As a young business journalist trying to do a story on the Birla Group, I remember Aditya Birla encouraging a senior colleague and me to spend some time with his son, 27-year-old Kumar Mangalam Birla, who was doing his “internship” tours of the group’s facilities. “If you want to understand the future of the Birla Group, you should speak to him. He is more qualified than I am,” the senior Birla quipped.
The last decade or so has been the most exciting in Indian business history and, evidently, least documented — as indeed, among others, is the story of transition from the older to the younger Birla. If truth be told, many industry watchers had written off the junior Birla. That included, unsurprisingly, many senior Birla employees. For the soft-spoken Kumar Birla often created a poor first impression with his people in the early days, in stark contrast to the more intimidating Aditya Birla. As I recall, asking us to speak to Kumar Birla for our story did not sound like a gentle suggestion.
In Search of Change Maestros by academics Pritam Singh and Asha Bhandarkar is an attempt at chronicling the functioning of seven business leaders in the last decade and a half. An incidental point — the book is not a search as the title says, but a careful aggregation of milestones and events, based on the somewhat unusual (for a book that has a title as such) approach of combining qualitative research and interviews with employees and juniors.
The subjects are chosen well: a healthy mix of legacy with first-generation entrepreneurs and, of course, feisty managers. K V Kamath’s relentless focus on size and entrepreneurial team building comes through clearly, as does A M Naik’s near-meteoric rise from the shop floor and his ability to talk tough and display levels of stamina not quite consistent with his age and health. And, of course, Kumar Birla’s gradual but firm rise to be seen as his father’s rightful heir.
The book is not exactly a racy read. Each chapter ends with tables that show how the individual ranked on various parameters, in the eyes of his or her juniors. For instance, respondents have ranked “performance-centric action” and “respecting dignity of others” to being innovative and result-focused. This can make for somewhat sluggish reading, unless you are an MBA student working on a similar project. The flip side is that books on post-liberalisation Indian business history are still being written, if they indeed are. A book like Change Maestros is a useful addition to a student’s bookshelf, particularly if you want to look back at the bare facts about how some of India’s most successful corporations and business groups have evolved.
The problem with asking employees to rate their bosses on paper is they tend to take the safe path. This is not to belie the achievements of the business leaders but they do tend to come across a little too perfect. As a journalist who has interacted with many of them, I would say painting such perfect worlds can be a little misleading. K V Kamath’s aggressive focus on consumer acquisition in the early part of the past decade earned his bank market-share but also a bagful of problems. I would still give him credit for fixing it, though.
Similarly, the book mostly skips over potential downsides to almost all business leaders and their companies. Another negative is that the figures for sales/revenue and market value are for end-March 2009. This should not usually matter but the book is almost two years behind the figures in it. When the companies are in a rapid growth phase, as is the economy, things tend to change quite fast.
Nevertheless, the conclusions are useful and show how each business leader ranks higher or lower on some attributes. Former UTI Chairman M Damodaran ranks high on the ability to communicate powerfully, which, as I understand, did not go down well with a lot of people, a fact that does not quite come out in the book. Sajjan Jindal comes out high on the global mindset and visionary approach. Mr Kamath, now Infosys chairman, scores high on “Himalayan Ambition”. His emphasis on size, scale and excellence resounds repeatedly.
The findings on leadership qualities are not unexpected for this sample of business leaders. Most of them, whether in government (Mr Damodaran) or first-generation entrepreneurs (Sunil Mittal) or managers (Mr Naik and Mr Kamath), share many. Vision, foresight, determination, execution persistence and a healthy respect for team members come through visibly. The circumstances obviously vary but the binding factors are common, so the book should serve as a tool for those studying these managers and their methods.
I found it interesting to read about the ethics angle, particularly in the light of the recent 2G telecom spectrum scandal. Bharti Group founder Sunil Mittal comes across (in the eyes of his employees) as determined to “fight in the ring and play by the rules”. He says the market would decide who would be the winner, not the government or unscrupulous players. “Be focused, keep the customers happy and the rest will follow.” Perhaps that’s why Airtel’s name does not figure alongside the other get-licence-quick telecom players. Not in the same league at least, though the jury’s still out. If you were to put all other leadership attributes as constant, this is the one factor that scores high for me today.
IN SEARCH OF CHANGE MAESTROS
Pritam Singh
and Asha Bhandarkar
Sage Publications
481 pages; Rs 850
