Coffee With Nithyashree Mahadevan – Carnatic Vocalist & Playback Singer

Me: Sundar Rajan G S

NM: Nithyashree Mahadevan

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Hi All,

Continuing the interview with Mr. Sundarshan (Part 1), please find the part 2 of the interview below.

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Hey Guys..

“I apologize for the delay between the last post and this one”.. Incidentally it is the most common starting phrase used in blogs these days.. The sentence verbatim or its variant is found in over 74% of the blogposts..  And more than 60% of the statistics including this one, are all fudged up If I start apologizing for the delay in the blog posts, I guess I would only be writing “Sorry Posts!!!” :) So, I will probably not start off my post like that!

Well, the year 2009 is about to end.. It is probably that time of the year when you look back at how the year went.. Enjoy thinking about the good moments.. Form a few new year resolutions, which you know for sure wont last more than a couple of weeks.. but why not just give it a try!!!

Its true that 2009 is going to end in a few hours! Its true that I have been reflecting how the year was.. But I just realized that this could be my last “calender year end” in School. I am just beginning to get a sinking feeling.. that the finishing line of my student life is in the vicinity..

I am not one of those guys who topped from LKG to Phd. I was an average student during my early days. I am sure my cousin would agree that I had failed in one of the class tests, but the teacher had forgotten to underline in red I scored some 70 odd percent in my 7th std exams, when my cousins were competing with each other at 94+ percentage range. If I was a stock in the capital markets, the only way it was heading was down I am sure, not one soul (including myself) would have banged their bucks on me Probably my grand father was an exception. They say bad things happen! Sometimes good things also happen! I dont know how, I am sure somebody managed to convince my hindi teacher not to commit suicide. Reason is simple.. I topped my school 10th std.. Worse still, I topped the school in hindi of all subjects! From there I went to REC Trichy, then Google and now here at IIMB.

I was brought up in an environment where I was told “Work hard! Study well & You will succeed in life!” I am a Josephite! I was preached “Fide et Labore” – Faith & Toil are the secret of success! I have sweared by it all my life and even now I buy into it completely. I would say they played a big role in helping me become a gold medalist in Trichy and for securing the Dewang Mehta Award for the Best Student in Management. As a side note, IIM Bangalore teaches you to glorify your achievements in such a way that you can convince yourself and the rest of the world that you are god’s gift to man kind. So, take the previous statement with a pinch of salt! Coming back to the point. Born and brought up in a typical upper middle class tambram family, where Grade points and the percentages count more than anything else, I have lived a life of a typical first bencher with thick specs leading a non-exciting life. (To be honest, I am neither a first bencher nor do I wear thick spectacles.. But I am sure thats what will come to your mind if they hear words like Geek or Nerd) I agree that these characteristics has taken me places both physically and figuratively!  But somewhere deep within, my heart says.. Give me another chance.. I wanna grow up once again!

Its not that I want to change my past completely. Also I am not talking about rewriting my operations paper where I got an amazing C grade.. I am very happy with my life. I wouldnt be writing this if I wasnt assured with myself. But what I am talking about are those things where I put in “a bit too much”. For example, I was doing a lot of programming in REC Trichy! I have no problems with that! I enjoyed programming. But there was a 4 day weekend and all my bangalore friends in Trichy (called the Kandus) went to Kanya Kumari. If I remember correctly, I was learning Java, which I never used in my life after that.

I had a lot of good friends! Really good friends! But I just realized that I was never really a part of a gang of friends! Like the Kandus or The Bongs or the Tams or the A tops or the G tops etc etc.. You know what I mean.. When you go out with a group of friends to a restaurant.. I am talking about the difference between booking a table for 2, 3 or 4 vs booking a table for 10 or 15. I would say I have been a part of big gangs dinners about 5 times in my past 10 years! And I enjoyed every moment of that and I cherish those! Not that I dislike the smaller groups.. Just be a part of a big group once to realize what you have missed in your college days!!

