Upskilling The Present Need

The ladder of success is best climbed by stepping on the rungs of opportunities, as said by a well-known philosopher and writer, Ayn Rand. So did Ranjan Sarkar, Executive Vice President, CHRO, Exide Industries. He has over 20 years of cross-industry experience across Indian industry and MNC in the auto sector, energy storage, tyre, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, BFSI, media and communication.

At a recently conducted business seminar, Ranjan Sarkar interacted with management students on the topic ‘Emerging Trends in the World’. He talked about the changing global scenario in terms of jobs, social life, and culture

Earlier, Europe was the centre of the world because inventions, colonisations etc. all started in the UK. Now, I think Asia will be the centre of the world. International trade will not take place in the Atlantic Ocean; it will take place in the Pacific Ocean. Because that is where the powers to dominate the trade sector will come from i.e. China, South-East Asia, the US, Brazil, and Japan. These countries will be the big players in the world. In these countries, the power will be concentrated. The power to generate sales and conduct business on a larger scale.

Fading wave of MBAs

I somewhere read how the academics and education system has evolved all over the world. In India, there used to be the Gurukul system. Gradually, the concept of university started. Thirty years ago, the wave of management was not there. It was more about technical education; as a result, India saw a huge plethora of technical institutes that came up all over the world. In the last 15 years, the whole education pool has become about management - Business Management, Hotel Management, Energy Management etc. Now is the world of management because, from a technical domain, the world is moving towards General Management. I have a belief that in the next decade or so, the next wave after MBAs will be of Communication Management. The reason for this is, the education supply follows to provide the supply of those students to fulfil the needs of the industry. I guess that there is only one Institute in India, MICA, Ahmedabad, which has specialisation in Communication.

In the near future, the world will be managed primarily by communication skills and not generic skills; Communication Management will be a part of the Science stream. For instance, when politicians make public speech, they are trained for it; delivering a public speech does not come naturally to everyone. There are different types of communication such as one to one communication, mass communication, written communication, and so on. Communication will drive perception and emotion. That is going to be one of the key changes in the world and every facet of our life. That is one big change, which will also affect business.

"In the last 15 years, the whole education pool has become about management - Business Management, Hotel Management, Energy Management etc. Now is the world of management because, from a technical domain, the world is moving towards General Management"

- Ranjan Sarkar,

Embrace the VUCA world

In the near future, there will be certain sections in the world, that will talk about the movement of goods, services, and those who will benefit from it will encourage it. Nothing in the world is always a win-win. There will be equally opposing forces who would be against some common factor. There is a prediction that many communal leaders will come into power throughout the world. For example, Barack Obama was a liberal leader. He was not representing a specific community. However, the world and the situations are becoming such that the leaders are turning strong by having a lot of communal support. Hence, they will adopt a protective mindset in their political agenda

There is some sort of fear that everything in the world will be digitalised. Some people believe that brick and mortar setups will vanish. Nevertheless, I believe that it will be a mix of both. The e-commerce share in India is at around three per cent. We cannot judge the Indian industry by restricting ourselves to statistics of Pune alone. There will be brick and mortar shops around the world. What will happen is that there will be a different type of networking, wherein the digital and physical world will come together. That has given a rise to the Internet of Things (IoT) that will help life to become better but I don’t think that suddenly everything will change from physical to digital.

Paradigm shift in relationships

In this new digital world, a lot will happen in the space of complex relationships. Currently, we have a defined stable social structure because no business seminars can exist without discussing our social life. The corporate world is a part of a bigger society. If any of you have gone for your summer training, you must have seen that people are talking about diversity. Diversity cannot come in the corporate world unless it comes in the social world. People are talking about fewer many women are coming in the corporate leadership. Nobody is asking how many men are providing a helping hand in their homes. Diversity has to come as a social problem, not a corporate problem. Similarly, in the business environment, we have a link to the social environment. Relationships, whether it is a partner relationship, whether it is a business relationship, whether it is a mentor prodigy relationship - going ahead, they will be very complex and one needs to live and understand and accept that it will be like that. If you feel it is not then you will hurt yourself. One has to live with the ability to handle complex relationships and breakup of relationships. This social pattern will accept our social lives also.

