an icmr-iipm THink Tank publicaTion Count innovation is · PDF filean icmr-iipm THink Tank...

Before They haTch

CountyourChickensTHF quarTerly supplemenT on business leaders

an icmr-iipm THink Tank publicaTion ViVek LaLLReliance industRies ltd

justin CohenauthoR & speakeR

RogeR haRRopauthoR and speakeR

innovation is the only way for india

work can be fun and exciting

the Most exciting of tiMes

vo

l-1

iss

ue

-6

ma

y-1

3

ExclusivE: nitin sood, pVR limited;

sanjay chamRia, magma Fincorp; mukesh Bansal, myntra; diljeet titus, titus & co.

GauRaV maRya, Franchise india

Howa ceo can

seT winning leadersHip

combinaTion THaT can ensure success

Leadership synergies

and they said...Jim Kouzes

International Author & Lecturer

Roger Harrop Business Expert, Author,

International Speaker

Rajendra Pratap Gupta Global Thought Leader on Healthcare & Public Policy

Valeed Ahmad Ansari Professor, Aligarh Muslim

University

What a great issue on transformation and change manage-ment! If only every business leader of every business, big or small, were to read these great words and recognise that change is con-stant, unremitting and, rather than a threat, a great op-portunity to differ-entiate. Great jour-nal – keep up the good work.

I really like the new magazine called Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch (CYCBTH). It really pops, and the con-tent looks great. However, I was not able to go through the lastest issue but all the previous is-sues were exciting, full of intellectual contents and well presented. Thanks and good luck.

Last issue of CYCBTH on Transformational Leadership was fantas-tic with some great role models featured. I am very much sure that middle and senior managers will be bene-fitted a lot from read-ing this journal. I con-gratulate Prof. Arin-dam Chaudhuri and his team for this jour-nal and wish the TEAM IIPM all the best.

I am really impressed and amazed with the quality and presenta-tion style of Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch! The con-tent is something that made me a vivid reader of your publi-cations. What I liked this time was the de-sign element and edi-torial mix of content. A great work by the editorial and the de-sign teams.

BEFORE THEY HATCH

COUNTYOUR

ChickensA HUMAN FACTOR QUARTERLY SUPPLEMENT ON LEADERSHIP

AN ICMR-IIPM THINK TANK PUBLICATION

VO L- 1 I S S U E - 5 JA N - 2 0 1 3

PHIL EASTMANINTERNATIONAL SPEAKER

LEADERSHIP MATTERS THE MOST

WARWICK MERRY

LEADERSHIP COACH

A FAULT INTO A

FEATURE

�e newface of

corporatephilanthropy

HOW FAR WILL VEDANTA

GO TO MEET ITS SOCIAL COMMITMENTS

ALSO EXCLUSIVE:

Arup Roy Choudhury, NTPC Ltd.;

Vinod K. Dasari, Ashok Leyland

V D Wadhwa,Timex Group India Ltd.

Please send your feedback to: [email protected]

Before They haTch

CountyourChickens

count your chickens before they hatch 4 may 2013

Justin Cohen International Speaker and Author

Nitin Sood, CFO, PVR Limited 16

Sanjay Chamria, Vice Chairman and MD, Magma Fincorp Ltd. 18

DIljeet Titus, Founder, Titus & Co. 20

Mukesh Bansal, Co-Founder and CEO, Myntra 22

Gaurav Marya, Founder and President, Franchise India 23

work can be even more fun than fun

08

Roger Harrop CEO Expert, Author and Speaker

the most exciting of times for business

24

Vivek Lall President and CEO, Reliance Industries Ltd.

innovation is the only way for india32

Sray AgarwalConsulting Editor

will your ceo sacrifice?34

editorial Is your CEO LinkedIn? 5

Flash pointsLeadership Turnaround in Lufthansa 6Exit plan of IBS Software 7

international columnThe Creativity Gap Between Ideas and ProfitNigel CollinConsultant, Founder and CEO, Thinkativity 10

Don't Wait Till the Last Minute to Complete the ProjectWarwick MerrySpeaker, Consultant and Trainer 26

Giving your Business the Upper Hand Allan Pease Australian Body Language Expert and Author 28

exclusive interview"We Will Have Lot of Learnings" Jaideep SinghSenior Vice President and Business Head of Viacom 18 Media Pvt. Ltd. 12

Fair Forward"Role Modulation Is Extremely Essential" Ameera ShahManaging Director and CEO of Metropolis Healthcare Ltd. 30

Cover Design by Ashvin Chitroda

cover story 13

corporate synergies

CONTENTS

count your chickens before they hatch 5 may 2013count your chickens before they hatch 5

Printed by:Rolleract Press Servies, C-163, Ground Floor,

Naraina industrial Area, Phase-I, New Delhi - 16

disclaimer :All efforts have been taken to ensure the veracity of the information contained in the research, however the iiPm think tank expressly

disclaims any and all warranties, express or implied, including without limitation warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular

purpose, with respect to any service or material. In no event shall the iiPm think tank be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, punitive, or consequential damages of any kind whatsoever with respect to the

and materials, although the reader may freely use the research and material provided, the iiPm think tank retains all trademark right

and copyright on all the text and graphics.

We are keen to hear from anyone, who would like to know more about IIPM Think Tank’s Publications.

You can e-mail us on [email protected] or alternatively call us at +91 9818244963

editorial & researchFOUNDER EDITOR: Malay ChaUDhURI

EDITOR-IN-ChIEF: aRINDaM ChaUDhURIChIEF CONSUlTING EDITOR: PRaSOON S MajUMDaR

ExECUTIvE EDITOR: Namita Chhetri CONSUlTING EDITOR: Sray Agarwal

aSSISTaNT EDITORS: Amir Hossain, Sayan GhoshPRINCIPal CORRESPONDENT: Nidhi Gupta

CORRESPONDENT: Rohit Kaushik, Achraj Singh

design DESIGN DIRECTOR: Satyajit Datta

SR. aRT DIRECTOR: Siddharth KapilSENIOR DESIGNERS: Priyankar Bhargava, Hitesh Mehta,

Kuldeep SinghDESIGNER: Karan Singh, Vikas GulyaniSENIOR IllUSTRaTOR: Shantanu Mitra

IllUSTRaTOR: S.K. Panduranga IMaGE EDITOR: Vinay Kamboj

photographyGROUP PhOTO EDITOR: Ranjan Basu ChIEF PhOTOGRaPhER: Sujan Singh

PhOTOGRaPhER: Mukunda De, Sanjay Solanki, Vikram Kumar, Rangnath Tiwari,

Shubash Chopra, Naveen Sharma ChIEF PhOTO COORDINaTOR: Varun Pal Singh

SENIOR PhOTO RESEaRChER: Sanjay Kumar, Ashutosh Vig

productionPRODUCTION MaNaGER: Gurudas Mallik Thakur

PRODUCTION SUPERvISOR: Digember Singh, Satbir Chauhan,

Soumyajeet Gupta, Dipak Basak, Mukesh Jha, N. Ekantha Lingam, Deep Narain

PRODUCTION aSSISTaNT: Omvir Gautam

marketing vICE PRESIDENT: Amim Ahmed

vICE PRESIDENT (wEST): Guljar Singh aSSOCIaTES vICE PRESIDENT (aD SalES) :

Sumit Raina, Rajat Sogani GENERal MaNaGER (SOUTh): Sunil Kumar

GENERal MaNaGER (EaST): Bhaskar Mojumdar REGIONal hEaD: Atul Kapoor

circulationREGIONal hEaDS: Swaroop Saha, Bhupinder Bisht,

Kunj Bihari Joshi, Venkat Narasimman, Joydeep Ganguly SalES MaNaGER: Manoj, Rizvi, Mukund,

Parameshwara, Shihabuddin

CYCBTH onlineChIEF wEb DESIGNER: Neel Verma

SR. wEb DEvElOPER: Anil Sheoran, Christopher Mani, Sandeep Rohilla, Manoj Chandelkar

vol 1 issue 6 May 2013

The exchange of business cards and handshakes in seminars and conferences are quintes-sential to business strategies

even before the time of Facebook and LinkedIn. Giving due respect to the lat-ter two, the exchange of pleasantries and cards has values of its own. It’s just not acquaintances in paper, but a real interaction between people that often shapes the initial perception between one another. And unlike social network-ing sites, the tangible handshakes goes a long way in building relationships, confidence and trust among the ac-

quaintances. It helps a firm in recruitment, saves human resource cost, and helps build networks of vendors and the process of outsourcing services.

However, building such vast network without the aid of social sites is dif-ficult. Thus, often CEOs of companies build the lead generation through social sites and other portals (like recruitment portals) and convert it to relationship building exercise. The Facebook and Twitter allows professionals to exchange information and rub shoulders with their peers with meticulous networking planning. LinkedIn, which is created for the purpose of professional network-ing, is a major source of recruitment procedure. The swapping of information and recruitment requirements are often messaged through the site among people in the networks. It helps save costs for CEOs, which otherwise had to be spent on advertisements or fees of headhunting firms. Further, online forums and prolonged interaction with the probable recruits make way for better evaluation than just a couple of sittings of interviews.

Layak Singh, CEO of Bangalore based IT and Marketing solution firm, Fullerene Solutions, has created a dating site called ‘DateIITians’ meant for IIT and other topnotch technical and management schools, to source talent for his ventures. Even though, the site is a profit center in itself, Singh’s vision is to build long term network of young talents that can bear value addition for his company. There are in total 445,000 CEOs and 962,000 Presidents in the crowded domain of LinkedIn, which is giving a hard run for money to the head hunters.

Networking is not just about recruitment but for securing customers too. Often, buildup of networks is made with objectives of looking forward and securing business. And that’s been a practice for a long time. Membership of some special purpose clubs, like Delhi Golf Club, Bombay Gym or Calcutta Club, blends social networking with professional break through. And it’s a hotbed for CEOs to clamor and charm their warts away. Even economic and financial bodies, like, FICCI and CII serves the same purpose.

It’s a unipolar world and collaterals of business are increasingly merged. Moreover, because of stiff competition there is escalating squeeze on margins. The answer to these scaling problems can be found through prudent network-ing. As the old adage goes – it’s not what you know, that is important, it’s about who you know – that shapes the business outcomes.

Is your CEo LInkEdIn?

(SMS your views with your name and topic to 0-9818101234)

Namita Chhetri Executive Editor

EDITORIAL

BEfORE THEy HATCH

CountyOuRChickensA HumAn FActor quArterly supplement on leAdersHip

An icmr-iipm tHink tAnk publicAtion


Flash points

international

leadership turnaround in lufthansa airlines

Lufthansa, the biggest airline in Europe, has sorted out its leadership crisis. There was a dispute over its former CEO, Wolfgang Mayrhu-

ber - should be elected its next chairman or not. One of the large German investor groups holding Lufthansa shares, Union Investment, announced earlier that it will vote against Mayrhuber. How-ever, he has been elected as Chairman on May 7, 2013. Mayrhuber was Lufthansa’s CEO from 2003 to 2010, and has faced criticism from investors and senior management for the acquisition of Austrian Airlines and a large stake in Brussels Airlines, two troubled carriers still implementing restructuring plans. His critics also claim he did not do enough to counter competition from low-cost carriers.

