MANAGERIAL COMMUNICATIONS II

A

Comparative study of

Great Business Leaders

Submitted to: Submitted by:

Prof. Sumedha Bajpai Group 5

WALTON HALL

Mr. Mukesh Ambani

Introduction:. Mukesh Ambani was born on 19th April, 1957, in Yemen. He is A sinessman.He is the chairman, managing director and the largest shareholder of Reliance Industries, Mukesh is the son of the founder of Reliance Industries, Lt. Dhirubhai Ambani. He is the wealthiest man in Asia. He has a personal stake of 48% in his organization. He is the owner of the Mumbai Indians which is ane of the team in Indian Premier League.

Education and Career: He completed his education in 1981, as a B.E. Chemical and joined Reliance as a management trainee. He emphasized the need for new technologies, which he thought are necessary in order to make his organization competitive globally and realized the need to increase the capacity of production so as to be at the cutting edge of the textile industry. He considers that time the most deciding phase of his life because it created a lot of difference in his beliefs.

The approach: He has always believed in the fact that there are certain factors that decide the growth of the organization. Which will ultimately become the driving force for an organization. Some of those factors are:

Managing risk and making use of every opportunity. Innovation Always focus on increasing the productivity Nothing is impossible

This makes him very passionate about his work. Mukesh realized that as an organization Reliance has to go along with the tide, rather than going against it. His beliefs always motivated him to acquire most of the business deals and tenders and thus trying to make the most out of them by delivering such a quality of work which will earn him the trust of the clients, customers, as well as the employees.

Motivation Factors: He was deeply influenced by the working style of his father and with his first boss at Reliance. From both of them he learned that if you want to lead your organization a day, you must start from the grass root level, because then only you will be able to take decisions keeping in mind the middle level as well as the lower level management when you will be the CEO or the MD of the organization.He places these learnings at a very important position in his career. Another influencing factor of his life was Mr. K.K. Malhotra, who was his finance teacher at the Stanford University, from where he pursued MBA but quitted after an year. From him, Mukesh learnt when to invest, and how much to invest. Apart from that he was also impressed with the trade policies followed by the US companies, specifically Dupont.

The Leader: With an experience of about 28 years and the decision making style which turnout to be favorable for the organization, he is now considered as a delegating leader who is confident

that the task or project assigned to the team will get completed and doesn’t require any follow up after regular intervals of time.

Learning’s: The life of Mr. Ambani is full of motivation and learning’s some of them are as follows:

Be Passionate about your work. Believe in doing things large. Discover your inner-potential. Have a set of competencies Growth must go on. Believing in doing things.

Net worth of the Company:

Mr. Azim Premji

Introduction: Azim Premji was born July 24, 1945, in Bombay. He is an Indian businessman. He is the Chairman of Wipro, one of the largest software companies in India. At the age of 21 he took over the family business after the sudden death of his father in 1966, leaving his studies in computer science from Stanford University.

Business Profile: Premji took over the family business, the company which was started by his father, made oils and fats which later became Wipro. He took the cooking oil company of USD 2 million to USD 1.76 billion IT Services organization serving customers across the globe.

Education: He completed his initial education from St. Mary’s School, Mumbai. He was studying to computer science from Stanford University, California, USA at the age of 21 he was forced to leave his studies in between to take over the family business when his father suddenly died in 1966.

Wipro: Under Azim Premji's leadership Wipro has metamorphosed from a Rs.70 million company in hydrogenated cooking fats to a pioneer in providing integrated business, technology and process solutions on a global delivery platform. Today, Wipro Technologies is the largest independent R&D service provider in the world. Recently Wipro released the launch of two new businesses, Wipro Water and Wipro EcoEnergy. Premji, it is not uncommon to see the fifth richest Indian on the Forbes List and the 63-year-old chairman of Wipro switching off the lights before leaving office. It is this commitment to avoid waste that has turned Premji’s attention to ecology and sustainability.