During my early days I dreaded Holi! I always felt that it spoilt my dresses! But by the time I passed out I wanted play holi and be a part of the fun! But people built such a “nice guy” impression about me that they didnt want to play with me! Just think about this.. I was walking in front of Octagon in NIT Trichy and they pour buckets of coloured water on the guy in front of me and.. they just keep a dot on my forehead! I wasnt feeling happy! I was praying that the guy would pour the colours on me!

In NIT Trichy, we had movie screening every weekend. I havent even seen a single movie there and I was proud about it! I have watched movies in hostel rooms.. loads of them.. But I have watched only a handful of movies with the dorm room packed with junta. I have been a part of lots & lots of small groups… But have hardly been a part of a big group, like the kandus gang.. watch friends, discuss gossips, porn, affairs etc etc. dont know what not..

In section A trip during my first year at IIMB, all the tams got together and we were singing songs like “New York Nagaram” etc… We do that even now in L block first floor. These are amazing moments to cherish in my student life.. I wish I had many such moments.. Give me another chance..

I always wanted to do something on stage and address the audience.. Well I did.. I did teach in seminars & courses.. I loved those.. But I didnt sing or dance on stage The last time I sang in front of an audience was 10 years back.. “Kasu Mela Kasu Vandhu” with Kumara Ganesh in 10th Std. What a hit it was! You know.. its a special feeling when you practise for these stage events together as a group.. Work real hard.. and celebrate with “hi-fi”s and hugs after finishing it off in style.. Closest in the recent past I can think of was the play I acted in the first year @ IIMB by name “Sure thing”. I will miss these for sure.. Give me another chance, I will learn music & dance.. perhaps theatre…

What is talking about school days without talking about girls.. I had countless number of crushes.. Most of those thoughts got crushed in my heart.. I managed to express a few.. not to the girl.. but to some of my friends.. Against all odds, I had a girlfriend.. and not very long ago, I lost her too.. I hated to admit to the world that I had a girlfriend.. I hated to admit when I realized that I lost her. Give me another chance.. I wanna boldly express my feelings.. caring more for the girl and a little less for the world around! Give me another chance.. I wanna express myself…

May be I could have gotten away by adjusting my priorities a bit.. Just A LITTLE BIT.. For example, during my ten week internship at IIT Madras, I could have gone for the beach ONCE not twice.. JUST ONCE.. May be.. I could have coded a bit less on the rare occasion when it rained in Trichy..  and jumped in the rain… I could have taken that trade off.. May be.. I could have a seen ONE MOVIE in theater in the whole of my undergrad days.. I am compensating that by going one every week in the past 5 weeks.. May be.. I could have gone home a bit more often during my IIMB days and made my parents happy.. May be.. I could have watched cricket match cheering every single ball with a crowd.. and when the batsmen get out or when the bowler gets belted away.. scold him loudly.. not with words like LOSER… but with words like SUCKER.. May be I could have attended the hostel block party.. instead of studying Managing Organizations in which I got a C grade anyways…  May be I could have done with a bit more “Vella” sessions or “Bakkar” sessions with junta.. just talking utter non-sense.. When my friends mocked.. I could have done away by uttering.. “What the FUCK” instead of “What the HECK”.. Dont know when was the last time I uttered these gaalis..

I didnt grow up the same way as what most of the guys would have.. But I have had my own fun.. I have done things which others havent.. But having said that.. I could have some of these things different.. Give me another chance… I wanna grow up once again..

I have spoken to a number of people.. through CWS or other wise.. All of us have aspirations.. Things which we wish we could have done better in the past.. Here is a new year dawning at all of us.. Here is another chance to grow up once again.. I wish Coffee With Sundar Readers a very happy new year – 2010!!! Grow up once again!

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Dear CWS Readers,

It gives me immense pleasure to invite Mr. Sudarshan, former General Manager of HR at Viveks (Retail chain in South India) and a visiting faculty at Symbiosis Management Institute. Mr. Sudarshan holds an MA in Personnel Management after completing B Sc in Physics and MA in Indian Philosophy. He also had a long corporate career with rich experiences in various facets of HR Management. Without further ado, it is Coffee With Sudarshan.

