The other day I was watching the swearing in ceremony of our 15th Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi. Being from the corporate sector, I immediately wondered how the HR would communicate such news to the stakeholders of a company, were Mr. Modi be appointed as the CEO of a company. I began day dreaming and in my imagination, I visualised a letter which would probably read something like this:
“Dear Stakeholders,
As you already know, as of 26th May 2014, we have on-boarded the new CEO for our Company, Mr. Narendra D. Modi (also famously known as NaMo). He was short listed for the role a few months back and the decision to induct him for the role was taken on 16th May 2014. We are fortunate that after ages, majority of the recruitment team members have concurred on the choice of our CEO. Happily, the stakeholders across interest groups have also lent their vote to Mr. Modi. By doing so, we have strengthened his hands to enable him to steer the fortune of our company with confidence and without bottlenecks.
The new CEO is a visionary, taskmaster, focused individual and master innovator. Having appointed him for the role, we can now step back from debating between ourselves as to how the company must run, so that he could do his job effectively. For those of you who have voted for his appointment, our request is to not crush him with a mountain of expectations. For those of you who did not want his appointment, our request is to accept the wishes of the majority and join hands with him to build our company.
Having said that, we urge you not to disrupt the growth process and allow graceful functioning of his board. Make your points eloquently and forcefully, but you may want to avoid staging dharnas, walkouts or strikes. We have had enough of that in the last few years.
Mr. Modi has been chosen for the role because of his exemplary performance in our Gujarat branch. It is expected that he will carry that experience forward and upscale it to make our company a model for others to emulate. He has assured that the top lines will grow, costs will come down, productivity will rise, leakages will be plugged, resources will be optimally used, the treasury reserves will rise and the company will have funds for future investments and contingencies.
But it is expected that his biggest achievement would be the significant increase in our bottom-line and thus, the earnings per share. There has been wide discontent in the past on account of inequitable distribution of the company’s profits. It is hoped that each shareholder will benefit under the new management, both financially and socially. But you should also be mindful of the fact that all this cannot be achieved single-handedly. We all need to chip in. Our role would be to focus on our own jobs and roles in the company, share his vision, work our hearts out and be united in our efforts.
As you would have all witnessed, Mr. Modi has extensively travelled to most of our regions and branches before he was appointed. He has already interacted with numerous stakeholders and interest groups and is likely to have gained a deep understanding of and insights into the issues and problem areas.
The CEO is cognizant of the support he has from all quarters and will surely work in the interest of all stakeholders under the parent banner of Hindustan United Family. The stakeholders from the Middle Class Co-operative, the Poor People’s Collective, the Shetkari Sanghatna and Sons, the Youth Unlimited, the Women’s Equality Society, The India Inc. and others can be hopeful of having their grievances addressed this time round.
In return, you are just expected to be patient and give him space to work out his priorities. While he has hit the ground running and hit some home runs in building relations with other CEOs and has taken some phenomenal decisions, please do not expect the world to turn upside down in the first 100 days. The damage done by the weak management of his predecessor will take time to undo. The good days have begun and will only get better. Don’t parrot it, but believe in it.
He already has a plan in place. We have given him a free hand to choose his team and are confident he will select the best person for each job. The process has already been set in motion and from the looks of it, his team has already started taking visible actions. We are hopeful that his team will not only achieve their Key Result Areas but also enter into Service Level Agreements with all their stakeholders. We are sure he is aware that it is important that not only does he himself remain above board but more importantly that he is able to inculcate the same values in his team members. So much so that good governance becomes a culture and does not remain a mere virtue, in all of us. He has gained a reputation of a workaholic. He has no familial or outside pressures nor does he have any known material hobby, interest or greed (the reasons why we are confident he will neither waver, compromise nor succumb to temptations).
Our brand name has taken a serious beating in recent times. Interest of investors and clients was on the wane. It is here that we are very excited to see Mr. Modi not only regain lost ground but to rebrand our company such that others sit up and take notice with envy and awe.
Lastly, for those of you from the business and finance units, there’s a lot to cheer. We are aware that hopes are riding high on him urgently bringing in long awaited bills (e.g. GST), taking a relook at painful laws (e.g. Companies Act, 2013), improving tax administration (where honest tax payers are not penalised and defaulters don’t go scot free) and rationalising the indirect taxes (apply Pareto’s Principle for Service Tax and Excise so that 20% of items that fetch 80% of the revenue are retained and small items which don’t generate significant revenue are exempted).
We request you to join us in welcoming our new CEO and gear ourselves to work alongside him.
As someone famously said “Achche din aanewale hai”.
Yours truly Team HR”
Closer home, BCAS too has a new CEO in Nitin Shingala. An excellent human being, a fine professional and a devoted BCAS volunteer of many years. Having worked with him as my VP for a year I can assure you that 2014-15 will be a golden year in the journey of BCAS. Please join me in welcoming Nitin as the BCAS President for the year 2014-15.
Here’s wishing everyone happiness and love.
With Warm Regards
Naushad A. Panjwani
