Gender Diversity

Marquee companies employ less than 2% women in their workforce

India Inc itself doesn't fare much better. In FY15, women comprise 18% of the workforce of Nifty companies, a study by ET Intelligence Group reveals. Excluding IT companies and banks, the proportion drops to 7% for the rest. 46 Nifty companies have reported these numbers for the last fiscal, as part of their business responsibility reporting. 

“Gender diversity in India does not get the place it deserves,“ says Bino Paul, professor and dean, School of Management and Labour Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences. “There is a need for change in culture from campuses to workplaces. It cannot only be incentive based. Such a change is possible if there is a large mandate coming either from business leaders or industry associations. For instance, a common code of conduct can be mooted by industry associations,” says Paul. “Firstly, on the supply side, the gender ratio in different sectors is skewed in India. For instance, household chores are predominantly performed by women. Secondly, on the demand side, Indian companies and proprietary firms have historically been masculine in nature and value system with diversity not being much appreciated,“ adds Paul. 

“It is not that companies are not giving opportunities to women, it is the woman and her family who more often than not determine the scope of her career,” says Usha Ananthasubramanian, managing director and CEO of Punjab National Bank and former chairperson of Bharatiya Mahila Bank. “There is no quota for women in PSUs. But because of their wider presence in the country, they have better access to hiring women across the country,“ explains Ananthasubramanian.

Hero MotoCorp's spokesperson said, “With Hero MotoCorp increasingly turning global in its operations, we have undertaken a robust initiative to enhance gender diversity...This not only involves reviewing our talent attraction and retention strategies, systems and procedures, but also drawing out tiered leadership development mantel for women employees. We have also been engaging in coaching and mentoring women staff to take up leadership positions.“

ET VIEW Hire More Women for India to Grow 

Source:Oct 30 2015 : The Economic Times (Bangalore) It's Time Corporate India Does a Gender Rethink Kiran Somvanshi





Leaders fail more often

Damien I O Brien, Chairman, Egon Zehnder answers:

Q: Are leaders failing more often?

A: Expectations from leaders are much greater today. There is a wider range of stakeholders, the level of transparency and immediacy* that leaders have to  deal with today makes it more challenging.

Q: What are the traits of effective board members?

A: There are distinctive traits that good directors have. Collaboration is important. Engagement around the board table is important. Insight is very important. You have to make sense of massive data, see patterns. Boards function best when you have low ego individuals who work towards the benefit of the organisation. Boards need individuals who brace diversity and are inclusive.

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/49809467.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst



*the quality of bringing one into direct and instant involvement with something, giving rise to a sense of urgency or excitement.

Skills

Leadership has to be value based.

Rajeev Vasudev, Egon Zehnder, global CEO, answers questions on leadership:

Q: How is the nature of leadership changing in a volatile world?

A: “The task of leadership has become more difficult. It has become much more challenging but I think leadership has not caught up with the change in expectation in today’s world. There is a mismatch between what is expected of the leaders in the volatile world and what leadership was traditionally. That needs to evolve as well. If you are not motivated by a bigger purpose beyond self then you are unlikely to be a successful leader. The leadership has to be value based.”

Q: What traits should leaders display?

A: 1. Adaptability is one of the most important criteria for leadership today.

    2. Curiosity, which is all about being open to new ideas; constantly learning not just about industry or environment, but also about self.

    3. Insight: Today, leaders are being bombarded with information. The ability to synthesize and to separate the signal from the noise is important . It is very important to have inclusive leadership today.

    4.  Resilience: The ability to go through ups and downs and staying focused.   Volatility will happen, that’s the new normal

Build Relationships

Konark Singhal, cofounder and managing director Mockbank:

The best leadership lesson he says: “It is never too early to start building relationships. Your current co works may not be movers and shakers but in a few years many of them will be the who’s who of the industry.”

On work life balance he says: “stay with a close friend, hang out with him /her after hours and on weekends discussing everything under the sun.”

Great Leaders

Tony Schwartz says:

“A great leader continually challenges his / her people to push beyond their current comfort zone; pushing people too relentlessly, however, eventually prompts fear and fatigue, both of which undermine great performance. In this case the balancing opposite is nurturing and caring for those one leads.”

Greatness as a leader, and beyond that as a human being, requires the vision to see more and exclude less. It means looking inside ourselves more deeply as well as outside ourselves, beyond self-interest and immediate gratification. It means not only resisting the deep impulse to choose up sides to avoid uncertainty, but also challenging our blind spots and wrestling with our infinite capacity for self – deception.

© 2015 The New York Times News Service.