Sometime in the future, the agricultural processes are going to be automated. Scientists in the Netherlands have made it possible to develop plant-based meat. Supplements and food built-in labs which was a distinct future will soon become a reality. The agricultural economy will move towards the industrial economy and digital economy. The reason being it also affects the business world. How do you make strategies considering the ever-changing business trends - these are some of the social trends that you need to be aware of while planning for your business. As a management professional, I am a social being also. It is not important to read management books only but also to understand sociology and what is happening around us then only you will make good decisions. This is another upcoming big trend that the world will see.

"In your life, you must build expertise in anything that interests you. The role of a general manager will slowly fade away. If you know how to make a good tattoo, be the best in it - people will pay you for that. Build personalised expertise into anything. That will help you command a premium price"

Ranjan Sarkar

The future of interconnectedness

We are very happy with so much of interconnectedness around information flow, with apps like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram etc. However, you also have a lot of invasion of privacy. The legal world is not ready today to handle this type of invasion of privacy in the digital world. For instance, when I was working with a company, some time ago, there was no policy called a Social Media Policy. Nowadays, we are forced to have a Social Media Policy. Why? Because the new world needs governance. Let me explain with an example, there is a café in Pune called Goodluck Café. A customer calls the café, the café responds by saying ‘Hello Mr Sharma’. He then asks, ‘How do you know my name?’ The café responds by saying ‘Your number is registered in our database, would you order the usual? Sharma then asks, ‘What do you mean by usual order?’ The café says, ‘Sir, four times of the last six times, you had ordered Chicken Biryani’. Then he asks, ‘How do you know that’? The café says, ‘Your order history is in our cloud’. He then says, ‘No, I want six plates of kheema paav this time’. The café responds by saying, ‘kheema is of mutton and you have high cholesterol’. ‘How do you know that?’ asks Sharma. ‘Sir, your credit card has your medical history linked to it, which says, you have a history of cholesterol’. ‘Don’t worry, my health is now fine, thank you’, he replies. ‘But Sir, you went for a blood test last week, and the cholesterol was high’. ‘Oh God, how do you know so much about me; are you stalking me?’, he asks. ‘No Sir, you posted a picture on Facebook and shared it with your friends. It was captured in our KYC search engine analytics.’ Sharma asks, ‘You mean, your analytics can read my private posts?’ The café replies, ‘Sir, we pay a subscription for big data, also, your credit history showed a payment of Rs.650 to Fortis Clinic, Baner on 23rd December. Fortis OPD rate chart shows the blood test at Rs.650. The customer responds, ‘You close your restaurant and start an investigation agency. I don’t want your kheema paav.’ The café replies, ‘Don’t be angry Sir. I am trained to answer your questions using a logic-based algorithm.’ ‘Why do you need an algorithm to talk? Can’t you talk to me using your brain?’ he asks. ‘I don’t have a brain, I only have a microprocessor’, replies the café. ‘You are crazy; I will lodge a complaint against you. What’s your name?’ Sir, I don’t have a name, my machine code is chatbox 6.2’. ‘Oh God, I was talking to nobody. Please send me six plates of kheema paav and no more questions’. ‘Sir, I assume you will pay by a card or conduct an online transaction, as you may not have enough cash’. The customer asks, ‘How can you predict that also’. ‘Sir, as per your bank transactions, you have not visited any ATM since two months’. ‘Nonsense, I don’t want anything, I will run away from this country’, says the customer. ‘Sir, you cannot, as your passport will expire in three months and you have no valid visa at present.’ This is an example of interconnectedness and not everyone would like interconnectedness at an extreme level.

"Today, there are many different types of tourism, such as hobby tourism, spiritual tourism, medical tourism and so on. Tourism will see many innovations. Nowadays, tourism is becoming affordable. This sector has the potential to generate a lot of employment in the future"

The future of job creation

Coming to the future of jobs, I will talk about which industry will create the most number of jobs and which sector will have primary industries. I am not saying this based on my judgement. I have been lucky to interact with a person in Bengaluru called Mr Anton from Germany. He is a futurist. He predicts the future by looking at past trends. He shared with me various insights. I will use one example from our discussion.

The world that we know is taking a shape; I will talk about the six areas that will generate maximum employment.