Sudarshan: I was born in Delhi. I did my schooling in Bhopal. Actually my father was working in BHEL. He was one of the 5 people who set up the first BHEL plant. He was transferred from Delhi to Bhopal. I studied till 11th STD in St. Josephs in Bhopal. Then we got transferred to Chennai, where I started pursuing my B. Sc. in physics. After that I decided to do an MA in Indian Philosophy. I also completed a MA in personal management.

Me: You seemed to have shifted from Physics to Indian Philosophy. How did you make such a choice? It is not an obvious career move.

Sudarshan: I was interested in Indian Philosophy. My father’s elder brother had a collection of books written by J Krishnamurthy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiddu_Krishnamurti) I have also listened to his speeches during my B Sc physics days. So, after this I wanted to pursue humanities. During our days, we didn’t have internet, career counseling etc. Someone suggested that I can pursue MA in Indian Philosophy course and I joined for the same. T M B Mahadevan, Head of Indian Philosophy, Centre of Advanced Studies, Madras was managing the course. He was also the advisor of Indira Gandhi.

In the meantime, I was attending an evening course on “Datamatics”, where I was finding applications of philosophy in Management. I started becoming interested in people aspect of management. Once again through word of mouth, I was told to apply for Tata Institute of Science for a course – “MA in Personnel Management”. It was a 2 years program. This is the equivalent of “Human Resource Management” in those days. After I completed the course, I started my corporate career.

Me: Sir, Can you talk about your corporate career, the various roles & responsibilities you held etc. You could also talk about some interesting anecdotes etc.

I started my career with Bank of Baroda. I joined in Chennai and was soon transferred to Hyderabad. I was appointed as a “Personnel Officer” and I was an assistant to the regional manager. I was primarily a specialized HR person handling recruitment & people issues. Functions like Recruitment, training etc were separated. In Hyderabad, only day to day activities were going on. Most of the important activities were happening in main office in Baroda. So, I opted to move to Baroda voluntarily.

In Baroda, I was involved in starting performance appraisal system. Performance appraisal as a concept was very new to the organization. We had 8000 officers at that time. We had no data to assess the performance. Nearly 1 year was spent in collecting data. Also those were the days when there were no PCs. There was a company by name Alumbic which had mainframe computers. We encoded the data – that took another 6 months. We used to generate reports using the facilities at Alumbic. It took us nearly 2 years to put the performance appraisal system in place. After that I left Bank of Baroda and joined TVS & Sons.

Me: From Bank to an automobile company. Why did you move? How did you make that choice?

Sudarshan: Bank was a very big system. There was no specific accountability. Also, I went for 2 or 3 programs in HR at IIMA. I came to know that TVS was looking for consultants. So, I pursed that opportunity and headed the HR in TVS & Sons, Sales & Service. This was the parent company. I moved back to Madurai.

Me: What role did you play in TVS?

Sudarshan: At TVS, I started the appraisal systems like before. In addition, I was also in charge of training and manpower planning. When I joined, TVS was around 3000 people strong, but we could have been more efficient. We only needed 1600 for the work we were doing at that stage. We wanted to right size the organization, but at the same time, we didn’t want to fire people. So, first we froze the recruitments for nearly 5 years. TVS was setting up different branches. We gave relocation offers to move to Kerala. If the employee doesn’t want to take up that offer because of relocation issues, we had a policy to offer the same job to his/her children. It also helped the company because the father would have been earning somewhere around 5000 – 6000 a month. Son gets only 2000 – 3000 because he starts at a lower position. Kerala was prone to many labor problems and TVS didn’t want to risk that. So we preferred to send our own employees there. In addition to this, some really good people were also retained as trainers for youngsters. On the whole, we followed a ‘right sizing without tears’ policy. I was there with TVS for nearly 8 years and the size of the organization was around 1800 when I left. During my tenure, I was in charge of manpower planning, performance appraisals, starting new branches in Kerala and starting professional recruitment after correcting the manpower.

