Indian managers are top draw for global companies

The appointment of Hindustan Unilever's chief financial officer R Sridhar to the position of senior vice-president (finance) at Unilever in eight months following former managing director Nitin Paranjpe's elevation to the post of president, home care, points to the growing importance of Indian managers at global firms. Indian managers are becoming a key asset, prompting global majors to tap into them whenever the opportunity permits.

Consider this: HUL alone has over 200 managers (13 per cent of its managerial strength) working in markets abroad for Unilever. The trend is no different for companies such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, which routinely export as well as import Indian talent.

According to human resource experts, Indian managers are also open to the prospect of working abroad, prompting their international parents to pick up them at the opportune time. A 2012 study by HR firm Randstand, for instance, said 39 per cent of Indian managers were willing to move abroad for better prospects. The trend, say HR experts, would not have been different in 2013 as the thirst for knowledge and international exposure prompted a number of Indian managers to make the switch to global positions abroad.

“Indian managers are considered valuable assets thanks to the grounding they have in a complex market such as India. They are also perceived to be humble and keen to take up challenging roles abroad,” says Sunil Goel, director at HR firm GlobalHunt.

An affirmation of this is the appointment last month of Satya Nadella, executive vice-president (cloud and enterprise group) at Microsoft, to the position of CEO, the third man to take up this role after Bill Gates and Steve Balmer. The Hyderabad-born techie had spent over 20 years at the firm and was believed to be the best choice among a number of internal and external candidates. Four months before Nadella's ascension to the top, Sameer Suneja became global CEO of confectionery major Perfetti Van Mella after spending years heading the company's Indian operations. He joined a select group of members in the CEO club, who have an Indian lineage including Rakesh Kapoor of Reckitt Benckiser, Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo, Vikram Pandit (former CEO, Citi Group), Ajay Banga of MasterCardand Anshu Jain (Co-CEO of Deutsche Bank AG).

Getting talent back

This trend is growing with Indian managers having global exposure making their way back into India to head operations here. Sanjiv Mehta of HUL and Venkatesh Kini of Coca-Cola are cases in point. Mehta spent over 20 years heading markets abroad before making his way back to India as managing director and CEO of HUL in October 2013.

During his first public address recently, Mehta had said he would bring his international learnings to the table when running operations here. Among his key focus areas would be growing HUL's foods business and managing costs in a volatile environment. Kini, president of Coca-Cola India and South West Asia business unit, in a recent interview, had said that rural markets would be his priority, besides the launch of a string of zero- and low-calorie products for the health-conscious.

The Top Management Gurus of Today

1: CK PRAHALAD 

The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid transformed the Indian-born Prahalad from bestselling academic to global opinion former. His ideas are taken seriously, tackle the big issues of our times and make a difference.

2: Malcolm GLADWELL 

The rise of the journalist turned guru has been inexorable. His latest bestseller, Outliers, is required reading for all with ambition. The Gladwell formula is deceptively simple but well written and built around powerful story telling. 

3: Paul KRUGMAN 

The Nobel prize winning economist has taken the dry science to the masses as never before. He has written more than 25 books and has made the leap from serious academic work to accessible commentary with liberal and liberating ease.

4: Steve JOBS 

Health issues aside, it is impossible to argue with the man who has brought the world a series of mold breaking products. But, what can we learn about leadership from Jobs?

5: W. Chan KIM & Renée MAUBORGNE 

The creators of Blue Ocean Strategy practiced what they preach and swept the world with their ideas and models. Now, with a fresh article in the Harvard Business Review, they are set on cementing their place in the history of strategy. Next up, the difficult second book.

6: Muhammad YUNUS

Champion of microcredit, founder of Grameen Bank and Nobel prize winner, the Bangladeshi is author of Banker to the Poor. Proof that bold visions can become powerful reality.

7: Bill GATES 

Once desperately uncool, Gates is now the epitome of caring capitalism – something he calls “creative capitalism.” Not everyone wants to be Bill Gates, but many admire the way he goes about being one of the richest men on the planet.

