Cool Climb To The Corporate World

Lt. Col. (Retd.) Alok Das, who has freshly joined a reputed multinational IT organisation called Visionet Systems in Bengaluru as its Vice President, HR, has time and again proven his mettle in the vastly different corporate set up, which is a stark contrast to the military milieu. Having grown from strength to strength in his area of expertise in the corporate sector, he credits his military life for preparing him for the daunting challenges thrown his way during his corporate career. Lt. Col. (Retd.) Alok Das shares interesting anecdotes from his corporate and military life

"With the accustomed support system and caring culture of military social life, my wife was initially a little reluctant. Soon, she became supportive for whatever decision was underway"

(L to R) Poonam Das, Advik, Lt. Col. (Retd.) Alok Das, Akshaj

Corporate Citizen: Please tell us about your military journey? What motivated you to join the organisation?

Alok Das : I will answer the second part first. I was always fascinated towards Army uniform right from my childhood. I come from a fairly small place, where getting recommended by the Service Selection Board was always a dream. As I progressed to shape up my career during my graduation, I was deeply influenced by the events of the Kargil War and supreme sacrifices made. When my peers were exploring various other lucrative career options, my heart always pushed me towards a meaningful career which could empower me with a greater responsibility towards nation building, the spirit of adventure as also respect in society and me make me a true leader. My heart got largely driven by these factors and I turned my passion into profession.

After qualifying prestigious Combined Defence Services conducted by UPSC and subsequently recommended by Service Selection Board, I Joined the elite Officers Training Academy, Chennai. After completing the basic military training, I got commissioned into the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers.

I enjoyed the diversified profile across th length and breadth of the country. I have experienced active combat, life and death from very close quarters as part of Infantry battalion in North East and Rashtriya Rifles battalion in the thick of militancy in Kashmir valley. In a strategic role, as primary technical advisor to senior formation commanders, I have been responsible for technological and equipment battle readiness for the larger formations which included commanding EME subunits. This included complete operations, the element of logistic management, a large section of Human Resource Management, and inherent responsibilities of safety and security of man, material and process at large and other general administration. As a staff officer and unit commander, I spearheaded various operational, administrative and technological projects.

As I went along in the military journey, the empowering experience which is close to my heart is, of a qualified personality assessor on group dynamics. As Group Testing Officer and a Board Member in the Service Selection Board for three and a half years, I have 18000+ personalities assessment of officer candidate on my credit. This was a unique exposure on complex intricacies on various personality traits and leadership qualities. It helped me gain proficiency in the assessing leadership potential of a person and helped me make my deserving space when transitioning from military to corporate. Altogether, the journey in the military turned out to be highly enriching and transformed me from a college graduate to an effective and everlasting leader. The unit family culture, value-driven discipline, perspective towards life, thought process when dealing with issues, management while in command have been deeply embedded in the way of life that I carry it in every walk, also while taking various leadership responsibilities in corporate.

CC: When did you first decide that you wanted to quit the Army & jump onto the corporate bandwagon?

After serving in the Army for considerable 10 years, I started to feel that either it could be only Army in this life or serving the people in some other way also. I gradually got aligned to explore other parts of life where I could unleash my leadership for the larger sections of society. However, in the pursuit of my dream, I needed to understand various facets of corporate culture, jargons and business functionality. This feeling was strengthened during my tenure in SSB where personality assessment became part of my blood, veins, and nerves. This is when I started to sense shaping up the potentials of many young talents. And at this critical juncture when I my career graph in Army was rising, I decided to unsettle myself from the comfortable zone and venture into the corporate world, experiment more, take the risk, acquire new skills and contribute to society.

Cultural change was the biggest struggle for me. To cope up with the VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity) world, I consulted my Army friends already settled in their corporate career to understand nuances of industries"

Sainya Suraksha medal for serving in OP Rakshak (for serving
in Counter Terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir). High Altitude
Medal for serving at more than 15000 ft, Special Service
Suraksha medal (for serving in counter Terrorism in North East

CC: What was your family’s reaction to the decision of quitting the Army? And when you look back, do you rejoice or regret the decision more?