Me: Why did you leave TVS when you were doing such interesting & challenging roles?

Sudarshan: Actually, my wife had limited opportunities in Madurai. Most of the big companies in Madurai like TVS & Madura Coats etc had no women policy. Even academic roles in Thiagaraja College of Engineering were very limited. So, we decided to move to Chennai. Even from children’s education point of view, it was a sensible move. I also decided to work as a consultant for 3 or 4 years with TVS even while I was at Chennai. Actually TVS had a JV with a company called DuPont which produced connectors for computers. They were planning to put up a factory. The officials of DuPont never came down to Madurai as we never had 5 star hotels in Madurai. They used to come to Chennai and my presence in Chennai actually made the job easier. I helped them in recruiting executives, setting up etc.

Me: After this did you join Viveks?

Sudarshan: Before joining Viveks, I spent some time in Hyderabad consulting on a Merger. It was an interesting experience. SOL Pharma was merging with Standard Organics. There were a number of HR challenges. Std Organics was an old company which was in the market for 10 – 15 years. It was into bulk drugs manufacturing company with a lot of chemistry activities as the back bone of the company. On the other hand, we had SOL Pharma, which was mainly into advertising & packaging of drugs. Chairman of Std Organics, Mr. Reddy had managed the company well. The stock price of the company had increased from Rs 10 to Rs 60 and was considering the merger for accelerated growth.

There were a number of interesting issues. SOL Pharma was full of young people with modern offices and new culture. Std Organics was just a factory, with lots of old people earning lower salary, but were more skilled workers with traditional work culture. It was a proper factory set up, while the former always into some PR activity or the other. You will have Models visiting offices etc.

If this wasn’t diverse enough, both organizations had a parallel organization structure. The old company was run by Son in Law of Mr. Reddy and the new one was run by a professional manager. Mr. Reddy wanted his Son in Law (SIL) to have more powers in the merged structure, but the professional manager didn’t want to report to SIL.

We decided that let us take one change at a time. First we will start with both the companies operating under the single banner, but internally, they were two different divisions operating independently. We moved the common functions like finance, HR, purchase, supply chain, MIS etc to a centralized division. This common function department can report directly to the chairman. And SIL & Professional Manager can be made as executive heads of their respective departments and report to the chairman.

I remember explaining all this on OHP sheets to the Chairman. We never had PPTs those days. In just 1 hour, Chairman asked a few questions and finally said it was a wonderful idea and approved for the plan. Then, the implementation phase started. Everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong.

First of all, offices of both the firms were in different places in Hyderabad. So, a decision had to be made regarding where to place this “centralized common department”. There was a new R&D department which was started. It was an entirely separate organization, which the chairman wanted to start. It was full of researchers who had their own style of working. We didn’t know what to do with it. As I already mentioned, we had 2 parallel organizations. We had 2 finance heads. We asked one of them to report to another based on qualification, work experience, performance evaluation etc. Some of them executives even left the organization at this stage, which made merging easier. This was in terms of executives. We had redundant staff; we offered VRS schemes to them. We had lot of ladies staff, who weren’t willing to travel to new place. They chose to voluntarily leave the organization for suitable compensation.

Just when we thought we managed to pull off the merger, the real problem began. An unexpected event took place. USSR collapsed. Bulk drugs were mainly exported to USSR. Nearly 50 crores were lost. There was turmoil. Chairman spent nearly 1.5 months in Russia scouting for payment. But he couldn’t recover anything because the rules of the land had changed and the old contracts were not binding. In the mean time, stock price of the company fell from Rs 60 to Rs 8. Suddenly, bankers stopped lending us money. Suppliers etc started asking for payables. The company got entangled in financial mess.

Chairman retired. He washed his hands off. SIL was given the responsibility to take care of the firm. Professional manager wasn’t willing to report to the SIL. Nobody was talking eye to eye. Even I didn’t have anybody to report to. I was initially working with the old chairman, who is no longer with the company. I had no role there after he left and I started to pursue other opportunities. That’s when I joined Viveks.