EAO Corporation has bagged the 2013 Man-ufacturing Leadership 100 (ML100) Inno-vative Enterprise Award for pioneering

Human Machine Interface (HMI) systems pro-gram. The ML100 Awards would like to honour both companies and individuals that provide better global manufacturing perspective. HMI is used for incorporating the human factors in the interface design are developed based on knowledge of computer science, such as compu-ter graphics, operating systems, programming languages. Since the introduction of the HMI in 2009, its sales has increased manifold and the company projects a CAGR of over 100 percent for each of the next three years. Overall, HMI has innovated their sales process.

eao wins innovative enterprise award 2013

Global worming has become a serious problem in today's world. So, Bio-economy Leadership Award has taken

the initiative to inspire corporations to-wards demonstrated and sustained leader-ship excellence in advancing the develop-ment of the biobased economy by honouring the frontrunners. DuPont has been awarded the title in 2013 for its pioneering work in two strategic areas: renewably sourced ma-terials and fuels. DuPont broke ground on its commercial scale 30 million gallons per year cellulosic ethanol facility in Nevada, Iowa. The facility will be among the first and largest cellulosic biorefineries in the world upon completion in 2014.

Bio-economical dupont

Acquirer Company Target Company Deal Value Kraft Foods Inc Mondelēz International $36 billion Glencore International Xstrata $34 billionBanco Financiero y de Ahorro FROB $23 billion

Alliance Boots GmbH Walgreen Co $21 billionAnheuser-Busch InBev Grupo Modelo $20 billion

top 5 Biggest m&a deals in 2012-13


national

exit plan of iBs software

General Atlantic-backed IBS Software Services is look-ing at an initial public of-

fering to give its principal PE in-vestor an exit. The investor and the promoters of the company would dilute up to 20% stake in the public offering. In 2006, Gen-eral Atlantic had invested $60 million for a minority stake in the Kochi based IT services company. IBS is now being valued at $350-500 million (Rs 1,897 crore to Rs 2,710 crore). The company is in talks with investment bankers for a possible IPO as they are target-ing a listing towards end of the current financial year. The pro-moters too will dilute some stake through this offer.

Naresh Goyal-led Jet Airways has inked a deal to sell 24 per cent stake in the country’s second largest carrier to Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways through

a preferential allotment for $379 million. Etihad Airways has confirmed the acquisition of a 24% minority stake in Jet Airways for $379m. This followed a statement by the Indian carrier earlier before that its board had approved the allot-ment to Etihad. The Abu Dhabi-headquartered airline will also make a $150 million equity investment in Jet's frequent flyer programme and spend $70 million to buy Jet's three pairs of Heathrow slots through the sale and leaseback agreement. As part of the deal Jet is to establish a hub in Abu Dhabi and expand its reach through Etihad Airways' global network. The deal marks the first such investment by a foreign airline since India liberalized rules last Sep-tember permitting Indian carriers to offer as much as a 49% stake to overseas partners.

etihad plans to Buy 24% ofJet airways for $379 million

Sunil Dutt, Managing Director, of Research in Motion India Pvt. Ltd, makers of BlackBerry phones, has quit from the company within a month after the launch of BlackBerry 10 OS and the Z10 in India. This comes as a surprise to all espe-

cially after listening to Thorsten Hein, CEO of BlackBerry, speak about the effect or strength response received to Z10 after two days of its launch in India. BlackBerry sees India as a major market for its products and is already facing change down words in market shares to bear this shock coming their way. BlackBerry is also dealing with the Indian Government’s pressure on providing it the access to the unique PINs of all BlackBerry devices across the world for security reasons. To regain BlackBerry's share Dutt had told that the company would expand to new towns soon and would be available in 250 locations in India, up from the present 80. Now, it will be for an-other person to ensure that BlackBerry 10's initial success converts to long-term growth of the company. In the interim, Rick Costanzo, Executive Vice President for global sales, will take over the leadership of the team in India.

sunil dutt leaves rim india at a crucial point

Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Group CEO of Bharti Enterpris-

es, has been appointed as the Vice-Chairman of the Inter-national Chamber of Com-merce (ICC), one of the world's oldest global business organisations in April 2013. He expressed his happiness in a statement by saying that “It is an honour to be chosen for the role of Vice-Chairman at ICC, a prestigious organi-zation dedicated to spreading peace and prosperity through trade since 1919. I look for-ward to working with Terry in this capacity.” Mittal be-comes the third business person from India in the his-tory of ICC to be appointed on the ICC Executive Board. Prior to Mittal, late Bharat Ram who built Delhi Cloth Mills (DCM), was the first In-dian to be appointed as the Chairman of the ICC Execu-tive Board and Late Hari Shankar Singhania, President of J.K. Organisation was ap-pointed to ICC.

sunil mittal excels


INTErNaTIoNaL COLUMN

work can be even more fun than fun

IF you have been Fade up wIth your workIng lIFe and want relax then compare yourselF wIth

non-workIng people then you must Feel better

JustIn cohen International Speaker and Author

‘Work.’ The word sounds with a sicken-ing thud. It has a dark, dirty connota-tion even greater than that other four-letter word. You don’t have to be

a coal-miner to wonder whether sixteen hours of eat-ing, sleeping and what ever other scant compensation you can find, are worth eight hours of w-o-r-k.

The bible tells us that God worked for six full days on Creation. What sadomasochism! Why would an all-powerful God choose to bring the world into being through six days of hard labor when he could as eas-ily do it through six days of lying on Clifton beach? God was clearly sending us a message. Either a third of life is punishment for some past-life misdemeanor, or work is supposed to be…fun?

Perhaps, done right, work can be even more fun than fun. Well, that’s what Noel Coward thought. He wrote dramas that took adoring audiences on fantastical journeys through the imagination. An-yone can see how that could be more fun than a crowded Clifton in December. Would Noel Coward have said the same thing if he had worked nine to five in insurance administration? Say his boss had the sensitivity of a Rottweiler, his office was done in three colors, beige, light beige and beige, and to top it off, he was forced to work with colleagues with as much joie de vivre as his grandmother’s corpse. If that were the case would Noel have been writing cutesy sayings about how much fun work is? Of course not, he would have been too busy writ-ing his suicide note.

The truth is, work can be more fun than fun. But first we have to realise, its not work that sends us into a depressive stupor, it’s our attitude to work. Believe it or not even those with jobs most of us would trade an arm for, report diminished enjoy-ment on the job. Sportsmen admit to having less fun if they are playing for money than if they are playing purely for their own satisfaction. Somehow, knowing that they are playing to earn a living, knowing that they are actually ‘working’ takes out the fun. I’ve

spent enough time working in film and theatre to know that the same is true in the entertainment industry. What ever the script in front of the audi-ence, back stage you can be sure, it’s bitch, moan, winge and whine. And these guys are supposed to be living the dream.

Why do people whose work sounds like most peo-ples play, battle with Monday to Friday morning blues? For the same reason we all do. It’s got to do with per-ceived control. If you know you have to get behind your computer by 8.30 am, it’s just not as fun as doing it because you’ve chosen to. Yes you might have gladly chosen it originally, when you were unemployed and this seemed like the fast track to group CEO and a com-pany TT, but down the line it can quickly become ‘just a job’, ‘something I have to do.’

If work is ever going to be more fun than fun, we’ve got to renew our choice to be there, and know why we we’re making that choice. The money is not enough. In fact that’s about third or forth on the list of why people leave their jobs. What do you love about your work? (Besides home time.) The answers should fire


j u s t i n c o h e n

aged people who don’t work because they don’t have to. Most of them suffer from a disease called ‘Afluenza’. It’s a kind of low-level depression with spurts of anxiety that is the bounty of the rich and bored. The quickest way to catch Afluenza is to win the national lottery. Few people have managed to master a life without work. Still dying to retire? You may just. Research shows those who retire sooner, are more likely to be dead, sooner. Our very will to live is tied up with the sense that we are making a positive contribution.

Finally, if you think its your boss that prevents you from having more fun than fun, get a new one, or better still, become your own. Too difficult? No, staying in a job you hate is much more difficult. Just make sure it’s the job that’s got the problem and not your outlook.

middle aged people who don’t work because they don’t have to. study says, most of them suffer from a disease called ‘afluenza’

you with enthusiasm, (or beware you might be fired with enthusiasm). Perhaps we should remind ourselves how exciting work seemed when we were kids. The idea of helping people, organizing an event, managing a project, being needed, that seemed like heaven. So what happened? We got conned into thinking we were doing it for ‘them’.

Once you know you’re there for you – and you can leave with a month’s notice – you won’t settle for 3-colour beige office décor. You’ll come in on Sunday and decorate your office, your style. You also won’t settle for boredom. You’ll be the one who initiates that new product spin-off, that takes the company in a whole new direction. As for negative colleagues, well you’re hardly going to let them ruin your fun. You’ll play on your own if you have to. Concerned that all this enthusiasm will bring you no financial reward? That’s why you’ll insist on profit-share. And with your newfound productivity – you’ll get it. By the way the best barometer of your productivity is probably how much fun you’re having. Asked the se-cret of his success, Richard Branson replied in one word, yip, you guessed it – ‘fun’.

If you’re not convinced, consider a life without work. I know more than my fair share of middle



The creaTiviTy gap beTween ideas and profiTBusinesses want and need ideas that will make them money But are often failing to invest the time and money to come up with them

nigel collinConsultant, Founder and CEO, Thinkativity

It’s no secret that ideas make money. A single idea can help an organization to outpace its competi-tion, better connect with it’s market, drive per-formance and profitable growth. However, there’s

a gap between the value an organization places on ideas and its ability to tap the creative talents and re-sources of its people to create and implement viable ideas. Businesses want and need ideas that will make them money but are often failing to invest the time and money to come up with them.

A while back we conducted a survey of both business leaders and creative people and one of the questions we asked was, ‘In business, should creativity have a commercial value?’ Pretty straightforward and, as you would expect, most people answered yes – 90%, in fact. Not surprising, when you think about it. In the com-mercial world, creativity simply isn’t useful unless it leads to a positive business outcome.

BUT… the surprise was the result from another fair-ly straightforward question: ‘Do you fully utilize the talents of your creative people?’ Only 17% of people answered yes! I don’t know about you, but that rings alarm bells for me.

On the one hand, business emphatically understands the need for creativity to be commercially valuable – yet 83% don’t make full use of their creative people’s abilities and wisdom to achieve this. What’s even more amazing is that they know they don’t!

It’s like building a bridge across a canyon to get a heap of stuff to the other side, but only using 17% of that bridge’s capacity. You’d have to limit how much you carry across or do multiple trips. Either way, it’s inefficient: you’re not making full use of a very useful bridge. You wouldn’t utilize only 17% of the bridge's capacity, so why use only 17% of your organization's creative capacity?

The answer lies in the challenge facing organizations in regards to being creative. The challenge is not actu-ally to find creative people and it's not to teach your people how to be more creative. The real challenge facing creative organizations is knowing how to lead the crea-

tive talents of your people and your innovative thinkers. It is knowing how to tap into their talents, harness their genius, and direct it so you get profitable ideas.

Film industry is a great example of this. Why? Be-cause Bollywood is all about the business of creativity. It’s all about making money from ideas.

It taps into the potential of very creative and very clever people, it lets them do their thing, but it directs and funnels that potential to become commercially suc-cessful. When we think of either hollywood or bolly-wood, we often think of the actors, directors, writers, set designers – all of whom are immensely creative. But we also need to focus on the producer. Their role is to


N i g e l C o l l i N

make a profit from creative ideas. It’s to bring the cre-ative talents of those people together, let them do what they do best, but then steer it and direct it so that the film pays dividends.

