From MBA Aspirants To Successful CXOs - Meet The Leaders

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From MBA Aspirants To Successful CXOs – Meet The Leaders Visiting SOIL

30 Jun 2022
- admin
- Student Careers
Over a period of time it was thought that corporate leadership relied on certainty, decisiveness and the power of position. This notion of leadership has started to undergo a radical change in today’s dynamic world. Most MBA courses have relied on this approach and in fact perpetuated it.

However, leadership has evolved and moved away from the notion that it flows from authority or hierarchy. These days the dimension of leadership has started to focus on – how leaders use their hierarchy to bring about and nurture the flow of ideas and improve employee curiosity. Today’s MBA students thus must learn to inculcate experimentation and thus motivate the workforce to try out new approaches.

This departure from the traditional form of management education looks at the premise that rather than leaders telling others what to do, they need insights from those working on the ground to help them set vision and direction. Business leaders, therefore, need to listen and give freedom to others to explore, experiment and improve the way things are done.

True Business leadership works on the premise that humans cannot be perfect and can fail. To practice, explore and it is the mantra to improve all round performance. Once the business leaders get this right, the employees become motivated to own processes, work hard and help realise the vision of the organization.

Management education should look to impart these different approaches and concepts of leadership. MBA courses are not only about gaining and retaining power, and leadership is not only about being a one way approach. If MBA students can learn about this approach to corporate leadership, it would be a huge advantage to their career in the long run.

The MBA Journey To The Top

In its simplistic form, the MBA aspirant’s journey starts with the goal to study at a top B-school and to learn from the best faculty. The idea is to get into a corporate career at a top-notch organisation or then to transition into roles with higher responsibility. To start with, the journey of an MBA is a long and challenging one and with no clear and ultimate destination.

A dedicated preparation follows and one has to juggle between work or college education to find time to prepare for the entrance exams and admission processes. Getting into a good b school is just a small part of the journey and the road ahead is arduous. Most MBAs believe that the journey of the MBA ends with bagging a job offer with their dream company. Far from this, it continues when the MBA student joins the organisation as a management professional. The general expectation from an MBA graduate is that they would help make a difference with their management education. The challenge now extends to the MBA to showcase his learning, leadership and management acumen and transition into a performance role.

So, in effect, the journey of an MBA does not end. The learning continues and in fact they have to be a step ahead to tackle the dynamic nature of the fast paced business world. To become a true leader, the MBA, has to constantly reinvent, unlearn, relearn and yourself, develop new skills and knowledge. The journey is all about this and showcasing talent and calibre time after time.

The SOIL Leadership Series – Learning From Successful CXOs and Leaders

To help students understand the nuances of what is required of a successful CXO/ Leader, SOIL has been inviting eminent personalities to share their experiences with our students. These interactions form an important part of management learning and a guideline for the students to understand what it entails to reach the top. These inspiring leaders/ CXOs are role models for the current crop of students as they have their own unique experiences to narrate that have helped them to rise to the pinnacle of their careers.

Anantha Radhakrishnan (Radha), CEO & MD, Infosys BPR

A Mechanical Engineer from National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, Radha completed his MBA from IIM-Lucnow in 1991. Coming from a traditional family of Bangalore, Radha started his journey when during his MBA he was referred to as “Radha Kotler”, and his subsequent failure to get his dream job with Hindustan Unilever. His experience in getting out from that difficult phase with some help from his mentor – Professor Jha is indeed inspiring. Radha has transitioned through various industries and roles from engineering to FMCG marketing and now to IT services. Through this journey, he shares insights about the attributes that have helped him in his journey such as being grounded, being aware of oneself and a positive mindset. He believes that one should avoid a negative mindset, never have self doubt or be overconfident. His experience is that authentic leadership is a subset of empathy, innovation and growth mindset. His success, according to him, lies in the fact that a career is a step by step journey and that learning is a constant process. He advises MBA students to be authentic, honest and take pride in what they do.

Uday Baldota, CEO, Taro Pharmaceuticals

Uday completed his Chemical Engineering from IIT Delhi and went on to pursue an MBA for IIM Ahmedabad in Finance. His career journey has been unique and he has worked in various industries across functional domains. Starting his career with consulting, on to Sun Pharma in marketing, and then to heading procurement at Lafarge (cement), back to Sun Pharma as head of finance and finally at Taro Pharma as a CEO. The journey has been eventful and truly varied. Uday, in his career, has specialized in building successful teams besides crafting and executing a compelling vision for the organizations he has worked for. Uday spoke at length with his experiences as the Purchasing head of Lafarge, a function totally alien to him. On being asked as to how he handled the transition, he attributed his success to a participative approach thorough a LARGE SCALE INTERACTION PROCESS that helped people to overcome immunity to change. Uday’s success as a leader is the mantra he followed himself that – the role of a leader is to help in change and help people to change. He also advised the students to drop the fear of learning ( which is a lifelong process) and experiment with results.

Manoj Kohli, Country Head, Soft Bank

Manoj is an alumni of the prestigious Shri Ram College of Commerce. Thereafter he completed his MBA from FMS in 1982. His journey too has been eventful and he has handled multiple leadership roles in varied industries and domains across geographies. Manoj’s contribution to the Indian telecom industry is well recognised and he has been instrumental in making Airtel a brand name to reckon with. Currently Manoj is Country Head – Soft Bank India and supports SoftBank Group and Vision Fund which is one of the largest investors in India specifically in AI focused portfolio companies. During the interaction, Manoj outlined his success to the middle class values he inculcated as a child. Coming from a humble background, he feels that one should not be in a rush in one’s career since life is marathon. He places his mantra of success in the Four H’s- Honesty, humility, hard work and hunger, principles that have shaped his career and helped him in leadership roles. He advised the students to continue learning throughout life, respect everyone, and not try shortcuts to success. Lastly, he personally follows the principle of the fact that a health body breeds a healthy mind and investing in health has gains that percolate beyond mere physical fitness.

Key Takeaways

As a management professional, one should understand a company’s products, learn from the ground up, be involved in decision making, and challenge traditional thinking. All through the interactions with the successful CXOs/ Leaders, the key takeaway attributable to success went beyond knowledge of core business concepts. A value system, empathy, innovative streak, participative team building and continuous learning were some important traits that shaped the career of these leaders. Lastly, the point that failure is a part of life that helps in career progression provided one uses them for further inspiration.

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