I would also like specially thank Swetha S, IIM Bangalore student, for co-ordinating this interview with Mr. Sudarshan. Mr. Sudarshan is Swetha’s father.

Part 2 is coming soon! So stay tuned

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Hi CWS Readers,

Continuing the interview with Mr. Mukesh Sharma, the part 2 of the interview is here in this video. Mukesh talks about how his interests started in theatre, how he formed his group and most importantly, an exciting incident…. of how things almost fell a part just a few days before his big play.. and how he managed to pull it off in the end.. All in this special edition of CWS. I hope you enjoy watching this show.

Do share you comments about this video.

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Here are some pics from Dewang Mehta Awards

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Hi CWS Readers,

I am glad to inform you all that I was awarded the Dewang Mehta Award for Best Student in Management.

The contest took place in Mumbai and had around 20+ finalists from various colleges. It was an amazing experience.

Check the coverage about the event here:

http://www.yourstory.in/news/1072-latest-news/2773-b-school-affaire-a-dewang-mehta-business-school-awards-organized-the-annual-awards-for-b-school-students

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In the first video interview on CWS-2, I am glad to host Mr. Mukesh Sharma as a guest. A brief profile about Mr. Mukesh can be found below.

In this part 1 of the interview, Mukesh talks about his experience in Automobile Industry. In part 2  (which will follow this post), Mukesh speaks about his theatre interests & his newly formed theatre group etc.

Currently Mukesh is pursuing his one year full time executive MBA program from Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. His current areas of research are employee motivation , change management and building competitive strategies.

Before Joining IIM Bangalore , Mukesh was working as Manager ( Product development) in Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. He has spent more than two and half years in Suzuki Motor corporation , Japan on various vehicle development projects. He specializes in installing crash related equipments and facilities. He has worked on various product lines of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd and carries vast experience in automotive product/process innovations

In a career spanning for more than ten years in automotive industry , Mukesh has written eleven technical papers in the area of occupant protection , vehicle crashworthiness and accident analysis , which have been published in SAE International USA and SAE India.He has also represented India’s automotive delegation in the area of vehicle accident and research to United Nation in year 2007 and 2008

He also runs a non profit theatre group in Delhi which has produced several plays since 2003. His recent production was covered and applauded by various media houses in Delhi ( NDTV , HT and Delhi events).He has conducted various workshops on Theater in Education for school children in Delhi.
His productions are : Hamlet (2003), Aadhi raat ka sach(2005) , Japani Gudiya(2007) , The siege within (2008)

Stay tuned for part 2 of the interview where Mukesh talks about his theatre exploits, exciting incidents in life & his EPGP program at IIMB.

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The part 1 of the interview with Mr. Sunil Robert can be found here: http://coffeewithsundar.com/i-will-survive-sunil-robert/

Me: Sir, it has been amazing having you on this show. I am sure your book would go on to inspire many more Indians. What are your future plans?
SR: I will be taking up full time writing. Writing this book has been amazing, but it was a tiresome and quite an experience. So, I want to be doing this full time. The good news as far as the book – I will survive – is that it has gone for re-print in just 2 weeks. It has got a critical mass following.
My next book is also towards young executives, Indian professionals & managers. I want to help serve young professionals & managers.
A lot of people define success as “where you are now”. But for me it is important to add another parameter. Success is a measure of “Where you arrive, from where you started”. I am happy with where I have arrived from where I started. I want to go on to become an inspiration of many Indian youth & young professionals.

Me: Sir, Thank you so much for sparing your time. It was indeed a pleasure to have you on this show. Thanks once again. I am sure; this book would be a huge success. You are going to be an inspiration for many young Indians sir.
SR: Thanks a lot Sundar! I am also very happy to be a part of this show.

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Hello CWS-2 Readers,

I am happy to introduce you all to Mr. Sunil Robert – Head of Analyst Relations & Public Relations at Tata Consulting Services and author of the book “I will Survive”.