Like it or not, film industry is about making money from creative people. And that’s not a bad thing: it al-lows many talented people to do what they love doing. Sure, you can train up your actors, directors, and set designers (and you should) but the key to business re-sults is to orchestrate their talents and genius.

iT’s all abouT leadershipIt’s important to focus on building individual talents, but it’s even more important to focus on building the right leadership skills, the right environment, and the right processes that allow your creative people to thrive – with all their creativity, thoughts, and ideas. That is where the future gold of your business resides. You need to understand how creative and innovative people work, what they need, and what obstacles you need to break down. In many ways, the leader’s role is to sup-port and guide, not interfere or constrain.

The Top four leadership skills for creaTive and innovaTive ThinkersGive your people permission to think and act on their ideas: Creative thinkers and mavericks love hav-ing clear direction, knowing what the rules of the game are and what boundaries to play within. But they also need the freedom to figure out how to get it done. They need your permission. Without they simple won’t give you the ideas and disruptive solutions your business needs. Leaders must be brave enough and smart enough to let their people to do what they do best without get-ting in the way – just steering and guiding them occa-sionally when they get off-track. Give them the chal-lenge, the opportunity or the task and let them come up with the ideas.

To lead ideas people effectively you need to be a nurturer and custodian of their talents. You need to be a mentor and a coach. You need to know how to empower them, guide them, earn their respect, and let them play. The last thing you want to be is their boss. Perhaps we should change the word ‘lead’ to ‘nurture’ or ‘empower’ or ‘be guardian of’ and perhaps we should change the term ‘Creative Leader’ to ‘Cre-ative Conductor’.

Tell them what needs to be done - not how it needs to be done: Creative thinkers and innovators hate be-ing told how to do something. When you think about it, it’s condescending. The reason they exist in your business in the first place is because of their expertise and unique ability. Imagine you’re standing on a moun-tain, telling your people that you need to get across the valley. Let them figure out how – that’s what they do best. The role of the leader is to support and guide, not interfere or constrain. The ‘blunderbuss’ style of

leadership – the ‘Follow me!’ style – is telling them how. But the leader standing on the mountain is telling them what needs to be done. Creative people love a challenge; they love being set a task. As leaders, you need to give them the what. Set the goal, the vision, the assignment, and the challenge – but let them figure out the how.

Stop Micromanaging: Micromanagement leads on from the first point because it’s more than telling them how, it’s actually doing it for them. We’ve all had the experience of someone telling us how to do something and managing a project from over our shoulders – though surely none of us are guilty of that! While crea-tive people love having clear direction and knowing what’s required of them, they hate someone doing their job for them. Micromanaging tells your team you don’t trust or respect them. Direct them, steer them, guide them, and lead them, but whatever you do, stop micro-managing, don’t tell them how to do their job, and don’t start doing it for them!

Give them the right resources: You need to give your creative people the right tools to do their jobs. It sounds simplistic. It’s so simple, in fact, that it’s easily over-looked or discounted. I’ve learnt from first-hand expe-rience that you need to provide the very best resourc-es you can.

As Robyn Munro at Atlassian once told me, ‘We give them awesome resources to do their jobs with – fast computers, large monitors, comfy Aeron chairs. We keep the office well stocked with snacks and drinks, so that if they get in a creative groove, they can keep at it without going hungry or ducking out for food.’ Hav-ing the right tools of the trade allows your ideas people to deliver not only the best quality of work, but also great efficiency.

closing The gapWhen you lead and inspire your people to be their creative best, when you support, nurture, and respect them the creativity gap closes naturally. Closing the gap isn’t about things – it’s about people. It isn’t about doing stuff – it’s about leading and inspiring people to be more creative. It’s knowing how to help people be their creative best. The right leader of ideas people un-derstands that creative thinkers think, feel, and do dif-ferently, and knows how to help them do just that. It’s a different way of thinking and, as a result, a different way of leading.

While creative people love having clear direction and knoWing What’s required of them, they hate someone doing their job for them


J a i d e e p S i n g h

in an exclusive interview to cycbth, jaideep singh of viacom18 reveals their initiative called integrated network solutions to nidhi gupta

"we will have lot of learnings"

exclusive interview

Jaideep Singh, Viacom18

jaideep singh is the senior vice president and Business head of viacom 18 Media pvt. Ltd’s new division – inte-grated network solutions (ins). this new division works on creating large format individual properties and

brand solutions across all media platforms for various brands. with a successful career spanning over 15 years, jaideep has diverse experience in planning, Business development, sales and Marketing. Building a brand and sustaining it for a long time is always a difficult task. How is Integrated Network Solutions (INS) going to enhance your brand value?

INS is going to be operating with two verticals, Vi-acom18 Live and BE Viacom18 where large format Live and Broadcast Properties will be created in partner-ship with our key clients. The first of these was Video Music Awards India (VMAI), which was a simulcast on seven channels including Colors, MTV and 5 ETV Gen-eral Entertainment Channels. These properties due to

their scale and novelty will inherently bring our brands closer to the audiences and generate a positive brand effect. We believe while INS will help carve out a distinct revenue stream for Viacom18, it will also act a superb brand builder for our brands and the clients who partner with us on these properties.What were the initial hurdles that you faced with-in the organization as well as outside?

Let me address this question on two fronts. Inter-nally, the properties being planned under INS whether live or broadcast both are going to be on network level and on a big scale, have not been attempted before and hence each brand tends to gain on all fronts. So we have had great co-operation from all teams internally. Ex-ternally, market has evolved and is looking for impact solutions with right brands and Viacom18 has the most iconic brands, this uniquely positions us in a place where market has embraced what we have to offer, we have hit the road running and you will soon see host of properties across genres and platforms coming from Viacom18 Live and BE Viacom18 both.

How do you aim at extending your market share?Well INS is a start and hence presently we are work-

ing towards building market share, though from a Net-work Level view. INS will surely increase market share for Vaicom18 as via this business unit our network has effectively expanded the portfolio of products/proper-ties that we have for advertisers to choose from.Whom do you see as your competitor?

As of now, I don’t think we have any competition as such in terms of a similar business set up anywhere else. And this fact gains more ground when you study our brands - MTV, VH1, Nick, Comedy Central, Colors and Viaom18 Motion Pictures, all of these brands are very strong in the minds of our audiences and hence for someone to compete with us in this space does not seem to be a possibility to me in a near future atleast as most of our IP's are being built around our brands.What are your future plans?

Our expansion plan would clearly depend on our ability to make our Live Properties stand and Broadcast properties not only stand out on domestic front but on international front as well. We have started the journey and I am sure we will have lot of learnings but I believe if you plan in detail and well in advance chances of success are always higher. At present this is what I am comfortable sharing but as we move forward one would be more open to sharing our expansion plans in more detail which are quiet substantial.

We believe While iNS Will help carve out a diStiNct reveNue Stream for viacom18, it Will alSo act a Superb braNd builder

How a CEo Can sEt winning lEadErsHip Combination tHat Can EnsurE suCCEss

Leadership synergies

cover story

cover story


Globalisation has change the complete fac-et of global economy which is currently categorized by multi-directional flows of products, services, people, ideas and capi-tal. Moreover, it has given ample opportu-

nities and options to companies as well as individuals across the globe. Certainly, emerging economies are transforming the nature of global business. As much as 70 companies from emerging economies had en-tered in the 2007 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest economies compared to just 20 a decade ago. Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) has been considered as one of the most important aspect of this speedy global expansion by emerging market multinationals (EMMs). More than 1,100 mergers and acquisitions were conducted by EMMs in 2006, representing US$128 billion in value. Even India has evolved the M&A trend very actively. As per Thomson Financial, around 543 M&A deals had been made by Indian companies both at home and abroad in 2007, with a total value of US$30.4 billion. This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28.3 percent in deal value over the period 2000-2007. The volume of M&A transactions in India has apparently increased to about $67.2 billion in 2010 from $21.3 billion in 2009. More recently, 72 overseas M&A deals (worth $11 billion) have been com-pleted in 2012 only. So, a bullish trend in M&A may indicate that most of the M&As bring success to com-panies. But reality explicit the reverse.

Every merger, acquisition, or strategic alliance takes place with a certain objective to generate value from some kind of synergy, yet statistics show that the ben-efits that look so good on paper often do not material-ize. Several studies and reports have highlighted that more than two thirds of M&A have failed to serve its main purpose to be profitable. A Business Week study revealed that more than 60 percent of the mega M&A cases conducted between 1998 and 2000 destroyed shareholders’ value. Now, a very simple but important question strikes in our mind that why do so many cor-porate combinations that looked like such great op-portunities end up in disaster? Recent research sug-gests that contrary to common belief, it is not poor strategic fit that most often causes mergers and acqui-sitions to fail but poor execution. The errors can be seen, for example, in instances of insensitive manage-ment, lack of trust building and communication, slow execution, power struggles, or a leadership vacuum following the deal. Even with this kind of information, most corporate combinations still place special em-phasis on the strategic and financial goals of the trans-action, whereas the cultural and people implications rarely receive as much attention.

In this globalisation era where merger and acquisi-tions involve blending people of different corporate cultures and even various national cultures into one company, which tends to complicate matters further. So, leaders have to play a pivotal role to turn a merger successful. Carlos Ghosan, CEO of Renault (which owns 44 percent share of Nissan) once critically said that Academic scholars and most business analysts would like to “tend to view these business ventures only from financial and operational perspectives” ignoring cul-tural impact on merger. In the same line, Jean Pierre Garnier, executive director and CEO of GlaxoSmithK-line (GSK) explained similar thing in other words: “In any merger or acquisition, investment banks and eq-uity analysts will provide you with a plethora of fig-ures quantifying the synergistic strategic benefits of the union. Yet what determine whether a merger suc-ceeds or fails is really its people. History, sadly, has been littered with far too many examples of failed ac-quisitions or mergers that did not create value for the companies involved. What lessons can we draw from them, and how can we avoid this?” Ghosan further added that “My experience with Nissan has recon-

A Business Week study reveAled thAt more thAn 60% of the megA m&A cAses conducted BetWeen 1998 And 2000 destroyed shAreholders’ vAlue


firmed my conviction that the dignity of people must be respected even as you challenge them to overturn deep-seated practices and traditions. The most funda-mental challenge of any alliance or merger is cultural: if one does not believe anything can be learned from one’s new partners, the venture is doomed to fail. I have always believed that an alliance, merger, or ac-quisition— in fact, any corporate combination— is about partnership and trust rather than power and domination.”

Over the time, consulting with Human Resources Department has become a very important aspect to make a merger fruitful. However, most of the compa-nies would like to consider legal and financial aspects rather than HR factor. A recent study found that or-ganisations that were strongly HR led, anticipated and overcame many of the integration stumbling blocks that beset other mergers and outlined the areas in the table below as those that needed addressing. A gap inevitably remains between HR and strategy albeit this could be set to change. A global survey on people and business challenges found that while 63% of organisa-tions rarely or never consult their senior HR team on mergers or acquisitions (before or after the deal), within the next 3-5 years 82% of the senior leaders surveyed expect HR to be perceived as a strategic, value added function and not just the personnel cost-centre. Today a CEO generally overlooks the impor-

tance of smooth transition post-M&A. Even if he does, he treats all his employees as one assuming everything to fall under ‘melting pot’. Even in case of M&A being in same cultural vicinity, the CEO must address the minor internal differences in corporate culture which is obvious after a new alliance.

According to SHRM, over 30% of mergers fail be-cause of simple culture incompatibility. The merger of German Daimler with Chrysler (in 1990s) failed due to cultural differences between the two with respect to work environment, philosophy, remunerations and other similar issues that got swept under the carpet during the process. In recent times, the most infamous of all M&A disaster is the HP and Compaq deal. In 2001, Hewlett Packard contemplated to acquire Compaq which failed as the former has an engineering-driven culture while the later had sales-driven Culture. This not only led to huge opportunity loss but also created a financial loss of $10 billion dollars.