Right from the beginning, my wife was known to my passion for serving the country in unlimited ways. She did perceive this coming any day. With the accustomed support system and caring culture of military social life, my wife was initially a little reluctant. Soon, she became supportive for whatever decision was underway. My parents, even though expressed their perspective from stability, job security and respective point of view, left the decision on me and extended full support for pursuing my interest. Folks at home never had a doubt in my capability and stood with me all the time.

It’s been about three and a half years that I hung my uniform. Looking back, I neither rejoice nor regret. I just remember a Army life as wonderful experience, life lessons learnt, camaraderie experienced, values, culture and ethos followed, discipline engraved on every nerve, lifetime friendship etc. In fact, over the years, one gets emotionally attached to the olive green and therefore, leaving uniform and culture is a matter of sadness. Once an officer, always an officer and gentleman. However, growing through the opportunities ahead and freedom of fully utilising my potential for larger mankind is always exciting and satisfying. Also, there is very less to regret as the lessons and the leadership acquired all the while is now a part of every blood and breath and I carry this in every day responsibility. But yes, I don’t regret but I definitely miss the Army life. I remain connected to the Army culture while socialising with coursemates and friends in the military.

"I was responsible for technological and equipment battle readiness for the larger formations which included commanding EME subunits. This included complete operations, the element of logistic management and a large section of Human Resource Management"

CC: How did you prepare yourself for a vastly different role and profile in the corporate sector? What were your musings during this period?

Once I took the decision, I started working on my mental readiness to accept the anticipated and unanticipated challenges. Here, cultural change was the biggest struggle emerged. To come up to the speed of VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity) world, I consulted my college friends and Army friends already settled in their corporate career to understand nuances of industries, culture, functions, roles and responsibilities etc.

To enhance my relevant qualifications as explored, I was selected for Executive MBA at other top management colleges (Manegement Development Institute and others) but could not join due to service exigencies. Thereafter, I opted for a full time General Management course tailormade for defence officers at the prestigious Indian Institute of Management Indore. During the course, I acquired some theoretical knowledge which was further strengthened by practical applications in a group-based case study approach. By now, I had clearly defined my statement of purpose and prioritised the domain I intended to take my career ahead. Human Resources emerged as priority one choice for me based on my interest, relevant experience and assessment background. Accordingly, I chose most of my optional subjects related to HR. This course was a good platform to get acquainted with various business jargons and also helped me connect to peer group and a large alumni base. Also, in the role of Placement Secretary, I had the opportunity to interact with corporate managers and recruitment teams of many organisations wherein I learnt the basics tenets of corporate negotiations. Finally, I was privileged to secure campus placement in an established 100-year-old organisation (Cummins) in mid–senior management HR role.

The thoughts which affected me during this period were to get into a completely new zone. To be honest, I fretted a bit, mostly on two counts. First, early integration with new corporate culture and second, fear of unknown. Despite this, I was always driven by my inner conscience which gave me enough confidence and quick adaptability. Military experience refines many leadership traits which came handy in through difficult situations. I soon realised that the working culture is tad different but essentials of leadership remain the same. I went with the flow with complete open-mindedness with continuous unlearning and learning as required.

CC: Having been through it yourself, what are the three pieces of advice you would like to give someone who is planning to transition from military to management?

Here are my three cents. First: Start the basic preparation at least 2-3 years in advance. Based on interest and future inclination, map relevant military experience to finalise the domain you want to get into. This may require consultation with friends, folks and already transitioned officers. Second: Acquire the necessary educational qualifications and some relevant certifications. This may include going for full-time EMBA from top management colleges, part-time MBA, full-time general management course for Defense Officers, relevant and domain-specific certifications etc. Choose your option carefully based on aspiration, interest, Return on Investment and financial planning. Third: Make unlearning and learning a habit. Keep up the good leadership qualities and leave the non-essentials. Don’t move ahead with the baggage of rank, privileges, support system etc. Ego kills and open-mindedness helps your faster embedding in.

At the same time, keep up the essentials of leadership which any corporate organisation expects from military officers, that is, discipline, adaptability, versatility, not giving up attitude, team handling etc. organisations looks up to military folks with the amount of trust to deliver in all conditions that should not be compromised.

CC: Would you say that the corporate sector is more eager to hire military personnel in big roles since they are known for their discipline and leadership skills?

