Mr. Godrej had valuable hindsights, which he shared with the students.
One, graduating from superb educational institutions is essential. The critical question is how many of them who do, transform themselves into Passionate Leaders.
A leader should be truthful, need to have a clear vision. He needs to have constant exposure to new ideas.
Second, he should not lend to his ear to somebody who says its not done that way.
Not to somebody who says, you are taking a big chance, a big risk. Not to that internal voice of fear. That voice of fear which says there are smarter, taller, luckier people than you.
Third, you need to play to win. Defeat is not for you.
Fourth, Dare mighty things, Have stretch goals, Learn to pick yourself up after falling, Make your vocation as your vacation, Enjoy what you do and grab opportunities.
On being asked how he managed in the changing times in India, he replied that managing one’s core strength is the key. If further growth is required then one can go for acquisition and diversification. He also emphasized on how important it is for a leader to have effective communication with his team. The need of the hour is to use modern communication techniques like electronic communication, to the fullest. According to Mr. Godrej, a very important need in any team today is need to be creative. Too much of discipline reduced creativity. Some degree of “madness” is essential to stir the company and expose it to revolutionary ideas. He also said that brand was a very important factor in a company’s success. Godrej, he said has been a well accepted brand since a long time in the Indian market. But, because of the legacy of its brand, Godrej has faced a lot of problems in positioning itself as a company with any new technologies. So, at Godrej they have tried to revamp the policies a lot. They have made a policy that after every evaluation, the bottom 5% people in the company will have to leave. And the top 20% will be rewarded with faster career growth. When telling about his experiences, he told that earlier the industry rules were so strict that his definition of success was to get a license to enter the industry. But today with liberalization and privatization gaining momentum, success for a company has become how much EVA it can achieve in a period. But the biggest reason for success of Godrej is that in Godrej Industries, they take the “Bottom up Approach instead of the Top down Approach” which means that they try to take in more opinions from the all level of organization members, instead of trying to impose the top level decisions always on them.
When asked about the image that India will be stuck with the back office tag, he responded by saying that ideally, if we can engage 1.1 billion in value add work, it would be great. But few years back, even graduates were unemployed.
But not anymore. India’s competitiveness will not be because of labor arbitrage but because of our demography. Relatively being young is what clinches the deal. In Russia, Germany and China, it has started declining. Infact, we can be the groundbreakers, who can lead back offices done in other countries other than India.
The session came to an end with Mr. Godrej underlining the importance how leaders should always try to listen to others.