business mandate | january 2017 page 1 of 31

Business Mandate | January 2017 of 31


CONTENTS:

Perspectives in Leadership

M M Murugappan Page 5

Crisis Management - Maggi Issue

Suresh Narayanan Page 8

Personal Influence as a Leadership Skill

Ganesh Chella Page 18

Plan your career: Make the journey worthwhile

Dr Moorthy K Uppaluri Page 22

Demonetisation: Opportunities & Challenges Page 25

New Year makeover

Nina John Page 27

EDITOR

Gp Capt R Vijayakumar (Retd), VSM

LAYOUT EXECUTIVE

D Rajaram

SECRETARIAL ASSISTANCE

K Pandiarajan

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From the Editor

Dear Members,

The year 2016 has been a year of radical change in many

fronts. We have witnessed several political, social, economic,

cultural events which caused dramatic change in the society

we live in. For years to come, 8th November will not be the

same again. The Government of India had taken a courageous

step by withdrawing high value banknotes and going in for a

large scale currency swap. The fact that India today has the capacity to take and enforce these decisions,

and experiment boldly even at a time when the world is looking inwards, marks an exception as far as

India is concerned. In this regard, MMA in partnership with KAS organized a seminar on “Demonetisation:

Opportunities & Challenges” on 19th Dec to deliberate the question before the nation - whether

demonetisation is good or bad, beneficial or not, but more so of its an opportunity or challenge or both.

The Seminar was attended by more than 350 delegates and video recording is available for your viewing

at www.liveibc.com/mma.

The major issue before the Central Government now is about building a consensus with State Governments

on the implementation of the new Goods & Services Tax Regime. Notwithstanding the outcome, MMA has

taken the initiative in organising a one day seminar on the theme “Demystified: Goods & Services Tax

(GST) to provide deep insight into the key changes that will come into play across the entire gamut of

operation of an enterprise and will immensely benefit the participants to understand the impact of GST in

their respective areas. Block your diary and make it convenient to attend the GST Seminar on 7th

January 2017 – live webcast available at www.liveibc.com/mmalive

In the passing away of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Selvi J Jayalalithaa, we have lost a worthy leader of

modern India. What distinguishes her from other regional leaders was her ability to focus on nationalism

and regionalism with acumen and insight. She had a multidimensional view of the common man’s struggle

for a place in the sun. Jayalalithaa was a soul forced into torment because of life others choose for her

and she lived it with all its consequences. Benazir Bhutto, who was also a reluctant entrant into the lime

light, said “I did not choose this life, the life chose me”. This is true of Jayalalithaa too. She will certainly

live in the hearts of millions.

MMA flagship event - Annual Convention 2017 on the theme “India 2017 – Winning in the New Age” will

be held on Friday, 17th February 2017 at Hotel Taj Coromandel, Chennai. I would like to take this

opportunity to compliment Ms Kavitha D Chitturi, Chairperson, Convention Committee and other

Convention Committee Members and our Knowledge Partner, McKinsey & Company who are working

tirelessly to design and conceptualise a great Convention which will be addressed by a galaxy of

distinguished speakers. Please do block your diary to attend the Convention.

I am indeed delighted to share with you that the CMDA has approved MMA’s New Building Plan and the

Bhoomi Pooja was held on Friday, 9th Dec. You will have the state-of-the art new MMA Building of 24,000

sq.ft fully functional in 2017 to promote management movement in this part of the country.

Chak de India – icing on the cake is the crowning of the Indian Junior Hockey Team after it dismantled

Belgium in the final of the Junior World Cup holds promise of a bright future ahead for Indian hockey. Of-

course, the 4-0 victory against England in home series ensure India No:1 ranked test team in the world

of cricket. Congratulations Team India.

We look forward to the New Year 2017, with a lot of hope and ambitious plan. With your support we will

succeed! Happy Reading…. and a brilliant New Year!!!

Gp Capt R Vijayakumar, VSM (Retd)


Perspectives in Leadership M M Murugappan

Vice Chairman, Murugappa Group

A Summary of the Inaugural Address delivered by the Chief Guest, Mr M M Murugappan during the

15th MMA All India Management Students’ Convention 2016 held on 29 September 2016 at

Chennai

First of all it is a rare honour and unique

privilege to be here and to talk to you

this morning briefly and I don’t know

what I am going to talk about because

Ramesh and Uppaluri have told you all

that you need to know! However, I

thought I would engage with you in

some conversation and hopefully you

and those who are perhaps listening to

this convention proceedings either

through audio or video will have some

fun and some takeaway. My colleague

Ram who is also part of the Committee

of MMA when he asked me, and when

Ramesh said that ‘we are third time lucky’, I must say that it is my good fortune to be present here

this morning amidst you because I feel very inspired by all of you. I see in you great potential and I

see in you the future of our country. First of all let me wish you well in your studies and wish you

well in your career endeavours.

I like storytelling and I am sure you all like storytelling. I see the hall is full of lethal combination of

MBA and Engineering students. I feel very inadequate here because I do not possess an MBA! This

story is about an MBA student and his father. The father and the son were engaging in great bonding

and they went to a Camp inside a tent. Sometime during the night, the father got up and woke up

his son. He said, “Son! You know, you are such a fine man and I am extremely happy about you as

you are doing your MBA. Just look at the stars. You are such an intelligent fellow, when you finish

your MBA, you are going to get a fabulous job and you are going to earn much more than I ever

earned in my life! Just look at the stars and tell me about the combination of these stars!” The MBA

son was very annoyed that his father woke him up in the night and then he looked at the stars and

said, these are some meteors, this is the constellation, there is a planet over there, and this is the

exact angle in which it is supposed to be present and so on. After some, the father could not take it

anymore. He said, “Son! Somebody stole our tent!” Somebody had already stolen the tent and they

were standing under the open sky, but the son was in his MBA mode!

Anyway, my first piece of advice to all of you is to have fun. Hope you are having fun in your classes.

How many of you cut classes? I see a big bunch of hands raising! I am sure you all will be really

successful in your life! In business, it is all about taking risks. By cutting classes, you take some

amount of risk and I can assure you that you will be successful in your life! Let me come to the other

dimension. How many of you have cut classes and someone gave proxy for you? I am really worried

about the youth of India now! We have spent all our college life in proxies! Anyway, that does not

matter. The fact is that you are at a stage in life when you need to enjoy yourselves. That’s what I

am going to talk to you about with a little bit of personal experience and a lot about enjoyment and

building a vision for yourselves.


There is a favourite story of mine which is about a stone-cutter. There were two stone-cutters and

they were both cutting stones. One stone-cutter was cribbing to himself “Oh! I am cutting stones!

Every day, I have to cut the stone; look at the small pile of stones lying by my side. For this I am

getting paid Rs. 50 or Rs. 100 only” (just like when MBAs go for internships, the companies don’t

pay you enough!). He was always worked up and worried about what next. But the stone-cutter next

to him was always singing and happily cutting the stones! One person asked him, “Both of you are

cutting stones and both of you are going to get the same Rs. 100! How is it that you look happy and

he looks grumpy?” The second stone-cutter replied to him, “Look! I am not cutting just stones! I am

cutting the stones with which a new temple will be built!” He was very charged, he had the spirit that

‘I am not merely a stone-cutter, I am helping to build a temple!’ Now look at the difference between

the two people. One guy had a super attitude because he could visualise, he could envision a temple

being built and the sweat of his labour was being valued and the other guy was just doing a job. This

is very interesting for students like you and in fact for every one of us. We just need to enjoy what

we do and try and envision because it is not just about the opportunity; it is about the imagination.

You will leave soon the portals of your Institutions. Some of you will seek a job; some of you will

pursue a career in academics; some of you would like to start your own companies. There is a session

on Start-ups and I would recommend every one of you to attend that session because I have the

privilege of knowing some of the people who are going to speak to you. When you leave the portals

of your Institution, you are not just armed with a degree. Please understand that you are amongst

the most fortunate people in India to have gone to that college or to have had that education. So,

don’t waste your time in the college; enjoy and excel. Because the world is full of opportunities and

it is for you to grab it. I am just building on what Dr Uppaluri has said. It is full of opportunities for

you to grab it and if you say that you are not getting a job and nothing comes your way, you are like

the stone-cutter who complains and cribs! Of course, you need a little luck and all of us need a little

luck. But Lady Luck will smile on you if you are willing to be persevering.

The theme of the Convention is “Perspectives in Leadership”. I am going to ask you a few questions.