Tourism sector: Tourism does not mean going for a trip once a year with our parents as we used to do when we were kids. Now, tourism has become a part of life and it is much more than that. Most of you are from cities, we all live in houses with our families, where there is heavy pressure of city life, a lot of traffic, and the only break that people want is going out for a vacation. In this day and age, tourism is not only with parents but also with friends, and partners. Today, there are many different types of tourism, such as hobby tourism, spiritual tourism, medical tourism and so on. Tourism will see many innovations. Nowadays, tourism is becoming affordable. This sector has the potential to generate a lot of employment in the future.

Technology sector: When I say the world of technology, I do not mean routine technology that we use in our day to day life. At one point in time, India used to produce countless IT coders, that sort of jobs will not increase, those sort of jobs will be replaced by AI, however, high-end technology will be coming into the picture. People have to move to high-end technologies. In IIMs and IITs, 99 per cent of students are engineers. The most sought after profession seems to be engineering for bachelors followed by an MBA. Nevertheless, there is an increasing trend among students who are now looking at sectors apart from MBAs, such as MS and MTech. High-tech technology will come back in a big way because the physical world and digital world will merge.

Entrepreneurship sector: Many students do not have lifelong dreams of working for a company. It is a trend seen the world over, wherein, many employees want to gain experience, gain some funding, and start something of their own. It is a lot common in engineering colleges today, and it is not only about youngsters, it is also about middle-aged people, like myself. We are stuck because we have the inertia to move out of corporate life. Because of the job, the world will be skill set required will be very specific, jobs will be reduced, and entrepreneurship will go up.

Healthcare sector: When I say healthcare I do not mean just doctors. Healthcare has its own universe. Apart from India and some of the South-East countries, the other part of the world is becoming aging population. So, right from doctors, to medical science to pharmacology to nursing, elderly care, medicare, medical insurance, all these entities come under the umbrella of healthcare. This sector will drive key employment areas. Due to development, some sectors will phase away and some sectors will add.

Energy management: Energy management consists of energy generation, energy storage, and energy distribution. As the population is growing the world over, you need food and you need energy. And our life is getting more and more dependent on energy. Because of heavy industrialisation, modernisation, energy management is going to be a big thing. It will no longer be restricted to coal, oil, but solar, wind, and hydro as well. Energy management is not just about generating energy, it is also about optimising energy and developing technologies around it. Managing energy consumption is also a big thing, which people are working on.

Education sector: As the population world over will grow rapidly, the need for education will also grow. As a result, the education sector will see a sharp rise in opportunities and innovations. Many years ago, when you were a graduate, other than medical and engineering, you used to apply for Arts, Commerce and Science and at the most, Economics. Now, many universities offer tons of choices. I recently read that there is a new graduation stream called Science and Music. There will be a proliferation of education as an industry and it will require a lot of teachers, professors, and new subject matter expertise.

Analytics as a course is becoming very popular, few years down the line, it was unheard of. Now that there is a course, you need someone to come and take lectures.

"Because of heavy industrialisation, modernisation, energy management is going to be a big thing. It will no longer be restricted to coal, oil, but solar, wind, and hydro as well. Energy management is not just about generating energy, it is also about optimising energy and developing technologies around it"

Behavioural capabilities for future

If all the change is going to happen in the VUCA world, when you become the next-gen leaders, what are the key capabilities that make you important for you to nurture yourself? Your college can give you an education but you have to develop the temperament because nobody else can.

According to me, there are three areas, that I have experienced throughout my career. In addition, when I look back the last 20 years into my life, how it has been, I try to join the dots and that is how I came up with my three ideas of which three capabilities I would advise that would help you.

Firstly, behaviour is not just about your job, it is also about your life. In your life, you must build expertise in anything that interests you. The role of a general manager will slowly fade away. If you know how to make a good tattoo, be the best in it - people will pay you for that. Build personalised expertise into anything. That will help you command a premium price.

Secondly, friend or foes, you must have an emotional quotient to deal with relationships because whatever you do, you will get the expertise, which is okay, but the second part is to make the expertise work for you. You will need a lot of networking with people. The ability as we grow in our temperament is to deal with those relationships, otherwise, you can be very impatient. I think that will be another capability over a period in this VUCA world.

Thirdly, according to me, one needs to have the ability tied over rough tides because it is amateurish to expect that I will do everything and there will be no tough times. There is so much volatility, it is important to see through it. I guess, 20-30 years later, it would be important for you as a person, to develop the capability to withstand the volatility and pressure over a period.