A leader must build value, people and processes but also surgically eliminate waste for the good of the firm
It’s a lovely Pune winter evening as I write this year-end message for all readers of this magazine. It reminds me of another winter evening in February 2001 when I stepped off a plane from Mumbai straight into my first everybody meeting (EBM) at the old Zensar campus in Pune. As the new CEO, my words were heard – with interest, curiosity and some skepticism - because the organisation was small and in a bit of a mess at that time. But, looking back, that was to be the beginning of a great period for the company!
During the last 15 years, many of us have worked shoulder to shoulder to build a truly successful global company. Zensar has grown in revenues, profits and employee strength 10 times and more while the market capitalisation and shareholder value have zoomed 20 times.When I hear managers, associates and even family members talk with pride and occasionally tears in their eyes about how their lives have been touched by Zensar, it gives me more joy than all the awards Zensar has won and the praise we have received from analysts, press, customers and shareholders. And it’s been a team effort with some amazing folks who were part of my early team and successive management councils at the company and every Zensarian who contributed to this incredible growth story.
I am delighted that Sage Publications is doing a full book on our success story which will be available in January. After the book on TCS, this is the first full book on the success story of any IT company. At Zensar, however, the winds of change are blowing again and 2016 will see a new CEO and Managing Director of Zensar. The culture of the company is so strong that he will undoubtedly get the same love and support the people have always given me so freely to ensure that the next phase of Zensar is even more successful than what we have already achieved.
What is that makes a company an institution that continues to succeed beyond one CEO or leader, however successful he or she may be and continue to build value for customers, employees and shareholders? The vision for the company has to go way beyond the current year or even the tenure of the incumbent leaders. The values too should be able to stand the test of time. For instance, the Zensar values of Customer Centricity, Commitment to People and Community and Continuous Innovation and Excellence will be valid through the year 2020 and maybe much longer.The commitment to people and community is probably one of the most significant because organisations and leaders must believe that there is a CEO lurking in every ambitious person in the organisation and that capability needs to be built along with a large heart willing to do our best for all constituents and attain the triple bottom line of profits, people and planet.
The vision for the company has to go way beyond the current year or even the tenure of the incumbent leaders. The values too should be able to stand the test of time
Which leads to one of the most significant aspects of good leadership in every sector – Government, Academia , Social and of course the Corporate environment.That aspect is succession planning and no amount of planning and deliberation is too much in this area. Succession planning helps the organisation to insulate its successful progress from unanticipated or unfortunate departures. For instance, five years ago at Zensar, just before we started our amazing run of 20% plus com-pounded annual growth rate in the period 2000 to 2015, our top team consisting of CFO Bala, overseas leaders Vivek, Sushma and Nitin and India leaders Prameela and Ajay had committed ourselves to success and the organisation had committed to their success. While one person left and went on to become CEO of a smaller IT firm, the others have contributed through the period through rough and great times for their businesses or functional areas and shown that a team that is trusted and trusts each other can make magic happen in any industry.
What else contributes to institution building? I am always reminded of the story one hears about Michelangelo and his approach to creating the perfect sculpture. The vision of the end product would already be in his eye and all he had to do was chip away at the unnecessary material to reveal perfection.Obviously, there was a lot more skill and artistry that made the great man who he was, but one lesson all corporate leaders can take is to be unafraid of discarding or cutting out people, processes or products that are not pulling their weight to achieve the vision of the firm. A leader must build value, people and processes but also surgically eliminate waste for the good of the firm.
Organisation building is a tough job and institution building even tougher. Having been part of the team that built three institutions over the last 30 years – NIIT, APTECH and now Zensar, I have the real satisfaction of having seen little buds flower and add value – to our people, our customers, our shareholders, to the nation and parts of the world we chose to serve. Let there be many more!
BY Ganesh Natarajan