Traditionally, roles of military personnel were limited to leadership roles only in few domains like security, admin, facility etc. Of late, I have experienced that organisations now are betting on quite a lot on military talents and that too in many domains. My previous organisation valued many military talents in diversified roles such as SCM, Operations, HR, Engineering, projects etc. In the last 2-3 years, large organisations such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Amazon and many others have created specific opportunities for ex-defence officers, that too in many domains at leadership positions. Many other organisations are following the same. Besides this, many organisations have placed military talents at senior leadership positions as lateral hires. This is precisely because of late, companies have started to recognise the discipline and leadership potential of military officers. The trend of diversity hiring is also catching up to boost military hiring. However, I very strongly feel that, in India, firms still have a long way to go in truly recognising the leadership of military talents.

I would also like to add officers also need to create space for themselves by the true demonstration of their qualities and capabilities. The mere military veteran tag alone does not earn a superior role but a consistent demonstration of leadership qualities will definitely play an instrumental role in getting them senior positions. Organisations prefer thought leadership integrated into culture creators.

CC: Sharing instances from your personal journey from military to corporate, please tell us if you agree that a career in the corporate sector is more professionally rewarding than in the military?

Commendation by Army Commander
(General Officer Commander in Chief) for
exemplary leadership in battlefield

One cannot conclude which one is more rewarding. Please look at this in an overall perspective. Taking up military service as a career is voluntary. It solely depends on your passion. You should choose a career you are passionate about where you should enjoy your life. Life is always a tradeoff. You are just out of college. You have the liberty of taking chances but you have to determine what you want in your life. Do you want to be a civil servant or a corporate manager or would like to a lead life in a military way. Both career choices are contrasting.

At the same time, making corporate as a career option is also a matter of choice. There are positives and flip sides in both. The driving factors are different, the working culture is different, training is different etc. One can choose a career based on the interest and life priorities at a particular point of time. As life goes gliding by, priorities keep changing. If you have pressing liabilities and you want big bucks then corporate would be more rewarding than military. Similarly, if you want to explore possibilities beyond boundaries, corporate organisations would reward you more. You will earn much more in any MNC than in the Armed Forces. In the Armed Forces, whatever you earn will be sufficient for you and your family to lead a happy, prosperous life but not enough to live a luxurious life. But who defines the luxury, the meaning of luxury also differs from person to person. If your priorities are adventures, military command, stability, some privileges, uniform, social respect Armed Forces would be rewarding. Armed Forces is one of the few career options which always demands your life and also makes you responsible for the life and death of the people you command. The kind of sense of responsibility with pride one develops while assuming command at any level in the Army is way beyond any comparison. Good news is, it finally becomes the way of life even when one switches to the corporate world. Therefore, one has to carefully make the choice. Any decision taken in haste would be never rewarding either side.

If you ask me, I have thoroughly enjoyed the quality of life in the military, which I consider rewarding but I made my choices based on my priorities and now corporate is also turning out to be rewarding. In my personal journey, I experienced live bullet and blood while commanding troops in the finest tradition of Indian Army; to keep up the honour of uniform, regiment and country and nothing could be more rewarding than that. At the same time, receiving respect and trust from the local populace at all times, especially during civic actions like saving lives from natural calamities (during an earthquake in Kashmir and flood relief in Assam and Kashmir) gave me enormous satisfaction. Later in service, getting qualified as Personality Assessor (Group Testing Officer) was equally rewarding as I could make differences in many young lives coming from all socio-economic backgrounds pan India. Now, the flexibility of exploring my own potential and earning respect by changing lives by means of corporate initiatives in the present Human Resources leadership is also equally rewarding. However, I would definitely add that switching from military to corporate is easier at any point in time, the vice versa is not possible.

CC: Which one of the two allows more work life balance, military or corporate? Please share your experiences.