Azim Premji’s Foundation: In the year 2001, Premji established Azim Premji Foundation, a not-for-profit organization with a vision of influencing the lives of millions of children in India by facilitating the universalisation of elementary education.. Premji contributes the financial resources for the foundation. Programmes of the Azim Premji Foundation focus on "creating effective and scalable models that significantly improve the quality of learning in the school and ensure satisfactory ownership by the community in the management of the school".The foundation aims at making a tangible impact on identified social issues by working in active partnership with the Government and other related sectors of society.

Personal Traits: Premji is known for his modesty, frugality and helping mentality,in spite of his wealth. He is a very down to earth person and always believes in doing rather than saying. He drives a Toyota Corolla and flies economy class, prefers to stay in company guest houses rather than luxury hotels and even served food on paper plates at a lunch honouring his son's wedding.

As a leader: Premji’s of success and prominence clearly shows his determination and perseverance, coupled with knowledge, planning and clear vision, the perfect mixture of all these things enabled him to reach the peak of success and leadership. A straight forward person, he doesn’t believe in resorting to bribery or corruption to get things done and associates quality with integrity. He is a workaholic person and according to him work is the only way to success and survival in a competitive environment. A tough employer, he expects his employees to be

competent and will not tolerate lies or deception from anyone. Premji equates Quality with Integrity – both being non-negotiable.

Learning’s: The learning’s from the life of Mr. Premji are:

1) Believe in Team building.2) Believe in a process driven culture.3) Always adhere to core values of the organization.4) Work is the only way to success and survival.

Companies:

Wipro technologies

Wipro Infotech

Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting

Wipro fluid power limited

Wipro GE medical systems limited

Net Worth: USD 5.7 billion (approx)

Mr. Warren Buffet

Introduction: Warren Edward Buffett was born on August 30, 1930 in Omaha, United States. He is one of the world's most successful investors and the largest shareholder and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. Often called the "the Sage of Omaha". He was ranked by Forbes as the richest person in the world during the first half of 2008, with an estimated net worth of $50.0 billion. He is the second richest person of the world behind Bill Gates

Early life: At the age of 11 he began working at his father's brokerage firm, and in the same year he made his first stock purchase, buying shares of cities services for $38 each. He sold them when the price reached $40, only to see them going as high as $200 a few years later. This taught him the importance of investing in good companies for the long term. He also purchased a farm house at the age of 14 yrs by the savings done from selling newspapers.

Education: He graduated from High School. He never intended to go to college, he had already made a good amount of money. He attended Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania, but transferred to the University of Nebraska where he graduated. He then went on to the Columbia University to do a Masters in economics. This was where he met the influential value investor Benjamin Graham. Working full-time, he managed to graduate in only three years. Warren Buffett approached graduate studies with the same resistance he displayed a few years earlier. He was finally persuaded to apply to Harvard Business School, which, in the worst admission decision in history, rejected him as "too young". Slighted, Warren applied to Columbia where famed investors Ben Graham and David Dodd taught - an experience that changed his life forever.

Business Profile: Initially he started his career as a investment salesman. After that he started his own partnerships with some of his friends. On May 1, 1956, Warren Buffett rounded up seven limited partners including family and friends, raising $105,000 in the process. He put in $100 himself, officially creating the Buffett Associates, Ltd. In 1965 he buys Berkshire. In 1967 he buys Hathaway and combined company known as Berkshire Hathway. Currently his company owns 63 small companies

Buffet’s Mentor: Buffet met his mentor at Columbia University where he went on to do his Masters in Economics. He was very influenced by Benjamin Graham and went to work for him in his company "Graham-Newman". It was here that Warren Buffett developed many of his stock market investing skills that have now become legendary. Graham developed a method where investors could work out the intrinsic value of a company and make intelligent investing decisions by comparing the stock price to the intrinsic value.