Tell me the names of few leaders who come to your mind and who inspired you? Any names, it can

be from sports, it can be from politics or science or academics, and it could be your own parents.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni! Well said from the side where girls are sitting! Have you seen the film on M

S Dhoni? You all should watch that film. Who else? Warren Buffet! Highly aspirational and I wish

you to become like him one day! Angela Markel! Oh! She is stronger than any man in this world!

Yes! There are people who come to our minds who inspire us. But you take these people, be it Angela

Merkel, MS Dhoni or Warren Buffet. You see them peripherally, but if you go back to see their success

there is a tremendous amount of discipline that they have. I know, Dhoni spent a lot of time in the

net practice and test crickets, Warren Buffet and his team must have spent hours analysing

companies and their potentials, Angela Merkel, in a very strong society which is dominated by men,

was able to lead her party to the highest position that she has, as the Chancellor or Head of Germany.

So, all these people are people who had a vision and aspiration and clearly they had the discipline

and the perseverance.

So, my perspective on leadership does not necessarily come from business leaders. They are equally

good business leaders. But what I see leadership across the world, there could be leadership of sports

teams, Claudio Ranieri, the Italian Football Manager and former player rings a bell? If you see, the

football teams pay very high for a pair of legs! The reason they do it is because they are able to spot

talent. So, one of the perspective of leadership is that we have to be able to spot talents and you are

the talent! Therefore, you need to be patient, you need to be persevering, you need to enjoy your

work and you need to excel. But there is a lot more to leadership than this. For this I have chosen

three leaders across the world over years. One of them said, “In matters of style swim with the

current. In matters of principle stand like a rock”. Another one, when was asked about leadership,


he said, “The supreme quality of leadership is integrity”. That brings me to the story of a gentleman

called Chanakya.

Chanakya was a very clever guy and somebody went to Chanakya for advice. Those days there was

no electricity and so we could not turn-on or turn-off the lights. At the appointed time, the gentleman

went to Chanakya. When he went to Chanakya, he saw him reading a book by the side of a lamp.

On seeing him, Chanakya asked him to sit down and soon he took his lamp and went outside the

room plunging the room into darkness; he came back after sometime with another lamp and put it

by the side by which he could see the gentleman who came for his advice. They started their

conversation and when they finished, the young man told Chanakya, “I have one question for you.

When I came here on time, you made me sit down and you went out of the room plunging the room

into darkness.When you came back with the lamp, we continued with our conversation. Why did you

do this Chanakya?” Chanakya answered, “When I was reading the book when you came, I was

preparing to meet the King. So that oil I was burning was the King’s oil. You came to me for personal

advice. So I went and brought my lamp because I cannot give you advice on the King’s lamp”. You

see the nuances of ancient India talking of integrity. So leadership integrity is extremely important.

Finally, there was another leader who said, “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other”.

This to me is extremely critical because if you are not a life-long learner you cannot aspire to the

position of leadership. So, with these perspectives of not necessarily business leaders, there are

leaders of nation, leaders who have great wisdom, leaders of sport- all have similar characteristics.

I was asked to share by the Convention team

what we do in terms of developing leaders. We as

a business try to develop leaders from within. We

give them exposure, we try and help them gain

experience, and we encourage them to take risks.

But more than anything else, we try and support

them in all their endeavours. But apart from

managing or running the business, we request

our leaders and we encourage them to get a

perspective of the world, not just a national

perspective but an international perspective. So,

my simple advice to you in addition to watching reality shows which of course you must do, in addition

to watching cartoons and sports and films, once in a while tune in to the news channels too! Tune to

programs of discovery channels and tune into the programs on BBC. Then you get a perspective of

the world. It is not going to help you with something during your specific courses for your

examinations, but I would like you to build a perspective if you aspire to be leaders. Leadership is

not about joining companies and organisations, leadership is about creating something which you

can let your imaginations flow. Whether you are in a corporate environment or whether you are in

your own start-up company or whether you work for government, it does not matter. It is something

that you wish to do. There are plenty of possibilities. Do you know, you guys have been brought up

in an environment where everything is instantaneous? How many of you do not have a smart phone?

Not one! You want to be in control of what you do. You want to watch your films; you want to send

what’s app messages; many of you have your own Twitter handle! That’s what is happening. I want

to tell you about what is happening right here in India. Have any of you heard about the JAM’s tag?

JAM is about what our Prime Minister has been saying about the Jan Dhan, Aadhar Card and Mobile;

By Jan Dhan, he wants all the Indian citizens to open bank accounts. There is the Aadhar Card which

is linking so many people and the M is for your mobile. The question is to get India more efficient.

All this will be at the forefront of Information Technology and all this will require young minds like

you who can think, who can think fast and who can think sharp and create more and more


applications for the society. These are the kind of opportunities you have and these opportunities are

something that had never been there in the last 25 to 30 years.

So in all perspectives, I think it is your imagination, your perseverance and your hard work together

supported by your faculties, your parents and you well-wishers that matter. But if you want to know

perspectives in leadership, I would like you to go a little bit into history. I have a little book with me

which I tend to read every night. Each chapter is one page and so it does not take long to read. Note

it, it is not available in the Internet. It is available on Amazon and Flipkart. This is ancient Chinese

writing written 2000 years ago and it is one of my favourites. I read one or two chapters every night.

The book is called “The Tao of Leadership”. I will read from one particular chapter which really

belongs to all of you.

“If you want to be a positive influence in the world, first get your own life in order. Ground yourself

in the single principle so that your behaviour is wholesome and effective. If you do that, you will earn

respect and you will be a powerful influence. Your behaviour influences others through a ripple effect.

The ripple effect works because everyone influences everyone else. Your parents have influenced

you, your friends have influenced you and you influence others. Powerful leaders are powerful

influencers. If your life works, your influence goes to your family. If your family works, your family

influences the community. If your community works, your community influences the nation. If your

nation works, your nation influences the world. If your world works, the ripple effect spreads

throughout the cosmos.

Remember that your influence begins with you and ripples outward. So be sure that your influence

is both potent and wholesome. How do I know that this works? All growth spreads outward from a

fertile and potent nucleus. You are a nucleus”

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, You are that potent nucleus! If you want to make a difference

to your lives, to the Corporate India and to the nation as a whole, and have these aspirations and

you will also learn from the Convention, You are that nucleus. Take your time, take that effort, listen

to people, interact with them, and make your life wholesome and meaningful. As you leave the

portals of your Institutions, go out into the world with great imaginations and be a positive influence.

I wish you all well! God bless all!

MANAGEMENT - MAGGI ISSUE

Suresh Narayanan

Chairman & Managing Director, Nestle India Ltd

A Summary of the Address delivered by Mr Suresh

Narayanan during the talk on ‘Crisis Management -

Maggi Issue’ held on 21 October 2016 at Chennai

I would like to begin this speech with a good news

and a bad news. Let me begin with the bad news!

The bad news is that the crisis can happen to any

of you! Crisis is neutral to gender, it is neutral to

organisations, and it is neutral to nationality and

neutral indeed to any other vector that you might

like to define in terms of denomination. Crisis can

be personal; crisis can be organisational. If you are able to understand the personal crisis well, you

will be able to understand corporate crisis equally well. The good news is that you can come out of

that! That, it does not mean that every single crisis necessarily leads to annihilation or leads to death

or leads to any severe damages. But there are a few things and what I wish to share with you all are


things that all of you are aware of. This is only sharing a perspective with all humility. I am here as

a professional to share with you what me and 7200 people and many hundred thousand associates

of ours went through in managing the crisis. But a crisis has also got its own peculiarities. To put it

simple, all happy families are alike and unhappy families are unhappy in their own ways. So good

times are alike and crises are unique in their own way! So, as a result of today’s presentation, I can

only give you broad principles of what we use as a company and should you and a misfortune befall

you, the answers will have to be sought and found out by you, your organisation and your teams.

Nestle

What we are talking about here is a brand that goes back in time. Maggi is not a new brand; Maggi

globally was acquired by Nestle in 1948. It is a name of a person, a gentleman called Julius Maggi

(pronounced as “Ma:jji in Italian language) and we pronounce this as Maggi and more so put an ‘e’

at the end and make it more Indianised! Originally it is a Swiss-Italian brand. It all began in 1983

and 1983 is a very important year in our calendar, and 1983 was when India won the World Cup.

What a victory it was under the captaincy of Kapil Dev! It is a big, big event in the history of India.

It was also a big point in time for the history of Nestle because in 1983 we introduced Maggi Noodles

for the first time in this country. It was a very bold move. India was a country which was consuming

a lot of wheat and a lot of rice and nothing on noodles. The closest to noodles was in the south which

is called semia and even that is not near what noodle gives in the hearts and minds of the consumers

of noodles. It is in the long traditions of the organisations to be thinking not in perspectives of one,

two and three years but thinking in perspectives of 5, 10,15 and 20 years. We are a 150 year old

company and this year we have celebrated the 150th Year of the company.

