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The Financial Express8 November 6, 2011

I N S I G H T

As founder chairman of New Delhi-based CeNext Consulting and Invest-ment, Ravi Chaudhry offers

strategic advisory services to CEOs and com-pany boards on issues related to competitive-ness and to governments on developmentstrategies. In his new book Quest for Excep-tional Leadership: Mirage to Reality, hetalksabouthowCEOscanbecomeexception-al leaders. Excerpts from an interview withFE’sRajivTikoo:

Asyousay,afrequentcritiqueof thebookhasbeenthat“itisrathernaivetoassumethatCEOswouldpayattentiontoanypropositionthatcouldreducetheirearningpotential,moresobecausetheinvestorsandfinancialmediajudgethemonlybythewealththeygenerate”.Whatisyourresponsetoit?Myresponsetothisisthatwhilethiswasin-deed the case during the last few decades,whenbothmediaandinvestorswerefeedingeach other’s wealth-centred behaviour andexpectations, the ground realities are nowchanging.Acompanythatmakesonlymon-ey is now considered to be a poor company.CorporateCEOscannolongerbrushitawayasphilanthropictalk.Theonlychoiceis:ac-ceptitgrudginglyorwillingly.Thosewhodonot take cognizance of this transformationwillsoonfindthattheyarebeingabandonedbyconsumersandinvestors.

Severalpotent forcesarespeeding up theemergence of this phase, stemming from‘Riseof CivilSocietyMovements’,and‘Pre-dominanceof YouthinNewDemographics’armedwithnetworkingtools.Corporationsthat are “realistic” enough to acknowledgethese new contours will emerge as winnersinthe21stcentury.

Howdoesyouvisionplayoutwhilebal-ancingshort-termtargetsof CEOswithlong-termaspirationsof companies?Particularlywhenthetenureof CEOsisgettingshorter.An analysis of recent data conclusivelyshows that the prime reason of CEOs’ re-duced tenure is because of their blatant fo-cus on only short-term results. Regrettablyforcompanies’shareholders,theirCEOsdonotacceptthestarkrealitythattherearenolow-hanging fruits any more—unless yourcorporate objectives are aligned with soci-ety’s expectations and in sync with nature.

Therewasatimewhencompaniescouldgetaway with profits even when their policiesresulted in positive harm to society and na-ture. Today, the new realism demands thateven the policy of ‘aim to do no harm’ is notenough; companies must adopt and trans-parentlypursuethepolicyof ‘aimtodoposi-tive good’ to the society in which theyfunction.Eachcountryintheworldisfullofexamplesof newcorporatechampionswhoplay it clean, who play it straight and forwhomtheonlyroutetosustainableprofits—both long-term and short-term—is ‘doingwellbydoinggood’.Ontheotherhand,thosewhorefusetochangeandcontinuetoplaybytheoldrulesarefallingbythewayside.

IsitreasonabletoexpectCEOstochangelateinlifewhenallof ushavegrownupintheworldasusual?

Inmybook,Ihavegiventhewell-knownex-ample of Bill Gates. As young MicrosoftCEO, he was identified with several mo-nopolistic postures in pursuit of profits,butthechangethathehasaccomplishedinhis personal value-system since then isnothing short of exemplary and deservesto be applauded and emulated. Bill Gateshas already donated over one third of hisentirewealth.IhavecalleduponallCEOstotakeasmallleaf fromhisexampleandopentheirheartsandwidentheirminds.

I have demonstrated that personal trans-formationispossible, infactquiteeasy,pro-videdtheinitiativecomesfromwithin.Icallthis process of transformation as “Ashok-ization”, prompted by the most remarkablemind-setchangeeverachievedinhistory,byKingAshokainIndia,in3rdcenturyBC.Cor-porateCEOswhowishtosurviveandbethe

winners in would have no choice but tochange. My book irrevocably establishesthatitisbettertodosovoluntarily.

Businessisjustapartof societyasit’s.Howdobusinessesbreakthisviciouscy-cleandtakealead?The dominant institution in any society, ineach period of history needs to take respon-sibility for the whole. If they do not, theirpower and influence first wanes and thencollapses. Since the second half of 20th cen-tury,businesshasbecomethemostpowerfulinstitutionontheplanet,asthechurchdidinthe days of the Holy Roman Empire, andpowerful national governments witharmiescalledtheshotsin18thand19thcentu-ry. The increasing role and power of corpo-rations, on matters of consequence, is astark reality of our times. Collectively, the

actionsof theCEOsof thetop10,000corpora-tionsintheworldtodayhavemorethanpro-portionate influence on the course of ourplanet’shistory.Insomedomains,theirroleis as significant and as all pervading as thatof manysovereignstates.Thisre-allocationof relative power has created seeminglyhelpless dilemmas. The business-politicsnexushasbeenthebaneof societiesalloverthe world; their actions and decisions arebased more on pursuit of private profitrather than public good. A strong group ofbusinesses led by ‘realistic’ CEOs are tangi-bly driving change within corporate worldandit isonlyamatterof timebeforethebal-anceshiftsintheirfavour.

