Tuesday, August 26, 2008

India Inc.- Do we have the right leadership?

As India Inc is growing, the need for organizations to put the right leaders in place is also increasing. Shortage of top talent coupled with increase in demand for top professionals have pushed companies to take a dual approach: hiring experienced Expatriates and developing in-house talent.

Examples of such changing trends are plenty specially in Retail, Aviation, IT & telecom sectors. A recent research shows India Inc needs 1000 CEO’s across sectors. The ever increasing need for good professionals has led companies to provide learning and development opportunities to talented executives so as to build a pipeline of future leaders. Companies are also putting their middle management cadre on fast growth track and arming them with overseas experience to maintain a healthy pipeline.

Talent acquisition & talent development are not new to India. Citibank, Oberoi, HUL have been talent warehouse for long. However India Inc needs to focus on leadership development as its takes off in its journey of exponential growth globally. The aim is to cultivate a global mindset and learn the international best practices. Today companies like Wipro and Infosys have identified talented executives as future leaders and are mentoring them involving highest level of management.

As more and more Indian companies set off for a global journey and global MNC’s setup their Indian operations, India’s corporate sector is increasingly looking for people with global exposure who can handle the complexities of domestic and international operations.

As companies grow and accumulate a strong and diverse pool of talent, the role of top management executives is going to evolve with equal emphasis on business growth and talent development.

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