificial intelligence, devices and data
security. The demand for consultants is on the rise, and
more frequent changes in the industry would benefit
consulting industry with increased demand.
Emerging trends that will define the next round of
change in technology consulting would be –
• Asset based Consulting - This trend is
analytics and predictive technology driven. It
encompasses ideas, methodologies, frameworks
and IPs together to deliver consulting services
through packaged products and tools.
Industrialized consulting services that align
with pre-defined solutions and are data driven
will be delivered in this fashion. This approach
will ensure not reinventing the wheel and
deliver considerable savings in terms on time
and money.
• Collaborative Consulting – In the Digital &
agile era, the appetite for large transformational
projects is shrinking and there is growing
preference for more iterative and new
technology driven projects. Multi-skilled and
virtual teams are coming to the fore. The
consulting teams will have to work across
departments and throughout the project
lifecycle. The teams will constitute multi
76
specialty ‘T-Shaped’ consultants working from
remote locations and connected through digital
channels.
• Specialized Consulting - Currently cloud
migration and legacy modernization projects
are consuming good number of technical
consultants, five years from now demand for
technical consultants will diminish. Demand
will move towards consultants with technology,
industry, customer and geographical knowledge.
Consultants will be required to focus more
on agile, DevOps, data security and customer
experience related engagements.
• Quality Assurance Consulting – As
organizations will adopt DevOps it will
significantly change role of Quality Assurance.
The role of QA in Digital world would be to
assure business outcomes, and to ensure the
right level of customer value. These two aspects
would drive the QA strategy for any project or
program. The requirement moves from mere
testers to quality consultants. Consultants will
have to focus on continuous quality; and clear
understanding of priorities. Potential risks to
customer value and business performance will
need to be addressed by preventing defects that
might choke the continuous integration process.
Reusable and industry tested frameworks and
approaches like quality blueprinting (QBP)
tailored for digital engagements, will enable
quality consultants to be agile and deliver ahead
of competition.
What would I do differently as a consultant now?
While I moved from consulting to IT Services
over 16 years back. All along, I have closely observed
the evolution of management consulting industry and
often vision the future of consulting industry. I ask
myself, what is one thing I would do differently if I
were a consultant once again?
All my years of consulting, I saw consulting
engagements saw Kick-off, Planning, Analysis &
Design, Report Back, Execution phases. While our
engagements involved working closely with clients in
kick-off and fact gathering stage, working with clients
diminished in analysis, design phases. Often Report
back/recommendation phase was with CXO level.
Often the stakeholders whose inputs were taken at
initial phases found themselves eliminated from the
entire process. and along with consulting methods expertise.

Engage with my clients more through the life-cycle There could be an argument that this model would
In today’s digital world need for transparency suffer quality, in today’s digital age, every consultant
across consulting phases is very high. (i) Clients would who has served engagement could get transparent
more and more prefer the consultants who align and virtual reviews to solve this problem.
closely work with their businesses with transparency. (ii)
Discretionary spends are limited and scrutinized, there Another argument could be the very premise of
won’t be too many big-ticket consulting engagements consulting industry “The Trusted Advisor/Partner”.
(iii) Information is more open, there would be fewer Today clients care more for deep expertise, the
buyers of “black-box” insights. consulting firms need to bring the best expertise to
table, rather than trying to protect turf only through
I would involve the stakeholders who provided internal talent.
initial inputs to validate the solution/recommendations.
These stakeholders are key to success during execution, Flexible Operating Model of Consulting Firms
even if solution has considered all their inputs, their The consulting firms traditionally had industry
buy-in is very important. verticals (Manufacturing/Retailing/ Distribution,
Banking), and core practices e.g. Business Process
Don’t drop a bomb of Travel costs Improvement, Information technology, ERP, Supply
Best consultants are not always in same location. Chain, etc. I have seen many changing operating models
Traditionally consulting industry has seen high travel during my stint – vertically led, practice led, etc.
costs associated. While travels are still essential,
technologies such as skype, Google Doc, Microsoft Lync, Learning from my IT services experience, the
GoToMeeting, etc have offered virtual collaboration at consulting firms of future could be based on “Network
low cost and have changed the way consultants operate. Model” to bring the best of various competencies into
Clients are ok for the consultants to operate remotely the engagement. Such model can also easily leverage
and connect through electronic media, rather than make external “Crowd/ Freelance” resources.
flying visits only for the meetings.
Conclusion
Solving Consultant “Utilization” problem with
“Crowd-Source” Considering the paradigm shift industry is seeing
Consulting firms are often pre-occupied with in adapting to digital evolution, need for support
“Utilization” issues. Bringing learning from IT services from consulting partners would see a rise. To deliver
industry where billable utilization has been in range industry expectations consulting firms need to adapt as
of 90% (as against 60-70% in consulting industry), I per market requirements, expand their horizons, build
believe consulting industry can benefit from core/ reusable assets and garner expertise and niche skill sets.
flex. Consulting industry can leverage professional Digital has reached the doors of consulting and firms
“Crowd” of freelancers, for the flex, retaining core of need to do a seismic shift from traditional to continuous,
professionals who have partner level client relationship collaborative and comprehensive way of consulting.

