John Satish K: General calling

BACKSTAGE

To S S Mehta, a retired Lieutenant General and director general-designate of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), serving in the industry association is a calling on a par with that of the army, the wild, or the sea.

Scheduled to take over from N Srinivasan on May 11, the former serviceman has been involved with the CII for the past two years in its Skills Development Programme and also headed the task force on IT, broadband and telecom.

His selection for the hot seat comes at a time when the new CII president, the very astute R Seshasayee, wants to "reconcile the conceptual inputs with execution".

As such, Srinivasan will be looking after conceptual inputs, while Mehta will take care of execution."It is an honour for me to succeed two eminent predecessors who have laid a strong foundation," Mehta said about his appointment.

Known as a bright talent with an exceptional ability to apply intellect to planning and strategy, the former Deputy Chief of Army Staff (Planning and Operations) served as an Aide de Camp (ADC) and later Military Assistant (MA) to India's best-known thinking General, Gen K Sundarji and imbibed some of his traits.

Mehta might never have found his way into the CII had the government accepted reforms in the defence services. It was he who would have become Chief of Army Staff in January 2004 instead of Gen N C Vij, who would have become Chief of Defence Staff.

His predecessor Srinivasan, who served as the Director General for the past two years, is convinced that Mehta is the right candidate for the job with his army credentials.

"He has outstanding qualities of head and heart and I am confident he will do a great job. He is a man who reaches out to everyone without regard to hierarchy and this inclusiveness makes him a great team player," Srinivasan said about his successor.

The ability to put the institution before self may probably have been picked up from his 41-year-stint with the services but expect Mehta to bring military discipline to the job.

Ever the realist, his immediate focus is on translating the body's missions and campaigns into tangible and deliverable results while working within the system.

Any leader is only as good as his team and Mehta's passion for teambuilding is expected to be an exercise in getting his members involved and motivated.

His involvement in the Skills Development Programme of the CII will come in handy when he takes over from Srinivasan as one of the first engagements on the very day he takes over is a meeting with J J Irani, who heads the body's panel on affirmative action.