A fearless Mind ready to Lead - Vineet Nayar

Hi Fellow Travellers,

I have been travelling quite extensively for past few weeks (Have been home only for a week) and feel extremely good about what you guys are doing for our customers. Everywhere I go I hear a story of how group of HCLites made the customer win and every time I hear this story I feel so proud of all of you –what a fantastic team you guys are and how lucky I have been to walk shoulder to shoulder with you.

Last week I flew to NY just for a day to deliver a lunch keynote address to a large group of CXOs. My flight from Delhi landed late and I went straight for the meeting from the airport just making it on time feeling quite tired and low. As they introduced me they shared three very interesting insights .They said that they took a poll of all the CXOs in the room and discovered that HCL has not lost a SINGLE bid in the last 3 years. Second, wherever we had won, that CXO is our biggest advocate in the group. Third, they could not come up with any other company with similar track record. If you were watching carefully I had a tear on the edge of my eye-of pride, of satisfaction and of gratitude to all the HCLites who make such stories a reality.

That evening I caught the Continental flight back to Delhi wondering what makes these heroes in HCL set such high benchmarks of success and what does it take to develop a fearless mind ready to lead in each and every HCLite? My thoughts lead me to another story.

In a year, I would meet over 200 customers/Prospects (Yes I keep a count to stay relevant). However the highlight is never the meeting itself, but the car ride to the meeting when I am briefed on  what is expected of me.These drives a typically an hour where the brief would last half the time and the rest of the time is for me to ask questions and learn a lot about HCL from the eyes of an aspiring sales/Delivery leader. Most of this feedback is sharp and blunt and it is a great place to start the process of making the company more relevant for the people who create the most value -the guys who face off with our customers. However the most interesting part is  different attitudes I get to observe amongst my fellow travellers on how they approach this interaction and my habit of trying to predict/correlate that with how fast they will grow in life. Let me explain.

Some will try and brief me on phone to avoid this interaction while some others will travel miles to ensure they grab the opportunity. Some will ask me how I would approach the meeting and some others will tell me what they want me to say and ask me if I have understood just to be sure. Some will get foxed with my unexpected and blunt questions -like why are you in HCL- while some others will come prepared with their own agenda and drag me over coals with questions I don’t have answers to. Some will focus on making a good impression on me while others will sharply focus on learning by asking me specific questions on specific situations. Some will ask if they should join the meeting and some others will “tell” me that they are joining the meeting. Some will watch from the side as the meeting progresses and some others will “ensure” it goes as per their plan. Some will thank me after the meeting for my “effort” while some others would like few minutes to ask me why I approached the meeting the way I did and what could they have done better at this stage of the relationship.

I always get nervous when I have to predict which of these young aspiring leaders would succeed-frankly I am more wrong than right most of the times but I keep on predicting (Only for my own analysis) as I am keen to learn what makes some of these leaders so successful. For me, leadership is a state of mind, that of an explorer for whom the unknown is a lot more exciting than the known. One who is simply not obsessed about getting to the top but about what he would do after he gets there. It is a state of mind which is not afraid to stand apart from the crowd, to be different, to step out of the comfort zone and risk all for what it believes in.That state of mind is reflected in these interactions-the stretch is visible and so is the intensity and passion to succeed.

I am a student who is keen to learn everyday on why some youngsters go on to become successful leaders, while others who may work even harder at achieving leadership roles, do not. It is my view that finally it all comes down to you. So pause and shut out all the noise that surrounds you till all you can hear is your heart beat reminding you of your true calling and the sound of each breath screaming for you to stand up and LEAD… Once you hear that sound clearly, you will not need to hear anything or anyone again and you would be the one whose story will be told again and again for years to come.

Have a great weekend and Chennai-I will see you in the coming week. I also hope I will see some of you in November as part of  8 city workshop series I will host “Unlocking potential for high performance managers” fulfilling my commitment to train now that I have some more time.

Wishing you and your families a million smiles.

Smiles

Vineet

"All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream"

- Edgar Allan Poe

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Home truths on career wives - Chetan Bhagat

Recently, I saw the recently released movie, Cocktail. The plot revolves around a philanderer hero who has to make the tough choice between two hot women. The uber-modern movie was set in London. The characters drank, danced in nightclubs and had one-night stands with aplomb. They worked in new-age aspirational jobs like glamour photography, graphic art and software design. And yet, the guy eventually chooses the girl who cooks home food, dresses conservatively, wins his mother's approval and is happy to be the ideal Indian wife. In fact, even the rejected girl, a free-spirited, independent woman agrees to change herself. To get the guy, she is happy to cook and change her lifestyle to match that of the ideal Indian wife.

While the movie was fun, such depictions disturb me a little. When successful, strong women are portrayed as finding salvation in making dal and roti for their husbands, one wonders what kind of India we are presenting to our little girls.

Really, is that what a woman's life is all about — to make hot phulkas? Of course, i shouldn't be so bothered, many would say. It is a Bollywood movie. The commercial pressure to present a palatable story is real. Above all, the makers have a right to tell the narrative they want.

Yet, when our most modern and forward cinema sinks into regressive territory, it is unfair to our women. It is also depressing because deep down we know such attitudes exist. Many Indian men, even the educated ones, have two distinct profiles of women — the girlfriend material and the wife material. One you party with, the other you take home. The prejudice against non-traditional women who assert themselves is strong.

Let us look at another part of the world. Yahoo, a leading tech firm and a Fortune 500 company, recently hired a new woman CEO, Marissa Mayer. What's more, she was six months pregnant when she was hired, a fact she did not hide in her interviews.

Marissa will take some time off after childbirth and will be back at work later. She can manage both. There is something to celebrate about that. Marissa is a role model for women and even men.

I'd like Indian men to have an open mind about choosing their life partners and revise their 'ideal woman' criteria. Having a traditional wife who cooks, cleans and is submissive might be nice. However, choosing a capable, independent and career-oriented woman can also bring enormous benefits. For instance, one, a man who marries a career woman gets a partner to discuss his own career with. A working woman may be able to relate better to organizational issues than a housewife. A spouse who understands office politics and can give you good advice can be an asset. Two, a working woman diversifies the family income streams. In the era of expensive apartments and frequent lay-offs, a working spouse can help you afford a decent house and feel more secure about finances. Three, a working woman is better exposed to the world. She brings back knowledge and information that can be useful to the family. Whether it's the latest deals or the best mutual fund to invest in, or even new holiday destinations, a working woman can add to the quality of life. Four, the children of a working woman learn to be more independent and will do better than mollycoddled children. Five, working women often find some fulfillment in their jobs, apart from home. Hence, they may have better life satisfaction, and feel less dependent on the man. This in turn can lead to more harmony. Of course, all these benefits accrue if men are able to keep their massive, fragile egos aside and see women as equals.

Sure, there are drawbacks also in being with working women. But the modern age that we are in, the phulka-making bride may come at a cost of missing out on other qualities. Please bear that in mind before you judge women based on their clothes, interest in the kitchen or the confidence in their voice.

My mother worked for 40 years. My wife is the COO at an international bank. It makes me proud. She doesn't make phulkas for me. We outsource that work to our help, and it doesn't really bother me. If my wife had spent her life in the kitchen, it would have bothered me more.

Please choose your partner carefully. Don't just tolerate, but accept and even celebrate our successful women. They take our homes ahead and our country forward. We may have less hot phulkas, but we will have a better nation.