About the Author:

Renu Rajani is Vice President with Infosys Limited in Financial Services business unit. In this role, she leads
the IT service delivery for several large Banking and Financial Services Clients globally, managing a large
profit center IT Services portfolio. Renu has overall 29 years of experience in leading IT Services Delivery,
IT Outsourcing Governance, Infrastructure Services, and Business/IT Consulting including Solution and
Technical Sales. Prior to Infosys, Renu served in key leadership roles at Capgemini, Citibank, IBM, and
KPMG, Renu is author of two books, “Software Testing- Effective Methods, tools and Techniques” and
“Testing Practitioner Handbook” based on her Digital QA transformation blogs. In 2015, Renu was conferred
“Leader of the Year 2015” award by Unicom’s India Testing League. In 2008 Renu was a recipient of Thought
Leadership award instituted by PureTesting.

* The Article is reprinted with permission of Author. The article is Chapter 43, in “Testing Practitioner Handbook” by
Renu Rajani, published with Packt Publishers (ISBN 978-1-78829-954-1 54499).

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 How to Hire a Star Performer

By JAYANT HUDAR

Co-Author: The Prospertity Factor,

The Ultimate Business Growth
Formula & Ignite your life

“E veryone knows that some people get

better results than others. But the best
aren’t just a little better than the rest — they’re typically
your selection process.

1. The Advertisement for the Job position

a lot better. Bain & Company’s research suggests that If you are sure that you don’t want anyone but a
top performers are roughly four times as productive star performer to apply, your recruitment advertisement
as average performers. Sometimes the difference is should throw a challenge to prospective candidates.
far greater. For example, the best sales associate at Star performers are attracted to challenges and have
Nordstrom sells at least eight times as much as the the inherent confidence in themselves to respond to
average sales associate at other department stores.” – one. With an ad like this, those who are not supremely
Michael Mankins, Harvard Business Review. confident in their abilities will not apply. You save
yourself a lot of screening time. Marketing Guru Chet
Star performers are every employer’s dream. You Holmes recommended this as the headline for an Ad
can trust them to do the best possible job at whatever for a Star Salesperson. “Don’t even call unless you are
role they have been assigned and free up a lot of your a truly awesome salesperson. You have a burning desire
time and resources. If you are in a business that faces to succeed, are extremely customer oriented, highly
a lot of competition, having a star performers on motivated, and never say die attitude”.
your team can help you outperform or even kill your
competition. Having multiple star performers on your 2. The CV:
team will dramatically boost your profits and put your Generally, it is very difficult to glean anything
business on an exponential growth path. While every about the candidates from their CVs. Look for CVs
employer is looking to hire a star performers in every that focus on achievements and almost sound bragging.
interview, you may not always know what to look for or Look for consistently high performance and awards in
how to set up the interview so the star performers can different fields. Star performers have developed a habit
reveal themselves to you. of winning. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence,
then, is not an act, but a Habit.” – Will Durant.
Steps to start:
3. The Personality Test:
At the outset, it is very important that you clearly There are a lot of psychological tests that help
write down what you are hiring for. What is the role reveal a candidate’s personality traits. Do look for the
the star performer will play in your organization? traits your particular job role requires of the candidate.
What responsibilities and tasks does it entail? What In addition, star performers have two dominant
personality traits will ensure that the candidate is able qualities – a) Empathy: they have the ability to make
to perform his/her task in the best possible manner? friends and bond with people. They have the ability to
Resourcefulness, problem-solving ability, being a team be a team player and a team leader. b) Ego: They have
player, being a team leader, attention to detail, never innate confidence. It enables them to face rejection or
losing sight of the larger picture – what exactly does obstacles multiple times and still move determinedly on.
this role require? This may even come across as flashes of arrogance/
overconfidence. It’s just that star performers know that
Once you are clear about what personality they are very good at what they do. They will mask it to
characteristics to look for, you will find it easier to craft an extent, but scratch the surface, and there it is.

