Anand Mahindra on Leadership Practices
Mahindra Group is in Aon Hewitt's Top Companies for Leaders Global List
Q. What is unique in Mahindra's DNA that enables it to become a leadership powerhouse?
A. I hope it doesn't sound immodest, but I feel we might well be the sort of 21st century company for which the world is looking. This was brought home to us in an unusual way by an advertising company from the US called Strawberry Frog. They came here on an assignment to understand the group as a background to designing a small advertising campaign for us in the US. At the end of it, after talking to our employees, they candidly told us that the ad campaign was less important than understanding and publicizing the unique DNA that they felt we had. They said that people in our company thought innovatively, were willing to take on any challenge, and most importantly, felt impelled to work not only for profits, but also to make a wider impact on the world. In their view, this was the kind of company for which disillusioned consumers the world over were looking. That was when we understood that Rise was not just a nice slogan it was who we are, it was our DNA. And that's what aligns our leadership and makes it effective.
Q. How does the "Mahindra Rise" vision align with and enable your leadership practices?
A. Rise is the touchstone with which we align everything from thinking to strategy to implementation. For example, our choice of which new businesses to enter would be dictated not just by potential profitability, but by whether it is a Rise business. In the leadership context, at the recruiting stage we would look for people who fit our values and display the Rise competencies of innovation, out-of-the-box thinking and in-depth engagement. These leadership traits would be further developed through training and would be important criteria for promotion and career progression.
Q. Mahindra's innovation story is talked about globally. What has been the approach, from a leadership perspective, to enable this innovation?
A. Enabling innovation is a critical factor for any business. In India, we excel at frugal innovation, but so far we are known only for 'jugaad'. I would like the Mahindra Group to excel at 'jhakaas' – a word that roughly translates as wow! Can we leverage frugal innovation to create products that are not cheap or tacky but that provide unbelievable value for the price? From a leadership perspective, we implement this in many ways:
a) Through training and initiatives like Centers of Excellence and the Mahindra University
b) Through encouragement. We have innovation awards including awards for failed innovations
c) Through hands on experience and unusual business models. We developed the Scorpio at onefifth the price it would have taken to develop it in Detroit, because of innovation Our finance business is largely rural and so has innovated in how it appraises borrowers, many of whom are uneducated and poor. It has also had to calibrate methods of repayment for people whose ability to repay depends on the seasons. So many of our businesses are pioneers and therefore, innovation is what makes them succeed. We also encourage innovation across the country through the million dollar Rise Prize.
Q. Finally, what's your personal mantra on leadership that you pass on to your leaders?
A. At the Group Chairman level, I believe my role is to keep looking at global trends and opportunities externally and provoke ideas and be a curator of conversations across people and businesses internally. For business leaders, I believe their role should be to act strategically in their businesses after deep reflection, and they can do this best by trusting, training and empowering the people who work for them so that they are free to deal with vital, wider issues. So the mantra would be trust, train, delegate.
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