Our first product was actually called Farine Lactee which is a mixture of flour, sugar, vitamins and

milk. It was first fed by Henri Nestle to save the life of a child in the neighbourhood. It was Switzerland

in the 19th century, it is surprising to imagine that it was a poor country and they had a lot of infant

mortality. Henri Nestle used his scientific knowledge as a Chemist to put together this product and

gave it to a child, the child survived and they gave it to a few more children. Thus was born the first

product of Nestle called Farine Lactee which today we call Cerelac. The traditions of the company,

therefore, had started with nutrition and that is the tradition which was carried on for 150 years. We

have been in India for 104 years and we have been the pioneers in many product categories. The

first sweet condensed milk was Milkmaid. Milkmaid has been in the hearts of consumers for many

years. The first instant coffee was Nescafe. I was posted in Egypt. They don’t have the local Arabic

word for instant coffee; the local Arabic word for instant coffee is Nescafe! So when they want to

have any coffee, they say, Nescafe! For a marketer, this can be no bigger dream than to have your

brand taken as the name. Kit Kat the first wafer-rolled chocolate which is introduced in this country.

Story of Maggi

Maggi, the first brand of instant noodles which was introduced in this country in 1983. It was

fundamentally a brand positioned on convenience and the fact that it was customisable into tasty,

light and filling. That is what the parents wanted in a jiffy for their kids when they came home hungry

from school. Now the brand has got into a meteoric rise; it zoomed from 5 million packs in 2006 and

it went up 7 times in 8 years. You see the brand, how the brand becomes successful, how it becomes

huge, how it becomes large in terms of its impact, not only as a brand but also with the consumers.

It also started something that was unique in India which was the capability to be introduced as a

form of vending, as a form of entrepreneurship. Many thousands of kiosks were opened across the

country that prepared and sold Maggi and in fact there are some iconic points whether it is in

Kodaikanal or Ooty or indeed, if you go to Mussorie, there is a place called Maggi Point! There is an

outlet in Delhi which is called Tom Uncle’s Maggi Point and Tom Uncle’s sells 46 varieties of Maggi

Noodles. Even we never imagined there would so many varieties of Maggi Noodles! That’s what the

consumers have done, taking what we offered as a basic Noodle.


So here is the brand that reached the zenith, it

became a cult status. Maggi was the most

trusted brand in the country, the second largest

consumer good brand in the country and the

most powerful brand in the country! This is like

a good, healthy middle-aged man, very

successful in life with lovely family and kids,

known as one of the icons and the icon suddenly

falls. This is a typical situation that sometimes

can happen in a minor form in organisations and

sometimes in a very major form in organisations.

This is the analogy that I use of the human

analogy as something can happen to any of us. At the peak of our career, you come down of a heart

attack, what do you do? You either look at that event as a way to come out of the crisis in which

you are in or you look at it as a way to sink yourself further into despair.

It all started like this…

This happened in a small place called Barabanki in UP; it started with an analysis that found that the

Maggi had something called Monosodium Glutamate, which we don’t add, but which occurs in the

natural form of Glutamate which, if tested, will be the same test as Monosodium Glutamate.

Obviously this was seen to be a violation of the product standards; it went in for a reanalysis. The

samples reached about a year later travelling via Shimla to Kolkata. The analysis was done and an

analysis which typically takes a few days took about 1 ½ months and suddenly it was found that

there was very high levels of lead, 7 times above the permissible limits. Clearly that was seen as a

huge violation. It came back into the system as a feedback to the food authorities and rather than

address the issue with the company, it went straight to the media. People talked about the dangers

of Maggi, there was a call for it to be banned. It went on and one of the anchors unfortunately called

it the ‘biggest disaster after the Bhopal Gas Tragedy’. We were saddled with the label that compared

us with Bhopal Gas tragedy! This is what happened to the brand in a matter of a couple of days, a

brand which is the most respected brand. With the unrelenting media, within two months, 10000

articles were carrying negative branding on Maggi and Nestle. There was so much of revulsion, so

much of noise, so much of hype on really no substance! And, this can happen in any situation,

whether with good intention or bad intention, this was clearly a massacre on the brand. What can

we do? Here is the brand which had the consumer trust, that means the consumer gives his feedback

saying, ‘I love and trust this brand’, feedback coming from almost 98% of consumers, (you cannot

have better than that as if it is 100%, there is something wrong in your survey) was banned in the

market. A brand that was selling roughly 15000 MT per month, the consumer trust had fallen to 3%.

From pink of health to dangerously close to death and sales fell down from 15000 tons to zero, which

means effectively the brand is dead. This for a company where Food Quality and Food Safety is like

A RELIGION! If you visit our factories, you can eat off on the floor, I guarantee you. Visit our factory

in Nanjangud and you can have your curd rice placed on the floor, That is the level of care that is

taken on food quality and safety. Clearly at this point in time we could have engaged and we could

have talked but it would not have helped because people have made up their mind that it is unsafe

to consume Maggi; people have made up their mind that there is a problem with the brand; people

were not willing to listen. Therefore our Global CEO made his visit and had the fateful Press

Conference where he took the decision to withdraw the product from the market.

It thus started the first for this country and first for this company. Our factories, 8 of them are set

up with all the care and concern, with all the investment and with all the support to ensure that the

food quality and safety will never be compromised. And here the company that was taking back, not

one or two, but over 35000 Tons of the product from the market! There was logistics of a kind that


has not been seen in the history of any recall in the country. People who were rewarded to sell have

now been coaxed to take back. Many of you here are sales and marketing professionals, and there

is nothing more painful in an organisation that to tell your team to stop selling and taking out the

products back from the market. As I mentioned to a senior functionary in Government, the amount

of Noodles which I have destroyed which were perfectly safe could have fed every poor Indian one

meal. That says a lot in a country with our levels of poverty.

What next?

Anyway, what happened had happened and we took all the products back; it was done with quiet

dignity; it was done with extreme dedication and extreme purpose. We have not read about a single

distributor of our product going to the media and saying, “I am so pissed off with this company” or

“I am so angry with this company”. Not one single distributor! We had a problem actually to tell our

distributors to give us their bills for what they were incurring. They said, Sir, we have been working

for this company so long and in times of misfortune, we will be with you and we are all going to be

capitalising on this”. Look at the power of relationship! We always think business is all about money,

all about profit and all about growth. Seldom do we talk about relationships. At times of crisis,

relationships come to your use and they are the ones that are most durable. We realised that we will

fight and there is no flight. At some stage, there were some talks saying, “Will Nestle exit this

country?” A company with 104 years of existence, 8 factories, 7200 employees, 100000 milk farmers,

400000 wheat farmers, 15000 suppliers, 2000 distributors, millions and millions of consumers. Do

you think we will exit the country? It was a trivial statement that was made. So we said that we will

defend ourselves with dignity and that and we will not allow ourselves to get cowed off.

How it was done?

In those days, I was happily living in the Philippines after having spent 4 ½ years in Egypt. I was

quite happy in Philippines because there were good golf courses and the only bit of crisis you see is

the 18 typhoons in a year! I was happy facing the typhoon when I was called saying, “Please come

back to India; we need you to help in the Indian operations”. Even though I initially felt, “Why me?”

I felt, “if it is not me, then who else?”

My first interview was on the day I arrived India. Normally when Nestle changes its CEO, there is

one line news in the newspaper. But this was a banner headlines in Economic Times saying “An

Indian comes to save Nestle”. Within few days I had an interview with a pleasant lady, Shereen Bhan

of CNBC channel. She said, “This is a live interview and I will not be telling you the questions that I

am going to ask you but will be live for 45 minutes program on the national television which I am

advertising and getting everybody to read about it because this is the biggest news!”. There was no

bigger news on channels and newspapers than what was happening to Maggi. So, we went ahead

and asked, what we should do. We first went for analytic support – we went back to the Food Safety

and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and started the dialogue once again. We took the matter

to the Mumbai High Court because it was very clear that the company had not done anything wrong

and we were being implicated for whatever facts that were available on the safety issue. We went

back to the Health and Family Welfare Ministry to talk about the issues involved in the entire saga

that we were part of. We said, and this came out of social media, “During the time we have been

banned and during the time in which we were taking back the stock for destruction, there were

millions of consumers and lot of young consumers who were coming on the social media saying,

“Look! You are a good company! We love your brand! A young marketer walked into my room and

said, I want to write short stories on Maggi. I looked at her and asked her whether she wanted to

write about the Noodle. She asked me back, “Do you really think it is just a noodle? You don’t

understand, Maggi has been part of my life. I grew up with Maggi. The snack that I had had when I

came back from school was Maggi. On days of my exams, I ate Maggi. My boyfriend fed me Maggi.

