Dr. Nagendra Palle, fondly known as Nagi, is a distinguished leader with over two decades of global experience in the automotive industry. He currently serves as the Director of Sovereign Solutions Pte Ltd., based in Singapore. From January 2013 to March 2018, Nagi was at the helm of Mahindra First Choice Wheels Ltd (MFCWL) as its CEO, steering the company through a transformative phase in India’s rapidly evolving used car industry.

Before his impactful tenure at MFCWL, Nagi worked with OPENLANE in Redwood City, California—one of the premier online wholesale marketplaces in the United States, facilitating the sale of over 300,000 cars annually. His rich career spans various automotive domains, including R&D, business planning, strategy, finance, mergers & acquisitions, and online vehicle retailing/auctioning, in globally renowned organizations like Ford Motor Company, Visteon Automotive Systems, A.T. Kearney, and Accenture LLP.

He earned his B.Tech from IIT Madras, followed by an M.S. in Applied Mechanics from the Colorado School of Mines, and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Adding to his stellar credentials, he also holds an MBA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with distinction, specializing in Finance and Strategy.

Nagi’s thought leadership is reflected in his contributions as a speaker at prestigious platforms like The Economist, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and the Institute of Theoretical Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His accomplishments include two U.S. patents, participation on Accenture’s exclusive Management Consulting Advisory Panel, and winning A.T. Kearney’s Great Client Work Award.

He has also served on award committees for the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C. and has been recognized for his expertise in both the corporate and academic worlds.

• In this episode Dr. Nagi Palle talks about Entrepreneurship and Leadership outside bigger Corporations and how a new mindset is required for surviving in a globally competitive world of startups. In this world one needs to be entrepreneurial rather than follow a corporate mindset. Models such as TQM, widely applied in the larger companies, are hardly known or used in the startup world.
• While management models in themselves are not necessarily useless, their applicability in a wider range of contexts may be limited. So, the same set of rules that apply to a 5-billion-dollar automotive company cannot bureaucratically be applied to a startup which is just starting to earn revenue.
• Another critical is a lesson learnt from Silicon Valley startups- no one spends on training. The employee is expected to come in with adequate knowledge to start being efficient from day one, without handholding. These and other efficiency parameters are discussed by Dr. Nagi Palle in the episode.

Run time – 00:44:07

Birendra Kumar Tiwari is the Director-in-Charge of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), Bokaro Steel Plant. He has a highly process-oriented mindset. During his tenure as Executive Director (Works) at Bokaro Steel Plant, he brought safety and quality to the forefront of all operations and services. His leadership was instrumental in de-bottlenecking crude steel production constraints, resulting in record production levels across all units. Significant strides were made in new units like SMS (New) and CRM-III, with quantum jumps in output.

As Executive Director (Collieries), he successfully operationalized the Tasra coal mines and charted a strategic roadmap for securing long-term supplies of indigenous coking and power coal, leading to a 20% increase in the supply of coking coal to SAIL plants.

Earlier, as Chief General Manager (Coke Ovens and By-Product Plant), he used safety and housekeeping as critical management systems to improve production, quality, and work culture and drive sustainable growth. Under his guidance, production targets were consistently met, and the performance of the shops saw a remarkable turnaround.

In today’s episode, I’ll be gaining his insights on the significance of process excellence in the Indian public sector environment.

• In this episode, B. K. Tiwari talks about Process Excellence in PSUs. He discusses internal assessment frameworks and continual dip-sticking in a dynamic environment to assess current capability and future competitiveness.
• Indian PSUs such as SAIL have evolved from the era of a protected economy to an era of global competition and have managed to survive. This speaks to its capability in transformation and modernization through process excellence and sixty years of resident knowledge.
• SAIL has also been using TQM for the last two decades or more to increase employee engagement and customer satisfaction. The business excellence wing in each and every plant brings in the necessary interventions aimed at continuous improvement.