Philanthropy: In 2006, he announced a plan to give away his fortune to charity, with 83% of it going to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In June 2006, Buffett gave approximately 10 million Berkshire Hathaway shares to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (worth

approximately USD 30.7 billion as of 23 June 2006) making it the largest charitable donation in history and Buffett one of the leaders in the philanthrocapitalism revolution. The foundation will receive 5% of the total donation on an annual basis each July, beginning in 2006. Buffett also will join the board of directors of the Gates Foundation, although he don’t have any plan to be actively involved in the foundation's investments

The Golden Rule: Warren Buffet never held any meetings or calls to any of his company’s CEO’s instead he writes a letter each year to every one of them stating their goals for the year.

Buffet has given them a golden rule:

Rule 1:- Do not lose any of your shareholder’s money in any case.

Rule 2:- Never forget Rule 1.

Learning’s: As an Investor the learning’s from his life were

1) Always invest early2) Invest for long time3) Invest as much as possible

The above were the three main learning’s which act as a cornerstone for the budding investor. Mr. Buffet was greatly influenced by Benjamin Graham and learnt the art of investing from him only. Ixn his words: I am 15% Fisher and 85% Graham. He believed in simplicity as it is evident from the fact that he still lives in the same house which he has purchased 50 years ago.

Net Worth of the Company: USD 37 billion (approx)

Mr. Nandan Nilekani

Introduction: Nandan Nilekani was born on June 2, 1955 in Bangalore. Nandan currently serves as the Chairman of The new Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI),in the rank of a cabinet minister, after a successful career at India’s leading software giant Infosys.

Business Profile: Nandan M. Nilekani has been the CEO of Infosys Technologies since March 2002 taking over from Murthy, Prior to that, he was the COO and has served as a director on the company's board since its inception in 1981 after graduating with a B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from IIT, Bombay.

Education: He studied at Bishop Cotton Boys School, Bangalore, and attended the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay from 1973. His early years were marked by his father’s job transfers and re-locations. He spent the first twelve years at Bangalore, where he studied at the Bishop Cotton Boys School. He then moved in with his uncle’s family in Dharwad, after his father had been transferred. He had moved from a big city to a small town. He moved in with uncle’s family. In fact, his upbringing has helped him open his mind towards dealing with unpredictability.

Career: After graduating from IIT Bombay in 1978, he joined Mumbai-based Patni Computer Systems where he was interviewed by N.R. Narayana Murthy. Three years later Murthy along with Nilekani and five other co-founders founded Infosys. He worked as a marketing face for the company. Murthy took care of the India’s business and Nilekani shifted to US to take care of the company’s business there. Currently he serves as the chairman of UIDAI to the government of India.

Approach: Nilekani has a problem solving approach. He always believe in being proactive to the hurdles coming up on the way of success. He always believed in team work and also believes in being a part of the team. At IIT, he realized that he was very good at organizing, so he organized various events in his college eventually his skills came into display when he took his company from scratch to sky.

Imagining India: Mr. Nilekani has written a book on India which gives a real picture, a complete snapshot of the real India. In his book,he discusses topics such as the future of India, its recent history, the ideas and attitudes that evolved with the times and contributed to the country’s progress, India’s early socialist policies, its young population, Information Technology, caste politics, labour reform, infrastructure, higher education, and the English language in India.

On his recent speaking tour to promote his new book, Nilekani said that one of the main factors responsible for his success was the fact that he could speak good English.Command over English is necessary for success. There are many other factors too, but without English the challenge would be that much harder.In his words: Master English Master your world.

As a Leader: Mr. Nilekani took all the responsibilities which were assigned to him and executed them with passion. He set an example for the employees and his team members. He always looked for opportunities. He always remained open to change in this competitive era and always believed in having healthy competition which kept the company always on its toes.

Learning’s: Some of the major learning’s from the life of Mr. Nandan Nilekani are:

1) Always believed in team building and working as a team.2) A quick learner who is always eager to learn from others.3) Don’t believe on assumptions, challenge them.4) Be open to others point of view.5) Learn to handle criticism.