We got married, we went on honeymoon, no food available, and we had Maggi. Even today in my

house, when we don’t have anything available for dinner, we eat Maggi! And you say it is a Noodle!”


A part of our brand transcends all the relationships you can never think of! Today, when we are back

in leadership in the market, I cannot but salute the consumers for what they have given to this

brand. Therefore, those of you who nurture a brand, cherish it! Because, it is ultimately your brands

which will get you out of any mess that you find yourself in!

We miss you Maggi..

We decided to recollect and reciprocate. When the

consumer said, “we miss you”, we said, “we miss

you too!”. We did not have the product on the shelf

because at that time, the matter was pending in the

Mumbai High Court which incidentally gave one of

the landmark judgements in the history of food

judgements in this country. It actually found the

Food Regulator as having transgressed on the

fundamental freedom that the company has to

defend itself which was a very big statement to

make for the company. So we made campaigns in the simple and straight forward messages in the

consumers’ languages, more transparent, clear, simple and straight forward. So we said, we will

prove our mettle, because you remember that in crisis what you can look to are the values of the

organisation. If the values of your organisations are ethical, transparent, focused on quality and

safety, you are the backbone to stand up to a crisis. If you don’t have it, this is something that you

should be far away from. So as I said, we decided to take the matter to the High Court and the

judgement that came out clearly vindicates the stand and the feeling that we had on the entire case.

What more, eight countries across the world cleared this product for sale! The US FDA which rejects

test award for every second product cleared this product! UK, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand,

and Hong Kong – all cleared it. So there must be something incongruous; if everything around the

world finds this safe, why should we find it unsafe? Then we took one more step to rebuild our

stature. Here I use the example of the Taj Mahal Hotel because the Taj had faced the worst onslaught

of the terrorist attack some years ago. The Company stood tall; the Hotel Management stood tall. I

still remember, the General Manager of the Hotel who lost his family in the attack standing to protect

the customer. That speaks values and he said, as a company our values are the same; dignity,

respect, confidence, humility, transparency and ethics are clear parts of our value chain. Let’s build

this back brick by brick consumer by consumer and employee by employee. The first advertisement

we put out, the minute all the clearances from all the laboratories across the country came was

“Maggi has passed the exam” because what was the first and most important to consumers is that

your product is safe. I have several thousand information about the product which I can put on the

slate. But what is important is that the accredited laboratories in the country say the same. When

they said that we decided the simple communication should be on the safety of the product.

Welcome back Maggi..

We decided to launch; we said, we will come back with Maggi. The single most important purpose

that the organisation embraced was the come-back of Maggi. When the purpose takes over mind

and the heart, magic happens. Many of us sometimes attribute success to the salary, perquisites and

different comforts in life to be more important than the sense of purpose. You give a man or a woman

a sense of purpose, everything becomes secondary and here was the sense of purpose! We are a

company of 7200 people who work hard every single day, middle class people like people in this

room, worked hard and ensured that we earn our honest day’s wage. Our valorisation happens only

when the brand comes back and comes back strongly. I can only tell you that if you look at the crisis

as an opportunity, you will be doing the biggest service to your organisation. A crisis helps you to

recalibrate; a crisis helps you to regulate what you do and what you should not be doing; it helps


you to reenergise the organisation; it reinvigorates the organisation in terms of the purpose and

direction that you want to follow.

We took a decision as a team, we said, we must come back with Maggi Noodles. The time that we

had between the clearances from the courts and from the laboratories and what we targeted for

which is ‘dhanteras’ which is a day before Diwali, which is a very auspicious day in the calendar, we

said we want to be on that day. It gave us barely 5 weeks and that’s when the magic happened! The

strategic material which normally takes 42 days under usual circumstances was done in 9 days. Raw

materials which takes 21 days were procured in 5 days. Point of Sale material which usually takes

60 days was reduced to 20 days. System readiness which is a big thing for an organisation that is

completely wired our SAP from 21 days to 5 days. A campaign which normally takes 45 days was

completed and ready to roll in 20 days! What is more, factories which have been shut for 5 months

were put together in readiness to produce in less than 48 hours! It is tribute to all my people and

all my team for making it happen. It is not one person, I am the person here sharing it with you. I

have the humility to recognise that there are so many thousands of people who made this happen,

so many suppliers who made it happen, so many distributors who made it happen, so many people

who had nothing in their life for six months, many of them are those who had just earned their living

made this happen!

So we did this and rolled out to different parts of the country. We galvanised the troops. Nothing

succeeds in a team like getting the energy back and this is what we did. We reached out to 350

towns in the first phase in which 120000 outlets were covered. We also did an interesting idea; for

the first time for ever, we re-launched Maggi in Snapdeal. The idea came from a young branch

manager who came up to me and said, sir, why don’t we launch in Snapdeal. I said, “Are you out of

your mind? All my career, I have been launching this only in shops”. He replied, “Sir! If it fails, it’s

fine. If it succeeds, there could be a big payoff for the company and the brand”. He was right! We

launched it in Snapdeal and 60000 boxes were sold in just five minutes! The hype that was created

on the brand was enormous! The job of a leader is to embrace new ways of thinking. In my times, I

never had these channels of distribution. This was a very big exercise that we went ahead with which

was hugely successful. We rolled out the product Pan India from Leh to the South, to the East and

West. The hollow objective was to energise the launch of this brand. So, the theme was very simple

which was, “Welcome back, Maggi!”. We had simple and straight forward pieces of communication

and now we see the arrival back of the brand.

A leader at times of crisis…

So, what is it in a crisis that brings you the lessons and moves you from the past to way forward?

First as leader, whether you lead 2 people or 200 people or 200000 people, one of the tasks of

leadership which all of you would have experienced is people look at you in times of a crisis. How a

leader talks, how he behaves, how he connects, how he moulds himself etc., You think it is trivial

simply because you got out of your bed at the wrong side or you had a tiff with your wife, it does

not give you any license to carry that forward into the leadership role that you play because ultimately

the organisation is looking at you. The first element that I believe is to exude positivity. I am from

an organisation which had been ever through a worst crisis. This is not the time to come and say,

“You guys have messed it up”. This is not the time to be on a witch-hunt game; this is not the time

to say “Who is responsible for this mess, please tell me. I will first reduce his increment by 50% and

then sack him”. Is this the time to look into all these things? Or is this the time to help the team to

get up, as a wise man once said it is not important what happens to you; it is what you do with what

happens to you. That is most important at times of crisis. The leader exudes positivity, embraces the

opportunity. Crisis will happen to us. It will happen to us in small ways or in big ways, but if we

embrace it as an opportunity to change yourself, to improve yourself, to rejuvenate yourself going

forward, there will be a much larger contribution that you are capable of making. The second element

is to engage. Typically in a difficult situation, some leaders tend to disengage. “I don’t want to talk,


I will not meet, I will not discuss” is the attitude of such leaders and they leave people guessing. I

always use a very simple idiom in my own mind. When the salesman goes every morning to sell, if

he is not certain of the organisation he is working for, he cannot do anything for you; it is your job

as a leader to provide him that recourse, provide him that motivation, to provide him the reason to

be. Otherwise, your role as a leader is a failed cause. It is not a cause that is worthy or that can be

done justice to by a leader like you. As a leader, communicate. When you are sitting in a leadership

role, can everything be clear to everybody? This is the time to communicate. We had a lot of

communication sessions. My management style is that I don’t sit in the office as I get bored and I

walk around my office. Some of my colleagues always get a shock out of me when I ask them some

questions! But it is important. When you communicate, when you engage, you give people a sense

of comfort. If you find a leader in humorous mood, you think that everything is going well. A leader

may have a lot of crisis and difficulties in his head. Keep it at the back of your head and don’t put

that in front of your face, as a leader. That gives a signal to others that something is seriously wrong

in this organisation. Credibility and confidence are another attribute to a leader in times of crisis.