As per a research paper titled ‘A CEO’s guide to the new challenges of M&A leadership’ authored by Orit Gadlesh, Robin Buchanan, Mark Daniell and Charles Ormiston of Bain & Company, a leader should essen-tially communicate the strategic vision, cheer on the troops in both companies, should close the deal and not leave it open, manage the integration and change and crusade for the new company.

Therefore, the factors leading a successful M&A have evolved over time. Initially, it was accounting based measurements that used to steadfast the intrin-sic value of amalgamation and its success. The inherent shortcomings of that principle gave way to equity based merger equations. Moving through time the fi-nancial managers realized that optimizing better promising results out of the merger dynamics is to focus more on more holistic views and to the factors that will steady the ship one’s the financial measure-ments are complete and change of hands have taken place. It is going back to the people that are instru-mental in fetching the new promoters the estimated required rate of return and maximize the sharehold-ers’ value. That is essentially recognizing the fact that evens the best financial analyst with most prudent financial forecast will not be able generates success for the company, if its employees fail. Because, a com-pany is not an automated entity but a profit center whose success and failures depend on the relative suc-cess of the people that runs it. And that is foremost role of a CEO to optimally use his peer groups and de-liver through them.

According to shrm study, over 30 percent of m&A And AlliAnces fAil BecAuse of simple culture incompAtiBility Across the gloBe

L e a d e r s h i p s y n e r g i e s


Nitin Sood is the Group CFO at PVR, one of India's leading Filmed Entertainment Com-panies. He has played a key

role in building the organisation from a start up stage to one of the premier Entertainment Companies in India and has been instrumental in raising capi-tal from Banks, Institutions & Private Equity investors to fund company's growth plans. Apart from the above he plays an active role in key strategic decisions, oversees accounting and compliance for various group compa-nies, evaluating and leading any M&A opportunities etc.What was the idea and rationale behind acquiring Cinemax?

From our prospective, if we see the business, it depends upon where we are locating our business. It is more like a retail business. Our business model is fundamentally depended on ‘location strategy’. Place and location plays a major role in our strategic decisions. If we see retail market of Delhi and Mumbai, we will find that there is no new place to build and construct new malls. Take for instance Delhi, there is no likelihood of new malls coming up in next 3-5 years. The only growth happening are in sub-urbs of Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida and Gaziabad. So with Delhi there is no real-estate space for growth. Similarly, in Mumbai the growth is

“FutuRE CONSOlIdAtIONS OF INdIAN ACquISItION ARE ON CARdS”

NItIN SOOd, group cfo, pvr cinemas, in an exclusive interview with nidhi gupta and achraj singh reveals how

the recent acquisition with cinemax is going to change the forte of the company and its future plans

happening around the suburbs only. This is where Cinemax comes into the picture. Cinemax is having 13-14 new cinema halls in Mumbai alone, which we think carries a long term market potential. People are spending more of their dispos-able income on entertainment sec-tors and food and lifestyle. Thus this acquisition would help us ex-pand our reach in the heart of the two metropolitan cities without having to hunt for new real-estate properties for constructing new movie halls.What strategic benefit will this M&A give PVR?

I think from M&A perspective, this was the first acquisition that we successfully completed. In No-vember 2012, we struck a deal to acquire the entire 69.27% stake held by Cinemax promoters in a deal backed by PE firms Multiples and L Capital. In the same line, we have completed the open offer and upped stake in the company to 93 per cent. The acquisition would create the largest movie exhibi-tion chain in India with a com-bined strength of 351 screens at 85 locations with a total capacity of 84,190 seats.How will this acquisition aug-ment your business?

We are a market leader in North India. We are also market leader in

cover StORy


ferent. As I said earlier, in our busi-ness it all depends on location. If there is no good location or good places we can’t think about our business. Like if we take an exam-ple of Saket (Delhi) where we can build one additional mall. No mat-ter how much money you have if you don’t have location you cannot grow and you cannot build. In Delhi and Mumbai in spite of we being at a No.1 position and in spite of having near about 300 competi-tors and there is no further scope. PVR also contributes to Hindi movie thorough our 20-25 box of-fices and 40% percent to all Hol-lywood movie box office collection comes from PVR across all chan-nels ranging from raw materials, distribution standing in the mar-ket places and over all entertain-ment business - giving us an edge in the market which is relevant to the any business.What are the future plans of PVR with the respect of future M&A?

Future consolidations of Indian acquisition are on cards. As there are lot malls that are coming up and they need are looking out for brands, especially entertainment brands, which will help them in at-tracting customers and increasing footfall in their shopping complex-es, PVR is all set to enter such mar-ket place. PVR is not looking for any such future changes because we are not going for any new strat-egy or contemplating on a new business model for future. Our main strategy would be on banking on our current partners and cur-rent business than on opting new strategies or business transforma-tion. However, we would definitely consider any new acquisition which has a potential of bigger market for us in the future.

The recenT acquisiTion wiTh cinemax will allow us To increase The scale and size of our business and capTure a bigger markeT share

south India, but there the margin is quite less, compared to the North and the West. Our strong presence in North, West as well as South makes us the largest market leader of India. On top of it, we are leaders in 8 out of 10 markets in India. It makes our leadership position strong in term of scale and size, which acts as a big differentiator for us. This M&A will allow us to increase the scale and size of our business and capture a bigger mar-ket share. What is your understanding with L Capital and what does it bring to the table?

We are having multiple private equity funds that were handled by Renuka Ramnath. She is the first investor of ICICI avatar. She invest-ed in private equity of the com-pany in 2003. The idea is that to understand the business and also to understand the long term strat-egy direction, both the investors should understand the business and they should also have a vision to expand their business out of the domestic borders. L Capital recog-nized the management strength of PVR that we bring to the table. We would like to leverage in domestic markets by reaching out to the corporate sector, banks, and insti-tutions, at large. And lastly they are investing in another retail for-mat which will give an access to a new market altogether and take things to a next level. This will cre-ate benefits for us in the long term as well. Apart from delivering money, L capital helps us in licens-ing works on globally level. PVR is gradually tying up with private equity partners to expand their ambit across entrainment busi-ness, food & lifestyle and globally investor in the business of enter-tainment and lifestyle. We are also looking globally to invest and also negotiating with numerous foreign investors to invest in India. According to you how merger and acquisitions plays a signifi-cant role compare to traditional organic growth?

Our business is something dif-

Nitin Sood, Group Chief Financial Officer, PVR Cinemas

N i t i N S o o d


Sanjay Chamria founded Magma Fincorp Ltd. in 1988, along with Mayank Poddar. As the Vice Chair-

man and Managing Director of Magma, he anchors policy forma-tion, strategy planning and execu-tion. He was graduated as one of the country’s youngest chartered accountants in 1985 with national ranking. For the past 23 years, he has steered the organization from a three-employee, one-office set

up to a company with 225+ branch offices and more than 6000 em-ployees. He has also chaired com-mittees at the FICCI, the Hire Purchase & Lease Association of India, the CII, the Finance Industry Development Council (FIDC) and the Indian Mer-chants Chamber in Mumbai.What was the idea behind the recent Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) of Magma Fincorp?

At Magma, business expansion through the inorganic route has

been an important feature of our growth strategy. Time and again, we have acquired, merged or got into alliances with other players to leverage basis our wide product profile and geographical reach. Ac-quisition of Consortium Finance in FY2000-01 and Merger with Shrachi Finance in FY06-07 provided us the ready access to the markets in North, West and South and helped us turn into a Pan-India player. Tie-ups with ITL (International Tractors

“IntegrAtIon IS AnIMPortAnt ASPeCt”SAnjAy CHAMrIA, VICe CHAIrMAn & MD oF MAgMA FInCorP LtD In An InterVIew wItH AMIr HoSSAIn reVeALS How tHe CoMPAny HAS ACquIreD SeVerAL CoMPAnIeS to InCreASe geogrAPHICAL reACH

Sanjay Chamria,Vice Chairman & Managing Director,Magma Fincorp Ltd.

cover Story

cover Story


What is the Future plan of Magma Fincorp Ltd.?

With a vision to invest in the smallest dream, Magma has taken strides during the last few years and has built a platform to de-liver credit to the under-banked and un-banked segments of the society. It has over the past two decades honed its underwriting skills in a manner that the cus-tomers in the rural and semi-ur-ban segments are appraised ap-propriately and offered financial assistance. Through this process Magma blends these customers into the organized credit net-work.

We remain confident of the fu-ture growth prospects & opportu-nities ahead of us in each of our businesses and chosen customer segments. We believe we are uniquely positioned within the NBFC industry to capitalize on the opportunities and will continue to seek growth in our target market segments of rural and semi-urban India. We shall continue to focus on expanding our network, deepen its penetration and use our cus-tomer knowledge, wide reach of operations and collections and a strong multi-product management team and deepen our offering of more efficient and effective serv-ices to our customers.Do you have any overseas expan-sion plans?

Magma’s chosen target customer segments lie in the rural and semi-urban areas of India who are under-banked and under-serviced. We feel that the potential in this segment is vast and largely untapped by or-ganised finance players. As such we would like to currently focus our energies more towards this seg-ment in India to capitalise on the opportunities offered before we

Limited – manufacturers of the popular Sonalika brand of Tractors) for finance of Tractors and JV with HDI Gerling for our own general insurance company has helped ex-pand our product offerings and also capitalise on the cross-sell oppor-tunities. Faced with slowdown in primary markets, we acquired Asset backed portfolios of other Banks/NBFCs in FY08-09 and FY09-10.

Recently, after making a strate-gic decision to enter the Mortgage Finance business, we have acquired the entire Mortgage business of GE Capital in India, comprising of a Housing Finance Company offering Housing loans to individuals and a portfolio of Loans to SMEs backed by property as collateral, along with an existant team. This transac-tion of Rs. 1,350 croresshall help us in reducing the go-to-market time for our mortgages business .How does M&A differ from Or-ganic Growth?

Depending on the strategic in-tent, M&As are undertaken for achieving faster economies of scale, greater market share and spreading of risks both geographically and through product diversification. We have also been able to get into hitherto unknown or untapped by us segments and geographies of markets and portfolio build-ups that accelrate our learning curve for evtering new business lines. As opposed to this, organic growth takes time to reach a scale and in an industry like retail financial serv-ices it is largely dependent on the growth in the primary markets.How are M&As going to augment your business?

We view M&As as an important tool for implementing various Stra-tegic decisions that are taken by the Executive Management team at Magma. As explained earlier, we have embarked on M&As time to time to expand our reach, diversify our product line and improve verti-cal integration within the financial services industry. This has served us well and in future too we hope to continue to use this tool wiselyto-wards meeting the expectations of

our stakeholders.What are the major challenges that you have faced during M&A activities?

The key challenges are usually seen post the execution of such strategic alignments. Immediately, the challenges lies in data migra-tion through systems transition, the migration of people and their alignment with the larger parent entity and its culture. From an ex-ternal poiont of view, the channels & customers' ability to retain their trust in the new brand and continue their loylaty or expand relation-ships requires detailed anayltics and good customer service, which Magma has been able to demostrate a few times in the last decade. What are the most important as-pects, you would like to consider during Merger?

