The real warmth comes when people go the extra mile and show the leader that life will not quite be the same without them at least for some time
Finishing three five-year terms as Vice Chairman and Managing Director is never easy and making a clean break after this period is tough. When I parted ways with Zensar, the company that I led to global success since February 2001, I knew that the blood, sweat and tears that over 10,000 Zensarians had invested to make us the incredible success story we became, would find expression in a number of ways as I served out my last month in the company. Sure enough, the farewell parties began early with various functions, notably HR and Marketing singing away at small events and then the global farewell rollouts followed —San Jose, Boston, London, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai and finally Pune the city where Zensar was born as a British tabulating machine manufacturer in 1922 and which has been the home of the company ever since.
The departure of people from organisations or for that matter any institution is handled in different ways in different cultures. The much-feared pink slip which is delivered to the desk of a person with very little prior warning may be an American method which is brutal to envisage in any Asian context but has often proved to be the most effective way of minimising potential impact on firms. At the same time, this is the same country which has celebrated during and after their tenures legendary founders and leaders like Sam Walton, Jack Welch and John Chambers. It is a pleasure to see the Customer Experience Centre at the San Jose Building 10 of CISCO named the John Chambers Centre, a recognition of the immense contribution of a man while he is still the Executive Chairman of the company. One wonders how many Indian firms would accord such a gesture to a serving professional leader. While most high-performance leaders are bid farewell at parties organised for the occasion, they can very often turn out to be a formality where some mandatory speeches are made, a gift and bouquet are delivered and everybody goes home and gets on with life! The real warmth comes when people go the extra mile and show the leader that life will not quite be the same without them at least for some time.
In my own case, the special touches came from our San Jose team who ensured that every manager wrote a personal message on the farewell card, our Hyderabad team who put together a collage of pictures that is visual evidence of the ways in which they felt I had touched their lives and of course the very warm and well-produced videos of people and events at many locations that will serve as memory joggers for a long time. And a most amusing touch by our youngest recruit from IIM Ahmedabad Sukriti who drew a card and presented it to me and promised to never lose contact. These are the incidents and gestures that make companies and people special. And the impact of a fond farewell is more far-reaching than one might consider at first pass. Every manager attending an event that has large doses of nostalgia served in a climate of love and warmth feels better bonded to the firm because this is a visible demonstration that there is care and appreciation.
Great institutions are built, not just by brick and mortar and broadband connectivity but by the imagination, behaviour and actions of people. It is easy to mouth phrases like “Triple Bottom Line” and “Supportive Culture” but when these are felt as true vibrations emanating from the words and deeds of leaders, they serve to build bonds that are so strong and resilient that the company can withstand all the buffeting that the occasional environmental storm can create.
Great institutions are built by the imagination, behaviour and actions of people. The most enduring thing about Zensar will be the culture of love that has made this one of the finest companies in our industry and country and hopefully, the world!
At Zensar we have been proud of many things—our 50-year listing on the Mumbai Stock Exchange, the two case studies taught about our culture and ambidextrous innovation at the Harvard Business School, the books that use our practices as teaching material and the 44 percent annual growth in market capitalisation that we have given our shareholders over the last five years. But the most enduring will be the culture of love that has made this one of the finest companies in our industry and country and hopefully, the world! Finally a thought on leadership and the role of leaders. In this day and age, there is too much ego involved in this task and leaders themselves surround themselves with sycophants and develop a self-induced aura of invincibility and superiority over all. As my colleague and CEO of Zensar Foundation and Pune City Connect Ruchi Mathur so eloquently articulated at my final farewell, “a true leader is one in whose presence you do not feel the aura of a dominant personality but the warmth of a friend who will bring out your own leadership qualities and enable you to be the best you can be”. Can you think of a leader like that in your life? If not, go and find one!
By Ganesh Natarajan
