In the valedictory session of the MMA Annual Convention themed “India@2047: Leapfrogging to the Future,”, Dr Santrupt B Misra, Former Director, Group HR, Aditya Birla Group, delivered the keynote address delving into various leadership issues
I served very proudly in the Aditya Birla group for 28 long years and took early retirement about three weeks ago on 15th January 2024 to pursue something strange in my life and in the public space. I made a choice to join the Biju Janta Dal in my home state Odisha, where I hope to serve as the national spokesperson and more importantly, hope to strengthen the work of the Honourable Chief Minister, Mr. Naveen Patnaik and to contribute back to my home state and this country called India, whose 2047 is what all of us are looking forward to.
Thought leadership, to me, is all about framing and asking the right questions. If Newton had not asked the question, “Why does the apple fall and go down and doesn’t go up?” a lot of inventions in this world would not have happened. It is important that we are excited about completing 100 years of independence. But the important question to ask: Is crossing 100 years that important? Or is it about what kind of an economy, what kind of society, what kind of a country we become in 2047 that is important? Merely surviving long enough doesn’t make you great; what makes you great is what have you done in those 100 years.
What will India become in 2047? What would we all like India to become in 2047? If the two converge, it is a great thing, but unfortunately, the two do not converge all the time. Is there going to be a gap between the two? How big is the gap going to be and therefore what we can do about it?
In quantitative terms, we can always claim we’ll be a 7 trillion, 8 trillion or 10 trillion-dollar economy. But we also land up in a situation where there is a larger income inequality. If you look at the human development index, India figures at 132 in a total list of 191 countries. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, our two neighbours, are ahead of us.
What are the lessons we can learn from the frontline? I’m not afraid to say that the top leadership of most large organizations are disconnected from their frontline. Does largeness of size of an organisation necessarily give the top leadership the privilege to be disconnected with the frontline? Despite the presence of the so-called and evolved digital and communication technology that we have?
Let me share three stories from my life where I had interaction with the frontline. I learned a lot from the frontline. I learned how to respect the frontline and to deal with it.
The Driver’s Son
The first story takes me to the days when I used to work for Hindustan Lever. I went to a remote factory in North India on a visit. I landed at a guest house. There was a third-party car driver who dropped me there. As is customary with most of us, I put my hand into my backpack and pulled out my wallet. I honestly don’t recall how much money I offered him—maybe 50 rupees or 20 rupees. When I presented it to him, he spoke in chaste Hindi; and what he said astounded me, and it was the biggest lesson of my life. He said to me, “If at all you want to give me something, can you give me some time?”
I said, “Okay, I’m here for two or three days. What do you want?” He said, “My son is the first generation in my family who has ever done matriculation. People like you are well read, educated, qualified and working for large companies. I would like you to spend a few minutes with my son to tell him what he can do after tenth, because nobody in my family is educated enough to advise him.” This was the first time I realised that the frontline people are so nameless and faceless. Perhaps, we even think they have no issues to confront in human life.
The Sales Executive’s Trouble
I was talking to a salesperson in one of the businesses and I asked him which markets he would visit for his sales. He told me about his areas and I asked him, “When you go, how many dealers and distributors do you meet in a day?”
He said, “Maybe one or two.”
“In a day, is it just only one or two meetings, after you travel all the way?”
“Sir. The last bus back from that market to my headquarters is at five o’clock. So I can meet only a couple of them.”
“Can’t you can stay overnight and meet more people?” I intervened.
To this, he said, “The company’s daily allowance doesn’t allow me to stay at a reasonably decent hotel. The only way I can stay there is by taking favour from the local dealer or the distributor, which would mean that I may have to give some concession to the dealer or the distributor.”
“Fine, when was the travel policy of your company last revised?”
“Honestly, I don’t remember but may be 7 or 8 years ago.” He continued, “Forget about the stay. I am supposed to keep even the two-rupee bus ticket; otherwise, I will not get reimbursement, as the auditor will object.”
The frontline people are the people who drive our revenues and companies. They go out there in front of the customers and provide service. But this story made me realise the status of our frontline and how neglected their working conditions are and in what conditions they work.