The leader has to be able to walk the talk. If you live by the values, you should be able to exude it

in all that you do. Your credibility will happen only then. I know how my fellow colleagues and older

colleagues know this from the truth of life. When I came on board there could have been a lot of

people who wanted to paint glorious picture to me. “Let’s face it, let’s be aggressive, let’s be arrogant,

how can this happen to us?” But there were people who said, “Calm down, this is not the way to deal

with it, maybe there is a better way, and there are better nuances to it”. So, as leaders if you

encourage within the organisation people to speak their minds, because one of the rare attributes

in leadership in my experience has been courage. Courage is only restricted to our armed forces; I

don’t see much courage happening in organisations. We are all taught to be compliant. We are told

to be quiet, flow with the water and you will reach your destination. It is difficult to speak your mind

and some fellow will give it in your head if he does not agree with you. Even if he gives you in your

head, he would have a residual thought, ‘may be that fellow has a point; may be what he says is

truth”. Therefore face the reality. Last but not the least is unite; the great power of coming out of

difficulty is the power of unity. This one thing in a Nestle spirit that encouraged us is the fact that we

always call ourselves as the Nestle family. I am probably the elder member of the family and there

are many younger members, junior members, but all are members of this family. If you are able to

do that and put it together, I believe that there is a contribution that you are able to make as you

move forward.

What I learnt from this crisis?

Opportunity in adversity: I think the Chinese call it Weiji which means every crisis is an

opportunity. Don’t let it go. Don’t waste a crisis. Sometimes what we do is, we just want to get out

of the hole without learning anything and we fall back to the hole once again. Then all you are left

with is calling the consultants and they tell you what you should be doing. And what you should be

doing should have been done before. That is the reason why learning from adversity is so very

important. Don’t be afraid of uncertainties; that is the reality of the existence that we have.

Team work: Some of us decry team work. Some of us begin our sentences with “I”. “I did this” “I

did that”. Yes, you did it. But please remember, like the reflection of the sun on the lake, you will

get your share of glory for being part of the team. What happens to us and what happened to Nestle

and how we came out of it is not my deed alone. My portion is probably in decimals! It is a deed of

every single Nestle employee and all the partners and everyone associated with this company.

Remember one thing, during this entire crisis, I did not lose a single supplier, a single distributor, I

did not have one industrial relation unrest although my factory was shut for 5 months. This has been

the power of relationship nurtured over years. This is not just my own contribution to it. If you are

able to engender team work and engender a sense of achievement, you will drive credibility for

yourself and for the organisation.


“Can do” and not “will try”: When the house is on fire, you want a fire tender to extinguish the

fire; you don’t want someone to give you operating procedures. Sometimes we get into the ‘process

paralyses. We keep rewarding our employees for following the processes. If I had people in Nestle

who said, “We would try to come out of this crisis”, it will not work. You have to come out of it.

People are the centre of everything we do: That is the one lesson that this crisis taught me and

renewed the lesson that I believed in my heart all these years is that you only give the roar and the

people are the lions! If you believe in that, everything will happen. Harry Truman once said, “Great

things can be achieved if you don’t care who takes the credit”. Our problem in leadership is that; we

all want to have the credit and we want to have the credit for everything. The credit will come to you

if your people do what they are supposed to do.

Keep a plan B ready: My only suggestion for all my fellow colleagues here is, keep your plan B

ready as you don’t know when a crisis will hit you. Sometimes it is brewing under your nose and you

don’t see it happen. Keep your plan B ready because everybody today has to have this plan B to tide

over a circumstance that they are not being able to estimate.

Never lose your winning spirit: Many of us think that work in organisations is all about intellect,

but leadership is less about intellect and more about coexistence. It is more about bringing people

together; it is more about connecting the dots; it is more about seeing through the windscreens

rather than through the rear view mirror. That’s what the characteristic of leadership is and nothing

is more important than this when you are faced with a crisis.

Keep your eyes on the reality: Now I can sit and talk to you about the crisis because by the grace

of God and the efforts of lot of people, we are coming out of it. If you ask me, what the formula is

or recipe or what is the path of our coming out of the crisis, I will not be able to tell you. I don’t know

what will happen tomorrow and therefore your sense of reality has to be important. And the reality

check, only you can do. You will get both the” Jalra “masters and the” table” masters! The distinction

lies in your head; the distinction lies in your capability in sifting the wheat from the chaff.

Constantly communicate, not less but more: A crisis calls for communication. Don’t hesitate;

don’t ever think that you don’t have all the answers because people know that you don’t have the

answers. When I walked into this crisis and addressed my people, I did not have a single solution.

I only said, “I give you hope”. I only said, “You matter more than anyone else”. I only said, “We can

do it altogether”. I only said, “In my heart it tells me that we will come out of this”. I only said, “The

value that you and I share as a family and we live by it” I had no answers! What answer could I give

when the whole place is on fire and we still have to figure how to take it forward? If you communicate

that, you give a sense of hope, you give a sense of perspective, you give a sense of rejuvenation,

and you give a sense to people that ‘we will survive’. By this all the people around us will put in their

efforts and make us come out of it.

Stick to your values: Every organisation has values. Every family has values. If I have been able

to help steer this company through this huge crisis it is because of the congruous between the values

of this company, of the ethics, honesty, integrity and quality together with respect and dignity

translated in terms of what I believed and what I try to practise in our own life that has been able to

help this organisation. If I had not believed in it, I would not have done it!

Be humble: The problem in leadership role is that we get carried by the size of the visiting card and

as all of us grow, our visiting card becomes bigger, to start off as manager and end off with Managing

Director or CEO and our ego also becomes bigger and bigger! Remember the Bhagavad Gita, “You

came with nothing and go with nothing; what is here with you is transitory”. Tomorrow I should be

able to have the same respect with you as I have as an individual today in my official capacity. But

humility can be transformed and can be transformative in organisations. During a crisis, there is

nothing better than having a group of people who are humble about what they are doing. The minute

arrogance sets in, that is when disaster strikes.


Listen and stay connected: Listening and staying connected with your people in the front line

wherever they are, be it your employees or your stakeholders. Sometimes we say that we don’t like

to do networking and PR. No! You cannot say that, as a leader it is part of your job. If you don’t want

to do the job, don’t take the job. Why do you take the job and make a menace to people around

you? Why do you want to take the organisation on the path to hell if you don’t think it is heaven?

Be human: Last but not the least, be human. Many of us have been brought up in a generation to

be compassionate and to be empathetic. To be sympathetic and to be kind are considered as feminine

characteristics. When I started my career I was told to act like a man, punch and box! Later I realised

the reality when someone told me to be like a coconut, hard outside and soft inside!

Never compromise: Ultimately a leader should never compromise on performance, on

accountability, on responsibility and on delivery. But he must have the compassion, energy and spirit

to take his people with him and that’s what tough situations bring the best out of you.

This has been a tremendous experience for the organisation and for me. I started with the thinking,

‘why it is me?” and today I deem it a rare privilege because I have seen something which I don’t

want my worst enemy to face; something that brings out the best in human beings and the best

thing that can happen to you as a human being. You realise in all this your own strengths and

frailties which makes you hopefully a better professional, a better father, a better husband and a

better friend. That ultimately what a crisis is meant to do for human beings! Last but not the least,

I quote from Sir. Winston Churchill who said, “Success is not final; failure is not fatal; it is the courage

to continue that comes!”


Personal Influence as a Leadership Skill

Ganesh Chella

Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Coaching Foundation India Ltd

A Summary of the Address delivered by Mr Ganesh Chella during the 15th MMA All India

Management Students’ Convention 2016 held on 29 September 2016 at Chennai

Your personal influence will be put to test when you

appear for interviews and find the dream job that you are

looking for. Hopefully what I am going to share with you

should help all of you to discover that ‘personal influence’

you have and see if you can first find a job for yourself

and then make a difference to the world! The few things

I am going to talk about now are: what is influence, why

influence matters today, how can you learn to influence

and how does that reward you.

What is influence?

If you, by some chance, have some effect on other

people you are said to have influence. If through some means you can effect on other person’s

character, development, or behaviour, or affect another person in any other way, you have influence.

Do we all keep influencing other people in our lives? Yes, we do! Or there other people who influence

us? Yes. They do it all the time! This ability to have an effect on other people and through that shape

their beliefs, shape their behaviours, their emotions is perhaps very central to leadership. But I don’t

want to go that far. I want to start by saying that if you remember what your parents told when you

were a little kid, when you went to school, they said, “Hey! Please be careful with that boy; I think

he will have a bad influence on you”. There are some people your parents fear would have bad

influence on you. There are some characters in the movie in public world whom we all fear would

have a bad influence on the society. The truth therefore is that you don’t need to become 40 years

old to have influence. Chances are, when you are 4 years old some of you had influence on others

and others had influence on you. So, my big worry is not whether you have influence. I am sure all

of you have influence. My big worry is this; will your influence do good or bad? Or the other people

who influence you will do good to you or will do bad to you? The world is full of powerful influences

today. People without any position any business card, any title have enormous influence on us.

Similarly young boys and girls who come from nowhere are beginning to yield enormous influence

on other people. So the question to ask yourself is: Am I going to do good or bad to other people

with the influence that I have?

