It is rightly said that for the success of any mission, it is necessary to have creative leadership. Creative leadership is vital for government, non-governmental organizations as well as industries. Since its inception in 1988, Birla Institute of Management Technology, Greater Noida has produced thousands of global leaders who have achieved great laurels in their respective fields.
This year the institute celebrates the completion of 10 years of the series of valuable HR Round Tables which started in the year 2011. During these 10 years, BIMTECH has reached 200+ panelists and 5000+ delegates from industry, business and academia. The 3-day event has been organized in association with National HRD Network, Deloitte and Aon Hewitt which took place from 22nd Oct- 24th Oct, 2021 on a virtual platform due to the ongoing pandemic.
The theme of Day 1 was Inspirational Leadership: Art and Science of Developing Leaders. The event commenced at 6 p.m. with the introductions and a small walk through the 10-year journey of the HR Round Tables given by Dr. Manosi Chaudhuri, Professor OB-HRM, BIMTECH. This was followed by the formal welcome address given by the director, Dr. Harivansh Chaturvedi who took immense pleasure in welcoming the distinguished speakers from the industry and the chief guest, Mr. Shekhar Suman.
Following this, Mr. Shekhar Suman talked about his journey of how he became a celebrity and shared his understanding of being an effective leader. He also mentioned the essential characteristics that a leader must possess such as patience, confidence, dedication, and compassion and how inspirational leaders are just ordinary people with extraordinary talents.
After the captivating address given by the chief guest, the floor was set for the panelist speakers to share their views on the theme of inspirational leadership. Dr Manosi Chaudhuri then introduced Mr. Ajay Soni who is the Chief Learning and Development Officer, HR, Aditya Birla Group with over 30 years of experience in the industry and who would also be the moderator for day 1 of 2021 HR roundtable
Mr. Ajay Soni opened by talking about the book Marthan: Art and Science of Developing leaders jointly written by him and Professor KK Sinha. In this book he talks about the 3 Ds of leadership quality displayed by Lord Krishna which were “Depth, Discipline and Dynamism” and related the 3 Ds with the 7 mindsets a leader should have discovered by his research which were “Conviction, Inclusive, Trust, Entrepreneurial mindset, Authentic, Courage and Agility”. He talked about the findings of inspirational leadership survey. According to the survey leaders score higher on Dynamism mindset rather than a mindset of moral discipline, employees feel they themselves are more inspirational than their leaders and managers and survey recipients believe there is a correlation between inspirational leader and managers.
Mr. Ajay Soni then introduced the rest of the panelists
Mr. P Dwarakanath who was till recently the Chairman of GSK Consumer Healthcare
Ms. Swati Rustagi who is currently the director HR for Amazon India Operations
Mr. Rajeev Dubey who is currently acting as Chairman Mahindra Insurance Brokers, Mahindra Steel Service Centre and Mahindra First choice wheels
Mr. SY Siddique currently working on Future Business Strategy and People Challenges, Maruti Suzuki Ltd.
When giving his opinion on Influence without authority Mr. P Dwarakanath opened up by comparing “positional authority and personal credibility”. He spoke about how credibility is the litmus test for becoming an inspirational leader. He took the example of MS Dhoni whose guidance was always sought after even when he was not the captain of the Indian team therefore proving credibility supersedes position. He then talked about organization coming above position or in his words “Organization as hero”. He added on by saying that a leader cannot attain personal credibility until others see that he or she is able to “add value and develop” not only to the organization but also to individuals. He talked about the importance of the “art of tough love” that a leader should be able to master. He summed it up by saying “It is for me the navigational skills with lot of credibility which makes an inspirational leader regardless of position”
Mr. Rajeev Dubey is then asked about his thoughts on inclusion and influence without authority. Mr Rajeev opened by talking about the importance of “distributed leadership” in the new normal which asks for quick and proactive decision making a stark contrast to the days when command and control was the way to go. He talked about the importance of inclusivity among stakeholders in finding the problems and their solutions for a business.