Mr. Sunil Robert works for TCS Financial Solutions, where he runs the global Analyst Relations and Public Relations program. Sunil has also been the front end of the Marketing arm for i-flex in North & Latin America. Sunil holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration and another Master’s degree in Communications & Journalism that helps him to bridge the gap between pure communicators who often miss the business landscape or Business strategists who have the know – why but dont often have the know-how.

Mr. Sunil Robert was the recipient of the 2006 Stevie award for Best Corporate Communicator, which is the Oscars award equivalent in the world of Business.

Coffee With Sunil Robert – Author, “I will survive” & Head of AR & PR, TCS
Me: Sundar Rajan G S
SR: Sunil Robert

Me: Sir, Can you talk about your childhood days, your background etc. You have mentioned about the difficulties you faced when you were in 7th standard when you were not able to pay the fees for examination. (http://sunilrobert.com/bookexcerpts.htm). You also wanted to become a CA, but you ended up taking up a job as a sales person because of your family commitments. Can you talk about how you reacted to your tough times?

SR: I had a normal childhood. It was around late 1980s. My family had moved from a village (Nalagunda) to Hyderabad city. Both my parents were working. My family faced a crisis when my father had lost his job. I didn’t know how to react. I was feeling humiliated in schools. There was negative energy all around me. It was a difficult phase when we couldn’t even pay the fees. After my 10th, I had to join a polytechnic. As I grew older, my response to the situation was different. Instead of just feeling helpless, I was feeling more energetic. Unfortunately my energies were negative energies. I got into wrong company of friends & gangs. It was against all odds and such situation that I have been able to survive & succeed.

My life is an example of second chance. It’s an example of faith, hope & belief that I can overcome. This is what is covered in the book.

I had relationship with primary school teachers. I had a few great friends. I met outstanding people who helped me over come my problems. I stood up and faced the reality. I decided to take up responsibility at home. I had a choice of either blaming what was happening around me or to accept the reality and chance what I don’t like. I did the latter. That’s how I am where I am today.

Me: From government polytechnic to head of PR at TCS? Can you talk about your journey?
SR: During my polytechnic days, I was never good at diode or technical stuff that I was studying there. I was more interested in Shakespeare or arts or Lincoln. I enjoyed these much more than the studies in classes.

I got a government job after my studies. But I decided not to take the regular jobs. Instead I joined Eureka Forbes as a sales person.
The training that I received in Eureka Forbes was probably the magic potion which I badly needed. There were lessons on how to bounce back after failure, how not to lose confidence when the doors are slammed on you etc. The training helped me to walk with confidence, speak by looking into the eyes of the people, shake hands confidently. I really enjoyed it. Even if nothing was going my way, I was still confident. Suddenly, this “dark completion”-ed small scraggy fellow in me started to see things differently. I was battling the situation with confidence.

I discovered that I had communication skills. I loved public speaking & debating. Even when I was getting trashed, I loved taking part in conversations & discussions. This helped me to get a job as a radio jockey. I liked this as well, the whole new space to talk to young people & build relationships with people whom you don’t know. I used to get letters from the listeners etc. That was really a exciting phase. I also did a bit of sports commentary. I was grabbing whatever opportunities that came my way. I slowly realized that there was a method in the madness that was happening all around me.

Me: You decided not to take up a government job, when you were facing so many difficulties. How easy was it? What did people think about you?
SR: Yes! People called me a crazy guy!! Everyone told me that I have “lost it” in life.
As Voltaire said, “Most men live lives of quiet desperation”. I looked around me and realized that the “intelligent” are actually stuck with a government job for life. I asked myself – “would you be stuck in a single job? Or will you do an interesting job?”
I chose the latter. In fact, one wrong career choice of my father ruined the whole family. People were actually wondering if it was genetic when I chose to leave that job. But when I started doing well and started getting good sales, they were reassured that I am not all that crazy.
Then I jumped many jobs after that before finally heading the PR & AR of TCS.

The interview will be continued in part 2 where Mr. Sunil talks about his learnings, his book, role models and the changing face of India.

So stay tuned!

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