What do people do with influence? People sell great ideas; people make businesses out of it; people

make us to buy products on the mobile phone; people force you to driving a car and hire and hail a

cab; people force you to spend away with sports and sit in front of a computer; people get you to

believe in certain ideas; people get you to join movements; people use all their time to get other

people to support them in what they are doing. Sometimes it is also used to spread evil and it is also

used to inspire change. And to do all of this, you don’t need a title, you don’t need a position and

you don’t need to become a general manager! The question is: what way you do with your influence?

If you have that influence, then you can consider yourself to be a leader at any stage in your life.

Why influence matters today?

The question is: why is influence important for all of you as you are about to embark on your career,

enter the corporate world? Since we are so connected, and information is in abundance, influence

becomes more important than information. Everybody has information. What do I do with that

information to have an effect on other people is what matters. All the people you work with have


information. But can I use my influence to effect other people is a question that you need to ask

yourself. When you get your first job, when you work with your first colleague, what am I going to

do to have an effect on them so that I can achieve my objective is the question that you should ask

yourself. With radical changes, organisation structures, hierarchies, rolls are all irrelevant. When you

go and talk to older people in organisations, they are more worried about handling young people,

how can I get them to respect me, how can I get them to understand that I am as cool as they are.

Therefore I think, there is a huge opportunity for you to get things done without waiting to achieve

a position. You have an opportunity to demonstrate leadership because the society has changed and

structures have changed. Parents do not have authority over their children though hopefully some

parents have influence over their children. Children have lots of influence over their parents.

Hopefully they are using it for a good purpose. Bosses have very little authority over their employees.

Good bosses have some influence over their team members. Some employees have some influence

over their colleagues to get work done but nobody has any authority over them. Therefore, the way

in which the current organisations are designed, jobs are designed, it is only influence that matters.

So, information is given; influence matters. Structures are given; influence matters. Finally as a

world, as a society, as an organisation, we are so interdependent leading to enormous conflicts and

the only way to overcome those conflicts is to see if we can talk to one another, be influenced and

influence others. For these reasons, I think, the two skills of this century are empathy and the ability

to influence.

How does it matter to you? You can say, you know where you are. You are right at the bottom. You

know what you get when you are at the bottom. You can take that view and say, let me wait till I

become a manager so that I can influence. Alternately, you can say, no; I know I can influence and

be influenced and I am going to give it a shot on the first day of work. Some of you will make that

choice and you will be very successful and you will remember what I said at the MMA conference! I

wish and pray that happens!

How can you learn to influence?

What are the few things you can do to harness the intrinsic ability to influence that all of you already

have? You all are born with it and that is what Ranga was saying that leaders are not born, they are

made if they pay attention to few simple things. It is about knowing what the source of power that

you have is. You all have it and you just have to discover it. There are really two broad dimensions

to which you can learn to influence. One is track record and the other is the quality of the presence.

There are at least about 4 things as far as the track record is concerned. First one is performance.

People who do a good job get listened to. People who achieve their goals, their KRAs, their numbers

get listened to. If you deliver well, your voice will be heard. If you don’t do what you are supposed

to do, nobody is going to listen to you. One sure way of gaining influence with your manager, with

your colleagues, to have a score card which looks great, lots of people will listen to you. Secondly,

you must know your subject. You must know the basics of what you are hired for. If you speak and

act with competence, you can influence. Within six months to one year of your joining an

organisation, there will be stories about you in your department, in your team, in your other

departments. They say, this guy seems to do this very well. They might say, the other guy comes

late all the time; he spends 60% of his time on the mobile phone; he fights with other people etc.,

So, stories about you spread all the time. If the stories about you are good in the organisation, you

have won the right to influence. So, decide what stories you want about you in the place you are

working. Finally in difficult times how much of courage have you shown to stand up, to speak up,

what is right and what is fair. Are you seen as a courageous person? Then you earn the right to

influence because people respect and fearful of courage. These are the few things you can do to

establish a great track record. If you have a great track record, you have great influence. The second

of course is presence. People who go to meetings on time, people who do what they promise to do,

people who respond to others e mails, and people who are punctual, people who are well-organised-


all these tend to have lot of influence. People respect such people. So what is the way in which you

conduct yourself is going to determine whether you are having influence or not. Second, are you able

to see things from others’ point of view as well? If you are empathetic, you can influence. Influence

is seen as hard macho capability, but actually it is the opposite. When you are empathetic towards

other people, you have a way of winning them over. How clear is your communication, (not the style,

but the substance)? Great influencers are great communicators. If you are not as good in your

communication, don’t worry, there are all kinds of toast masters association, spoken English classes,

written English classes. Please enrol in them and work on your communication skills when you are

22 or 23. Don’t wait for your boss to tell you when you are 35 that your communication skills are

poor.

How do you act when there is stress? Do you give up? Do you freak out? Do you lose your temper?

Do you fight? Do you rage? Or do you maintain grace under fire? We all respect our Indian ex.

Captain Dhoni. His greatest quality is his temperament, his ability to maintain cool under pressure.

That is an important quality in the world of business.

Finally, how confidently do you carry yourself? How do you respect your own skills and abilities

including your weaknesses will lead to your capability to influence people.

Thus your track record and your presence contribute how much influence ability you have. My hope

and prayer is that you will use it for a good cause and all of us have the ingredients of this.

Rewards of influence

If you did all these, it puts you in charge. You are not dependent on your boss, your HR department,

or anybody else. It is up to you to do it. Finally you can decide to do some great stuff in the world.


Plan your career: Make the journey worthwhile

Dr Moorthy K Uppaluri

Managing Director & CEO, Randstad India Ltd

A Summary of the Keynote Address delivered by the Guest of Honour, Dr Moorthy K Uppaluri during

the Inaugural Session of 15th MMA All India Management Students’ Convention 2016 held on 29

September 2016 at Chennai

Have a destination in mind but be

willing to change the journey because

the journey is more important than

reaching the destination.

You must have heard countless definitions

of leadership and about how leaders need

to be. I am of the opinion that leadership

isn’t about you but what people around feel

about you! So it is not what is in you; it is

what you make others feel about you. It is

about dreaming, inspiration, motivation

and such that helps others be positively

impacted by you.

It is more about learning rather than

about rating

Education and learning isn’t all about the grades, CGPA or certificates. Grades only get you into the

interview hall. What gets you past is the learning you’ve gained. It is more important to acquire the

knowledge that equips you to do justice to the career you embark upon. I am however a strong

proponent of right training; and it’s effective too — as shown by experienced professionals who were

possibly trained and taught well enough to be good leaders and managers.

The approach to learning however has changed over the years and today, individuals are grooming

themselves, learning more on their own rather than being taught how to. As I address this point,

there are two important facets to learning — Learning to keep yourself challenged and abreast with

the changing demands in the market and to manage your manager so that he or she unlearns what

they have learnt and are willing to ride the wave with the changing times. For all of you entering the

work force, this is a two-pronged challenge. Your approach needs to focus on not just learning and

adapting yourself to the current demands but enabling your managers to do so as well.

Execution vs. out-innovation

This tussle between execution and out-innovation is very relevant in India owing to the changing

demographics and generation succession. Earlier generations were focused on carrying out what they

have been asked to do and doing it exactly like how they were told to do. I believe this workplace

ideology is reflected in the rigid standard operating procedures and processes owing to the

importance given to productivity and quality alone. While it is important to carry out the instructions,

the processes and procedures with the intention on maintaining productivity and quality, it is equally

vital to think out-of-the-box and adopt a culture of innovation. As the famous Hockey Player Gatsky

once said, “A good hockey player plays where the puck is and not just follows the puck. If you play

ice hockey, if you start chasing the puck, you are still a follower. But a smart player or a leader is

one who plays where the puck is going to be. He does not wait for the puck to come to him.


This is the way to strategize and the only way for India Inc. to succeed.

Entrepreneurship Vs. Traditional employment

How many of you want to be entrepreneurs on your own in the next one, two or five years? Such a

question typically gets overwhelming response these days, However, 30 years ago, barely a few

would even think about it. Today, the barriers of entrepreneurship or barriers of entry into industry

are rapidly being redefined or transformed and entrepreneurship is fast becoming a sought-after

career option. The change in outlook is phenomenal and it augurs well for the future. Career progress

is all about pursuing the challenges, pursuing those experiences and creating value in your

professional career.

Journey is more important than reaching the destination

The approach to a job or career has drastically changed as well. In today’s generation, individuals

do not hesitate to leave job even when they do not have another in hand. Young professionals often

change careers altogether. This I think is a reflection of the self-confidence and conviction of the

current generation and their focus on the journey rather than the destination. This attitude is possibly

what the whole of India Inc needs. Have a destination in mind but be willing to change the journey.