Mr. SY Siddique is then asked about the importance of courage, guts in dire situations. He talked about his own experience during the covid pandemic when tough decisions had to be made on whether or not to open plants or keep them closed which would either hamper business or the safety of workers. He talked about the 2012 Manesar plant incident when tough decisions had to be made on managing the highly volatile situation.
Ms. Swati Rustagi talked about the importance of certain qualities that need to exist for a leader to become inspirational such as moral conviction, purpose, desire to do something big. “Fundamentally there will be leaders who will shine brighter than others and what mentorship can do is bring that light out”. She went on by saying courage is fundamental to being a leader and brings up the courage of being misjudged. She talked about the implications of continuing services during pandemic which she believed might have led some to think that employee safety is being given second priority to customer satisfaction and revenue generation.
Mr. P Dwarakanath talked about the importance of conviction and belief when in possession of moral authority and how those moral values will automatically cascade down and across the organization structure.
Mr. Ajay Soni added on about moral discipline and it being a balancing act of dilemmas regarding various aspects such as the long and the short term, goals of organization and goals of the society, aspiration of people and organization. Mr. SY Siddique added by comparing the pay gap between the lowest level employee and highest-level employee of an organization in Japan being at 28 times which is around 500 to 800 times in India.
Ms. Swati Rustagi talked about an authentic leader. According to her an authentic leader is someone who is empathetic and vulnerable. She talked about the importance of a leader holding his or her ground when being misunderstood as often a leader has a much better idea of the bigger picture than others and in the case when a leader actually turns out to be wrong it is very important for him or her to be honest and admit the mistake. She also spoke about the importance of onboarding ideas which you may or may not agree with. Mr. P Dwarakanath also warned about worshipping leaders, leaders who keep extending their retirement date therefore having a negative effect on succession planning.
Mr. Rajeev Dubey’s opinion on leaders who are brilliant but toxic is to throw them out. He continued by stating the importance of purpose of an organization and how purpose plays a role in the kind of business, type of products and the culture of an organization.
Ms. Swati Rustagi talked about the importance of giving young aspiring leaders a wide problem with multiple dimensions that are not only business related in order to groom them and help them become successful and inspirational leaders.
Mr. Ajay Soni ended the discussion with a rapid-fire round for each of the panellists starting with Ms. Swati Rustagi. She chose execution over ideation, inclusive leader over a leader who delivers results, I failed and I learned over first time right
Mr. SY Siddique chose attitude over skill, he believes mindsets can be shaped, being inspirational over being effective as a leader.
Mr. Rajeev Dubey chose humility over charisma, employee mindset over entrepreneurial mindset for a leader, action focused dynamism over research focused depth.
Mr. P Dwarakanath chose people leadership over action leadership, developing depth in your area over vertical growth, covid as an opportunity over purpose dictated opportunity.
Mr Ajay Soni then wrapped up the discussion by asking the 4 panellists a question: “What is your advice to the younger generation who want to make it big faster and what would you call out as opportunities for them to shape themselves as inspirational leaders?
Ms. Swati Rustagi: “Don’t hold yourself back, do what you want to do, its ok to fail and God always allows you U turns and so do organizations”
Mr SY Siddique: “Instead of faster it’s better to say smart and realistic goals. Create your own professional identity, don’t cut copy paste anybody. Look at collaboration, look at respecting views of others, you’ll do well”
Mr. Rajeev Dubey: “Satya, Prem and Seva – Truth, love and Service. These should be your guiding principles”
Mr. P Dwarakanath: “Passion with purpose”
Mr. Ajay Soni then passed the mic to Dr Manosi Chaudhuri after thanking the panel and the audience.
After the highly insightful and captivating session Dr Manosi Chaudhuri invited Dr Dhananjay Singh, Director General of NHRD network for the vote of thanks.
Dr Dhananjay Singh thanked all the panellists, the organizers and participants and applauded the 1st round of panel discussion of the 2021 HR roundtable conference