Challenge Ahead: Mr. Nilekani has a great challenge ahead of making a unique identity card for every Indian. The scale of this task is very wide. Providing a unique identity to 1.2 billion (approx) people will require a lot of hard work and his technical abilities will help him executing his task.

Mr. Samuel Walton

Introduction: Sam Walton was born on 29th March, 1918 in Oklahoma. He was an American businessman and entrepreneur who founded the retail chain named as Wal-Mart, which is the biggest retail chain of the world having more than 6500 retail stores across the globe.

Businessman: He showed the qualities of an entrepreneur from the very young age. He groomed as an entrepreneur because of the great depression in 1929.He did many jobs to help his to family meet their financial needs. Walton milked the cows which the family owned and bottled the milk to deliver to customers, and also delivered newspapers. This quality of Walton shows the level of dedication, and commitment towards the goal.

Career: Walton had a vast experience of working at different places throughout his career before the start of Wal-mart. He completed his graduation as major in Economics from university of Missouri. During this time, he worked various odd jobs, including waiting tables in exchange for meals. Walton joined JC Penney's as a management trainee in Des Moines, within three days after his graduation. He also worked at a DuPont munitions plant near Tulsa, Oklahoma. Soon he joined the military in the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps, supervising security at aircraft plants and prisoner of war camps. He eventually reached the rank of captain.

Strategy: With a loan of $20,000, from his father in law along with a saving of $5,000 he had saved from his time in the Army, Walton purchased a Ben Franklin variety store in Newport, Arkansas. Walton pioneered many concepts that would prove to be vital to his success. Making sure a store that was consistently stocked with a wide range of goods at low prices. One factor that made this store successful was its central location, making it accessible to a wide range of customers. The first Wal-mart stores were opened at July 2, 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas called the Wal-Mart Discount City store.

Leadership quality: Sam's leadership style was popular amongst his employees and he founded some of the basic concepts that are still in use today. Still it is believed that Walton was a born leader and a great motivator. Walton continued focus on maximizing customer satisfaction; his pricing philosophies and innovative human resource practices had made Wal-Mart, a global leader in the retailing industry.

Management Style: Walton's management style is believed as unique, entrepreneurial, participative and goal-oriented. He is always considered as hardworking, highly motivated and determined personality always willing to take risks.He is well known for his constant application of novel ways to do things and strived for continuous improvement. Management thinkers and philosophers are said to be impressed by his two qualities. First, he was habitual of getting up every day bound and determined to improve something. Second, he was less afraid of being wrong.

Learning’s:

Be committed towards the goals. Customer is the boss. Be loyal towards customers as well as employees. Communicate all you know Work smarter than others.

Net worth of the company: USD 128 billion (approx)

The Sir Richard Branson

Introduction: Sir Richard Branson was born 18 July 1950. He is an industrialist and entrepreneur, owner and Chairman of world famous Virgin brand owning more than 360 companies worldwide. This charismatic man who is said to have dyslexia and poor academic performance as a student has turned the conditions for Virgin. With his flamboyant and competitive style, Branson's Virgin brand has grown rapidly after the 1980s Richard Branson is the 261st richest person according to Forbes' 2009 list of billionaires, with an estimated net worth of approximately US $2.5 billion.

The Beginning: Branson experimented business venture when he was 16, when he published a magazine called Student, which turned out to be successful. But this was after failure of growing Christmas trees and raising budgerigars. He then set up an audio record mail-order business in 1970. In 1972, he opened a chain of record stores, Virgin Records, later known as Virgin Megastores.

The Empire: Today, Virgin is one of the world's most recognized and respected brands. Virgin Group has expanded into international retail, air travel, mobile, financial, retail, music, rail, resorts and leisure, employing approximately 55,000 people in 29 countries. There are 360 companies in the Virgin group, with an estimated companies cost of $ 25 bn. He always believes to have a ‘to do list’ which he prepares every morning. He always says that size does matter: you need to challenge and compete with big brands to become big yourself. Always expect troubles when you compete

with big names. But take it easy, mix fun with work. Haggling is possible in every business ‐ it brings down prices. Target those markets where customers are under-served. Generate publicity and be camera and media friendly.

