| | |
07-02-2006, 04:21 PM
| | | | Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Cochin |
| | Re: HR heads become CEOs and business Leaders Hi,
In general it doesn't matter whether u are an hr , marketing or finance person..all that needs to be proved is whether u are competent & convincing enough to lead the employees as well as the company to the stars..
Its sheer idiocracy to reach upon conclusions based on hr, mkt etc.. | |
07-02-2006, 04:21 PM
| | | | Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Cochin |
| | Re: HR heads become CEOs and business Leaders Hi,
In general it doesn't matter whether u are an hr , marketing or finance person..all that needs to be proved is whether u are competent & convincing enough to lead the employees as well as the company to the stars..
Its sheer idiocracy to reach upon conclusions based on hr, mkt etc.. | |
07-02-2006, 04:46 PM
| | | | Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Noida |
| | Re: HR heads become CEOs and business Leaders Hi All,
Your views are really interesting to know. It feels great to know that the HR community in India has grown so well. We earn what our parents would call ‘an emperor’s salary’, we live in posh localities, run the organizations and even aspire to be the CEOs. Surely, many of us would be CEO and CMDs of the companies and would rule the corporate roost, but, it seems to me that in the rush of soaring economical growth where the sensex has skyrocketed, we are missing out something crucial for all of us.
India, with it 1.06 billion population, is an ocean of human resources. If some one asks me what the greatest wealth of India is, I would say- our people. It is them from whom we have all emerged and it is them who would be left even after we are no more. This huge human resource contains invaluable gems- corporate tycoons, media barons, actors, policy makers, doctors, engineers, rocket scientists, warriors, poets, writers and what have you. One sixth of the hopes of the world are with us. So rich we are, and yet we crib about or poverty, because we ourselves have chosen to ignore this enormous wealth that has the potential to make the world a better place to live in. India has been the beacon of knowledge in the eons of darkness of ignorance in medieval times, yet somehow we seem to have forgotten all this.
We work for the corporate, for the business houses and consultants. Being true to our qualification- Human Resource Management- how many of us are actually managing the Human Resources meant for the development of our country? How many of us are working for the charitable organizations to make the utilization of the human resources in the small towns and villages? How many of us are directly involved in the work of nation building? How many of us actually think on these terms?
All these questions I ask to myself, and shudder. In an ocean of possibilities , I have chosen to swim in the lagoon. I can see, from a distance the waves rolling far ahead in the ocean and the ships struggling with them, I can see the albatross flying across the coastlines and I can see the sun rising from within the ocean, as if it has just taken a dip and is coming out to start a new day, full of challenges and surprises of the life. But alas! Here I am, swimming in my own small, shallow lagoon, which is safe and quite but devoid of the challenges- and what could be a bigger challenge but to build your own country, your own people!  | |
07-02-2006, 04:46 PM
| | | | Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Noida |
| | Re: HR heads become CEOs and business Leaders Hi All,
Your views are really interesting to know. It feels great to know that the HR community in India has grown so well. We earn what our parents would call ‘an emperor’s salary’, we live in posh localities, run the organizations and even aspire to be the CEOs. Surely, many of us would be CEO and CMDs of the companies and would rule the corporate roost, but, it seems to me that in the rush of soaring economical growth where the sensex has skyrocketed, we are missing out something crucial for all of us.
India, with it 1.06 billion population, is an ocean of human resources. If some one asks me what the greatest wealth of India is, I would say- our people. It is them from whom we have all emerged and it is them who would be left even after we are no more. This huge human resource contains invaluable gems- corporate tycoons, media barons, actors, policy makers, doctors, engineers, rocket scientists, warriors, poets, writers and what have you. One sixth of the hopes of the world are with us. So rich we are, and yet we crib about or poverty, because we ourselves have chosen to ignore this enormous wealth that has the potential to make the world a better place to live in. India has been the beacon of knowledge in the eons of darkness of ignorance in medieval times, yet somehow we seem to have forgotten all this.