8: Richard BRANSON 

The oldest Virgin retains his insatiable appetite for PR stunts and entrepreneurial endeavour. Backed by a team of great people, he is instantly likeable. QED.

9: Philip KOTLER 

One of Kotler’s favourite ties bears the title of his magnum opus, Marketing Management. Kotler has dominated marketing over the last three decades. Along the way he has pushed the frontiers of where marketing can make a difference. His latest book, Chaotics, reflects his willingness to go out on a limb and express an opinion. Required reading.

10: Gary HAMEL 

Hamel’s last book, The Future of Management, lacked the sexy allure of Competing for the Future. It felt like a bid to put a stake in the ground and to call an area of study his own. It is working. With MLab, Hamel is championing the renaissance of management, what he labels Management 2.0.

11: Michael PORTER

The long reigning King of Strategy is now on the wane. His mantle is now worn by Kim and Mauborgne. Porter’s consolation is that his model is taught in every business school in the world and retains huge influence and popularity.

12: Ratan TATA 

Tata Sons has emerged as one of the great archetypal corporations of our times. Its culture is fundamentally Indian, its ambitions truly global. There is Tata Tea, Tata Steel, Tata Motors with its eye-catching Nano car and more making an empire with sales of some $70 billion. Cornell-educated, Ratan Tata has been chairman since 1991. 

13: Ram CHARAN 

Spectacularly itinerant, Charan is the coach of choice to some of the world’s top CEOs. His message is a worldly combo of tough exec and Indian philosophising. 

14: Marshall GOLDSMITH 

When the world’s top CEOs need a coach Goldmsith is usually top of the list. His wisdom can appear homespun – saying please and thank you – but he has the happy knack of making the complex world of business feel straightforward. An invite to his client dinner parties is a mark that you have made it.

15: S. (Kris) Gopalakrishnan 

In 1981 the Indian company Infosys began life. Its seven founders had $250. Now, it has revenues of over $4 billion and one of the seven founders is its CEO, Kris Gopalakrishnan. He has helped Infosys conquer the world and lead what it calls the “next generation” of IT and consulting.

What Does A Manager Do?

One of the first lessons a beginning manager must learn is that good managers don't Do anything. A manager's role is to manage the people who do actually do the work. The manager's role is to make the group more effective than they would be without him/her.

That doesn't mean that managers spend all day sitting around with their feet up on the desk drinking coffee. Most managers I know work very hard and work longer hours than anyone on their teams. So what do managers do? Read on.

Build A Team

One of the first things you have to do as a manager is to build your team. Usually, when you become a manager, your team is already in place. You may need to add a few people or replace some people. Don't be in a hurry. Learn about your team and the people on the team before you shake things up. Don't feel you have to prove you're the manager. Take the time to think things through before you make major changes.

Motivate Your People

The simplest way to make your team more productive is to motivate them. Motivating people can be a real challenge for many managers because it is so different for each person. You will find that what works to motivate one person won't work for another and will actually be a demotivator for still another. As a manager, you need to find the unique motivators for each member of your team.

Run The Business

While you are motivating your team, you have to stay focused on the business itself. Managers must handle many specific tasks, mostly related to personnel actions and financial transactions, to keep the company functioning. You will have to make decisions daily about the correct way to do things and to keep your team function as a part of the whole company. It doesn't matter how well your unit performs unless it is in sync with the rest of the company.

Make Changes And Fix Things

Things go wrong every day. Things change constantly. Managers play a key role in figuring out what is going wrong and doing what is needed to fix it.

Manage Upward

In addition to managing your team, your role as a manager requires that you also manage the organization above your unit. Your job includes buffering your people from the company power structure. Your boss, and any bosses above him/her, need to go through you and not directly to your team.

Manage Sideways

In addition to managing upward, you need to work well with your peers. Your team will not function well if they have problems with other departments. You can help them be more effective if you can establish good working relationships with your peers, the heads of the other departments your team needs to work with.

Quotations and sayings are short phrases that can make us stop and think for a while. They are inspiring and motivating, and can change our way of life if we will not just react on them but continuously act upon them. Managers often use motivational quotes to motivate themselves and their subordinates towards reaching their common goals and making sure that the business is consistently productive, profitable and sustainable. If you’re the boss in the workplace and you want to boost your managerial skills and wisdom, here are 50 best quotes for managers like you.


1. “The first rule of management is delegation. Don’t try and do everything yourself because you can’t.” -Anthea Turner
2. “Management must manage!” -Harold S. Geneen

3. “The conventional definition of management is getting work done through people, but real management is developing people through work.” -Agha Hasan Abedi

4. “Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.” -Stephen R. Covey

5. “Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.” -Stephen R. Covey

6. “Remember the difference between a boss and a leader; a boss says “Go!” – a leader says “Let’s go!”’ -E.M. Kelly

7. “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” -Henry Ford

8. “Teamwork divides the task and multiplies the success.”

9. “If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” -Henry Ford

10. “A chief is a man who assumes responsibility. He says “I was beaten,” he does not say “My men were beaten.” -Antoine de Saint-Exupery

11. “Authority without wisdom is like a heavy axe without an edge, fitter to bruise than polish. “ -Anne Bradstreet

12. “The people who are doing the work are the moving force behind the Macintosh. My job is to create a space for them, to clear out the rest of the organization and keep it at bay.” -Steve Jobs

13. “Management is nothing more than motivating other people.” -Lee Iacocca

14. “A good manager is a man who isn’t worried about his own career but rather the careers of those who work for him.” -H. S. M. Burns

15. “The secret of successful managing is to keep the five guys who hate you away from the four guys who haven’t made up their minds.” -Casey Stengel

“Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, and how you’re led.” – Steve Jobs

1. Select the best people

As a manager, you are only as good as the people on your team. Give yourself a better chance to succeed by picking the best people from the start. Read Job Interview Questions to Ask to learn to be better at selecting the best candidate for the job.

2. Be a motivator

Human beings do things because we want to. Sometimes we want to because the consequences of not wanting to do something are unpleasant. However, most of the time we want to do things because of what we get out of it.It's no different at work, people do good work for the pay, or the prestige, or the recognition. They do bad work because they want to take it easy and still get paid. They work really hard because they want to impress someone. To motivate your people better, figure out what they want and how you can give that to them for doing what you want them to do.

3. Build Your Team

It is not enough that people are motivated to succeed at work. They have to work together as a team to accomplish the group's objective. After all, if we just want them to all "do their own thing" we don't need you as a manager to mold them into a team, do we?

4. Be a Leader, Not Only a Manager

You have built the best team from the best employee available. You motivated them to peak performance. What is missing? Motivating a team is worthless unless you provide direction; unless you turn that motivation toward a goal and lead the team to it. It is the ability to lead others that truly sets a manager apart from their peers. Remember that leaders are found at all levels of the organization, so be one.Here are a couple of examples, one good and one bad:

5. Improve as a Communicator

Communication may be the single most important skill of a manager. After all, all the others depend on it. You can't be a leader if you can't communicate your vision. You can't motivate people if they can't understand what you want. Communication skills can be improved through practice. Here are two exercises you can use to improve your ability to communicate effectively.

6. Get Better At Managing Money

To stay in business, a company has to make money. That means bringing money in the door and it means spending less than you bring in. Depending on your function in the organization, you may have more influence on one area or the other, but you need to understand both. You can help your company, your employees, and yourself be getting better at managing the company's money.

7. Get Better at Managing Time

The one thing you will probably have less of at work than money is time. The better you get at managing time, yours and others, the more effective you will be as a manager. Here are two key skills:

8. Improve Yourself

Don't focus so hard on your people that you forget about yourself. Identify the areas in which you are weak and improve them. The fact that you are reading this article shows you understand the concept. You need to put it into practice.

9. Practice Ethical Management

Enron-like scandals have really driven home the point about how important ethics is in business. If you want to avoid similar mistakes, here are some things to consider:

10. Take a Break

You are less effective as a manager if you are over-stressed. You are less tolerant. You snap at people more. No one wants to be anywhere near you. Take a break. Give yourself a chance to relax and recharge your batteries. Your increased productivity when you return will more than make up for the time you take off. Have a good laugh or go lie on a beach somewhere.