Other than of course an accurate estimation of the financial perform-ance of the combined entity, we feel that the transition and integration to be a very important aspect of any merger activity and we at Magma believe in planning for this at the due diligence stage itself be it Hu-man Resources (HR) or Information Technology (IT) compatibility. An-other important aspect which is normally overlooked during a merger is neglect by business lead-ers in the other business lines of the company leading to profitability erosion and loss of momentum in the existing business lines.How is an Overseas Merger dif-ferent from a Local merger?

Other than the normal aspects of a merger, further considerations of an overseas merger: lThreat of protectionism from

host country esp. from the na-tional security point of view.

lIncreased compliance & legal requirements from the regula-tory authorities from both the countries.

lGreater cost towards integration of the Human Resources, Corpo-rate Systems and Technology.

lFactoring of International Trade regulations, Tax & currency im-plications in the Due Diligence.

the challenge lies in the migration of people and their alignment with the larger parent entity and its culture

s a n j a y c h a m r i a


“organic growth is more important”Diljeet titus, FounDer oF titus & co aDvocates anD chairman oF the northern region oF inDo-italian chamber oF commerce, in an interview with amir hossain, explains trenDs anD challenges oF merger anD acquisitions

Diljeet titus is Founder of titus & co. advocates and chairman of the northern region of in-

do-italian chamber of commerce. Diljeet titus is one of the world's leading lawyers by chambers glo-bal, 2002. he was voted one of asia's leading lawyers in the an-nual leading lawyers survey con-ducted by asia law & practice in 2002; one of the world's leading lawyers, by chambers global, 2002.What is more important for a company - organic growth or in-organic growth?

In my view organic growth is more important for a company since it shows how well the man-agement of a company is utilizing its internal resources to increase sales and output. Although, merg-ers & acquisitions can provide a boost to a company's sales and rev-enue figures but it’s the organic growth of a company which re-veals how the company is manag-ing its resources. It allows the com-pany executives to set and achieve corporate goals in whichever man-ner they choose. Under a scheme of mergers & acquisitions usually management responsibilities are shared between the executives from both firms, which may have an impact on the entire strategic outlook of the new company. By focusing on the organic growth of the company, executives and in-vestors can see exactly how the

company is meeting its goals through its own internal means.How does merger and acquisition help a company to grow?

In mergers & acquisitions two corporations come together and pool in their resources and exper-tise to perform better. The joining or merging of the two companies creates additional value which we call “synergy” value. This com-bined handling of different activi-ties in a single combined organiza-tion becomes better and larger than what it would be in two dis-tinct entities. Mergers also bring with them access to facilities, brands, trademarks, technology and employees. Along with addi-tional capacity, mergers bring with them additional consumer demand which in turn helps in the growth of the company.What are the major trends in M&A in India?

India is one of the leading na-tions in the world in terms of merg-er & acquisitions since more and more number of Indian companies are now opting for mergers & Ac-quisitions. Till recent past, the inci-dence of Indian entrepreneurs ac-quiring foreign enterprises was not common but in the last few years there has been a great change of mergers & acquisitions trends in the Indian market. In the years from 2000 to 2007 there was a rapid increase in M&A activities in India, which slowly led to a downfall in

Diljeet Titus, Founder

titus & co. advocates

cover story


D i l j e e t t i t u s

istrative problems are a very com-mon occurrence in a merger which often nullifies the advantages of the merger. There must be some ur-gency between the parties and good communication between them when they enter into a merger. If such qualities do not exist mergers often do not produce the desired results. Selecting the target

Selecting the appropriate target firm is an extremely important stage in the merger process. Execu-tives must be able to select the tar-get that suits the organizations strategic and financial motives and needs. Often the incapability or lack of motivation and interest on the part of executives leads to incorrect target selection. Strategic Issues

The primary motive of any merger activity must ideally be strategic ben-efits. However, managers sometimes tend to overlook this aspect. Faulty strategic planning and unskilled ex-ecution leads to problems.

The aforementioned issues form the core of all merger activities and if not addressed adequately will lead to failures of mergers.What are the major sectors that are conducting maximum M&A activities?

In the recent past it has been seen that major mergers and acqui-sitions have occurred in the tele-com industry followed by energy, metal & mining, pharmaceutical and BFSI (Banking, Financial Serv-ices and Insurance) sectors. Some of the biggest merger and acquisi-tion deals in India have been in the aforementioned sectors viz., 100% acquisition of Corpus Group by Tata Steel in 2007 which cumulatively amounted to $12.2 billion; Voda-fone purchased 67% interest owned by Hutch-Essar for a total worth of

Since the mid 1990s, there haS been an unprecedented growth in the intenSity of croSS border m&a and allianceS

panies’ philosophies, styles, values, and missions. When two companies decide to merge, even in the best circumstances, cultural differences can change the orientation and character of one or both of the merger partners and it would take a long time for employees to feel truly incorporated into a merged entity. Furthermore, it would be very difficult to resolve conflicts and disagreements between em-ployees.What are critical success factors in M&A Projects?

A mergers & acquisitions project is successful when the client’s ob-jectives are fulfilled to the extent that the merger & acquisition advi-sory firm has the power to influ-ence the outcome of their client’s objectives. The most important critical success factors in merger & acquisition projects are (1) Com-plete and Clear objectives, goals and scope of the project, (2) Top management support, (3) Technical tasks (4) Governance being clearly communicated, (5) Project plan de-velopment, (6) M&A advisory firm’s resource planning, (7) monitoring and feedback, (8) Price evaluation and financing scheme, and (9) Risk management.What are the major pitfalls on the path of M&A success?

There could be many reasons of failed mergers and acquisitions. Some of the factors can be summa-rized by the following points.Overpayment

This situation arises essentially due to overconfidence or the urge for expansion. It often has disas-trous consequences. Overpayment leads to expectations of higher profitability which is often not pos-sible. Excessive goodwill as a result of overpaying needs to be written off which reduces the profitability of the firm.Integration issues

The merging companies need to be compatible with each other their business cultures, traditions; work ethics, etc. need to be flexible and adaptable. Inefficiencies or admin-

2008 after the global credit crisis. Nonetheless the market soon re-covered in the year 2010 and there was an increase in mergers & acqui-sitions activities.

Mergers and acquisitions of for-eign companies by the Indian com-panies has been the latest trend in Indian corporate sector. The key factors behind the changing trends and making them favorable in India are the dynamic government poli-cies, buoyancy in economy, dynam-ic attitudes of the Indian entrepre-neurs and additional liquidity in the corporate sector.Tell something about cross-bor-der M&A?

Since the mid 1990s there has been an unprecedented growth in the intensity of cross border opera-tions. The reason for increasing importance of cross border con-solidation strategies is that, the objectives of foreign investment are achieved through consolidation in an easier way. Under the Indian Competition law there are no sepa-rate regulations for cross border mergers. The Competition Act does not differentiate between domestic and cross border mergers when it comes to regulation. The most sig-nificant aspect of a cross border merger in the context of regulation is the assessment of the impact that foreign players will have on the do-mestic market. Indian legislation makes no distinction between the impacts that can brought about by domestic and foreign players apart from prescribing differential thresholds for domestic and foreign companies for the triggering of mandatory notification.How does culture create impact on the success of any M&A?

Many a time’s cultural difference is a cause for failure of mergers, es-pecially in cross-cultural situations, when the companies involved are from two or more different coun-tries. Culture plays a vital role in the way how employees react to the new organization's cultural envi-ronment. ‘Culture clash’ is de-scribed as the conflict of two com-


Myntra was established by Mukesh Bansal in February 2007. Bansal is an IIT alumni, and

has worked for several start-ups. Myntra.com was announced as a winner of the Red Herring Global 100 award. In 2013, Myntra ac-quired San-Francisco-based Fiti-quette, a developer of virtual fitting room technology.Myntra recently acquired FITI-QUETTE. What was the idea be-hind this acquisition?

Online shopping has been generat-ing buzz in the Indian market par-ticularly in the last few years with

“noT lookInG ouT To acquIRe”MukeSH BanSal, Co-founder and Ceo of myntra.Com in a Conversation with nidhi gupta expliCates the long term objeCtives behind the merger with fitiquette

shoppers clearly seeing the benefits of this medium. However, one of the biggest challenges faced by the online fashion industry is the issue of size and fit. Fitiquette developed this very interesting patent pending tech-nology and the team understands the size and fit issue really well which, at present is one of the biggest road-blocks being faced by the fashion and lifestyle e-commerce industry.

Fitiquette’s unique innovation generates a virtual mannequin based on various body types to which users can further adjust each specific measurement according to their body until it closely mirrors their own. This technology enables online shoppers to virtually ‘try be-fore they buy,’ providing an online shopping experience which is very similar to the offline model.How are you planning to fit Fiti-quette in your strategic market-ing plans and benefit out of it?

Fitiquitte has developed this very interesting technology and we believe that integrating it with Myntra.com would give us a com-petitive advantage. The Fitiquette team based in San Francisco will in the future work towards develop-ing technology tools to benefit Myntra.com’s shoppers. Did you face any hurdles during the entire deal? How did you manage resistance?

The Fitiquette team got along with us right from the beginning and were in sync with our vision. We did not experience any resist-

ance from their end.In past, you also acquired Sher Singh and Exclusively.in? What has been the pay-off? How are these acquisition faring?

Sher Singh’s team has built one of the most innovative and trendy fashion brands which speaks to the global marketplace. We felt this was a great fit and it has signifi-cantly enhanced our fashion and design expertise.

For Sher Singh, this association meant greater exposure for their award-winning designs to a na-tionwide audience and an effort to create sustainable brand equity. What kinds of return are you looking out from this deal?

Fitiquette’s technology will ben-efit online shoppers in making the right purchase decision and bring them a step closer to experiencing real shopping virtually. Leadership and communication plays a vital role in M&A. Which leadership traits of your allowed you to crack this deal?

Having worked with a lot of star-tups in the bay area during my early days did help in understand-ing the way both these companies (Exclusively.in and Fitiquette) op-erate. This gave us a competitive advantage while taking the discus-sion forward.Are you planning to acquire more such company in 2013?

We are not actively looking out to acquire companies but will be open to acquisition opportunities

MUKESH BANSAL,

co-FounDeR anD ceo,

MynTRa.coM

cover SToRy


G a u r a v M a r y a

"looking at assets which has stable leadership"Gaurav Marya, founder and president, franchise india – asia’s largest integrated franchise & retail solution company, talks about his vision to amir hossain

Gaurav Marya is a born entrepreneur. He started his first Business at the age of 16 and over the years has started and sold some 15 other businesses ranging from mobile phones, career advisory, restaurants to

entertainment business etc. To chase his dream of franchising, he founded Franchise India in 1999.What is more important for a company: organic growth or inorganic growth?

Both organic and inorganic growth options provide intrinsic value to an organisation in their own way. So, the decision depends upon several factors like market and industry scenario and strategic vision of the busi-ness. However, organic growth is important many times as you can maximize your inorganically when when you know your organic potential. What are the major M&A activities that have taken place in Franchise India?

We have invested in few strategic franchise assests both international and Indian. Here are few examples. Francorp has been the unsurpassed leader of the Fran-chise Consulting Industry globally. It has been provid-ing end to end franchise solutions to over 10,000 enter-prises worldwide. In India Francorp has associated with Franchise India to combine an unmatchable experience of over 42 years with the franchise solution expertise of Franchise India. BrandFord which is recognized as world’s top most Brand licensing agency, has been op-erating since over 25 years. To operate in the Indian market, BrandFord has entered into the 50:50 percent of JV with Franchise India that holds over 15 years of experience in Franchise and Retail solutions.What are the major factors you consider before fi-nalising any M&A?