Here, again it depends on the role, company and circumstances you are working in. A professional life in the Armed Forces is not limited to office hours and one is responsible 24x7x365 within your command and beyond. Social life in the Army is also an integral part of professional life. One follows a trained sense of acting in according to rules, regulations strictly in accordance with social norms and standards. One has to play multiple roles at the same time. Different responsibilities affect work life balance. At the same time, men in uniform get a lot of privileges and opportunities. From games and sports to adventure activities to regular formal social evenings, semi-formal and informal social gatherings. Due to the busy schedule of officers, complains and cribs also adds spices into day to day life. One keeps cribbing about not finding time for self, still, it can be considered as a quality of life. In corporate assignments, you are generally off beyond office hours. Social life with office colleagues is very limited. That gives a lot space to spend time with family and friends on weekends. However, it depends on the values of the organisation one is working with. While some organisations religiously practice regular work life balances and include this as a core value, others may just be turnover and profit-driven. And in that case, it affects work life balance.

For me in particular, it was a mixed of worklife balance. When deployed in an operational or exercise area, I never looked for defined work life balance. When deployed in peacetime, work life balance was mixed. The best work life balance I experienced was when I was posted in the Service Selection Board. As the outcome, I pursued my passion and as the team captain, represented my division, corps in command golf championship. In corporate, I worked with Tata Cummins which always stressed on to have fair work life balance. In this role, despite of travels involved, I could spend more time with family, relatives and friends. However, I am yet to experience the extent of work life balance in the newly joined organisation in the present role.

CC: Did the corporate sector turn out any different than your expectations?

Frankly, no. I anticipated cultural differences and working style. And therefore, unlearning was not so difficult for me. I anticipated the grey culture of navigating conflicts and the same was getting reflected in day to day life. I also anticipated the VUCA world scenarios. What I expected less was organisational dynamics playing so important role in every sphere of decision making. What I anticipated less was the gap between defining leadership, propagating leadership competencies and practising the same to the core. The fight is always between the concept of a manager vs leader. While the military follows largely pyramidical structure with buck stopping at the unit head and thereby core culture is demonstrating leadership in the true sense, the corporate sector is more matrix driven organisation with more and more collaboration. This puts true leadership sometimes in the back seat. The struggle continues. But I must say, this struggle brings new opportunities to excel. In terms of compensation, the sky is the limit and as the time is passing by, I feel this at par with my expectation. One just needs to keep upskilling oneself with cutting edge practices and technologies.

"In the Army, there existed a lot of support systems, both in professional and personal space. For example, runners, clerical staff to support you for transactional issues as also privileges of buddies, always made us comfortable"

CC: What are the challenges that you first encountered when you made the big change? Did you find it difficult to adjust to the corporate world?

The first challenge was the cultural transition. Soldiers in military are trained to respond in a trained and disciplined way. Human capital in corporate are mostly transient and are differently trained to respond in a different way. Transitioning from a culture of a hierarchy driven organisation to matrix driven organisation; transitioning from a culture of having decision making authority to widely collaborative practices; transitioning from a culture of black and white to mostly grey; the transition from a culture of the socially integrated organisation to the business-driven organisation are the prominent challenges I encountered.

Secondly, in the Army, there existed a lot of support systems, both in professional and personal space. For example, runners, clerical staff to support you for transactional issues as also privileges of buddies, always made us comfortable. In corporate assignments, you have to be on your own. I needed to unlearn this at the quickest.

Thirdly, Army responsibilities were less technology- driven in comparison to corporate. That simply meant, in corporate, I had to quickly learn and adapt to all the technologies, tools and platforms to drive things forward.

Fourthly, troops in the Army are not driven by money. Morale and motivation are mostly driven by pride and honour of the unit and regiments. Promotions, upgradations come with time, even if it’s by selection. In corporate, the motivation of resources is mostly driven by percentage monetary rise, quick career growth, role change etc. In such scenarios, for me, it took consistent and untiring effort to instil a sense of pride and ownership to keep the resources motivated and going.

Fifth, though the basic concepts of unit function were the same but mapping the concepts into right jargons was initially a challenge.

To add more, in military terminology I was made to land directly in a war zone without any acclimatisation. To simplify further, I was given a very important role in a complex and high production volume scenario, that too without any handing over or hand-holding. The role demanded low ego, a lot of patience and perseverance while getting accustomed to the functional competencies. Also, there were different expectations each from the teammembers, superiors a business leader. Regular inter-departmental conflicts were on the rise. Meeting unprecedented customer demand was a great challenge. I had to deal with everything while cultural transition challenges playing within. Yes, I did find it difficult but I never made it visible either in my action or my behaviour or in taking any assignment. However, good leadership learnt in the military helped largely. I kept my baggage and ego aside and focussed only on learning and gradually I was accepted by all sections.