The growth turnpike: Sir Richard Branson can be best defined by the word eccentricity. His most crazy endeavors include setting the world record by crossing the Atlantic in a small powerboat, making the first successful crossing of the Atlantic in a hot air balloon, appearing in a $10,000 silk lace bridal gown to launch Virgin Bride. Branson’s image as an ‘adventure capitalist’ has become one of the most effective form of marketing and promotion for the Virgin group.

The Leader: Sir Branson’s greatest strength is his creativity, innovativeness, ability to connect with people. He always likes facing challenges and always disengage difficulties. His quality to find the right people, inspiring them, drawing out the best things, makes him a very distinguished, flamboyant and an able leader and with these qualities he has been successfully leading the organization since its foundation. In a most-admired poll surveying young Britons, Branson ranked second only to Mother Teresa, in another similar poll, he ranked just behind the Pope and the Prince of Wales.

Learning’s

Take action rather than talking. Commitment to take challenges. Push yourself to the limits. Live life to the fullest and learn everyday.

Mix fun with work and get success. Commit mistakes to become the master.

Net worth of Mr. Branson’s Empire: USD 2.5 billion (approx)

Mr. Steven Paul Jobs

Introduction: Steve Paul Jobs is an American businessman, co-founder and CEO of Apple Inc. and former CEO of Studios. In 1970s, Jobs with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, created one of the first commercially successful personal computers. In 1980s, Jobs was among the first to see the commercial potential of the mouse-driven graphical user interface. After losing a power struggle with the board of directors in 1985, Jobs resigned from Apple and founded NEXT, a computer platform development company specializing in the higher education and business markets. NeXT's subsequent 1997 buyout by Apple Computer Inc. brought Jobs back to the company he co-founded, and he has served as its CEO since then.

Early life: He was born on February 24, 1955 in San Francisco and was adopted by Paul and Clara. Jobs of Mountain View, Santa Clara County, California who named him Steven Paul. His biological parents, Joanne Carole Schieble and Abdulfattah Jandali — a graduate student from Syria who became a political science professor — later married and gave birth to Jobs' sister, the novelist Mona Simpson.

Education: Jobs attended Cupertino Junior High School and Homestead High School in curpitono California, and frequented after-school lectures at the Hewlett-Packard Company in Palo Alto, California. He was soon hired there and worked with Steve Wozniak as a summer employee. In 1972, Jobs graduated from high school and enrolled in Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Although he dropped out after only one semester, he continued auditing classes at Reed, such as one in calligraphy. "If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts".

Career: He took a job as a technician at Atari, a manufacturer of popular video games, with the primary intent of saving money for a spiritual retreat to India. Jobs then traveled to India with a Reed College friend, Daniel Kottke, in search of spiritual enlightenment. He came back a Buddhist with his head shaved and wearing traditional Indian clothing. Than, Jobs experimented with psychedelics, calling his LSD experiences "one of the two or three most important things he had done in his life." He has stated that people around him who did not share his countercultural roots could not fully relate to his thinking. He returned to his previous job at Atari and was given the task of creating a circuit board for the game Breakout. According to Atari founder Notol Bushnell Atari had offered US$100 for each chip that was reduced in the machine. Jobs had little interest or knowledge in circuit board design and made a deal with Wozniak to split the bonus evenly between them if Wozniak could minimize the number of chips. Much to the amazement of Atari, Wozniak reduced the number of chips by 50, a design so tight that it was impossible to reproduce on an assembly line.

Leadership Theories:

He is an Aggressive leader. He believes on Innovation. He is a Situational leader.

Goal commitment theory.

Learning’s: The major learning’s from the life of Mr. Jobs are :

Always look out for something new. Never give-up. Think out of box. Be creative. Always have a learning attitude.

Net worth of the Company: