The golden rule in business is, there is no golden rule— these are the words of Rajeev Bhadauria, Director, Group HR, at Jindal Steel & Power, one of the leading corporate managers in India. A strong endorser of the process of design thinking of an individual, he believes that the simplicity and holistic approach in business with creativity, humanity and technology make complex things simple. Recently, he shared his knowledge and expertise, with Corporate Citizen, on the subject of Dynamic Business Environment and related topics.
Speaking on the Dynamic Business Environment, Rajeev Bhadauria stressed on the technology and the characteristics of the human mind. He says, “Going back to the human history, there is discovery of fire, wheel and after that the computer that has changed things over the years. Due to these developments, especially the third one, in the last one decade, things have happened which never happened in the past. ” Referring to these developments, he stressed the need to understand the change that is happening. To explain the changes, he termed today’s youth as ‘Internet natives’ and 40-plus people as ‘Internet migrants’ and pointed out the fundamental difference between the generations.
Going further, clarifying the terminology of driving force in today’s dynamic environment, Bhadauria said, “Today in the ‘VUCA’ (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) world, continual change is the driver. So that’s where your creative mind comes into the play and therefore ‘Golden rule in business is there is no golden rule’, rings true.” “Building upon that, you need to have a long-term vision and short activities to achieve that long-term target in this dynamic environment,” he added. In the world of digitalization, the parameters are changing frequently. Earlier, the things were happening and you could respond to them step by step; now in this digital age, this being the dynamic business world, things are happening together and as such, complexity and magnitude of change are becoming unmanageable.
In the management of business in this unprecedented environment, he underlined the use of technology, saying, “Left part of our brain is exact replica of technology. Therefore things can be done or managed through technology. However, human mind can never be replaced and artificial intelligence will remain only close to the real and will never be the real. That’s why the right part of your brain is not available in any man-made thing. How you develop right-side brain is the challenge...Design Thinking Process is an essential tool to deal with the environment. You should go through design thinking process. Every person who makes innovation is a design thinker. There were Galileo and Newton, who had a different view and they got the benefit of the knowledge and their past, but never got burdened by the past. So, when I say design thinking, it is the approach—the urge to do something new. You cannot keep doing same thing over and expect a different result. So develop your right side of the brain and design thinking part of your mind and use the wisdom. Develop your design thinking power that is in your right part of your brain and that is the answer to the changing environment.
Businesses have changed over the years, because of the overskill of technology. In the last 15 years, technology is getting redundant every moment; the earlier world of probability has today become a world of possibilities.
Sharing an experience and referring to an example, he noted, Navin Jain is an Indian, living in the Bay Area and has started a company called the ‘Moon Express’. He has had some start-ups and today is a billionaire. Once Navin said, “I will land on the moon on October 26, 2016.” So it looks like he will be the first individual to land on moon. So the message is to manage the dynamic business environment and Navin Jain is also not an exception. This is the world where your conventional thinking processes need to be revisited.
In a candid conversation with Corporate Citizen, Rajeev Bhadauria, Post Graduate in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations from the Power Management Institute, NTPC, besides LLB from Allahabad University, spoke about his career, challenges and other aspects of life while also taking us through his personal life.
I started my career with NTPC, later joined Reliance Infrastructure in 1995 as the Head of Corporate HR and Reliance-ADA Group. It was a great experience. Since the last four years, I am associated with the Jindal Steel and Power, where I am working at different verticals—primarily mines, steel, power and now also looking after construction technology.
The business challenges are coming out from the impact of excess of technology. The business driver is a continual change and when it happens, you need to have a very different state of competency to match. There is need to develop competency for which you need to think differently, and developing yourself, being more sensitive to the observation and developing wisdom rather than just limiting yourself with the knowledge. Knowledge is available free of cost to everybody, but it’s up to an individual on how he executes it. In fact, you do have the same knowledge, but it is up to you to apply it differently, or not, and do different things, differently.
I do not agree. People have misconnected the role of an HR professional. I feel, the role of an HR, is firstly as analytic to business; secondly, as an an intervention specialist who looks into a problem, addressing, understanding and working for a solution to the root cause. The third role is that of a manager of change. It’s just not about providing services. The services are a part of it, but you have to manage the change. You have to keep creating policies, processes and systems. This will help you to adapt a brave, modified change, and bring in agility in the system and people. Thus, it is a very comprehensive role. Last but not the least, the fourth role of an HR is in the evaluated zone of performance and potential. So at every given point in time, you are an aid to the business. An HR contributes to creating values and felicitates the creation of culture where people have the competency, innovation in this kind of higher order. In such a culture, people get inspired rather than requiring external processes for motivation. A role of an HR professional is very different now. People must have considered the activities of an HR department as the role of HR, but it is different that these activities. So understanding the future that is right; responding rather than reacting and responding within the reaction time is the alternative to the way we think. That is the change that’s there.
“Left part of our brain is exact replica of technology. Therefore the things can be done or managed through technology. However, human mind can never be replaced and artificial intelligence will remain only close to the real and will never be the real”
Absolutely. We need to understand that the art and science of managing complexity is simplicity, the right crux of wisdom is in simplicity.
Yes, well said. It is available in liquid format. So liquid is what can be used as cash.
Today’s youngsters are digital natives and knowledge is available to them, but what they need to do now is to convert it into useful wisdom. So it is data to information and knowledge to wisdom. That’s why the wisdom is needed to be directed. When the maturity and understanding increases, they will be better managers and wealth creators in the future.
Yes, why do we think there is a constraint? Well, every constraint has a potential to improve. Like I said earlier, either you act as a victim or you play a player that is what I call it.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) should not be pursued as something different in business. In our organisation, we devote about six percent of the profit to carry out CSR activities. Look, carrying out CSR activities is not a burden. As I told you, social equity helps in getting financial equity. You will not succeed in life, if you don’t do this. It is part of the business. There are three parts to business—customers, society and employees. It is a social equity and they are part of your industrialisation and a healthy industrialisation.
Well, as I said, I play a player. I work seven days a week so I have to find the time. It is very relevant that my organisation is in a situation where I have to work and work means I am available physically, emotionally, spiritually. I keep promoting and encouraging people, going to worksites, I enjoy being with them.The rest all is balance. I think you should enjoy your work. The concept is that the work itself should be an enjoyment and the modern day concept of work is far from leisure. But that can’t be kept away from work. I find it and I practise it and my family has also got used to it and enjoy it.
By Mukul Potdar