CC: Tell us all about your corporate journey so far and any interesting experiences that you may have had during this time.

Post full-time course in business management for defence officers from IIM-Indore, I was lucky to get campus placement in manufacturing organisation Cummins as Deputy General Manager HR. I was given the responsibility to look after the entire gamut of HR functions and processes of two large plants of Tata Cummins (Joint Venture between Tata and Cummins) at a location called Phaltan in Satara district. It was a time when the volume in both plants was at a peak. My deep embedding in the corporate culture required a specific understanding of business, processes, policies, people, culture etc. It was like jumping into the battlefield. It was a mid–senior management role and I was expected to look after both blue and white-collar workforce to the tune of 1800-2000. I was also expected to do effective in partnering with the business. This also included a large concept of labour laws and industrial relation with an integrated IR team. The location demanded collaboration with eight other co-located plants and with teams working remotely at the corporate and other offices. All this when, I had no industry experience, looked bigger challenges. I was kind of directly launched into the battle without any acclimatisation. All I had was confidence, adaptability, open-mindedness, high threshold and I fully trusted my people skills. Things soon started getting settling down and acceptability of my leadership style grew in no time for masses. After spending almost three and a half years in Tata Cummins, my potential was recognised at the larger spectrum and I am trusted with wider responsibility of Vice President Human Resources with the reputed fast-growing multinational IT organisation (Visionet Systems) which provides IT products and services using the cutting edge technologies. This is a strategic leadership role which also involves responsibilities at the global level.

Out of many, I am narrating some of the interesting experiences. I was handling a regional crowd for 1500 job aspirants for recruitment. We had limited vacancies and the crowd was getting impatient. It could have turned into a violent mob. Army experience helped to handle things effectively. Another one was when I resolved many intensified inter departmental conflicts with ease, clarity, all over a cup of tea/coffee. Later, my way of resolving conflicts over tea/coffee and pushing the cross functional team to align on group objective more than individual objectives became the talk of the town. A lot of many interesting experiences came in as a qualified ethics investigator, I resolved many ethics cases related to theft, unbecoming conduct etc. Also, doing central talent retention and behavioural project on quality was very much interesting. But what was more memorable was receiving a sudden call from a manager who wanted to treat me for her turnaround performance in six months by my consistent coaching and mentoring. My mentoring skills distinguished me from my peer group. It kept the environment motivated at all times.

CC: Do you sometimes miss the adrenaline rush that being in the Army offers? The curiosity associated with the unknown, such as postings etc? Or perhaps the less competitive, routine life followed there as opposed to the corporate where there is a fierce competition?

Yes, I certainly miss those privileges, lifestyle and curiosities. We were always excited to get new postings every two years. Every posting had something unique to offer. At times, perceivably unexplored locations, culture, adventurous accommodations, survival in extreme conditions and such. We always looked forward to get the best out of the worst. Beside this, military life tunes your entire thought process which in turn shapes you physically and mentally. It makes one highly robust and makes you believe in the enormous physical and mental strength that you possess but never realise otherwise. The general environment in the military makes you overtly sensitive for physical fitness and day starts and ends thinking about the same. Mandatory or non-mandatory, sporty and spirited competition in sports keeps one stress-free and healthy. Celebrations in the officer’s mess for any small success and course mates/regimental spirit are reflected in form of bottoms up, social drinking always kept you alive. A privilege to barge in senior officers’ quarters during odd hours for tea/snacks/ food develops so strong and never-ending camaraderie. I even today cherish and miss all of them.

There are many adrenaline rushes in the corporate as well and I agree that much fierce competition prevails. But once battle-hardened in military life, the mind never gives up and makes you shine in adversities. People are differently sensitive in corporate life and verbal skills and upskilling with latest technologies takes a new turn for one’s growth.

CC: How have the qualities acquired in the military contributed to your growth in the corporate sector?

For me, these qualities contributed at every step in corporate life. Military life increases social and situational adaptability. It teaches you not to shy away from but adapt and face the situation in the current form. In corporate world, it’s all about adapting yourself to the dynamic business scenarios across industries/culture/teams. Second, military command instils a natural ownership and a sense of responsibility which largely remains a challenge in many corporate teams. Collaborations and inter-departmental synergy in military is naturally acquired where group objective remains more important than individual goals. This helps a lot in any corporate role. The effective level of functioning then, increases.