We work for the corporate, for the business houses and consultants. Being true to our qualification- Human Resource Management- how many of us are actually managing the Human Resources meant for the development of our country? How many of us are working for the charitable organizations to make the utilization of the human resources in the small towns and villages? How many of us are directly involved in the work of nation building? How many of us actually think on these terms?
All these questions I ask to myself, and shudder. In an ocean of possibilities , I have chosen to swim in the lagoon. I can see, from a distance the waves rolling far ahead in the ocean and the ships struggling with them, I can see the albatross flying across the coastlines and I can see the sun rising from within the ocean, as if it has just taken a dip and is coming out to start a new day, full of challenges and surprises of the life. But alas! Here I am, swimming in my own small, shallow lagoon, which is safe and quite but devoid of the challenges- and what could be a bigger challenge but to build your own country, your own people! | |
07-02-2006, 04:46 PM
| | | | Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Noida |
| | Re: HR heads become CEOs and business Leaders Hi All,
Your views are really interesting to know. It feels great to know that the HR community in India has grown so well. We earn what our parents would call ‘an emperor’s salary’, we live in posh localities, run the organizations and even aspire to be the CEOs. Surely, many of us would be CEO and CMDs of the companies and would rule the corporate roost, but, it seems to me that in the rush of soaring economical growth where the sensex has skyrocketed, we are missing out something crucial for all of us.
India, with it 1.06 billion population, is an ocean of human resources. If some one asks me what the greatest wealth of India is, I would say- our people. It is them from whom we have all emerged and it is them who would be left even after we are no more. This huge human resource contains invaluable gems- corporate tycoons, media barons, actors, policy makers, doctors, engineers, rocket scientists, warriors, poets, writers and what have you. One sixth of the hopes of the world are with us. So rich we are, and yet we crib about or poverty, because we ourselves have chosen to ignore this enormous wealth that has the potential to make the world a better place to live in. India has been the beacon of knowledge in the eons of darkness of ignorance in medieval times, yet somehow we seem to have forgotten all this.
We work for the corporate, for the business houses and consultants. Being true to our qualification- Human Resource Management- how many of us are actually managing the Human Resources meant for the development of our country? How many of us are working for the charitable organizations to make the utilization of the human resources in the small towns and villages? How many of us are directly involved in the work of nation building? How many of us actually think on these terms?
All these questions I ask to myself, and shudder. In an ocean of possibilities , I have chosen to swim in the lagoon. I can see, from a distance the waves rolling far ahead in the ocean and the ships struggling with them, I can see the albatross flying across the coastlines and I can see the sun rising from within the ocean, as if it has just taken a dip and is coming out to start a new day, full of challenges and surprises of the life. But alas! Here I am, swimming in my own small, shallow lagoon, which is safe and quite but devoid of the challenges- and what could be a bigger challenge but to build your own country, your own people! | |
06-05-2006, 11:59 AM
| | Senior Member | | Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Mumbai |
| | Re: HR heads become CEOs and business Leaders Dear all,
Am sharing this information..
Have a great weekend..
Rajat
Grooming HR veterans for the CEO slot
N Muralidharan’s tips for senior HR professionals who aspire to be CEOs
Now the headline itself hints at one thing loud and clear. That senior HR professionals do hit a glass ceiling and in all likelihood do not go onto becoming the head of a business or an organisation. This might sound quite illogical seen against the fact that with people becoming the most important assets of any business, the people who manage those assets like the Vice-president (VP) of HR are eminently qualified to lead the organisation. Having said this, let me assure that there is no room for despair and there are ways senior HR professionals can groom themselves to actually break this ceiling and go onto be the CEO.
State “I am keen to be a CEO” openly
In this aggressive world of business it is important that one declares his intention of becoming a business leader. But most HR people at a very early stage itself call it quits by stereotyping themselves as “people person” and restrict themselves as a “behind the scenes player”. I would strongly suggest everyone must take some line assignments in early part of one’s career. This would stand in good stead as, while it is possible to move from a line job to a staff job the reverse process may not be easy. Line jobs demand agility and high energy, which are hard to come by in later part of work life.
