Dialogue

An alumnus of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, and an accredited coach (ACC) recognised by the International Coach Federation, Makarand Khatavkar, group head–human resources, Kotak Mahindra Bank, has built HR teams from scratch, more than once.

A seasoned HR professional, Khatavkar’s career spans three decades. He has spent around 20 years in the BFSI sector alone. Prior to joining Kotak, he led HR at Deutsche Bank.

He speaks to HRKatha, on how the banking industry is realigning its people’s strategy with the changing business environment, and the plans specific to Kotak Mahindra’s employee engagements.

Richard Lobo is a qualified mechanical engineer who decided to pursue a career in human resources. Post his PGDM in Marketing and Finance, from Xavier Institute of Management, Lobo dabbled in sales and marketing at Godrej & Boyce.

He joined Infosys in 2000 where he was recently appointed as the senior vice-president & head-HR. In his new role, he oversees the functions of business HR, employee relations, geography-HR and HR delivery for Infosys.

In the last one year, the company has introduced several changes in terms of people practices. Lobo chats with HRKatha on the company’s people strategy and his overall view on the changing dynamics of the human resource function.Excerpts!

Deodutta Kurane, group president and CHRO, YES BANK, has faced all sorts of challenges during his career. He started off in the manufacturing sector, and then shifted to the banking, financial services and insurance sector (BFSI) with liberalisation. Today, this HR leader is managing a new-age bank with an altogether different set of challenges, with digitisation impacting the business the most. In an interview with Sonali Chowdhury of HRKatha, Kurane shares the effect of digitisation in banking and the way forward. 

From a Class-I gazetted officer with the government of India to the CHRO of India’s largest business house, the journey has not been a cakewalk for Prabir Jha, president & group CHRO, Reliance Industries.

Jha started his career as an assistant works manager at the Dehu Road Ordnance Factory, Pune, in 1990. However, after completing nine years in a secured government job, he decided to test new waters. He took two years’ leave to pursue a full-time course in HR from XLRI, Jamshedpur, which marked the beginning of his corporate life. Jha has diverse experience across industries—from engineering and information technology to pharmaceutical and automotive— and now even a business conglomeration. His personal goal is to support people to become better professionals and more importantly, complete individuals.

He speaks to HR Katha on a subject that plagues the HR industry today — the use of data in human resources. Excerpts…

Yuvaraj Srivastava spent more than five years with the Indian army before he moved to the corporate sector. This certainly makes him a differently talented HR professional.

Post his army days, Srivastava dabbled in different sectors starting from an industrial unit (Asian Paints), moving on to hospitality (The Oberoi), then to FMCG (PepsiCo) before joining a new age company (MakeMyTrip). His exposure to HR management in different sectors has contributed to the richness of his experience.

Srivastava, CHRO, MakeMyTrip speaks to HRKatha on how human resources is same yet different in varied sectors. He has coined different terms for each of his experiences. He describes how serving the armed forces has taught him to be a better HR professional. Excerpts!

Rattan Chugh, an engineer by design and a true HR professional by default, has close to three decades of experience with global organisations, ranging from startups to leading multinationals. He started his career as a hands-on engineer in the IT industry and grew through the ranks to serve in several key positions in the financial services industry.

Currently, the chief people officer at Times Internet, Chugh is focussed on building and sustaining a culture of excellence at the Company, that entrepreneurs and leaders could leverage for success. He talks to HRKatha about his experiences across industries, talent management and what it truly means to be an HR professional.

It’s been less than a year since Johnny C. Taylor Jr., SHRM-SCP, took over as the president and CEO of Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). A practising lawyer and a seasoned HR professional, Taylor has authored a book The Trouble with HR: An Insider's Guide to Finding and Keeping the Best People.

He was in India recently and took out time to chat with Lipi Agrawal of HRKatha. Here are the excerpts of the interview, where he talks about the changing landscape of HR and the role of technology in it.

Prof. T V Rao is a known name in the HR circuit. In his recent book, – ‘Effective People’ he has studied and analysed effective professionals from all walks of life. The book demonstrates how one can push oneself to become effective, and ultimately be super effective.

Currently, the chairman of TVRLS, Rao has many firsts to his credit. He is the founder and first president of the National HRD Network, and the first honorary director of the Academy of HRD, India. In a career spanning 40 years, he was a Professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad for over 20 years beginning 1973 and subsequently an Adjunct Professor until 2014.