At this stage we are are keen on looking comple-menting assets which can value add to our mid market business community. But we are very keen to look at assets which has stable leadership.How is M&A helping the company to reach its vision

very effectively?M&A reduces our time to reach a certain threshold,

reduce learning curve, and also bring locked latent. For instance, Francorp India has consulted over 100 clients. Its esteemed clientele includes companies like Bridge-Stone, XEROX, Hall Mark Cards, Shell Oil, Mad Science Group, Polo Camperio, Ace Hardware, BP etc. In the same line, BradFord India has been acknowledged as India’s first complete licensing solution provider cater-ing to over 40 brands like Delhi Dare Devils, Pepsi, 7Up, Kings XI Punjab, Oxford University, Harbhajan Singh, Polaroid, Beverly Hills Club, Toon Studio, Femina Miss India, Liverpool etc. Their key services include Licensee program advisory services include Licensee prospect-ing, Licensee management, Media services, Integrated supporting services.What are the major resistances that you have faced during M&A?

An optimal valuation always becomes as the major resistance for any merger and acquisition deal. Some-times, it becomes very difficult to get transparent in-formation from both sides.And how do you motivate all stakeholders for a spe-cific M&A?

Its a known fact is that wealth creation for share-holders is the main objective of every CEO. So, you need to communicate your stakeholders that how the trans-action is going to create value for everyone in bothe short and long term.What kind of leader you are?

I believe in idea, seeding the idea with patience and resource & bringing talent to maximize for the same.What is your future plan?

We want to be biggest service company for MSME universe in the near future.

Gaurav Marya, Chairman, Franchise India


The MosT exciTing of TiMes for Businessduring last few years, the global economy has been going through slowdown, so a question remains in our mind - is it right time to do business? yes, it is!

roger harroPThe CEO Expert, Author and International Speaker


I believe that the times we’re in now are some of the most exciting for business – whether you’re a new start-up, the largest corporate in the world, or any-thing in-between! Everyday we are seeing all kinds

of amazing new technology become available (often free), everyday there are new markets opening up and oppor-tunities for us to be successful and overarching all that are some very clear global and market trends which, if we can get our strategy right, represent significant op-portunities for growth. Nothing is a given anymore and we can no longer look backwards – even a few months, it seems, to help map out what will give us success in the future. What I’m seeing is that it is those businesses that have recognized this and as a result are challenging all their paradigms and are focusing on the basic fundamen-tals of business that are really flying.What I’m also seeing is small and medium businesses starting to run rings around the large corporates - simply because the large corporates have an in-built inertia that often prevents them from changing quickly and truly challenging the paradigms that once made them great.These times represent real challenges for business lead-ers but if you can spend more time up in the helicopter with your eyes wide open and with no preconceptions, then there are some exciting, stimulating and highly rewarding rides to have in growing and developing your business! I recently digested an extensive, and highly illuminating, global trend analysis prepared by a major European firm of consultants looking at world trends through to 2030. There are some key trends that I would suggest every business should have in mind when planning their growth strategy for the future:

DeMographicsWorld population is forecast to grow from 6.9 billion to 8.3 billion over the period and world populations are expected to age by an average of five years – a massive figure. With this being an average, of course, it means that some countries are seeing populations age even faster and this opens up all kinds of business opportu-nities for us. Nations, of course, have got to find a way

to deal with this demographic but I don’t think the way to do it is what the Japanese Finance Minister Tiro Aso recently proposed: He said that he sees elderly people as strains on the country’s resources. He called the country’s elderly who are no longer able to feed them-selves “tube people” and noted that if he was in the same position he would feel increasingly bad knowing that treatment was all being paid for by the Govern-ment. He went on to say the problem will only be solved when the elderly “hurry up and die”! Aso’s comments were especially harsh given Japan’s culture of showing the elderly the utmost respect.

gloBalisaTionGoldman Sachs have reconfirmed that the so-called BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) will be the top economies in the world by 2030 and this re-search suggests that those economies will grow by an average of 7.9% pa throughout the period. We should all be thinking about how we and our businesses could be benefitting from that growth. Our newspapers of course love to comment on how the Chinese growth has stalled or the Indian growth has stalled but, let’s be realistic, almost no matter what happens, those four countries will be seeing growth significantly higher than anything that will be seen in the so called ‘devel-oped’ economies over that period.Then there’s “Next 11” growth countries: Mexico, Indo-nesia, Turkey, South Korea, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iran, Ni-geria, Pakistan, Philippines and Vietnam. They are fore-cast to grow over the period by a, still very attractive, average 5.9% per annum. These 15 countries represent significant opportunities for all of us running business – do you have a strategy to address them? – I do.

resources anD cliMaTeEnergy demand is forecast to increase by 26% and wa-ter demand by 53% and, as far as commodities are con-cerned, there will be a global shortage of both rare metals and food. CO2 emissions are going to increase by 16%, global warming is going to lead to temperatures


R O G E R H A R R O P

rising between 0.5°C and 1.5°C and the ecosystem is going to continue to see extremes. We need to factor all this into our strategies.

TechnologyWe are already seeing amazingly rapid developments of new technologies but this report suggests that we haven’t seen anything yet! The diffusion of technology worldwide is going to be at very high speed. It’s going to streak around the world and people are going to as-similate it, adopt it and use it instantly. Innovation is going to change lives fundamentally worldwide and the “next big thing” will be life sciences. What does this mean for us in our businesses?Big or small, we need to develop a culture which is able to firstly gain knowledge of the new technology as it ap-pears, be able then to examine it and identify exactly that which may be of use to us, and then adapt it and adopt it extremely quickly. Already we’re seeing this with just the adoption of apps, with the use of very straightfor-ward new technology like smartphones, QR Codes and the like. And of course this is no longer in any way coun-try-dependent, wealth or economy dependent.

KnowleDgeThe forecast is that by 2030, 55% of children in the world will be in secondary education, the gender gap will be narrowing and finally, but absolutely fundamen-tally, there will be a war for talent. Demand for tal-ented people will exceed supply from now through to 2030. This requires us to take action now. Harsh as this may sound, we can no longer afford to have passengers

in our businesses. We need “10 out of 10” people eve-rywhere. We need the most talented people we can find and if there’s going to be a war for that talent, then we have to start thinking about recruitment in a new light. We need to “sell” ourselves and our business to pro-spective employees just as much as they need to sell themselves to us.Our organisations need to be viewed as great places to work. Recent research clearly shows the increasing importance we are all placing on working for an or-ganisation whose values we share. We also need to see that organisation “walking the talk” in terms of those values but the research shows, worryingly, that less than 50% actually do today. It is no longer good enough to have a committee write a mission statement, put it up in reception and on the website and then ignore it. It is vital that you clearly identify the values and be seen to live by them if you are to recruit and retain the very best people.Incidentally I was hearing recently that Google have a belief that B-type people only recruit B and C-type peo-ple whereas A-type people always recruit A-type peo-ple. I’m told therefore that as a result Google’s most talented people all have to spend time recruiting (and at any moment in time 10% of their employees are re-cruiters) because they want the very best people re-cruiting the very best people to protect their future. What do you do?

responsiBiliTyIt’s forecasted that there’s going to be increasing coop-eration between nations throughout the period and that NGOs are going to proliferate. Philanthropy is go-ing to multiply. Are these opportunities for you? I’ve just read a fascinating book: “Smart Customers Stupid Companies” by Michael Hinshaw and Bruce Kasanoff – and I have to say I agree with almost everything they say. For example, they say: “Disruption favours the smart customer,” “Innovators look through the eyes of their customers” and the byline to the whole book “Only intelligent companies will thrive.” All over the world, I am meeting with intelligent companies that are thriving – whether it’s in the Indian sub-continent, the Middle East, Europe, Asia or America there are sig-nificant opportunities for all of us.Success does depend, however, upon business leaders spending more time in their helicopter than ever be-fore, looking further over the horizon than ever before, challenging everything more than ever before and mapping out a strategy for their business that brings true success in sympathy with rapidly changing trends rather than despite of.

Recent ReseaRch cleaRly shows the incReasing impoRtance we aRe all placing on woRking foR an oRganisation whose values we shaRe



don't wait till the last Minute to coMplete the project

success has no specific path. but still people can achieve that by following

certain guidelines seriouslywarwick merry

Speaker, Consultant, Coach and Trainer

So how are you going on your goals, your dreams, your challenges and your plans for this year? Are you almost half way there? I honestly be-lieve that most of you won’t be. For most peo-

ple, time just passes and plans slide by. All of a sudden it is the end of another year and we have not accom-plished what we wanted.

Too often we leave things until the last minute. It seems the hardest thing to do is START. Consider your days of study. I know in my first year of university I had one assignment that I did not start until the day prior its due date. After “pulling an all-nighter” and staying up all night to complete it, I got a very poor mark and made the commitment to myself to never do that again. A commitment I met for the remainder of my studies.

The work environment and our home environment are no different. You cannot cram good parenting in to the few weeks you may spend with your child around their holidays. You cannot get 80% of your project com-pleted in the last 20% of your time. If you, chances are very high they will not be successful.

When working in IT, there was always the dreaded “Death March” where the team worked 16 to 18 hour days to try and hit deadlines. Over tired workers made far too many mistakes, morale plummeted, blame was apportioned and the client was never happy. It is fan-tastic to see that IT has finally progressed with devel-opment methodologies like Agile and Scrum now en-suring that sanity prevails and progress is made.

Tht is great for IT, but what about how you and I operate our lives? How can we use some of these ideas to achieve our goals and desires?

Here are few tips to Actually Achieving Your Goals in life.

Be FlexiBle John Lennon famously said, “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.” Sometimes what actually happens far exceeds the plans we have. So one of the secrets to achieving your goals is to have the flexibility to defer them, change them or even can-cel them. Do not get so attached to the goal that you don’t enjoy the present.

decide what You wantIt is not enough to have the goal to be better, richer or more successful. If I give you $10 you are now richer, is that really what you wanted? What do you mean when you say you want to be “successful in business?” Is that by your measure, your parent’s measure or your colleague’s measure? Be really specific about what you want and how you will measure it. Consider also the impact of this goal. How will it impact not only you but those around you and your community? Sometimes you need to think bigger than yourself.

This is Stephen Covey’s “Begin with the End In Mind.” How will you know where you are going with-out having some direction? This is particularly impor-tant in the non-work context. What sort of parent, friend, sibling, child, and member of community do you want to be? How do you want to be thought of by others? Without considering this, how will you know how to act or what to focus your attention on?

Break it down The secret to eating an elephant is by taking one bite at a time. Even though Australian Media Mogul Kerrie Packer was heard to say, “Take big bites and chew like anything.” So break your goals down into smaller man-ageable parts.

Look at what it will take to achieve your goal and then break it down into the components to set your-self up for success. For example, let’s say you are a

When Working in iT, There Was alWays The dreaded “deaTh March” Where

The TeaM Worked 16 To 18 hour days To Try and hiT deadlines


wa r w i c k m e r r y

car sales person who wants to sell 200 new cars this year. That goal on its own may be daunting, but if you know that each sale will take 4 test drives and each test drive needs 2 dealer visits and each dealer visit needs 5 sales calls, then you know exactly what to do. You need to do 8,000 sales calls! (That’s 200 by 4 by 2 by 5). Break them down into weekly and daily action lists. It is so much easier to measure and manage 28 sales calls a day than 166 sales calls a week or 667 sales calls a month or 8,000 sales calls a year.

set check pointsThere will be some logical check points for your goal. It could be quarterly, monthly, based on certain actions or even events taking place. Having a check point gives you a chance to evaluate where you are at and what the next steps are. You may find that you want to change track, take into account new information or even take no further action.

put actions in Your diarYThis is where most people fail. There have been planning sessions, strategic discus-sions, and goals broken down into small-er components and then they forget to take action or even allow time for the action. It is im-perative you allocate time for your goals. Put that time in your diary – particularly for your non-work activi-ties. All too often work can take priority unknow-ingly because social and family events have not been allocated their due time.

enrol othersGet others excited about what you are trying to achieve. It could be your family, your team, your management committee or simply your mastermind group. Sharing your goals means that they know what your focus is and can support you when you need help or even show you some short cuts to achieve what you are after. As a leader, enrolling oth-ers means you are more likely to achieve your team goals. The best way to enrol others is to show them the big picture and share with them why it is impor-tant. Once they understand your why, it is easier for them to share the why and be just as committed to achieving it. But don’t just share your vision once, keep going back to it. Make sure all you do fits in with the vision that you have.