Build a well-recognised HR brand
HR professionals need to appreciate that even great products seldom succeed on their own merit. People and functions are no different; they also need to build a “brand” to succeed. The building of a HR brand (for yourself and the function) requires the use of all the combined tools of market research, sales and image building. This activity needs to be carried out both internally and externally.
Building an image internally: Most often HR professionals are busy attending to “urgent” tasks than to the “important” tasks. Due to this pre-occupation with routines they miss the opportunity to position themselves from a strategic stand point and over a period are confined to back room activities. However, one must realise that more and more of these are getting outsourced and hence the “urgent” jobs will also go off the radar.
Additionally, it is my observation that most HR leaders fail to command the attention from across levels of the organisation. They are considered/consulted when something needs to be “fixed”. In my opinion it’s a self-created situation and can be corrected by being proactively involved in business strategy part and not the transaction part alone.
Building an image externally: I was very fortunate to be advised in early part of my career that one needs to create an identity of one’s own. Most often we are happy to be counted upon as a Manager/General Manager/ Vice-president of XYZ corporation. Herein lies the problem. The corporation’s identity is what props up the individual’s identity. Proactively in one’s professional career one needs to develop an independent identity of oneself. Now, how does this happen? One of the ways is to be actively involved with professional bodies and be a significant contributor to such associations. That way you start getting noticed as a key opinion leader in the space you work. As a chain reaction to this, publications, journalist look up to you for opinions, quotable quotes and start featuring you as a personality. Thus when you develop and deploy new HR programmes with great features, you get to be noticed in the industry forum.
Measure and report in metrics
The HR department should hence shift its focus to being strategic, create and report metrics that measure and improve results (revenues and profits) that impact the bottomline.
HR people usually do not talk business language (dollars and numbers) and most often end up being focussed on “process”. This is not understandable. As the fact is the financial impact of hiring, retention, incentive, compensation and rapid learning can easily be made available in dollar terms. One of the CEOs I was reporting to always used to tell me, if you cannot show your achievements (especially in service functions) in value terms, you will fail to get noticed.
The HR department should hence shift their focus to being strategic and create and report metrics that measure and improve results (revenues and profits) that impact the bottomline. HR must demonstrate its tangible impact on the customer and various stake holders.
Learn to anticipate and forecast
One way to avoid being below the radar is to offer early warning to the management about potential issues and challenges. Develop “smoke detector” kind of metrics which act as an early warning system and allows you to forecast and thus prevent events which are avoidable. This way, you would have assisted the senior management to “see around corners” on people issues and take timely and better decisions.
Forget equity, learn to differentiate
Often I get to hear the term “parity” when it comes to placement/positioning of a person in the organisation during recruitment or progression. This is an area of excessive obsession for most HR professionals. HR should shift their focus to top performers who have high impact on business and design a reward system which centres on performance. It simply means every people programme devised must focus on increasing the productivity of employees. It might call for changing the ‘DNA’ of the organisation by retaining some and by replacing others.
Get tech-savvy
Proactively understand technology and become an “early adapter” of effective technology. Faster and accurate decisions can only occur when HR is made paperless. By embracing e-commerce and the rapid change model one can become a leader in doing everything faster, cheaper and better in a 24x7, knowledge-driven global economy.
Demonstrate HR effectiveness
In service functions like HR, materials, accounting, customer care, etc, the mindset should be one of beating expectations. HR must demonstrate excellent service delivery in the transactions areas. It is imperative that HR people should get the “train to run on time”.
While these are routines, there is no scope for ignoring the basics. Simple measurement systems for delivery function can help put the house in order.
Develop effective communication skills
When you deal with top management you do not get a second chance. The time that you get to communicate is short and you must maximise the window of opportunity. Senior corporate executives can be pretty strong-minded individuals and convincing them on a point of view requires effective communication, persistence and a rock-solid belief system. By being open, honest and demonstrating consistent integrity, reliability, discretion and strong values this can be managed.