What’sthedifferencebetweenasuccess-fulCEOandanexceptionalleader?A typical successful CEO has what I call“Base Camp Leadership Traits”. These fallin two domains. (a) Traits relating tostrengths within, i.e. ‘physical traits’ com-prisingbasicintelligence,energyanddrive,andprofessionalwill,and(b)Traitsrelatingto interface with outside world, i.e. ‘mind-traits’ such as pragmatic vision (to foreseeopportunities),transactionalskills(tobuildteams and motivate) and perseverance (toovercomeobstacles).

The journey from base camp leadershipto the summit of exceptional leadershipcallsforanewsetof traits,beyondthephysi-cal traits and the mind-traits. These are thetraitsof conscience:pertainingtotheheartof theleader.Thesetraitsdonotcalluponustochangeourhearts.Theyonlyrequireustodiscoverourhearts.Thetripodof exception-al leadership has three pillars: straight,strong, and unyielding. Pillars of whole-ness,compassionandtransparency.

The journey to summit of exceptionalleadership is not to unchartered waters orunexploreddestinations.Infact,theseedsofthese traits already exist in most CEOs. It isthenatureof seedstogrow.If weareawareofthese seeds and let the seeds within us blos-som, the path to exceptional leadership issmooth. Several business leaders have al-ready displayed these traits, in abundantmeasure. While they pursue this journey,theydiscoverapleasantsurprise;theyexpe-riencea“tripletoplineof joy,peaceandcon-tentment.”Notonlyforthem,butalsointhepersonallivesof peopleallaround.

Whatisthemostimportanttake-homefromyourbook?I like to conclude by saying that if you areonly pursuing wealth, then it is unlikelythat you would listen to or accept anythingthat does not add to your wealth. But if youwish to pursue wealth and happiness, foryou and your family, then the message ofthis book has strong relevance for everycorporate CEO or for that matter anyleaderinanyfield.

‘A company that makes only moneyis considered to be a poor company’

QUESTFOREXCEPTIONALLEADERSHIP:MIRAGETOREALITYRaviChaudhrySageResponsePp276Rs375

INTERVIEW: RAVI CHAUDHRY, Business Strategist

EXTRACTWholeness: The First Trait ofExceptional Leadership

Wholeness means the whole view,the entire perspective, the totalunderstanding and the uncensoredversion of the full picture, perceivedfrom all angles, from all directions.Typically, the wholeness view is takenfrom outside, from the perceiver’svantage, with reference to her mind,and processed in her intellect, acomplete 360-degree view. That isdifficult, but it is only half the job.Each of our decisions and actions hasan impact on others, directly orindirectly. The ‘whole wholeness’comes about when the same processis repeated naturally, withoutvolition, and we take an additional360-degree view, as perceived byothers, with reference to their mindsand as processed in their thoughts.Wholeness is a 720-degree view.

A 360-degree view excludes; a 720-degree view includes those who areexcluded. A multi-perceptive 720-degree view is the only yardstick of‘inclusive development’, corporateIndia talks about. Those who achievewholeness no longer feel alienated;they feel they are aligned toeverything around them. As theyexperience wholeness, they end upowning responsibility and actingaccordingly. A CEO who diligentlyimbibes the trait of wholeness is a 720Leader, with the requisite qualificationto lead a Realistic Company.

Extracted with permission fromSage India

The making of TCS...and the people behind it

SudhirChowdhary

MY FIRST interactionwith Tata Consultan-cy Services founderFaqir Chand Kohli

wasratherawkward.Somewhereinmid-1990s, I happened to be attend-ing one of Nasscom’s software jam-boree at Hotel Ashok in New Delhi,when Atanu Roy, my senior col-leagueatnow-shutdownITpublica-tion from the India Today Groupinquired whether I had an opportu-nity to interact with the founder ofIndia’s largest software exporter.WhenIexpressedmyinabilitytodoso, he literally pulled me towardsKohli, standing distinctly awayfrom the crowd in a quiet corner ofthe hotel lobby. Atanu had merelyinitiated the conversation with theTCS supremo with a “Hi, this isAtanu Roy from India TodayGroup,” when Kohli, visibly irritat-edonbeingdisturbed,retortedwitha blunt “So?”. Shocked and literallythrown off the ground, Atanu wasquick to regain his composure andsaid he merely wanted to acquaintKohli with me, while I stood as a

mute spectator to such a hostile ex-change between the two tall gentle-men.ThoughKohliwarmeduptoussomewhat, his mind seemed else-where,preoccupied.