Also, it is always the solution-centric approach in military life, more with the practical intelligence than basic intelligence. Especially, when you are in the tight corner, you exactly know how to navigate and bail yourself out. When implemented the same in corporate roles, it works wonders.

Social effectiveness learnt in military life plays an important role in corporate assignment. Your upright attitude adds a lot to your confidence. Your habits to bring about the cheerful atmosphere when faced with adversities keeps the morale and motivation up for corporate teams. Quickness and appropriateness of the decision- making skills acquired in military life always helps you to stand apart among corporate peers.

The dynamism of not giving up attitude helps you to meet deadlines. And you will always have courage of conviction to speak for what is right and not what is convenient. The high threshold is a reflection of military training.

It is worth mentioning that military experience gave a lot of real-life stories which is rightly narrated inopportune moments to increase assertiveness and influences others in getting the work done.

Academy mottos such as “Service before self” which I implemented for coaching and mentoring and “Serve with Honour” which I implemented while building a well-integrated team always contributed to my growth. Practice such as “for every plan A, there is a plan B and for every Plan B, there is plan C, the aim is not to lose the battle” contributed immensely in executing many assignments with quality output.

Beside this, as personality assessment experience always hinted me in pinpointing the behavioural gaps and helped me in my people skills.

"It is worth mentioning that military experience gave a lot of real-life stories which is rightly narrated in opportune moments to increase assertiveness and influences others in getting the work done"

CC: How different are the two worlds with regards to pay package, discipline, growth, leadership, hierarchy, camaraderie between colleagues, cultural milieu and of course, your area of expertise HR?

The two worlds are different from each other. As I said earlier, military gives you a reasonable package decent enough to look after self and family but cannot bring you perceivable luxuries. Though job security is not an issue, growth is mostly time-bound and yearly rise is meagre. Corporate gives you the opportunity and if the potential is rightly utilised and if you are ready to slog, sky is the limit in terms of the package. However, job insecurity always remains. Military discipline is due to basic training imparted to all the headcount and everyone has a uniformed way to respond to superiors, peers and juniors. Corporates, people are more vocal about their career growth, salary and have full liberty to challenge you at every step. However, maintaining time discipline in day to day life is more in the military than in the corporate world, though deadlines are mostly met. This is due to the flexi work culture in the corporate world.

Concept of leadership remains the same across two worlds but the implementation is clearly distinguishable. In the military, first, the leadership potentials are identified in SSBs by means of OLQs and then nurtured in the academy and then when commissioned as a young officer, one starts leading a large group of men in both peace and war. In corporate, it’s hiring first and then leadership are taught through a series of interventional. These leadership competencies are mostly assessed for mid–senior level and above.

There are no comparisons of the camaraderies. Though you make good friends in corporate but camaraderie’s are mostly superficial and temporary but in military where it is lifelong camaraderie’s developed. Trusting a colleague in totality always remains a challenge and people measures their action and words. In the military, the basic level of trust is always maintained.

The two worlds have different cultures. The military is driven by the command to ensure the safety of the country, to keep up the pride and honour of unit and regiment whereas corporate is driven by profit and loss statements and future growth and sustainability.

While Human Resources in military is an integrated part of the command and there is no such function defined from execution level to command level. All HR processes are integrated into a unified command structure. In the military, different functions such as supply chain, operations, human resources, facility, security etc. are always interwoven and all rolls up to the unit head. In corporate, there are separate departments for each one them rolling up to the functional head.

CC: Tell us something about your family and your upbringing.

In my nuclear family, my wife, a post-graduate from SIBM Pune is a housewife and I have two sons studying in fourth and LKG. With roots still attached to my village, I belong to a middle class joint family where I am the youngest of seven siblings. My father was a government employee and is no more now. My mother is a housewife. All my siblings are well placed across the government and private sector at different cities in India. My upbringing was driven in an environment with an average school and colleges but with a strong value system. Care, respect and hard work were the factors to make space for myself. Inclusivity was part of life. I graduated to bigger cities to pursue higher education in the pursuit of my career before I joined the Army.