The
Human Factor
November - December 2009
For someone who had no formal education
till class five and was soon after appointed
the "Safai Minister" of his school
to help clean up rainwater and cow dung on
the premises, Dr.Santrupt Misra, CEO of Carbon
Black Business and Director-Group HR of Aditya
Birla Group, went on to win four gold medals
for academic excellence while pursuing his
courses in Political Science, and PM and IR.
Along the way, he also earned two PhDs —
one from Utkal University and the other from
Aston University — in his career, spanning
stints with JK Group (his first job),TISS
and HUL (a job offer that was the indirect
result of him discussing his thesis over lunch
with a friend).
In
fact, the venture into HR happened by accident
when his course at TISS demanded two days
to be spent with companies. Says he when
quizzed about his prolific journey. "The
PhDs were important for me because I wanted
the highest academic qualification, and
second, I wanted to create more options
for my career in case I discontinued from
organisational work", Dr. Misra clearly
believes that hard work pays, irrespective
of the profession.
Dr.
Misra took over the reins as Group VP-HR,
soon after Mr. Aditya Birla passed away
which resulted in a "crisis of confidence".
This called for a need to restore faith
and this is exactly what Dr. Misra and his
team set out to do. "Firstly, we set
in place robust processes that had clear
sub-systems to propel such a large organisation.
Second, having realised that we had many
people on the rolls who were related to
each other, we set down an employment policy
for family relations, with focus on merit.
Third, rather than having a large number
of employees with less pay, we opted for
fewer people with greater capability, so
that we could pay them the market rates;
done through a retirement policy."
The company also adopted globally-recognised
HR processes, offering mobility within businesses,
and instituting strong talent management
initiatives for the employee base.
With
the evolution of HR in the Group, Dr. Misra
was soon made the youngest Director in the
company at the age of 35. Awarded "The
Best Employer in India and among the top 20
in Asia" by Hewitt-ET and WSJ Study 2007,
the Aditya Birla Group has operations in 25
countries and employs more than 1,30,000 people
from 30 nationalities. With brands like Grasim,
Hindalco, UltraTech, and Idea Cellular in
its kitty, the Chairman of this giant conglomerate
has been able to "use HR well as a business
partner and is clear about what he expects
from it", says Dr. Misra. He "gave
resources and freedom", while the young
employees imparted "passion and a belief
that things can be done". He affirms
that the company, which has grown from a USD
2.5 billion enterprise to about USD 30 billion,
has been able to offer a platform of opportunities
to all those who work hard.
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Being
part of an Indian conglomerate, it certainly
may be a challenge managing a diverse workforce,
so we ask Dr. Misra about this. He says that
the company faces three challenges, "The
first is that of leadership development in
a high growth organisation — how fast
we can prepare people to take on bigger responsibilities.
The second is that of the time taken in helping
employees from different nationalities interpret
the Group's values. No matter how one performs,
you are not welcome here if you do not stick
to the company's values. The third challenge
lies in continuously encouraging people to
invest in their individual development and
creating new opportunities for them to do
so. For instance, we provide an e-MBA programme
for our employees and we let them complete
it at their own pace, but the challenge is
to make them understand the importance of
building capabilities." There are other
aspects that they have learnt since going
global. For example, video-conferencing has
enabled one to learn the importance of punctuality.
An HR initiative called Pratibha was
launched last year, but the name was changed
before it was rolled out to other countries.
Dr. Misra even recalls the time he was sending
out Diwali greetings this year — he made
sure to add a line about it being a festival
of lights for those who may not have heard
about it.
| Personal
favourites |
| Book:
Any book or magazine, but I read 8 to
9 newspapers every morning |
| Movie:
Bridge On The River Kwai |
| Cuisine:
Chinese and Thai |
| Indoors:
Reading and meeting friends |
| Outdoors:
I used to play cricket but don't get
a chance anymore. I like going places
with my family |
| Holiday
spot: In front of the sea on a deckchair
with a drink |
Most
CEOs in India Inc. today have come from finance
or marketing backgrounds, and Dr. Misra points
out that Manoj Kohli is one of the few exceptions.
HR people may not be as decisive as the job
demands, he says. He explains, "I do
not think that an HR person's ultimate deliverance
is in becoming a CEO". He also points
out that HR has become a strategic business
partner because human resources today, especially
the most talented ones, are expensive and
have multiple opportunities across industries.
Talking
about senior roles, we ask Dr. Misra his
personal leadership style, and he says,
"I am very transparent and open —
what you see is what you get. I am not insecure;
I can eat from roadside stalls and five-star
hotels, I can wear shorts as well as ties!
More importantly, I try to inspire my people
and tell them that achievement, rather than
money, should be their prime motivator."
| Decisions
that impacted Dr. Misra's life |
| "My
father wanted me to take up Hindi as
opposed to Sanskrit so I could get a
scholarship. But I enjoyed Sanskrit
so I chose that. He didn't speak to
me for a few days after that." |
| "In
campus, not going for the Brooke Bond
interview for the position of 'management
trainee' was a critical decision in
my life" |
| "Becoming
a PhD student meant not earning money
even when all my friends were on their
way to doing so." |
| "My
wife and I came from completely different
backgrounds - she was from a boarding
school, while I was not." |
Despite
such an illustrious academic and career
background, Dr. Misra recounts to us some
of the uncomfortable times he has had and
how he has learnt from them. For example,
when he was to speak for five minutes during
eighth grade in his first English debate,
he got so nervous that he could only speak
for a minute. He is glad to admit that,
nowadays, he can speak on stage even without
preparation. Another time, when he was in
UK for his second PhD, he picked up the
directory and started calling people with
an Oriya last name for a get-together as
he had no friends there! This extra bit
of effort truly paid off as he has been
friends with those very people for more
than twenty years now.
The
discussion on friends brings us to how he
manages his work-life balance, and Dr. Misra
has strong views on that, as he says, "My
way of managing work is to not treat work
as work. A lot of people think that being
away from office is life, but I think life
is about fulfilment and enjoyment. So, getting
time for doing what is important to you
is work-life balance. After all, work is
life and life is work!" He rounds up
the talk with a piece of advice to those
aspiring to become successful in HR: Believe
in yourself and keep learning.
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