Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Global Talent Leader Ed Cohen tells Jisla Xavier the need for corporate and academic worlds in India to have a greater connect with each other

Q. Which of your assignments has been the most challenging and why?
A. My most challenging assignment was when Ramalinga Raju confessed to cooking the books at
Satyam. As the chief learning officer, I was responsible for employee engagement and that incident turned my world upside down. Anything that comes remotely close was on September 11, 2001 when I was with Booz Allen in Washington DC. The challenge that came out of it was how do you care for the people and how do you help people realise that, because of a few people who did this, they are not guilty by association. How do we take care of these people and how do we save what is left of the company became my biggest challenge.

Q. How important is learning for businesses to succeed in today’s times?
A. Technology is changing fast and if people are not keeping up with it, the business is clearly going to be obsolete. If leaders today lead the Gen X people the same way as they did with people before, they will not be successful. The reason is that Gen X grew up with computers, media and entertainment and have a certain level of wealth that the previous generation did not have. So they have higher expectations when they come into the workforce; they expect their leaders to treat them with respect and to include them in business. It is an employees market now, so leaders need to be constantly thinking what they need to learn.

Q. Tell us about your experience of living and working in India?
A. Coming to India, in 2005, was a unique experience for me and my family because I really believed in the Satyam vision and we felt like this was the place where we wanted to be. Though I was initially sceptical, we were quickly surrounded by people who were friendly and cared for us and really became a part of our lives.

Q. Do you think Indian businesses have it in them to compete in global markets? What changes are required to counter competition?
A. Indian companies are already competing globally and buying foreign businesses in other countries. The question is whether it can be sustained; that can happen if the business world in India wishes to nurture leaders capable to take good decisions and not sacrifice ethics for short-term gain, which is happening worldwide. Another thing that needs to happen in India really fast is that the corporate and the academic worlds need to have a greater connect with each other because universities are not producing talent as the corporate world needs. This is why we see all these statistics about graduates who are not employable.

Q. Your book talks about managing people in different parts of the globe. Your thoughts on a diverse workforce?
A. I think having a geographically diversified workforce is incredible! What it means for a leader is that you cannot do one size fits all; you have to build a relation with each individual and understand the influences he or she is bringing.


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posted by Editorial at 4:27 PM