Want to be a CEO, behave like one
It is essential to always evaluate how any action/ plan will support the company. As a football coach would tend to say his player, “Don’t trip over blades of grass on the way to the goal post.” It is essential that you behave like a CEO!
All the actions that one takes as a HR person should find alignment with the business direction and goal of the company. There is no place for a silo operation and the context needs to be on top always.
In my view acquisition, transformation and retention of talent is equivalent to asset building for the company and has perhaps a lot of long-term intangible business implications which a HR manager needs to understand, have a vision, sell the vision to the board and CEO and work on it so as to make that impact.
Groom yourself and along the way remember these important tips. I am sure some day you would be another Subir Raha who breaks the glass ceiling. | |
16-05-2006, 11:08 PM
| | | | Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: CiteHR |
| | Re: HR heads become CEOs and business Leaders At earth this is hereditary trait to save it from invaders ... Quote: |
Originally Posted by Rajat Joshi Dear all,
Am sharing this information..
Have a great weekend..
Rajat
Grooming HR veterans for the CEO slot
N Muralidharan’s tips for senior HR professionals who aspire to be CEOs
Now the headline itself hints at one thing loud and clear. That senior HR professionals do hit a glass ceiling and in all likelihood do not go onto becoming the head of a business or an organisation. This might sound quite illogical seen against the fact that with people becoming the most important assets of any business, the people who manage those assets like the Vice-president (VP) of HR are eminently qualified to lead the organisation. Having said this, let me assure that there is no room for despair and there are ways senior HR professionals can groom themselves to actually break this ceiling and go onto be the CEO.
State “I am keen to be a CEO” openly
In this aggressive world of business it is important that one declares his intention of becoming a business leader. But most HR people at a very early stage itself call it quits by stereotyping themselves as “people person” and restrict themselves as a “behind the scenes player”. I would strongly suggest everyone must take some line assignments in early part of one’s career. This would stand in good stead as, while it is possible to move from a line job to a staff job the reverse process may not be easy. Line jobs demand agility and high energy, which are hard to come by in later part of work life.
Build a well-recognised HR brand
HR professionals need to appreciate that even great products seldom succeed on their own merit. People and functions are no different; they also need to build a “brand” to succeed. The building of a HR brand (for yourself and the function) requires the use of all the combined tools of market research, sales and image building. This activity needs to be carried out both internally and externally.
Building an image internally: Most often HR professionals are busy attending to “urgent” tasks than to the “important” tasks. Due to this pre-occupation with routines they miss the opportunity to position themselves from a strategic stand point and over a period are confined to back room activities. However, one must realise that more and more of these are getting outsourced and hence the “urgent” jobs will also go off the radar.
Additionally, it is my observation that most HR leaders fail to command the attention from across levels of the organisation. They are considered/consulted when something needs to be “fixed”. In my opinion it’s a self-created situation and can be corrected by being proactively involved in business strategy part and not the transaction part alone.
Building an image externally: I was very fortunate to be advised in early part of my career that one needs to create an identity of one’s own. Most often we are happy to be counted upon as a Manager/General Manager/ Vice-president of XYZ corporation. Herein lies the problem. The corporation’s identity is what props up the individual’s identity. Proactively in one’s professional career one needs to develop an independent identity of oneself. Now, how does this happen? One of the ways is to be actively involved with professional bodies and be a significant contributor to such associations. That way you start getting noticed as a key opinion leader in the space you work. As a chain reaction to this, publications, journalist look up to you for opinions, quotable quotes and start featuring you as a personality. Thus when you develop and deploy new HR programmes with great features, you get to be noticed in the industry forum.
Measure and report in metrics
The HR department should hence shift its focus to being strategic, create and report metrics that measure and improve results (revenues and profits) that impact the bottomline.
HR people usually do not talk business language (dollars and numbers) and most often end up being focussed on “process”. This is not understandable. As the fact is the financial impact of hiring, retention, incentive, compensation and rapid learning can easily be made available in dollar terms. One of the CEOs I was reporting to always used to tell me, if you cannot show your achievements (especially in service functions) in value terms, you will fail to get noticed.