Run time – 00:44:01

K Ramkumar is the founder of the Kautilya Leadership Centre, which focuses on developing leadership by making individuals aware of their personal leadership resources. Unlike traditional skill-based approaches, this personalized model emphasizes that leadership is an inherent resource in everyone.

Ramkumar retired as Executive Director of ICICI Bank, having served on the boards of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance and ICICI Ventures. Prior to his 15-year tenure at ICICI, he worked at Hindustan Aeronautics, Unilever, and ICI.

He is passionate about leadership development and played a key role in making ICICI Group a recognized leadership factory. Ram co-founded the ICICI Manipal Academy, which has trained 12,000 young leaders, and the ICICI Academy for Skills, which now operates in 23 locations, skilling 35,000 youth annually. He is also the author of the book Leveraging Human Capital: A Practitioner’s Perspective.

• In this episode, K Ramkumar talks about Appreciative Inquiry as a Lever to Maximize Strengths. The core idea is that development is possible only if you focus on strengths. Most coaches get it wrong when they try to overcome weaknesses. Ramkumar offers the example of the cricket team under Saurav Ganguly, where each team member’s strengths were developed. It would be a disaster if Rahul Dravid was asked to play like Sehwag. Instead, the team focused on individual strengths and together they made a formidable line-up.
• Great organizations focus on investing in human capital. Most organizations, on the other hand, believe that investing in financial capital or technology is the correct option. Using the example of the leadership team from his former organization, Ramkumar discusses how they invested in leadership and leadership qualities in their organization. He recalled how even younger team members were asked to attend board meetings, where they were not allowed to vote but were given the opportunity to learn.
• Ramkumar talks about Abraham Maslow’s Theory of self-actualisation, where every person tries to become the best version of herself or himself. If a person believes that their current version is the best version of themselves, then they are not coachable. But otherwise, every person can be shown ways to discover and improve on their strengths. This discovery process should uncover requirements relevant for the future since current capabilities alone may not be enough. Thereafter, it could indeed be a rigorous process to achieve that target.

Run time – 01:02:46

Prabir is the Founder & CEO of Prabir Jha People Advisory, a boutique firm specializing in strategic advisory, talent search, and executive coaching. An alumnus of St. Stephen’s College and XLRI Jamshedpur, Prabir began his career in civil service, managing HR and IR issues for the Indian Ordnance Factories before transitioning to corporate roles. He held HR leadership positions at Thermax, Tech Mahindra, Dr Reddy’s, Tata Motors, Reliance Industries, and Cipla.

Prabir Jha is a renowned HR strategist who advises companies in India and globally on transformation, talent management, executive coaching, and leadership development. He has received numerous accolades, including the Asia HRD Award, XLRI Distinguished Alumni Award, and recognition as a LinkedIn Top Voice. Prabir is a sought-after speaker, coach, and visiting faculty, with over half a million LinkedIn followers. He has also served on various boards, including Alcoholics Anonymous India and the Reserve Bank of India’s HR Advisory Board.

• In this episode, Prabir Jha talks about Leadership and Coaching in today’s AI-driven Enterprise. He shows that as a country we are obsessed with leaders, but we do not pay attention to leadership. Processes and relationship building are key to building leadership, as is pausing to take stock. This also applies to coaching in the same way, in trying to become more self-aware, and if necessary, taking help to improve oneself so that interpersonal relationships can also be bettered.
• In today’s context, it is also essential to learn how to lead disconnected teams who you do not meet face to face regularly. The role of coaching is critical, because often the management, who are constantly on the treadmill, fail to realize why they are not being effective, why they are failing to be impactful. And while in conferences people emphasize “collaboration”, it does not happen in reality due to several reasons, not the least of which is empathy.
• AI has the capability to streamline coaching, systematize coaching and create better linear processes. However AI lacks the ability to interact, and this is the reason why human judgement and on-spot feedback become essential. In other words, AI will not replace human coaching, although it will certainly aid and enhance it.