78
 4. Social Media Profile: Ask them to rate themselves on the qualities you
At the moment, given the privacy issues with require them to have for the job. Star performers
some social media companies, many people have gone have the confidence to give themselves high scores.
off social media as a protest against privacy invasion. Ask them about failures in achieving targets, they will
However, star performers will tend to have some form tell you precisely why they failed. Ask them how they
of social media presence because they thrive on having planned, they will give you detailed plans and processes
people to acknowledge their many achievements and of planning, and continuous and non-stop fine-tuning
they need to keep in touch with the many contacts and improvement.
they have. Star performers will have a large number
of friends/followers/contacts, generally, from varied Also, ask about times when they have received or
walks of life. They will display an affinity for at least given help and encouragement to others that helped
one social cause and won’t be afraid to be vocal about it.them to achieve a difficult target; they are confident and
They will have achievements (possibly in more than one secure about their own abilities, so, they have no qualms
field) and do not shy away from sharing them. in teaching their juniors the “tricks of the trade”. They
aren’t insecure that the rookies will outshine them.
5. The Interview: Star performers are capable of nurturing other star
This is the most revealing and the best part of performer and force others to perform at their best,
the selection process. No candidate should be selected thanks to their consistent, high performance levels.
without facing an interview, even if they are the only
candidate who applied for/qualified for the post. This is the tough part – reject them outright. Tell
them you are not convinced they are the best candidate
According to marketing guru Brian Tracy, ideally, for the job. Most candidates will crumble and exit at
the candidate should be interviewed by at least three this point. The Star performers will rise to the challenge
different people at least three separate times. You are and prove to you that they can perform under pressure
looking for consistencies here. It is easy to be on your and will convince you that they are the best person you
best behaviour in your best clothes and put on your can hire. This really separates the grain from the chaff.
best appearance for one interview. Over successive
interviews, the veneer begins to wear off and you can Once you are convinced, make sure you appreciate
begin to see what truly lies beneath it. and acknowledge the star performer. If you don’t, they
may reject you! Remember, they are supremely confident;
During the interview, probe their childhood and they harbour no insecurities about their ability to get a
present. Star performer generally have childhoods where job. They are looking for a place where they will want
they have at least one, strong cheerleader/supporter. to work. Once you identify a star performer, the onus is
Generally, this role is played by at least one parent. on you to ensure you make it worth their while to work
for you. Remember “if you throw, peanuts, you will get
I personally think that Star performer are half born Monkeys, not star performers.”
and half built. Business growth expert, Chet Holmes
recommended asking the question, “If you were 5 years 6. References:
old and told your mother you want to be an actor, what References that the candidates provide will naturally
would your mother/father say to you? be people who will have positive things to say about
them. When you call them, ask for a couple of more
A. Don’t do it. references of people the candidate interacted with or
B. Do it, but train for a job worked with – customers, co-workers, vendors etc. Ask
C. Do it – you’ll be successful at whatever you each of them for a few references in turn. A clearer
do!!!!!” picture of the candidate will emerge; the one behind
the advertised front. Ask the reference at least one of
Star performers tend to have parents who were the characteristics they remember of the person, and
encouraging and supportive. They also attract friends invariably they will and should tell you about a star
who boost their confidence and morale. Ask them how performer trait, i.e. go-getter attitude, ready to learn
their best friends would describe them. Star performers and achieve, momentum to act and start working with
will have nice things to say about themselves. They are a plan in place, structured thinking process and ease of
happy to describe their strengths and abilities. making an impact on the results they achieve.

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 In Summary, here are some of the traits of Star
performers:
1. Effective Communication that influences: this goes
without saying; star performers have honed the 10. Plan the Process and have Structured Thinking:
art of connecting and bonding with others and
communication is a key aspect of this. They are
good in the field they work in, be it sales, technical
or finance, they understand the subject terminology
well to convince the other person with precise
words.
2. Ego and confidence: They are very confident
and this may come across as being egoistic. They
take care of self and self-esteem (normally high).
Sometimes you may find them a little over smart
and because of this, at times, you may get irritated.
Don’t get put off and reject them outright.
They manage to stay focused for longer periods and
resist distractions. (Ask them how they do it and
they will tell you).
They will talk about the processes of achieving
targets. They will prioritise their activities, and will
have the discipline to take tasks through till their
completion.
11. Ready to learn: They are great learners and will
always be good readers of self-help books, listen
to audio books or watch training videos. This is a
quality I have found in many super achievers - A
huge thirst and hunger for knowledge. It will shine
through while you talk to them.
Action Plan:

