SIIB Leadership Series 2010: September 2010

Sachin Pilot(Minister of State for Communications and IT) :
"In Indian Parliament,2/3rd of MPs do not get re-elected the second time.Perhaps the Indian electorate is impatient.If one does not show results, one will not be re-elected

"A call for Bengal package, a Maharashtra package, a Bihar package…what about an India package ? The country expects a lot from this generation."

"A lot of young MPs with no famous surname are also doing well, but don’t get mentioned enough.The bar is perhaps higher for successors with famous surnames."

"Nothing pleases one who wants the successor to do even better than the past incumbent.The second generation have to prove beyond doubt that one can grow.The competitive environment changes ,one has to strive. In the political side,if one does not deliver, one will be eased out.Not every son and daughter is capable of taking on the mantle, I respect the people who bulldoze their way and do something different.It takes a lot of guts to acknowledge what one has and what one has not.Focus on one's strengths."

The “license” for being a MP has to be renewed every 5 years. "

"It may seem that one has to win the "ovarian lottery": be the elder son , and you get passed the mantle"

Dr. S. B. Mujumdar
"Taking over the mantle is the centrality of the perpetuity of an organization. Every organization has to start from scratch, face difficulties. The founder does not know if the idea will succeed in his lifetime. There is a struggle. But a stage comes when the mantle has to be passed onto the next generation. In India, the family is the fulcrum. So when the chance comes it passes onto the next generation. Examples in Pune like Bharat Forge, Bajaj, Thermax.."

Dr. Vidya Yeravdekar(Principal Director, Symbiosis Society)

"1st challenge:The challenge,is perhaps not taking over the mantle but giving the mantle.The founder has to be sure that the vision will be carried forward by thesuccessor.

2nd challenge :“We don’t want to be known as sons and daughters of founders, we want to establish our own identity.

3rd challenge: How does one get acceptance and develop a bond with long-timers in the organization."

Anu Aga(Director Thermax, Member National Advisory Council):

"I had to walk the talk regards succession planning, and I wanted to leave through the door when I had the chance and the energy and enthusiasm to do what I liked."

Meher Pudumjee(Chairperson, Thermax India Pvt Ltd.)

"After my brother’s demise, the TOI headlines said:”Thermax loses its future CEO”. Men are seen as the next in line, and women take over if they default. Meand my brother were treated equally. We had shares in the company, but we were told by my parents that we did not have necessarily manage the company,we wereto bring in the best."

"1)Laksman rekha between CEO and Chairperson2)Do not get into non core regions, we got into software3)Surround yourselves with people who are better than you.4)See things objectively, “my grandfather started it, we can’t close it down”5) Accept humility to accept change 6)be transparent with your stakeholders 7)never taking success for granted.I had ambivalence when my mom retired. "

"I too did Vipasanna , and it gave me inner peace. My mother has passed the mantle with much grace.In India , we have examples of passing the mantle but the incumbent looms behind. My mom is there to support me."

"My husband is on the board and I am the chairperson; as a woman there is a delicate balance which needs to be maintained."

"Focus on green technology.Green technology requires a lot of resources, and the ROI may not happen in the near future.We are grappling with this issue."

Afternoon session :

Dr.Parag Sancheti(Chairman , Sancheti hospital):

"Heard during my MS comments like 'Your dad used to do this operation in 14 minutes.and you take 44 minutes'. Later on went to Nottingham, there was no such pressure then.Later joined his father in India in 1994."

"People compare you with what the father has achieved over a lifetime with you even at in the early days. One has to accept this."

“I had a benchmark as in what my father had done, so knew how much more I need to achieve. People need to respect you for what you are doing, not what yourname is. Don’t command respect but earn it.”

"I changed the floor in which my office was(initially my office was beside my father’s).People used to visit me, and then my father to see if I was right."

"We used to have arguments, but they were in closed rooms. Usually they were about which departments need to be started. Results started showing up, and my father and people started accepting me more. My books and research was getting published, patients were showing results in shorter spans of time..."

"I now feel more responsible now. Ultimately being second generation, I had everything on platter. But without hard work, one will not succeed. Being rich orpoor is not counted by what you have but what you are. No shortcut other than hard work."

Rajiv Bajaj(MD, Bajaj Auto):

(jokingly)"Both Dr Parag and Mukta have a reason to be greatful to me :if I didn’t make fast Pulsars, Parag will not get anyone to fix.If I did not drive my people so hard to get the results, Mukta will have none to counsel"

"I worked at Tata Motors and learned not what not to do."

"Making better is not enough, creating something better is needed."

"It seemed that not only do we need to make or create better, we need to sell it for free”.

"Can we beat Honda on quality ? Can we hope to beat them on price( Honda has factories in China).We thought hard as to who are our competitors ."

"Ries and Trout came in as teachers. Also a teacher from Japan –they guided the, But these teachers are available to competition also, then our gains are not sustainable."

"From 2002, I started studying homeopathy not to become a doctor but to study its logic.”

"As per HBS profs says 'Execution is strategy' but I do think its not all."

“Better quality at lower cost”

"When in General Motors,the "general" becomes larger than the "motors", it is not good"

Mukta Puntambekar(Dy. Director.Muktangan Mitra,Project director,Muktangan De-addiction centre)
"I did not think myself as a leader till I got the SIIB Leadership Series 2010 invite. I had a chance to introspect as I thought I was doing just my job."

"We don’t call them patients ,rather we call them friends."

"70% of our staff are recovered addicts. When I applied , my application went through the Board of Trustees.No special treatment was given to me, and this helped my colleagues to accept them."

"My mother was diagnosed with cancer.After her death,we were worried whether the friends would turn into addicts.We had challenges:financial problems, some staff was creating problems, I was suppressing problems, I started talking about it.This helped"

"We then applied for ISO certification to show our quality-not just as a show-off value.We got it, and my father told me the biggest certification was the satisfaction of our the our "friends" "

Interaction with audience:

Rajiv Bajaj:
"Al Ries:”The leader is one who can find future of the company in the future activities of the company”"

"Rajiv recalls saying to his father Rahul Bajaj:Good news and bad news. Good news is that we are going to rescue to the company. The bad news is that we are going to rescue the company from you."

"On why the Bajaj name is being removed from Pulsar:1)You can make the hole bigger but not move the hole. Bajaj was well known for low cost scooters and not premium segment.A zoo has no pedigree. It is better to bet on the lion rather than the zoo"

Final comments by moderator Atul Tandan:"Geneticity is a certainity, merit is an intelligent guess."

Navin Chandani(class of 1995, SIIB) , Sarvahshrestha Leadership Series 2010 Award winner:" A leader defines reality and gives hope."