Run time – 00:41:42 mins.

Rajesh is the founder and CEO of GoodGovern, a company dedicated to driving impactful change by implementing best governance practices. Rajesh is on a mission to raise transparency, accountability, and sustainability within “Business-India.”

With over three decades of experience across various industries and business functions, Rajesh has established himself as a seasoned General Management professional. He currently serves on the Boards of Max Life Insurance, BlueStone, and Calibre Chemicals, and is a trustee of the Axis Bank Foundation. His past board roles include serving on the Boards of Axis Trustee Services Ltd., Axis Finance Limited, and Axis PE.

In addition to his corporate governance work, Rajesh is deeply involved in the ESG space. He is a member of the SES Governance ESG Advisory Board, and the CII Climate Change Council, and sits on the advisory councils of The Buddha Institute and the Grameen Foundation India.

Rajesh’s career also includes a significant tenure with Axis Bank, where he served as Executive Director of Corporate Affairs and was responsible for overseeing all corporate functions until December 2021. Before that, he spent 20 years with the Tata Group, where he took on various leadership roles, starting with Rallis India and later heading Tata Administrative Services (TAS). He also worked with Tata Global Beverages, driving the integration of global businesses and products into a unified supply chain.

• In this episode, Rajesh Dahia talks about Leadership and Skills in the Era of Change. He explains that with technological innovation there always were fears about loss of jobs and change in style of working and living. And yet change is relentless.
• Innovators must and will proceed to adopt and refine technology for progress, regardless of what happens to jobs. Therefore, leadership and workers must adapt and advance their skills to be relevant.
• While most leaders feel that once they reach a position of seniority, it is upon them to train and impart knowledge, in today’s context they must also remember that they themselves must also constantly learn and advance their own skills.

Run time – 00:33:36 mins.

Sanjiv Lal is the former Managing Director and CEO of Rallis India Ltd. He is a B.Tech graduate in Chemical Engineering from IIT Delhi (Class of 1983), and he has participated in executive development programs, including the Management Development Program at IMD Switzerland in 2000 and the Tata Strategic Leadership Program in 2007.

Sanjiv brings a wealth of experience from his time as the Chief Operating Officer of Tata Chemicals’ India Chemicals Business, before taking the helm at Rallis. Since joining Tata Chemicals in 2004, he has held several key leadership roles—overseeing manufacturing operations at two major units, managing the Agri Retail Business, and spearheading Organizational Transformation & Business Excellence initiatives. He also led the Information Technology function and was appointed Joint Managing Director of Tata Chemicals’ joint venture in Morocco.

Prior to his tenure at Tata Chemicals, Sanjiv spent 21 years with Hindustan Unilever, where he worked in various roles across the manufacturing and the speciality chemicals sector.

• In this episode, Sanjiv Lal discusses Process excellence in a technology-driven business landscape. He begins by talking about the Tata Business Excellence Model based on the Malcolm Baldrige criteria, which looks at various operational and business excellence aspects, such as leadership, strategy, customer satisfaction, etc.
• Sanjiv Lal believes that even with AI making significant inroads into business processes, ultimately, it will be people who will have to execute plans and implement operations. More importantly, we are decades away from fully automated factory floors where everything can be controlled remotely.
• In India, growth can only come significantly from small and medium enterprises, which form the broad base of the economic pyramid. The thrust of economic imperatives must be at a more pragmatic people-based approach rather than at full automation. Data and analytics can be used effectively to improve business functions, but people will remain at the heart of business activity.

Run time – 00:40:35 mins.

Rajeev Dubey is the former Chairman of Mahindra Insurance Brokers, Mahindra Steel Service Centre, and Mahindra First Choice Wheels.

Rajeev holds a degree in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, and furthered his studies at the Delhi School of Economics. He earned his MBA from the Yale School of Management in the USA.

