Conquering the Chaos: Win in India, Win Everywhere by Ravi Venkatesan Page B
Authors: Ravi Venkatesan
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Electric’s Olivier Blum has
overseen growth catalyzed by five acquisitions and a joint venture that have created
multiple brands, thirty-one factories, one thousand engineers, and seventeen thousand
employees in five short years. And Nokia’s D. Shivakumar was instrumental in the company’s
gain of a dominant 60 percent share of the Indian mobile handset market between 2004
and 2008 (although Nokia has subsequently lost share due to a combination of global
factors).
The distinguishing characteristic of all such leaders is that they are trusted, senior,
entrepreneurial, and general managers, not midlevel sales managers or functional leaders.
They are, of course, good at execution; you have to be good at execution to deliver
budgets and results predictably, despite the volatility of India. Therefore, they
lead from the front and drive their teams hard. Through personal example and emotional
connection, they inspire people to stretch, strive, and excel. They have a sense of
urgency, drive accountability, and make decisions quickly. They have a low tolerance
for bureaucracy and keep things simple. They have a strong sense about what things
really matter and stay ruthlessly focused on them despite the many distractions.
However, good country managers are more than execution geniuses. They operate like
general managers, not functional leaders. They have an end-to-end view of the business
and think not just about sales, but also the balance sheet and the bottom line, about
investments, revenues, expenses, margins, cash flow, and returns. They balance short-run
priorities with medium- and long-term ones rather than worrying only about the quarter.
They are acutely aware that short-term results are vital to bootstrap commitment and
investments, but pay attention to longer-term priorities such as growing talent and
organizational capabilities as well.
These leaders have the ability to sense and paint a picture of the massive opportunity
in India. This is not the usual macroeconomic description of India with hackneyed
phrases, like the “demographic dividend,” but a granular view of where the growth
lies: which segments, which accounts, what channels, what partnerships, and what changes
are needed in the global operating and business models to succeed in this market.
These CEOs are effective in persuading corporate stakeholders to allow experimentation
that demonstrates proof of concept: a small acquisition, a new product, a regional
success. They use these first wins to earn confidence and set off a spiral of investment,
empowerment, and growth. In that sense, they operate not unlike a venture-backed start-up
in the context of a large company.
A transformational deal or opportunity is sometimes more effective than a strategic
plan in getting headquarters’ attention. “Bring me a deal I can get excited about
rather than a strategy,” Kevin Johnson, my boss at Microsoft and now CEO of Juniper
Networks, once advised me. His advice was sound; entrepreneurial country managers
should be able to bring such a game-changing deal to the table. To do this, they have
to understand the market from a customer’s perspective, have an end-to-end understanding
of the company’s offerings, possess entrepreneurial flair and the ability to sell
ideas internally as well as externally, and lead global teams by influence rather
than authority. Shane Tedjarati, Honeywell’s president for all high-growth markets,
explains that in China and India, game-changing opportunities often present themselves
in unique ways: they are without precedent and cut across a company’s offerings. The
country manager has to be creative in packaging the company’s offerings and capabilities
into a winning proposal. Imagine the opportunity for the IBM India head in 2003 when
one of the world’s largest mobile cellular network operators, Bharti Airtel, told
him that it wanted
overseen growth catalyzed by five acquisitions and a joint venture that have created
multiple brands, thirty-one factories, one thousand engineers, and seventeen thousand
employees in five short years. And Nokia’s D. Shivakumar was instrumental in the company’s
gain of a dominant 60 percent share of the Indian mobile handset market between 2004
and 2008 (although Nokia has subsequently lost share due to a combination of global
factors).
The distinguishing characteristic of all such leaders is that they are trusted, senior,
entrepreneurial, and general managers, not midlevel sales managers or functional leaders.
They are, of course, good at execution; you have to be good at execution to deliver
budgets and results predictably, despite the volatility of India. Therefore, they
lead from the front and drive their teams hard. Through personal example and emotional
connection, they inspire people to stretch, strive, and excel. They have a sense of
urgency, drive accountability, and make decisions quickly. They have a low tolerance
for bureaucracy and keep things simple. They have a strong sense about what things
really matter and stay ruthlessly focused on them despite the many distractions.
However, good country managers are more than execution geniuses. They operate like
general managers, not functional leaders. They have an end-to-end view of the business
and think not just about sales, but also the balance sheet and the bottom line, about
investments, revenues, expenses, margins, cash flow, and returns. They balance short-run
priorities with medium- and long-term ones rather than worrying only about the quarter.
They are acutely aware that short-term results are vital to bootstrap commitment and
investments, but pay attention to longer-term priorities such as growing talent and
organizational capabilities as well.
These leaders have the ability to sense and paint a picture of the massive opportunity
in India. This is not the usual macroeconomic description of India with hackneyed
phrases, like the “demographic dividend,” but a granular view of where the growth
lies: which segments, which accounts, what channels, what partnerships, and what changes
are needed in the global operating and business models to succeed in this market.
These CEOs are effective in persuading corporate stakeholders to allow experimentation
that demonstrates proof of concept: a small acquisition, a new product, a regional
success. They use these first wins to earn confidence and set off a spiral of investment,
empowerment, and growth. In that sense, they operate not unlike a venture-backed start-up
in the context of a large company.
A transformational deal or opportunity is sometimes more effective than a strategic
plan in getting headquarters’ attention. “Bring me a deal I can get excited about
rather than a strategy,” Kevin Johnson, my boss at Microsoft and now CEO of Juniper
Networks, once advised me. His advice was sound; entrepreneurial country managers
should be able to bring such a game-changing deal to the table. To do this, they have
to understand the market from a customer’s perspective, have an end-to-end understanding
of the company’s offerings, possess entrepreneurial flair and the ability to sell
ideas internally as well as externally, and lead global teams by influence rather
than authority. Shane Tedjarati, Honeywell’s president for all high-growth markets,
explains that in China and India, game-changing opportunities often present themselves
in unique ways: they are without precedent and cut across a company’s offerings. The
country manager has to be creative in packaging the company’s offerings and capabilities
into a winning proposal. Imagine the opportunity for the IBM India head in 2003 when
one of the world’s largest mobile cellular network operators, Bharti Airtel, told
him that it wanted
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