Stern, very direct and a man offew words—that was my first im-pression of the architect of India’sIT industry. I am not alone in hold-ing such views. Subramaniam Ra-madorai’s inside story of one ofIndia’s premier corporate institu-tions, The TCS story...and beyondhas plenty of that. “When I joinedTCS as an assistant systems pro-grammer and analyst in 1972 at asalary of R1,000 a month, I got toknow my mentor FC Kohli for thefirsttime.Atthattime,Kohliwasac-tively involved in recruitment andused to meet every new recruit,”says Ramadorai, who retired asCEO&MDof TCSin2009,afterserv-ingthecompanyfor37years.

Mostyoungentry-levelengineerswere afraid to speak to or approachKohli because of his reputation as astern taskmaster. “But our initialtrepidation began to go away as westarted to learn a little more aboutKohliandrealisedthathewasamanwho was very direct and very quickto grasp issues. He would tell usbluntly what was the right thing todo,andwhatwasnot.If,however,youwere sure you were right you couldchallengehim,andhewouldrespectthat. One of my colleagues won-dered how I could deal with his for-midable personality. One evendescribedhimasa‘benevolentdicta-tor...or perhaps not so benevolent’.

Kohli was certainly not known forhispatienceandhewastough,butasI learned later, he also had a softheart,”saysRamadorai.

Much has been written about thetop management of Infosys, Wiproor HCL Technologies. TCS’ historyand that of the people behind it, hasappeared in piecemeals, an articlehereandawriteupthere.“Someoneneededtoputittogether.SoIdecidedtototaketheplunge,aplungeintotheunknown—and with great passion,in my characteristic style, to writeaboutTCS’historyandmyownjour-ney in a way that readers would en-joy,”saysRamadorai,amansteepedinsimplicityanddiscipline.

Of course, in his fascinatingnarration, Ramadorai recountsthe steps to the company’s extraor-dinary success: how TCS played apioneeringroleinestablishingoff-shore development centres in In-diatoprovidehigh-endsolutionstoglobal corporations; how it spear-headed Indian industry throughthe IT boom, using Y2K challengeto its advantage; and how it suc-cessfully expanded and scaled itsoperations worldwide, while si-multaneouslygoingpublicwithIn-dia’sbiggest-everIPOin2004.

But it is people talk that keepsthe reader engrossed and Ramado-rai has done an interesting job at

that. Consider his own Americanexperience: “Arriving in New yorkwas a pretty daunting experience.One person who was more than alittle sceptical about my missionwas Naval Mody, president of TataInc,theUSsubsidiaryof TataSonsand the Tata man in the US. Navalhad an accountant’s mindset. Hesaw my presence as an unneces-saryexpense.Besides,whileheun-derstood trading, sales was aconcepttotallyforeigntohim,sohedid not see any value in my role,”saysRamadorai.

PerhapsModyalsoviewedmeasathreat,saysRamadorai,“becausehetold me quite clearly that t here was

nowayIcouldsetupabusinessintheUS for an Indian company like TCS,and that I should just take the nextflighthome.Certainlyitwasnotveryencouraging for someone setting upshop. There I was, caught betweenthetwobosses:KohliwhohadalltheconfidenceinmeandModywhosawno value whatsoever in my pres-ence.” By the time Ramadorai leftthe US in 1981 and handed over to SMahalingam (another TCS veter-an), the company’s revenues hadgrowntoabout$700,000ayear.

Kohli chose Ramadorai as hissuccessor in 1996. “Kohli’s deci-sion was based primarily on histrust and confidence in me and hisobservations of my ability to buildcustomer relationships. While Ithink Kohli and I shared vision forTCS, our management styles werevery different,” Ramadorai says.“Kohli had a direct managementstyle and exercised very tight con-trol. He was intellectual, authori-tative and aloof. In contrast, Iconsciouslytriedtobeverypartici-pative and actively sought to fosterdebate and discussion, and and toensure that everyone with a validview had the opportunity to con-tribute to a debate and expressthemselves.”

Whatever, the working styles ofboth these IT industry stalwartsworked splendidly for TCS. As Ra-madoraisummarisessuccinctly:“ACEO should be judged not just bywhat he built but more importantlythat he leaves behind for his succes-sortobuildupon.”

THETCSSTORY...ANDBEYONDSRamadoraiPenguinBooksPp252Rs699

Much has been written onTCS’ metamorphosis into oneof the world’s largest ITsoftware and servicescompanies. It’s S Ramadorai’slittle known insights on thepeople behind the making ofmodern India’s great successstories, including himself, thatmakes The TCS Story . . . andBeyond a must-read