How do you see the role of leadership in a globalized environment?

While globalization is becoming all pervasive, leaders are not yet adopting a global mindset. Business leaders look at the global world from their own perspective, influenced by their upbringing and culture, and are still not truly global citizens. The leaders still tend to be ethnocentric. This needs to change. In this regard, the Indian companies are more ethnocentric, especially the promoters themselves. The CEOs have to transcend truly into transnational’s, which means they lose the identity of their country. They should no longer think of their company as an Indian company and of themselves as Indian CEOs. Rather they should take the view of a world citizen, and see their company as a global company.

In order to create global leaders, they have to experience the global diversity of talent, products and information and capital. For this, companies need to have an immersion program, and rotate people in and out of different jobs, and also across different geographies and different functions. This is similar to what companies do in India, where a north Indian posted in Chennai has to make adjustments and learn how to live in that culture. Indian companies need to do this outside India also, at least in Asian countries. In order to create that leadership, class room education will not just suffice. The best way to bring out people’s potential is through a threat to their survival. When people go out of their comfort zones into different areas/geographies, they manage well when the survival is at stake. To create global leaders, the biggest change has to come at the HR function level. Managing the human capital is the huge challenge for companies, and if they wish to be truly global, the functions need to be transnational too. And as a matter of urgency, the HR function needs to be transformed.

What are the changing demands on leaders? Is there a need to inculcate new ways of thinking, and to develop new competencies?

Since family run businesses still dominate the landscape in India, leadership was based on inheritance. In these business families, people are groomed to take over at a young age, by being sent to foreign universities, and get inducted into the organization in their early or late twenties. This notion however has undergone a change in recent years. Leadership by inheritance has been replaced with leadership by performance.

And the only way a good leader can deliver is through three traits. A good leader should have three important traits. Passion is the most critical ingredient for success as a leader. All good leaders are passionate about the people, products, and the company. The second important characteristic is empathy/compassion, the knack of listening, understanding and respecting the other person’s point of view. Leaders should listen to people and bring in alternate perspectives and inputs. The old style of leadership where a boss dictated terms to his subordinates is clearly passé. Leaders should also have competencies in the areas of finance, operations, and customers and partners. Most of the leaders tend to be good in one of these, and not all of them. They need to develop strengths in all the three areas.

We wanted your views on the shift of the fulcrum of businesses from the Western world to India/ China, which you spoke about in your book Chindia Rising, and why, therefore, the need for businesses to source leaders from this geography?

As the world becomes more Asia centric, there is a dearth of talent. These markets are huge and a company may find that it does not have enough talented executives in a particular country, and people may not be willing to relocate to Asia permanently. If people relocate for a short duration of a couple of years, it is of not much help, since they would not be able to put down their own rules and make a significant contribution. And so there is the need to recruit talented leaders from these markets. Companies need to recruit the leaders from these regions and provide them with the right kind of leadership that suits the culture. Companies like E &Y are relying on Indian talent to succeed. IBM, Accenture, and KPMG are also examples of companies which are relying on Indian talent, while becoming more global in the right way.

In light of this changed scenario, do you see leadership from China and India playing roles that have significance beyond the regions they come from?

Definitely, I see leadership from China and India playing important roles. Many of the Indian graduates who went to study abroad and started working for companies are now at the top of their organizations. Many large companies have CEOs of Indian origin. There are also a lot of Chinese leaders and Asian leaders in some parts of the world. I do believe that we have the leadership talent, and they are rough diamonds that need to be polished.

With more and more Asian MNCs becoming forces to reckon with, how should these companies focus on leadership development?

Asian MNCs should adopt successful leadership styles of other Asian countries.

Indian companies must focus on attracting non-Indian leadership talent and make sure they are integrated into the company properly. The non-Indian managers should not be just restricted to being sales and marketing people, but they should be in key positions at the CXO level. Most of the Indian leaders should also be sent to China to understand how the leadership functions there, and how Chinese companies are achieving such remarkable growth. The companies should understand whether the growth of the Chinese companies is government driven or because of the Chinese leadership. Indian multinationals have to send leaders to other Asian countries too like Malaysia, Indonesia, etc.

To address this new shift, how do you see the role of executive search firms based out of India, and do you see them as being more relevant and up to the task?

Honestly, I don’t think the executive search firms based out of India are prepared for this shift. I see two reasons for this. Most of the executive firms out of India are extensions of foreign companies. They are involved in only local search for the Indian market of the said company. Then there are other search firms that do not have a global presence and cannot serve Indian companies on a global scale. Indian search firms must therefore compete for companies which operate outside India too. I also feel that the executive search firms have been narrowly defined. They should also be involved in due diligence, program management, company strategy, and have a portfolio of integrated capabilities.

In this context, how do you see the role of an executive search firm such as Emploi Globale, anchored out of India, evolving?

For executive search firms anchored out of India, I see three fundamental choices. The first choice is for these firms to work only in India, and source out talent from the Indian companies. The second choice is to become multinational firms, by expanding to neighboring countries like SAARC, and to the Middle East like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, etc. These firms can concentrate and become Asia-centric. The third choice is to become truly global by having a presence in all the global markets.

You are an advisor of Emploi Globale. Why did you choose to come on board? What has been your experience?

What I like most about Emploi Globale is that it does not have the legacy of old thinking. This is a brand new company, with new ideas. It can think more, and not just from a historical setting. Second, Emploi Globale is a blend of experienced professionals and fresh recruits. While one needs the experience of professionals, one also needs youthful recruits, and so this blend becomes important. The third thing that I like about Emploi Globale is the enormous passion of the founders. It is a mission driven business and breaking new ground in the industry.

Do you see executive search firms carving a niche and becoming an important part of the business ecosystem going forward?

More and more companies in general, and Indian companies in particular, are taking outside firms for executive search. Earlier search used to be done through word of mouth and through relationships. Now it has become institutionalized. Thus executive search which was mostly unorganized is now becoming organized. It is also important for executive search firms to carry out due diligence about a prospective hire, something which could not have been done in an authentic way in the earlier forms of unorganized search.