He joined Mahindra in 2004 after a remarkable 29-year career with the Tata Group, which he entered as a member of the Tata Administrative Service (TAS) in 1975. His tenure included 21 years with Tata Steel, followed by leadership roles as CEO of Tata Metaliks and later Rallis India. Rajeev retired in 2020 as the Group President (HR & Corporate Services) & CEO (After-Market Sector), and a member of the Group Executive Board of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.

In addition to his corporate achievements, Rajeev has had a distinguished career in international labour relations. He recently retired as a Member of the Governing Body of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Geneva and served as a Board Member and Vice President for Asia of the International Organization of Employers (IOE) in Geneva. He has also led as the President of the Employers’ Federation of India (EFI) and the National Human Resource Development Network (NHRDN).

Rajeev Dubey’s extensive contributions have also allowed him to actively participate in the Steering Committee and National Executive Council of FICCI for many years.

• In this episode Rajeev Dubey talks about the importance of cultivating an organizational culture, and his definition of what an organizational culture is, in the context of a business enterprise— it is the way stakeholders behave as they take decisions. And this behaviour is created by means of certain levers. Thereafter Rajeev Dubey proceeds to elucidate on the HR levers that help in creating behaviour.
• He discusses his background as the General Manager of a township— Jamshedpur, which is a general town and not a company township. In an organization, it is easier to create systems due to command structures and ownership, but in the context of an open system such as a town, which comes with its multifarious stakeholders and baggage of all kinds of people, it requires astute handling, as well as a fair share of spirit, to take along all stakeholders to create value-oriented systems.
• Regarding AI, Rajeev Dubey believes that when we are dealing with a technology that can produce efficiency at the cost of dehumanizing, ultimately human values such as respect, empathy, ethics and appreciative inquiry, along with soft skills and governance, will become even more important than ever before. Research on the Future of Work from ILO, with which he has been associated, also points in the same direction.

Run time – 00:41:45 mins.

Sushil Jha is a visionary entrepreneur and CEO. Sushil is the Co-Founder and CEO of Career-9, an AI-powered platform dedicated to helping global youth unlock their potential and achieve career success. Through AI-driven diagnostics for students in grades 6-12, Career-9 provides a reliable method for aligning career choices with individual strengths and aptitudes.

In addition, Sushil Jha is the Co-Founder and CEO of 3Analytics, a groundbreaking SaaS platform that addresses global risks associated with Polypharmacy, Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs), and Adverse Events (AEs) in the pharmaceutical and medical device sectors. With a strong foundation in Pharmacovigilance and an engineering team based in India, Sushil leads the company’s global expansion, investments, and strategic partnerships from its headquarters in Silicon Valley.

Beyond his work at Career-9 and 3Analytics, Sushil is the Founder and CEO of QuantFarm, specializing in Business Analytics and Robotic Process Automation (RPA). He also co-founded LeadFormix, an emerging leader in cloud-based enterprise marketing automation.

Sushil’s expertise spans Big Data, AI, entrepreneurship, and go-to-market strategies, making him a pioneer in leveraging technology to drive impactful change across industries.

• In this episode, Sushil Jha talks about AI’s impact on the job market, future jobs and skills. He describes how the ease of using the new generative AI tools has opened it up to the public at large and made it accessible. Coupled with the productivity and creativity it brings to commerce and industry, gen AI has captured the imagination of the entire world.

• While some do worry about AI taking over jobs, the brighter side of the conundrum is that only jobs that can be automated – that is jobs that are mundane, stand to get automated. Jobs that require human qualities, on the other hand, can never be automated so such jobs will always remain only within the purview of human workers.

• At the end of the day, AI is simply a tool that must be leveraged appropriately. This requires human skilling, and people who understand the business case, correct application and technical requirements of deploying Artificial Intelligence are uniquely poised to reap multiplier effects from new and emerging technologies such as AI.