The HR department should hence shift their focus to being strategic and create and report metrics that measure and improve results (revenues and profits) that impact the bottomline. HR must demonstrate its tangible impact on the customer and various stake holders.
Learn to anticipate and forecast
One way to avoid being below the radar is to offer early warning to the management about potential issues and challenges. Develop “smoke detector” kind of metrics which act as an early warning system and allows you to forecast and thus prevent events which are avoidable. This way, you would have assisted the senior management to “see around corners” on people issues and take timely and better decisions.
Forget equity, learn to differentiate
Often I get to hear the term “parity” when it comes to placement/positioning of a person in the organisation during recruitment or progression. This is an area of excessive obsession for most HR professionals. HR should shift their focus to top performers who have high impact on business and design a reward system which centres on performance. It simply means every people programme devised must focus on increasing the productivity of employees. It might call for changing the ‘DNA’ of the organisation by retaining some and by replacing others.
Get tech-savvy
Proactively understand technology and become an “early adapter” of effective technology. Faster and accurate decisions can only occur when HR is made paperless. By embracing e-commerce and the rapid change model one can become a leader in doing everything faster, cheaper and better in a 24x7, knowledge-driven global economy.
Demonstrate HR effectiveness
In service functions like HR, materials, accounting, customer care, etc, the mindset should be one of beating expectations. HR must demonstrate excellent service delivery in the transactions areas. It is imperative that HR people should get the “train to run on time”.
While these are routines, there is no scope for ignoring the basics. Simple measurement systems for delivery function can help put the house in order.
Develop effective communication skills
When you deal with top management you do not get a second chance. The time that you get to communicate is short and you must maximise the window of opportunity. Senior corporate executives can be pretty strong-minded individuals and convincing them on a point of view requires effective communication, persistence and a rock-solid belief system. By being open, honest and demonstrating consistent integrity, reliability, discretion and strong values this can be managed.
Want to be a CEO, behave like one
It is essential to always evaluate how any action/ plan will support the company. As a football coach would tend to say his player, “Don’t trip over blades of grass on the way to the goal post.” It is essential that you behave like a CEO!
All the actions that one takes as a HR person should find alignment with the business direction and goal of the company. There is no place for a silo operation and the context needs to be on top always.
In my view acquisition, transformation and retention of talent is equivalent to asset building for the company and has perhaps a lot of long-term intangible business implications which a HR manager needs to understand, have a vision, sell the vision to the board and CEO and work on it so as to make that impact.
Groom yourself and along the way remember these important tips. I am sure some day you would be another Subir Raha who breaks the glass ceiling. | | |
27-07-2006, 07:40 AM
| | Senior Member | | Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Mumbai |
| | Re: HR heads become CEOs and business Leaders Dear all,
Yogesh Patgaonkar of Zensar (ernstwhile VP-HR) has now taken over the role Country Manager, we have examples of Vineet Nayar, present President - HCL Technologies, who started as a management trainee HR in HCL, served various HR positions and in his last assignment, he was President - HCL Comnet, and courtesy his HR background, the organisation was efficiently run in a people-oriented way.
Andrew Cohen of SAS have been promoted to CEO of SAS.
Both Vineet and Yogesh have undertaken great efforts and displayed exemplery committment to learn business rather than operating in closed, water-tight compartments of HR. And that is the need of the hour. No function can survive if it doesn't undertstand the business - right from procurement of resources to selling and final customer service. If we HR guys are sure on our ability and willingness to fathom the basics and intricacies of business, we will go places..
Regards,
Rajat | |
06-08-2006, 02:10 AM
| | | | Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: CiteHR |
| | Re: HR heads become CEOs and business Leaders Thanks for the updates... | |
12-10-2006, 11:36 AM
| | | | Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: COIMBATORE |
| | Re: HR heads become CEOs and business Leaders hi 
So true.. that was cool..
In fact HR is the bloodline of any organisation.. coz its impossible without the HR initiative for any organisation to be sucessful...
Every big guy in the industry has the same to say... |
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