3. They Take Initiative: they are dedicated to their 1. List the roles in your organization for which you
own success and progress. They are ready to learn need a star performer to take the burden off your
new things and adapt very fast. They look forward shoulders.
one step ahead. They will have a perspective of the 2. List the tasks that role entails and the personality
company, the clients and the market. traits you are looking for that will enable the
candidate to do full justice to the tasks.
4. Conscious of presentation: They dress well and are 3. Throw them a challenge in the recruitment ad. Also,
normally well groomed. ask them a role play or a case study question that
will bring out how they would plan to achieve their
5. Positive attitude: They have a positive outlook targets. Mostly, they will give you a structured plan
towards life, they are passionate about what they do. of action.
4. Look for star performer traits in the CV and the
6. Empathy: They make friends easily, bond strongly, personality tests.
and are team players or at least have good 5. Craft your interview questions to probe for star
interpersonal skills. performer traits in the interview. Have multiple
interviews at different times. Remember to reject
7. Consistent: They have consistent behaviour and have them in the interview to test if they have the ability
consistently shown superior performance in their to stand strong in the face of rejection.
jobs.(They will share their wins and achievements 6. Focus on their strengths and, at times, ignore some
one after the other whereas average performers will of their quirks (which directly affect the work and
normally talk about team effort or have very little to team culture).
talk about in terms of achievements.)
The above information will give you an insight on
8. Enthusiastic Confident and Lots of Energy: They acquiring star performers for your team. And believe
are non-stop and aren’t easily discouraged by me; every bit of your effort will be worth your time. You
rejection and are adaptive to change. (Ask them will get results far exceeding your average performers.
how did they handle challenges and they will share Now let’s see how to retain the Star performer in
and count many challenges they faced with great your team.
details)
Now that you are aware of the traits of star
9. Stay Focused on Targets. They keep talking performers, you know how star performers think and
about how to go about achieving the targets. Star operate. It’s important to keep in mind that they operate
performer will devise ways and means, processes differently, so they need to be handled differently. Here
and concepts - all leading to the target achievement. are a few pointers.

80
How to Retain Star performers in your Team
1. First, wholeheartedly appreciate the Star performer
for their performance and for the difference they
make; respect and acknowledge their talent.
2. Give constructive feedback. They are fast to adapt
and improve.
3. Give enough training – identify what is required
and give proper induction training. You need clarity.
If you aren’t clear about what you want, the star
performers get frustrated very quickly and you will
lose them.
4. Discuss and mutually agree on the method of
reporting and measuring performance. Many times
star performers are poor at reporting (in a different
way than non-performers). Here, you will see the
results, but the reports may be missing, whereas
poor performers may give proper reports, but no
output.
5. Set milestones and targets and take timely reviews.
Do not wait till the end of the month or quarter to
give feedback.
6. Give enough incentives on performance and
appreciate them with words as well.
7. You should give them a picture of what is going to
happen if they achieve their targets. It helps to keep
them motivated.
8. Send them for progressive training and to places
where they can show their brilliance and shine for
the company.
Always remember this, each star performer can
make you a fortune. They can be 2 to 4 times and even
10 times more productive than your average employees.
Welcome them into your life and business and see your
business grow exponentially.

About the Author:

Founder and CEO of the “School of Business Wisdom,” Jayant Hudar is a Business Growth Consultant
and an International Seminar Speaker. He is known for his practical advice to business owners to transform
their “not-so-profitable business” into profitable ventures in a short span of time using “Marketing without
Money” techniques. His Seminars and workshops have helped thousands all over the world. Jayant is a 3 times
Amazon bestselling and award winning author. He was also featured in the Top 25 Business Consultants in
India and USA in Siliconindia Magazine, and in the Top 20 Consultants in Consultants Review Magazine in
2014.

Jayant is a serial entrepreneur and he started his career in 1992 after graduating in Engineering and then went
on to do his Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management. Since then, he has owned fourteen different
businesses, including Information Technology, Real Estate, Restaurants, Power Generation, Education and
Training, Sales and Services and Brand and Reputation Management amongst others. He is part of the TopLine
Business Solutions consulting network in more than 56 countries. Jayant has been interviewed numerous times
on national television as well as on local TV and radio channels for Internet Marketing and Business Growth
Consulting. Many of his interviews are on YouTube – giving away lots of ideas to small business owners.

Jayant also works as a Virtual Marketing Director for his clients, working with a limited number at a time. He
is an Internet Marketing Specialist – which makes him a special combination of an offline and online business
expert. His Guerilla Techniques of Marketing and Promotions have doubled or tripled his clients’ business
turnover in a very short time. Some have made phenomenal growth of 100 times or more within three years.

Jayant now consults with celebrities and high-profile individuals as an Advisor where confidentiality and
privacy are most important. Jayant Hudar lives in Navi Mumbai, India with his family.

Connect with Jayant via:

Mobile: +91-9321812220
Email: jayanthudar@gmail.com or info@schoolofbusinesswisdom.com

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