What western CEOs can learn from their Indian counterparts?

In terms of lessons for managers elsewhere, one of the most important things is that Indian leaders lead with a sense of social purpose. Having a social purpose really motivates workers. If we can articulate a social purpose for our organisation and take it seriously, it can have real benefits. Indian companies do that by taking smart, motivated people, really engaging them and investing in them, and letting them loose to just beat on those problems, often with just trial and error approaches, until they come out with a solution that's kind of out of the box. Because of this, they can even motivate workers in the most emergency situations like economic downturns.

Indians are known for miticulous planning with lots of interlocks to see that the lender is not left high & dry and also the borrower is capable of repaying the dept, with ample legal recourse to recover to the lender.

Joke goes to the extent that you have to prove to the bank that you do not need money, only when you will be paid the loan.

Negetive to growth as it may sound, but the business basics are in tact & cheating or bancruptcy does'nt affect both the parties.

American or any western encouragement to disberse loan to the potential customer, without colatteral is a good concept as long as the borrower is sincere & pays back the loan. There is no recovery for defaulters or potential borrowers who may loose their jobs. Even here the % if is within the tolerable limits it is ok. Subprime problem was not only huge, but also uncontrollable & un recoverable as the spread was out of control.

Westerners must learn from we INDIANS that SAFETY & BUSINESS go together. And it is not crime to ask for collateral security.

Krishna Burli

Hi diya, i slightly disagree with your point saying western ceos should learn from indian counter parts. If incase you have analysed our situation during recession, Almost all indian firms where really in great problems. Reason a) Domesctic market shrinking down b) export market getting affected more.

With these if incase govt didnot take any initiatives to pump in some money, try and give more exemption on taxes, duties, an in all terms then by this time we would have never recovered.

Just for eg :- pre budget there were indications that govt may reverse all the benifits which they provided

during recession any only listening to this companies started acting conservatively.

Hence We cannot simply say that western CEOS shpuld learn from indian counterpart as all are equal.

We are better in creating the courses of action and deciding on the best course of action in compelling situations and also where the opportunities are more and fragmented in market. 

indian managers do not need straight jacket job descriptions or defined tools of management, shared objectives are achieved in collectivity like a large indian family deploying the resources and talent effectively giving each one his due without sidelining as such,

finding unique local/global solutions collaborating effectively with multiple sources forging interpersonal loyalty and commitment within and outside with all stake holders the government, the community, the business, the employees etc with mutual respect and considerations with adaptability biting the elephant bite by bite deciding, learning, making mid-air corrections, simultaneous tight lose properties and marching ahead with faith and humility

not counting the chickens before they are hatched, but caring for all the chickens with dedication leaving the results humbly to the blessings of God almighty not saying God Bless as if God himself - celebrating the rain when it rains, and rushing to salvage the losses if it rains too heavily believing in right action each time rather than planning too meticulously like a perfect God and spending energy in monitoring all the while perhaps not allowing the chickens to be hatched and distracting all the while, having faith in the large family of stake holders motivating them to contribute to their best all the while and aligning them like the music band master,

as krishna in the epic of mahabharata an inspiring leaderhsip role with effective strategy and communication not letting down any stake holder at the same time being on the side of the righteous and respecting the opponent too and being compassionate and respectful enough with all.

 Lord Rama can bow down to kaikeyee the motherly queen of dasaratha who plotted to banish Rama to the forests,  without any negatives in his heart treating her will as God's will for the larger benefit of the community as an opportunity to defeat ravana and the rakshahas with the help of a mediocre team of monkeys lead by hanuman - under his divine inspiring leadership, while ready to sacrifice his queen seeta under the scanner of public opinion without loss of any love for her and later ready to be defeated by his sons lava/kusha with humility and love but bravely as a king bound by his role.

hope this humble vague attempt is able to convey,

regards/kshantaram

In the developped countries, like the USA, till recently, CEOs of companies ( all are private players ) used to controll ( manipulate ? ) the economy, its priorities, its reach as "free economy" ( lasiefare ?) used to prevail. Their prime concern was / is to earn their bonus, commissions and packages after pleasing the share holders. Interests of common man and country as a whole was / is never a priority for them.

Of late, CEOs of those countries are learning how to cope up with a "moderate control" from the Govt. When in India, they may get more exposures to deal with the stake holders like the Govt. in case of PSUs, customers as the main 'focus area' and country men as the un-seen beneficiaries. Here, to earn a huge and hefty salary, you are to abide by all rules as Govt. remains as the "Watch-dog"

It is a given that while Western economies may continue to falter, India would enjoy even higher growth than it enjoyed before the crisis. A research recently published in the Harvard Business Review indicated that the heads of India’s biggest companies have a different approach to leadership from Western bosses. The Key differences shown were that Indian chiefs lead with a sense of Social purpose as the goal of their business; ranging from improving healthcare in India, to getting cell phones to people who don’t have access to phones and  and proving without doubt to the international community that Indian companies lead in certain field typical example being  IT and the fact that having a social purpose really motivates workers. Highlighting a social purpose of your company and investing in employees takes the organisation that extra mile. Indian firms do invest an enormous amount in their employees; training and development. U.S. firms, the research points out have largely abandoned investing in employees, seeing it as a waste if they leave the business and adds that employee turnover is estimated to be 30 percent in India, and investing in employees ensures the quality of those who stay at the company. As against Indian CEOs, U.S Chiefs is more concerned with meeting quarterly results.

U.S. companies often think about strategy in terms of chasing customers or pursuing market opportunities, but Indian firms will more often start by identifying their strengths, identifying their customers’ needs, and then try to meet those needs and they that by taking smart, motivated people, engaging them and investing in them, and letting them loose to just beat on those problems. 

Not in the particular context of the aftermath of the economic crisis, but Western CEOs could learn skills in creating, maintaining, and nurturing government-industry relations from our Indian CEOs. I think our CEOs traverse a much more complex terrain than the Western CEOs do in terms of managing government relations,.

In my opinion, economic slow down was man made. Big business houses stopped pumping money into the markets. India does not depend much on the outside help. This is not so in developed countries, especially in the USA. So many foreign countries invest heavily in the USA. When I was living in New York, I heard so many times that the USA is bankrupt. Now, after coming back to India, I find that there is truth in it.

Secondly, Indian employees are very cooperative. They do not shout much if there is a pay cut or if they do not get a raise. This is prevalent in small to medium size organizations. So, I will salute the Indian workforce instead of saluting Indian CEO's.