Enjoy the career journey rather than focus on your destination, lest on reaching the destination, you

wonder about what you’ve actually achieved and what you missed in getting so far.

Be at the right place

I believe that the current young generation is at the right place and at the right time. From being

the world’s number one global economy to having a stable economy and, highest GDP growth rate

and initiatives like digital India and ‘make in India’. The current workforce has the most to gain from

these positive strides.

Have a wild dream

Revelling in the current knowledge or services economy, the current workforce or future entrants

have noticeably different priorities compared to the generation(s) earlier. Their focus towards

satisfying basic needs such as food, shelter and clothing are less and this is a directly attributed to

the changing needs and the changing mind-sets.

I would advise each of the entrepreneurial dreamers to have a wild dream that you want to give

everything you have got to go after. Here are a few fundamental principles that I have learnt and

practiced myself. They have stood the test of time and will help you in your pursuit:

1. If you want to be the best business leader, you need to have a compelling vision for your business.

A vision that is extremely compelling is the one that is extremely inspiring.

2. Once you have the vision, you need to hire the best people to help you achieve all that you want

to achieve. Be self-critical to determine the resources your missing and hire the right people to

complement your vision and drive.

3. Once you’ve got the right people with you, empower them and get out of their way. Most leaders

fail to do this and stumble on their way forward, frustrating others in the process.

In addition, along the course of your life, have a coach. Coaching needn’t be sought far away — the

best ones are right at home. Our mothers can give the best operations managers a run for their

money. Bring your friends over for lunch without informing, that’ ok — she makes do and delivers a

sumptuous lunch for all, without any delay at all. You can learn most operational things from your

parents. So the learning starts at home.


As you move ahead in life, indentify, respect and honour individuals who will be your guiding light

throughout the journey.

Another learning that you need to gain is on how to manage people, peers and superiors alike. In

your career, you will encounter and possibly manage a lot of diverse talents — from other parts of

the country or the globe and from different backgrounds — economic and cultural alike. Patience and

understanding are virtues critical to the task. Do not expect everyone to as good as you or instantly

rise up to your standards. Your job as managers, coaches or leaders is to inspire the people around

you — help them make the best out of themselves. You have to realize that inclusive diversity is

extremely important for team success; without it, teams get bogged down in the monotony and

unilateral thought.

Most often people talk about culture and the influence of the environment that we all create. We as

managers establish an environment and a culture that is far outspoken than our words. So, as leaders

it is extremely important for us to hold others interest ahead of us.

The time now is the best it has been in years — there are opportunities galore. You can be an

entrepreneur or you could be a part of the big company or small company. No matter the choice,

there is growth all around us. It is just the matter of grabbing the opportunity and adopting the right

approach. I wish you all the very best!


Demonetisation: Opportunities & Challenges

A Seminar on the theme “Demonetisation: Opportunities & Challenges” was organized by

Madras Management Association in partnership with Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung on 19

December 2016 at Chennai. The Observer Research Foundation, Chennai Chapter, was the

‘Knowledge Partner’.

Speakers at a National Seminar on

‘Demonetisation: Opportunities &

Challenges’, held in Chennai on Monday,

19 December 2016, underscored the

urgent need to eradicate black money

and underground economy

comprehensively. Cutting across party

lines, and also political, administrative

and/or academic experience and

expertise, they also indicated the need

for more comprehensive and well

thought-out governmental measures to

further the cause.

Mr M R Sivaraman IAS (Retd.), former

Revenue Secretary, Government of India, was the Chairman of the Panel and Moderator. Mr Ashok

Malik, Distinguished Fellow, Observer Research Foundation, Delhi, Prof. Rajeev Gowda, Member of

the Rajya Sabha and National Spokesperson, Indian National Congress, and also formerly Professor

of Public Policy, IIM-Bangalore, Mr Gopal Krishna Agarwal, National Spokesman BJP on Economic

Affairs and National Executive Member, Dr R Vaidyanathan, Professor of Finance and Control, IIM-

Bangalore, were the distinguished speakers at the evening.

Mr Pankaj Madan, Head, Programmes, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and Mr N Sathiya Moorthy,

Director, Chennai Chapter of the Observer Research Foundation, participated.

Major milestone, but...: Sivaraman

Mr M R Sivaraman set the tone for the seminar by stating that demonetisation was a major milestone

that took most people, not only in the country but also outside, by complete surprise. It has the

potential to usher in a number of positives to the economy, if the government rolled out several

other measures in tandem with demonetisation, to root out black money, completely.

Mr. Sivaraman however wondered if the move was well-thought out, issues discussed threadbare

and implementation details worked out before Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the decision

in a national telecast on the evening of 8 November 2016. Denying that secrecy was a major

constraint, Mr Sivaraman pointed out that for 60-plus years since Independence, national budgets

have been announced with absolutely no leaks whatsoever (barring a lone occasion, but with little

impact).

In his concluding remarks, Mr Sivaraman mentioned that every citizen has to become responsible

for his own actions and that all transactions are brought within the purview of the legal system.

Unless the moral fabric of the entire citizenry changed to accept legal compliance in its entirety, any

move by the government of the day can only make marginal impact, he observed.

Never a right time: Ashok Malik

Mr Ashok Malik, Distinguished Fellow, Observer Research Foundation, opened his address with a

light-hearted comment that had every one in splits. Mr Malik stated that at a recent engagement

with overseas financial experts, he was amused to hear this rather interesting point of view: “In the


past, most people including foreigners often complained of slow progress by the government in India

on almost all matters. But this government since inception in May 2014 seems to move too fast for

everyone’s comfort.”

While the economy grew at a rapid 8% during 2008-2011, it was bound to witness some corrective

measures, especially in the backdrop of demonetisation, Mr Malik said. The government has been

moving towards bringing the entire nation within the ambit of banking operations and an incredible

250 million new banking accounts have been opened since May 2014. The Government probably has

been studying the situation for the past two years before it made the decision to go ahead with the

demonetisation decision, he opined.

“There have been remarks that the timing was wrong, considering this is the sowing time for winter

season crops,” Mr Malik said. “India has either festivals or agrarian seasons and hence, in my view,

there is never a good time for the initiative. With this demonetisation, the government probably

hopes that up to 15.5% of the currencies in circulation will end up at the banks or get destroyed.

Those ending up at the banks could probably add to the tax kitty of the government.”

Citing official figures, he said that the “singular benefit that the move is expected to achieve is that

the cash to GDP ratio is expected to come down from 11.5% to a more acceptable 7-8% of cash to

GDP”. Mr Malik compared the demonetisation move as akin to a recall of cars by an auto-

manufacturer after finding some problems with its mechanical parts. In both cases, he said, the

“move is fraught with serious consequences and has to be planned diligently”.

Referring to the procedural issues in the current demonetisation, Mr Malik pointed out how the

Government authorities had not known the contract for the distribution network for ATMs had lapsed

a week before PM Modi announced the decision. This, apart from all other procedural issues, he said.

Mr Malik also pointed out how the 2.5-million Jan Dhan Yogana accounts were being misused by

Naxalites, among other militias, to deposit huge volumes of banned currency into the accounts of

poor and innocent citizens, and the latter had no defence.

People ready for hardships: Agarwal

Mr Gopal Krishna Agarwal, National Spokesman BJP on Economic Affairs and National Executive

Member, citing a study carried out in 22 states of the country, Mr Agarwal stated that people in

general have welcomed the move and are willing to face hardships if it would help the nation. Quoting

the ‘Global Wealth Report’ published recently, he said that India was next only to Russia in that fewer

people owned a substantial part of the national wealth. “One per cent of the population in India

owned 58% of the national wealth while in Russia, 1% of the population owned 74% of the national

wealth. The study also quoted that about 97% of the population owned assets of not more than INR

7 lakhs (equating to US $ 10,000).”

Mr Agarwal said that the Centre’s ‘Income Declaration Scheme’ was the first step in this direction.

“The government has also pledged its commitment to bring the guilty into the tax-net. The Benami

Properties Act introduced in November 2016 is also the next step in this direction. Demonetisation

has to be seen against the backdrop of this eco-system that and the Government is determined to

ensure success of the initiative,” he said further.

Shifting goal-post: Rajeev Gowda

Prof. M V Rajeev Gowda, MP, National Spokesperson, Indian National Congress stated that the

Government in power was frequently shifting goal-post, making it impossible for any effective

evaluation of the move. “The demonetisation move is a reality and there can be no going back on it.

So one needs to understand the move, evaluate its impact and plan the subsequent moves for it to

produce the desired effect of eliminating black money,” he said.