Too often goals and visions are set at the start of the year and then they are put aside and forgotten. It must always be current. You nearly want your team to be sick of you talking about it! The frequent conversation will show your passion on commitment to the goal.

Measure progressThe management adage of “What Gets Measured Gets Improved” has never been as important. Measure your progress and share that measurement with others. If that means a big measurement thermometer, coloured graphs, or status updates on the noticeboard, them do it. It will inspire others to keep going as well as keep them informed of updates.

By the way, if you are a solo operator you still need the coloured graphs and charts to keep yourself mo-tivated and focussed on what counts. Just because you may have a smaller team does not make your goals of focus any less important.

lead First – Manage secondAs a good manager, you need to take less than your fair share of the credit and more than your fair share of the blame. This is the same whether you are leading a team in business, social circumstances or the family unit. Too often people fall in to “blame storming” rather than “brain storming”.

Look for what you can do to resolve an issue, solve a problem, obtain success and inspire your team. While you must manage the details and projects, the inspira-tion and leadership will payback far greater dividends than the management.

When it comes to achieving your goals, don’t leave it until the last minute. While you focus on the goal, be sure to enjoy the journey.



GivinG Your Business the upper handproper hand movements have become a very important aspect to effective management and your business success... literally

allan pease Australian Body Language Expert and Author

Looking for that extra edge in your business? Bestselling authors and renowned communi-cation experts, Allan and Barbara Pease, reveal that it’s time to let your hands do the talking!

From persuasive presentations and the creation of your customer base, through to effective communica-tion and interaction with team members, the key to effective management and your businesses success is in your hands…literally!

The appropriate use of hand gestures and manner-isms to influence, inspire and engage combined with the ability to recognise and interpret these telltale traits in others is one of the most important commu-nication skills for modern leaders.

In their book The Definitive Book of Body Language, Allan and Barbara Pease reveal that the tactical ap-plication of hand and thumb gestures can and do make a simple yet powerful difference in our increas-ingly complex professional communications. Wheth-er it’s winning a negotiation, motivating your sales team, or demonstrating leadership, the hands can unlock the door to management success from the di-rectors’ boardroom to the staff lunchroom.

Up to 93% of human communication is non-verbal and the hands and the thumbs could never be con-strued as the body’s silent partners. Rather, hand gestures and mannerisms give extra voice and power to the words that we use, but for the inexperienced, they can also conspire against you.

“Given that there are more nerve connections be-tween the hands and the brain than between any other parts of the body, our hand gestures and posi-tions provide an interesting insight into our emotions

and attitudes,” explains Allan.Hand gestures have a diverse emotional continuum

from that of confidence, openness, and positive ex-pectation to anxiety, restraint, and negativity.

“Palm rubbing, hand clenching, and the familiar steeple, formed by pressing the fingertips together like a church steeple, send revealing messages and signals, sometimes irrespective of the spoken word,” he says.

Becoming more aware of hand gestures, both your own and your customers, will help you to gain that “upper hand” when building your sales base, and isn’t that what you want?

“Are you really being listened to? Is your customer open to what you are suggesting? Have they already closed their minds to the opportunity you are giving them? Do you need to step back briefly? Did they un-derstand what you just said? Are they eager for more? Learn to be aware of what body language and gestures are silently telling you and make it an integral part of your presentations,” Allan advises.

The message for leaders and sales people from Allan and Barbara Pease is practical and immensely benefi-cial. Rehearse and master the body language gestures of the hands and thumbs and enjoy the “handsome” benefits of a successful career. Increasing your sales will become easier.

But hand movements and gestures are not the only form of body language you should be looking out for when you are communicating with someone. The fol-lowing examples will give you just an idea of the dif-ferent body language gestures that can give you a very big clue as to what they are thinking.

arm BarriersHiding behind a barrier is a normal human response that we learn at an early age to protect ourselves. As children, we hid behind solid objects such as tables, chairs, furniture, and mother’s skirts. The arms crossed gesture is the primary form of hiding that humans use as adults. When someone is listening to you, they cross their arms when they have negative thoughts about

Hand gestures Have a diverse emotional continuum from tHat of confidence,

openness, and positive expectation to anxiety, restraint, and negativity


a l l a n p e a s e

what you are saying, or if they are no longer paying attention. It is used also as a comfortable position when you are feeling uncomfortable, when you are nervous and defensive. Women often use objects to assist them in disguising their arms crossed arm barrier, such as a handbag, or hat. They will hold this to their chest, cre-ating a barrier. In a work environment, if you are mak-ing your presentation to your boss and he is displaying some kind of arm barrier, crossing his arms in one way or another, it gives you the opportunity to show insight into your audience. You can ask them what queries they have, how they are feeling at that point in the presenta-tion, get them to voice their opinion, so that you can refute their claims, and turn the negatives into posi-tives. Put their mind at ease.

hand to Face GesturesThere are many gestures of hand to face that display deceit, negative attitude, and lies. When someone cov-ers their mouth with their hand, they are subcon-sciously trying to disguise what they are saying, be-cause they know it’s false. A good example of this is the fake cough.

The nose touch occurs when a negative thought en-

ters the mind, the subconscious instructs the hand to cover the mouth and then at the last minute try to ap-pear less obvious by touching the nose. Another reason for this nose touching gesture is that when someone is lying, the nerve endings in the nose tingle from in-creased blood flow to the nose (the Pinocchio effect) and the rubbing action takes place to satisfy that feeling.

Touching the eye is the brain’s way of blocking de-ceit, doubt, or a lie that it sees or to avoid having to look at the face of the person to whom she/he is lying. The ear rub is subconsciously trying to block the words by putting the hand around or over the ear.

eYe siGnalsIn given light conditions, the pupils will dilate or con-tract as the person’s attitude and mood change from positive to negative and vice versa. When someone is excited their pupils can dilate up to four times their normal size and this is easy to observe on blue eyes. Tests conducted with expert card players showed that the experts won fewer games when their opponents wore dark glasses. Dark glasses eliminated pupil sig-nals so that the experts could not read their mood. In simple terms, dilated pupils show a positive attitude, constricted pupils reveal negativity.

When you are having serious discussions on a business level, imagine that there is a triangle on the other’s fore-head. By keeping your gaze at this point, you create a serious atmosphere that the other can sense. You can also control the gaze of the other person. When giving a vis-ual presentation, using books, charts, graphs and so on, the information relayed to that person’s brain is absorbed via the eyes 87% of the time. So to control where they are looking and what information they are absorbing, use a pen or pointer to indicated what you want them to see, and at the same time verbalise what she/he sees. By lift-ing the pen up to eye level when speaking after this, you are guiding their sight back to your own face. It’s like a magnet effect that lifts their head so they are looking at you, and therefore absorbing what you are saying.

So as you can see there is a great deal that can be learnt by simply observing what people are doing with their body when you are speaking to them. You can learn a great deal about people’s body language simply from watching other people communicate with each other, however, if you are serious about learning more on the subject then you should read the great books written by Allan and Barbara Pease such as The Definitive Book of Body Language or Why Men Don’t Listen & Women Can’t Read Maps.

WHen someone is listening to you, tHey cross tHeir arms WHen tHey Have negative tHougHts about WHat you are saying during presentation


fair forward

in an exclusive interview with amir hossain, ameera shah of metropolis health care shares

her journey into the corporate world

"role modulation is extremely essential"

ameera Shah is the Managing director and CEo of Metropolis Healthcare Ltd. She is highly respected in the healthcare world and has been recently voted by Modern Medicare as The Young entrepreneur of

the Year in India. Shah has been elected the Secretary of the IaPL (Indian association of Pathology Laboratories) and is a member of most prominent diagnostics and healthcare com-mittees in CII.What are the major challenges that you have faced during your corporate journey?My journey of Metropolis began from a Rs. 12 crore business to today’s Rs. 350 crore multinational chain of diagnostics. In 2001 when I started with Metropolis, we were venturing into a relatively new area. There were not many successful indigenous examples of chain of diagnostics and many factors were unknown to us. We therefore had to learn on our own, hoping that things would work well for us. There have been many successes and failures along the journey. Lessons from overcoming challenges through creative leader-ship have been and continue to be very enriching.

The second big challenge was of initial financial re-sources which were raised through accrual of internal resources. Working with internal funding in a resource constrained environment made things difficult for us. When I look back, I feel that had this initial resource constraint not been there, Metropolis would have grown even faster.What factors do you attribute to the success of Me-tropolis Healthcare Ltd?The culture of Metropolis has been of working through accommodation, flexibility and partnership with a sharp focus on excellence. We endear innovative ideas and try keeping bureaucratic hurdles to minimal. This ensures that ideas that will benefit the customer and the company get implemented and people who have put in their efforts get their due credit.

We always uphold interests of our customers and patients, and ensure delivering best services to them.

Although we have grown to a large multinational chain of diagnostics, we ensure that we reach out to every customer and ensure personal interactions whenever possible. This culture and value base has allowed us to grow both horizontally and vertically.Is the company looking for any kind of merger and acquisition in near future?Metropolis has grown both organically and inorgani-cally. We have achieved growth by setting up our own labs, and also acquiring smaller labs with good found-ers, repute and brand name. We started the process in 2004 and we continue on mix of organic and inorgan-ic expansion. We have seen such partnerships become successful, to cite few examples are Lister Metropolis in Tamil Nadu, RV Metropolis in Bangalore, Desai Me-tropolis in Gujarat, etc.Women in a leadership role are still a minority -

We alWays accept ideas that Will benefit the customer and people get

their due credit for their efforts


A m e e r A S h A h

Ameera Shah – Metropolis Healthcare

both in the general business world and politics. Given this status, how can these women truly serve as role models to other women?Today’s women are facing increasing burden of dual responsibilities, especially in the metros. The problem is when they internalize the need to do well in all their roles, socially or professionally; jeopardising their health and well-being. I’ve also seen many women tak-ing extreme stands in leadership positions, while some see gender as no element for differentiation. I believe that role modulation is extremely essential. It is im-portant to understand and acknowledge the fact that there are biases at times, but to ensure that they don’t impede good leadership.