He speaks to HRKatha on his new book, and shares his views on HR in the present corporate world.

In his career spanning over 24 years, Lalit Kar, head HR, Reliance Digital has been involved in three start-ups and one closure. He is experienced in the entire spectrum of HR starting from industrial relations to organisational capability building.

Kar has spent more than decade managing HR in the organised retail sector. He speaks to HR Katha about the reasons for the high attrition rate in this sector and how companies can put an end to this problem…

Jonathan Vehar, global VP-products, Dale Carnegie & Associates was in town. Vehar has worked with organisations to develop leadership and innovation solutions necessary for growth. He is considered to be an innovation thought leader. In an exclusive interview with Lipi Agrawal of HRKatha, he, along with his colleague Pallavi Jha, chairperson & managing director - ?Dale Carnegie Training India, share the future of training and the role technology will play in making training a measurable exercise. Excerpts…

A core business professional turned HR leader, Kaustubh Sonalkar is currently the president-HR at Essar, and chief executive officer at Essar Foundation. He believes good people management is about idealistic thinking, and is more invested in the practical execution and achievement of those futuristic ideals through creative channels.

A high risk taker, willing experimenter and learner, and also an out-of-the-box thinker, Sonalkar is design oriented rather than control oriented. He talks to HRKatha about his experiences across industries and cultures and what future organisations will look like.

A research scientist and wine maker, he also has a first class honours degree in human biochemistry. But that’s not what best describes Mark Inglis — the first double amputee to summit Mt Everest. He is the fighter whose career has gone from being a SAR mountaineer to a legless one. He lost both his legs to frostbite in 1982, when he was stuck in an ice cave dubbed the ‘Middle Peak Hotel’, near the summit of Mount Cook for 14 days.

Inglis, now a motivational speaker, helps people achieve their own potential in life. He speaks to HRKatha on what the corporate world can learn from mountaineering.

Guillermo Miranda, chief learning officer, IBM is a seasoned executive with 19 years of extensive experience working in multinational environments across Europe, South America, Africa, West Asia and North America. A lawyer and business management graduate, Miranda is on his second stint with IBM with a mandate to reinvent learning and employee enablement for the digital and cognitive economy.

He speaks to HRKatha on how the landscape of learning is changing with the rapid digital disruptions.

Chandrasekhar Sripada’s wide experience of over three decades across economies – old and new –and across companies in the private, public and multinational sectors spans such as IBM, Capgemini, Reliance Infocomm, NIIT and Bhilai Steel Plant.

Sripada, president & global head, HR, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, talks to HRKatha about leadership styles and influence of environment; technology and its impact on the workplace; and about people practices in the pharma industry.

Adil Malia, group president, HR at Essar group, has worked across industries, cultures, regions and functions. From FMCG to hardcore engineering and infrastructure; from a Global MNCs such as GE, Coca-Cola to promoter led companies such as Essar and Godrej; from India to West Asia from employee relations, training, HRM, organisational development to marketing in tactical and strategic roles.

He shares with HR Katha his candid views on the state of human resources function in India.

Pingali Chandrasekhar aka Chandru spent 24 long years with Standard Chartered Bank as chief of the human resources function, before becoming an entrepreneur. A pharmacist-turned-HR professional, Chandru, founder and CEO, iCube Consortium, Singapore, has built expertise in all facets of human capital management aligned to business strategy.

He speaks to HRKatha on issues pertaining to HR including automation of the function and managing the boss.

Seema Nambiar, senior director, people resources, McDonald’s India–West & South, has been associated with the Quick-Service-Restaurant (QSR) sector for some time now, and  been part of the McDonald’s family for more than 15 years. Prior to this, she managed employee training for Domino’s India.

In her current role, she is responsible for ensuring seamless integration of company and people strategies at McDonald’s, West and South divisions. She focusses on enhancing the company’s employer brand image, and works towards creating a heightened Employee Value Proposition. In her previous role at McDonald’s, Nambiar was head – learning, development and strategy planning.

While sharing the employee development programmes at McDonald’s with HR Katha, she talks about how McDonald’s helps its employees build a career and not just pursue a job which is quite unusual in the QSR sector.  Excerpts