When G.S. Ramesh joined Hyundai as its first Indian employee, he found himself at the intersection of two very different approaches to work.
The Korean management culture brought its own expectations around discipline, performance and ways of working. The Indian workforce brought a different cultural context. For Ramesh, the challenge was not to turn one into the other.
“You cannot convert Indians to Koreans. And you cannot become Indian. So better synergise yourself,” he recalls in a conversation with HRKatha.
His response was to think about a culture that could draw from both. He even coined a word for it: “Hyundian” — Hyundai plus Indian.
The experience offers a glimpse into a much longer professional journey. Ramesh began his career with Tata before becoming Hyundai’s first Indian employee and, eventually, an entrepreneur himself.
In the upcoming episode of The Corner Office by HRKatha, G.S. Ramesh, Founder & Chairman, Layam Group, joins Prajjal Saha, Founder & Editor, HRKatha, for a conversation about the experiences, organisations and choices that shaped the entrepreneur he eventually became.
The discussion travels across nearly five decades, from his early corporate years to building Layam Group, but also explores a larger question: what do leaders carry from the cultures they have worked in when they eventually set out to build one of their own?
Watch the teaser above. The full episode of The Corner Office is coming soon on HRKatha.
The Corner Office goes inside the businesses shaping the world of work, through conversations with the founders who built them. It explores their entrepreneurial journeys, pivotal decisions and the ideas behind the products and solutions transforming how organisations and their people work.
