During the course of conduct of consulting in the executive and leadership space, the biggest perquisite we have enjoyed over the years is extensive interface with Group Chairmen. In some confidential assignments, Group Chairmen themselves drive the brief, after which the NRC or HR takes over. Although the Chairmen may have limited time and may not answer all queries but during the time they are engaged, they come across absolutely fascinating, displaying their humility. Some extraordinary examples which we have experienced in our interactions are quoted below (obviously we are not giving specific names but describing the profile)
- Group Chairman of one of the leading IT services companies: This company is a star and so is the Chairman. He has literally grown the company from scratch to a multibillion USD valuation. His humility is well-known, nothing more to add. In the past, he used to drive his own car, wouldn’t use the lift to climb the floors of his office, lands in international territory, expects the regional manager to pick him up to save the cab fare….blah blah. What surprised me one day was : when he met a candidate we had introduced, on a Sunday at home. He was served breakfast and there were no servants. The Chairman and his wife took turns to bring food on the table. This is startling for an Indian home style.
- Chairman of an automotive group: This is again a well-known group with indigenously developed automotive OEs. This particular group is known for retaining people over a long time, sometimes even those performing below optimal level performance. The Group Chairman works as many hours as he expects the top-brass to be engaged. Whenever meeting with firms like us, this gentleman surprises us by being on time, offering all the courtesies and particularly inquiring if our own engagement formalities are all tied up. While he is known to be a perfectionist, one event surprised us no end. A senior candidate was interviewed in his house and this candidate had avoided taking his driver because of confidentiality of his travel. It was early in the morning on a weekend. Post the meeting, Chairman offered to drop him to the airport and realised Chairman’s driver had not turned up. Chairman himself drove the candidate to the airport.
- Chairman of a diversified group who prefers to visit our office: This gentleman is so humble, accessible and chatable. We sometimes feel embarrassed that we secure that much attention from his side. The group is more than 10 Bn USD in revenue but the Chairman comes across as a plain speaking character without any airs about himself. He has always offered to make one visit to our office to sometimes chat up without any specific mandate in mind. We end up talking a lot about extraneous things, before coming to shop-talk. I have his blessings all the time, if I have to drop his name as my reference. In one instance, I mentioned to him that another potential client may cross check about us. For some reason, the other client did not call, instead our friend calls up the other group and volunteers to provide the inputs.
- Chairman’s extraordinary gesture at Tirupati: This is the most emotional example I have to offer. We have worked with this group for many years. Chairman of this group is a devotee of Lord Balaji and are big time donors at Tirupati temple. I would bank on his office to help me with darshan & stay. In one of those trips, I used their facility and was staying in the guest house. Surprisingly, Chairman’s dad also arrived in Tirupati unannounced and saw that we were occupying the guest house. I thought we should vacate. Instead, they were so courteous that the Chairman’s dad stayed in another guest house belonging to his friend. It was just unbelievable.
Managing Director
INSIST Consulting
The point I am making through these examples and there could be many more, is at the core, the group leaders particularly the Chairmen want to be nice, kind and have a long-term relationship with stakeholders. They are so occupied, if they do not respond to all emails, it does not mean that they are discourteous.