Furthermore, I believe that being in a leadership position largely depends on internal psyche. I am sure most successful women leaders have gone through

initial dilemmas and challenges. If they are vocal about their own experiences many women can learn from their accomplishments and mistakes. Additionally women leaders should proactively come forth to men-tor fellow women at their offices, friend circles; chat about their practical difficulties and how they over-came them.A debate is rounding in the corner that women are better leaders than men. What’s your take on that?I believe leadership is not a gender function. Leaders are moulded by their social surroundings and un-deniably defined by their innate strengths. Social circumstances for women could differ, but that might not be completely true and attributable to leadership. However for an industry like healthcare, women’s innate sensitivity could help her be more patient and care oriented, ensuring a greater chanc-es of success for her.How do you view transformational leadership in your own career and among your peers?The tone of communication defines the culture of an organisation. It is very important that a leader pays attention to how he or she is communicating to his peers. It is very important to align everybody’s thoughts, objectives, and working styles towards the organisational goal building a healthy sustainable cul-ture. I believe in leading by example. The organisation always reflects its leader and vice-versa. Hence it is very important for a leader to strive to set good exam-ples for peers to follow. It is crucial that everyone places organisation before individuals and give credit to people who have made efforts and contributed to the growth and development of the company.

On a day to day basis, I generally follow a collabora-tive leadership approach, especially when organisa-tional decisions are concerned. However at times I have to get affirmative, when things don’t go the mu-tually planned way. Such situations are rare, and hope to keep them rare.What are your future plans? How do you see your company evolving in the next five years?At Metropolis, we process 15 million tests touching 4 to 5 million lives each year. Affordability and acces-sibility to quality healthcare is the biggest challenge. Hence to ensure a wider reach, in India we have been penetrating the under-served markets of tier 2 and tier 3 cities, which we continue to further penetrate. We would want to reach out to the rural population as well, but the Government policies are not offering cue to enter these untapped markets, where cost control is central to business success. While in India we are aiming at deeper penetration of markets, we have al-ready crossed the Indian boundaries. We’ve set up operations in Africa and Middle East, and as further expansion in south-east Asia we have successfully en-tered the Sri Lankan markets. In the next five years we will aim to strengthen our presence in the afore-mentioned markets through further expansions and multiplication of services.

exclusive COLUMN


innovation is the only way for indiaThe aerospace indusTry is going To TranslaTe $4 Trillion To The global economy in The nexT Two decades. does india have a chance To Take iTs fair share of ThaT economic acTiviTy?

vivek lall President and CEO at Reliance Industries Limited

Aerospace and defence sector represents, in my view, the kind of advanced manufactur-ing that India needs to succeed in the new global economy. Technologies employed

for manufacturing for A&D are cutting-edge and re-ally do set the bar for where sectors and industries need to go in this country. The aerospace industry will continue to grow and it is estimated that in the next 20 years, the global aerospace industry will build 30,000 new airplanes, translating to $4 trillion of ac-tivity. Does India have a chance to take its fair share of that economic activity? The answer is yes, if the industry can collaborate with each other, govern-ments, academia and R&D institutions. Aerospace manufacturing is actually a very collaborative kind of activity – research institutes, universities, col-leges just need to work together much more effec-tively with the industry on an ongoing basis. We need a mechanism to establish links with both industries and other universities worldwide, which will place us in an extremely strong position to produce first class aerospace research. The introduction of new materials and technologies used in aerospace to re-duce environmental impact and the desire to reduce total lifecycle costs mean that in order to remain competitive, manufacturers must innovate to boost productivity, reduce manufacturing costs and adapt to the new methods required to produce complex components from new materials and at the same time improving product quality and consistency.

It is well understood that in the case of aircrafts, sustenance costs work out much higher than acqui-sition costs. A significant portion of an aircraft’s life-cycle cost comes after it leaves the factory floor. Costs such as fuel/energy consumption, mainte-nance and replacement of equipment or parts, con-sumables and disposal, all contribute towards the life-cycle cost. In my opinion innovation in manu-facturing should be directed towards reducing main-tenance cost of an aircraft or platform. One typi-

cally thinks of designing for easy maintainability. As we get into a multi-disciplinary optimisation envi-ronment, increasingly, the lines between design, manufacturing and maintenance blur. We need to put innovation at the center of everything we do. Innovation is not unique to one sector of our econ-omy. By focusing on innovation, our companies and our economy can always be on the cutting-edge of competitiveness. That’s where our entire economy has to strive toward.


v i v e k l a l l

Brazil, China and russia are raCing to develop new airCrafts to projeCt their power internationally

Several in aerospace have professed that there are three fundamental ingredients of technological in-novation:l Knowledge capital - the creation of new knowl-edge, new ideas, through basic research.l Human capital - Taking the results of that basic research and translating them into products and services through world-class engineering.l A favorable innovation ecosystem - Taking those products and services and being the first one to the market place through world-class entrepre-neurialism.

The government has a crucial role in play a part in that growth in the following ways. The Govern-ment can provide some of the resources that are required to bring together all of the players and move our SMEs up the value chain. One of the im-portant things that we need to do is work on the research and technology development so that we’re developing the products and capabilities for the next generation of aircraft. Government can provide in-centives to attract those companies to do R&D in India rather than doing it elsewhere. World-class manufacturing demands world-class talent. Our workforce must be proficient in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and must pos-sess the skills that manufacturers seek and again, the Government plays a role in skill development. Other

countries are moving forward in developing their own defense and aerospace manufacturing indus-tries. Brazil, China and Russia are racing to develop new aircrafts to project their power internationally and continue to grow their economy through ex-ports. It is critical that manufacturers in India not stand on the sidelines while other countries seek to establish their lead in aerospace manufacturing.

Creativity is our human ability to come up with new ideas. We are constantly visited with a stream of new mental content - in the form of dreams, free associations, AHA's - that is wired into how our brains function. So innovation at its most basic level is the bridging of creativity with the creation of value - whether in financial terms (the latest IPO), social terms (improving mass transit), or both. Furthermore, innovation needs to be about some-thing. Innovation is always an answer to a question and becomes activated when corporate or societal leaders articulate a compelling purpose for innova-

tion efforts to align around. Innovation also differs from invention because of the scale of adoption. The first light bulb or semi-conductor is an inven-tion, but discovering and then success-fully deploying these inventions in the market place to change the existing order of things is innovation. Finally, innovation is enabled by human inge-nuity. In a sense, it is the "secret sauce." While innovation is the jour-ney from the problem statement (A) to a result (Z), ingenuity is the capabil-ity of getting from A to Z faster. Inge-nuity is often about a surprising proc-ess in which the dots are connected in unexpected ways. And ingenuity deliv-ers social value, not just economic gain. In fact, of all the terms I've out-lined here, "ingenuity" is perhaps the most under-represented discussions of innovation, and at the same time, one of the most critical elements for addressing the challenges facing glo-bal society today. Many of these, from climate change to economic disparity, are escalating at a staggering pace that requires precisely the acceleration of the innovation process that ingenuity can provide.


postscript

“Fulfill all your duties; action is better than inaction. Even to maintain your body, Aruba, you are obliged to act. Selfish action imprisons the world.

Act selflessly, without any thought of personal profit.” - Krishna utters in the midst of Arjun’s infatuation with life and war as they prepare for the great Kurukshetra war.

Bhagwad Gita, in its very beginning, speaks of human beings being born with the spirit of sacrifice and through sacrifice only they will realize their ambition. Lord Krishna, subsequently advices Arjun to sacrifice and reach his goal. The value of sacrificing is a cosmic truth that human beings are realizing more and more and that is pertaining to their growth as human beings as well as their ability to serve others and win respect and admiration. And these two features are invaluable sources of prudent HR management of the CEOs to held sway their band of employees to great motivational level and perform better.

This Bhagwad Gita’s philosophy, in the advent of the new century, is being imbibed by a number of CEOs across the world and miraculously with amazing effect. The hotelier, Chip Conley, was a paradigm in sacrificing his personal wealth in the greater interest of his company, Joie de Vivre, and his employees. In the aftermath of 9/ 11, when chips were down in his business, he led his team from the top in terms of doing away with his remuneration. His policy of cutting the wages from the top kept the employees motivated and was instrumental in arresting the employee attrition rate. He stopped taking wages and undertook two mortgages and shaved retirement plans to keep his organization at bay. Only after his personal commitment he slashed 10% of his senior executives’ packages. Because of such exemplary commitment none of his staffs left the organization neither he laid off anybody. Even bolder step was taken by Lola Gonzalez of Florida based recruitment firm called Accurate Background Check (ABC). ABC lost one its prized clients and as the recession set in, the company found itself in knee-deep crisis. Under such circumstances Ms. Gonzalez decided on the obvious of lay-off. And on the day of that decision she called all his employees and announced to the astonishment of everybody present there that she is firing herself from the organization!

There are more examples of self-sacrifices, like; a unique instance of Japan Airlines CEO Hurok Nishimatsu who started travelling by bus to office apart from his forgoes in salary in turbulent times of his organization’s fate in 2009. In true display altruism, the CEO of Lenovo, Yang Yuanging, after receiving $3 million bonus from his organization’s record-setting performance, was spread among his employees something he thoroughly deserved and was rewarded.

The self-sacrifice is greater leveler among the employees in the time of crisis. It is also a motivator that obliges the company staff to perform even under strain because the head of the company is showing the way. It gives them a sense of duty to perform and

enhances their devotion towards the organization. The trust factor is such a quintessential prerogative for an organization to reach heights of success, which can be achieved through sacrifice from the top.

The employee’s trust, employee retention and their performance have bearings on investors’ confidence and performance in stock exchanges that help a firm raise capital for expansion, diversification and growth. The employee performances enhance sales and revenue and help the company earn profits at the end of the reporting periods. This in turn will increase the retained earnings and help maximize the shareholder’s value. The results are not just

theoretical abstract but are there for all to see. The measures of employee motivation taken by Conley, leading from the front, showed up results for Joie de Vivre with annual revenue augmenting three times, from 2001 to $200 million. Gonzales’ sacrifice, too, paved the way for ABC to secure interest-free loan of $35,000 and vestiges of spiral was reverted with 20% profit.

Therefore a simple tactics and a little forfeit of wealth can do wonders for an organization. And in the spate of sustained global meltdown the tactics is increasingly in vogue in the corporate circle, worldwide. The sacrifice of 20% wage by FedEx CEO, Fred Smith or 20% slip in pay of Motorola’s co-CEOs Greg Brown and Sanjay Jha or 33% dip of gross by John Coyne, CEO of Western Digital – all have reaped benefits for their organizations in doing such give up. And it is like a boomerang, it goes off and after the turnaround is affected it comes back again. So, when the slump is weighed down the CEOs can hike their salaries again. The chain reaction of positive effects can be initiated with this simple formula.

One of the teachings of Krishna entails self-sacrifice should precede reward. And that’s what he followed in Mahabharata. When Kaurava’s defeated the Pandava’s in the game chess through deceit and sent them to the woods for twelve years, the Pandava’s accepted their fate with passive endorsement, even though juxtaposed with sympathy towards them and scorns towards Kaurava’s, from Krishna. It was only after their sacrifice was complete that they stood up for their rights and fought the righteous war to enjoy the affluent kingdom. In Ramayana, too, the same doctrine is found. Ram, himself, after sacrificing fourteen years in forests and then fighting inordinately difficult war finally reaped the fruits of sacrifice.

Even after thousands of years the philosophy of self-sacrifice is as potent. We have seen that the CEOs who sacrificed their fortunes, most cases than not, were flag bearers of success later on. And that’s the ethereal truth of life being preached by great Indian philosophers, strategists and tacticians like Ram and Krishna. And, in the most inconspicuous way, Conley, Gonzales, Yuanging and the likes falls in line with this strategy, and through it, garner rich harvest of success and glory.

Will your CEo saCrifiCE?

Sray agarwalConsulting Editor

an icmr-iipm THink Tank publicaTion Count innovation is · PDF filean icmr-iipm THink Tank...

Documents

Transcript of an icmr-iipm THink Tank publicaTion Count innovation is · PDF filean icmr-iipm THink Tank...