The Man Liked by All
Let me move to the third story. I was an Eisenhower Fellow in the year 2000. I was going all across America visiting about 30-35 institutions over two and a half months. I was visiting a company called Harsco Corp, around the year 2000 when it was roughly an $8 billion company. Its headquarters was in Harrisburg near New York. The company sent me a private jet to pick me up from New York and I landed in Harrisburg. They had sent me a limo. I got into the limo which was driven by an African American driver. As he drove, he asked me, “Whom are you meeting at Harsco?”
“I’m meeting the CEO Mr Derek Hathaway.”
“Oh, Derek! He is a great chap,” he said.
I thought that it was a best practice for limo drivers to give appraisal to CEOs of local companies or perhaps it was a latest American practice. As I mused, he dropped me at the Harsco office.
A few minutes later, I realized why the limo driver’s view was important for Harsco Corp. I wondered how he could have gathered the data? As I walked up the steps of the company and went to the reception and was introducing myself to the receptionist, I heard a voice from the back. “Hi Santrupt! This is Derrick Hathaway. Welcome to our company.” I was pleasantly surprised. I went and met him. After discussions, he took me to the dining table in his office where I could see an American Flag and Indian Flag. As we sat down, he gave me the menu. I looked at the menu and my eyes popped out. It was full of Indian dishes like paneer butter masala, chicken tikka and whatever. He said, ” I saw your schedule and I know that you have been crisscrossing the US. You must be fed up with American food. We have a great Indian restaurant nearby. So I ordered some Indian food for you.” Now I realised why the limo driver said, ‘Derek is a great chap.’
Our Brand Ambassadors
Coming back to the topic of the frontline, I could see how a company by exposing itself to the frontline can build a brand. As the Indian economy grows to 8 or 10 trillion, the frontline people are going to expand exponentially. As every retail showroom or gas station is opened, the logistics grows. Often an asset called a large truck is given to a semi-skilled or highly skilled driver along with an attendant or a cleaner. They carry the consignment of the customer from one point to another, fully empowered and trusted. GPS is the latest advance to the trucks. But for hundreds of years or decades in this country, truck drivers have honestly delivered. There could always be 5-7% rogue elements but 90-95% truck drivers as frontline people have carried and delivered consignments to the customers time and again. They have exhibited a sense of loyalty, sincerity and commitment.
Can we make 95% of truck drivers empowered because of a connect between the employer and that driver as an employee? Why is it that some organizations are able to create that while others couldn’t? The difference comes from how you perceive the frontline. How much do we know about them? How do we connect with them? How do we play our role as senior leadership with the frontline? The lessons for us as leaders are these fundamental questions.
Frontline Faces the Flak
Through my years in the Aditya Birla group and earlier in my job in Hindustan Lever, I used to go and meet most of the frontline managers. But 60% of their time goes in administrative work created by the company under various names such as risk management, control processes and all that. The managers spend very little time in getting to know the frontline and understanding their problems and issues.
Neither the frontline manager nor the store employees have the empowerment. Imagine you go into a garment store to try out a jacket. There are six air conditioners and two have broken down. The store manager is repeatedly writing to the headquarters for it to be fixed but there is no capital or revenue budget and he gets exhausted. The customers who come there get upset and word of mouth spreads that the ACs are not functioning. Ultimately, the store manager is held accountable for not meeting the sales target. In this case, who’s at fault? The leadership is faltering when they do not care enough about the frontline. We ask the front line to go to sales conferences and to go out and win the world. But we never tell them, “I want you to win the world. How can I help you and serve you to go out and win the world? What do you need from me?”
The frontline people are the ones who arrive early to open the stores or clean the restaurants. Think of your housing societies of highly educated people, where we employ watchmen. In what kind of working conditions do they work? Do they change their uniforms? Senior managers get fat payouts and bonuses while the frontline salary has declined. I was told that in the last two years, it has declined by 4.3%. Imagine when inflation is 7 or 8%, the wage bill is decelerating by 4%. How do you expect the frontline to remain motivated to drive and deliver your great purpose statement?
Thought Leadership is about embracing reality, asking tough questions to ourselves and finding answers to that. If at all Indian economy falters, it will be because of poor productivity from the frontline and senior leadership not paying adequate attention to the fact that this engine of economic growth and productivity can drive and deliver to create a significant rate of growth of 8% or 9%.
The frontline workers will struggle with nutrition, with health care and with poor working conditions unless we all in the organized sector care enough, think enough, feel enough and feel accountable enough to go and figure out how we can make this significant part of our workforce more productive to keep India competitive.