According to him, “It is impossible to totally eradicate black money.” However, during the two

consecutive terms the Congress-UPA Government at the Centre, they had helped lift 140 million

people out of poverty-levels. Demonetisation is now bound to push them back into the poverty trap,


he asserted. “Most small vendors and people making small purchases transact in cash, and this

poorly planned move has already dented the confidence of the common man.”

Besides, Dr Gowda said, the poorly planned re-monetization move has created a new breed of corrupt

people … namely the bankers. Thus, only people with black monies and their supporters / cohorts

will benefit from this move” he stressed. He quoted Mahatma Gandhi to say that in times of

uncertainty, one has to ask if a move will benefit the common man. If the answer was in the

affirmative, then one can proceed with the move,” Mr Gowda concluded.

Follow-through needed: Prof Vaidyanathan

Dr R Vaidyanathan, Professor of Finance & Control, IIM-Bangalore, and author of several books on

black money and parallel economy, stated that demonetisation was definitely a welcome move. It is

taken for granted that 85% of all the currencies in circulation is in the two denominations of Rs. 500

and Rs. 1000, he said adding, “Earlier governments are responsible for this abhorrent move,” he

said.

As he recalled, during the year 2003, Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes accounted for was no more than

35% of the currencies in circulation. The UPA government through its inaction and negligence allowed

this to climb to an astronomical 85% of the currencies in circulation. “The former government needs

to be hauled legally for this monumental lapse” asserted Prof. Vaidyanathan.

“Certainly the move has caused serious hardship to common man. There are nearly two-lakh ATMs

in the country and an estimated 25% of it is always faces issues in operation. The lack of working

distribution channels has led to serpentine queues at most bank branches and ATMs. This could have

been avoided if the government had roped in reliable associates as short-term facilitators to help in

the distribution ..… like the distribution network of FMCG majors, recognized NBFCs, even distribution

of large mutal fund houses,” he added.

Mr Vaidyanathan hoped that the government will educate the public on the benefits of digital

payment. He also asserted that there would always be cash transactions in the system but hoped

that the government would be able to keep this to minimal levels. He also hoped that the government

would roll out other measures in quick succession to minimize the role of black money in the

economy.

Earlier, Mr T Shivaraman, Past President, Madras Management Association welcomed the gathering

and Mr N Sathiya Moorthy (ORF-Chennai) introduced the topic. Gp Captain R Vijayakumar (Retd.),

VSM, Executive Director, MMA proposed a vote of thanks.

New Year makeover Nina John

Past District Governor, Toastmasters International

It’s that time of the year again, when everybody is making their New Year

resolutions, most to do with starting the fitness and exercise regime, or dieting

to gain that slim-and- trim figure. All of this is to create a better image for

ourselves, one that appeals to more people, an image built as much on our perceptions of media-

driven images as those of our peers. The social media drives a lot of these perceptions; we consume

these images and perceptions just as much as we are consumed by them.

While we are busy creating these physical images, how much are we bothering about the images we

are building up on social media? To take just three examples- WhatsApp, Facebook and LinkedIn – is

your image in all these the same or are they wildly different?

Let’s start with WhatsApp, since that seems to be the most ubiquitous with quite a few groups-

professional, social, family and friends. In all these groups there are some people who will insist on


posting every single day. And these are usually inane messages with some flowers or landscapes or

crockery, and insanely cheerful messages such as “Good morning”!

A second universal group is one that finds motivational quotes from sundry sources, usually Western,

with the stray ‘Indian traditional wisdom’ thrown in for good measure; I find myself getting quite de-

motivated by these. The third group is one that finds cartoons and graphics that range from the mildly

funny to the wildly bizarre.

A fourth group is one that has strong political opinions and will demonstrate their unflinching love and

devotion to their particular party either by posting lavishly slavish messages or by trolling opposing

views using derogatory language or defamatory stories. Sometimes these are religious in nature, the

extolling and trolling principles being the same.Of course, the most universal of these, cutting across

countries and continents, is the anti-women or –wife group, which ranges from the smiley to the

pornographic.

Facebook, on the other hand, is a more visual, visible medium, so people are either totally cautious or

totally flamboyant. While people do fall into much the same groups as outlined above, they also tend

to reveal more of themselves and their personalities on Facebook than they do on WhatsApp, because

the comments are more personal and the pictures reveal more details.

Linkedin, on the other hand, is the restrained, dignified, older sibling of these two media. The writing

of articles is geared to a more professional audience, the introductions are clearly geared towards

career networking.

The world today is a multi-media, social media-networked entity. Corporate recruiters surf the net

before locating the right candidate, as well as substantiating their profiling from social media inputs.

In one outstanding example a potential head of MI5, the British Secret Service, was embroiled in a

huge controversy because his wife had posted on Facebook; the picture of the country’s top spy in

his swimsuit was deemed too unprofessional.

If you are planning a make-over for yourself in 2017, a housecleaning of your social postings could be

a good idea. Make sure the posts in your groups are politically correct and non-controversial. Your

professional stock goes down considerably if you are inflicting these messages, especially on a

professional group.

Use these media separately and discreetly. Avoid puerile,political or offensive posts whenever possible.

Use positive language and try to add value to the group rather than detract from it. Keep WhatsApp

groups separate- multiple postings will, by Murphy’s Law, end up in the worst possible wrong group.

On Facebook, post pictures that you will not be embarrassed to see or let your family see. That applies

to taking pictures of your colleagues and friends and not posting them, either, however much fun you

may have had together. Reduce to a minimum repetitive posts-change the language to stand out

(congratulations/ well done! /Kudos..). There is no need to let the whole world know all your personal

life details ( ‘Ate biriyani for dinner last night.’ ‘Broke up with my girlfriend after two months.’).

LinkedIn has a lot of articles – start by reading them and posting a genuine opinion: everybody loves

feedback. Try writing for LinkedIn, either on a current subject like demonetisation, or one that is

industry-related: it will raise your professional profile considerably.

WhatsApp, Facebook, LinkedIn are part of the virtual world that helps you build up your personal

professional brand image. Work on improving your communication skills across all these media. Make

sure that the image projected across these different media is aligned to the image you want the world

to see, as much as you want them to see an improved physical version.

Happy New Year to you!


Registering Memories

(L to R) Ms Sushila Ravindranath, Mr Ranganath N K,

Mr B Santhanam, Mr R Seshasayee, Mr R Srikanth and

Mr Suresh Raman during the Event on “SURGE: Tamil

Nadu’s Growth Story”.

Dr Santhosh Babu, IAS, CMD, Tamil Nadu Handicrafts

Development Corporation addressing the members on

“Success Stories – How it was done!”. Mr Suresh

Raman, Head-Chennai Operations, Tata Consultancy

Services Ltd chairing the session.

Ms Deborah Thiagarajan, Chairperson, Madras Craft

Foundation & Director, DakshinaChitra Museum during

the talk on “The Uncommon Leader: Empowering

Entrepreneurship”. Mr AVIS Viswanathan, Life Coach

and Happiness Curator moderating the session.

Dignitaries along with the Speaker Mr Ian Mercer,

Head–International Operations, The Institution of

Engineering and Technology (IET), UK during the 4th

Dr K C G Verghese Endowment Lecture. Dr Mrs

Elizabeth Verghese, Chancellor, Hindustan University

chaired the session.


Registering Memories

Mr M G Devasahayam, IAS (Retd), Founder &

Managing Trustee, Sustain addressing the participants

during the Workshop on “Tools of Good Governance

and Accountability”. (L to R) Gp Capt R Vijayakumar

(Retd), VSM, Mr S Kannan, IRS and Ms Jot Prakash

Kaur were also seen.

Mr L Ramkumar, Vice President, MMA presenting

memento to Mr Ashwin Sanghi, Best Selling Author &

Entrepreneur during the talk on “13 Steps to Bloody

Good Wealth”. Mr Gautam Padmanabhan, CEO,

Westland Ltd and Gp Capt R Vijayakumar (Retd),

VSM, ED, MMA were also seen

Chief Guest Mr M M Murugappan and Guest of Honour

Dr Moorthy K Uppaluri releasing the Management

Students’ Convention Special Issue of MMA Business

Mandate during the Inaugural Session of 15th MMA All

India Management Students’ Convention 2016.

Chief Guest, Mr Sudarshan Venu, Joint Managing

Director, TVS Motor Company Ltd presenting Cash

Award of Rs. One Lakh to Ms Nicolette Francis, XIME

Bangalore, the Winner of the “Chanakya – The

Mastermind Award for the Year 2016” during the

Valedictory Session of 15th MMA All India

Management Students’ Convention 2016.

business mandate | january 2017 page 1 of 31

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