Coimbatore : Debashis Chatterjee is a respected academician and renowned author in his own right who is incidentally the Director of the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode. In a refreshing interview with Sujatha S, he comes across as a leader who wears his heart on his sleeve, but not in any way ashamed of it.
Coimbatore : Debashis Chatterjee is a respected academician and renowned author in his own right who is incidentally the Director of the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode. In a refreshing interview with Sujatha S, he comes across as a leader who wears his heart on his sleeve, but not in any way ashamed of it.
Sharing his heart on a range of topics including leadership, education and the changing business scenario, Chatterjee sheds many uncommon perspectives. "The whole spectrum of education is not about more information, more skills or more jobs. It is beyond all this. Mediocrity is not lack of education, but it is the obsession with oneself, the "Me-centred Universe. Someone can be a President and still be mediocre, but a farmer can be extraordinary. That is the meaning of education. Education is about expanding beyond self-obsessive concerns to concerns about the world and concerns about the fellow human being. The learner should be liberated from the self-centric impulses which is the true meaning of education," he opines.
Leadership 4.0
Stating the importance of 'Leadership Skills,' the IIM Director says, "Leadership 1.0 is about Muscular Leadership, it's about 'might' where women did not stand a chance. After the Industrial Revolution, Leadership 2.0 moved from muscles to methods. From pure physicality, leadership transformed to who had the best methods. And from there, it moved to the Internet age. The physical empires crumbled and mental empires were established, and that was Leadership 3.0 . Information could move across boundaries without physical barriers. Information architecture was the key. It was not about brick and mortar structures. Nike or Reebok did not even own a shoe manufacturing unit but they were the market leaders. Mind share was as good as market share."
"Leadership 4.0 is about 'Responsive Leadership' in the technology era. Information is not just good enough, which is available everywhere and does not cost much. It's about how to respond to information. Now it is no more about 'technology,' but about the 'human mind' which is far superior than any computer or technology. It is about human evolution and not about technological revolution. It is about being responsive to an opportunity and converting it into a successful venture like what two design students in San Francisco did which gave birth to AirBnB, which in the span of 10 years became bigger than the Hilton group of Hotels and American Airlines. It is about how to respond to an opportunity in real-time and convert it into the right business model," elucidates the IIM Director.
The Professor in Debashis Chatterjee slowly unravels as he elaborates on the four themes of Leadership - Authenticity, Connectivity, Productivity and Possibility. He highlights the example of McDonalds which is advertising its supply chain to show authenticity and transparency in business.
Role of MSMEs in the 4.0 world
Debashis Chatterjee is confident that MSMEs have a bigger role to play in Leadership 4.0. "For the MSMEs, the margin of error is much less because their survival is at stake. So obviously they will have more challenges. But in the 4.0 world, large organisations will have more scope for smaller organisations The bigger organisations cannot do everything. There are certain inevitable services for which they have to depend on smaller organisations. Even corporates have now outsourced everything but their core services, like an airlines which has outsourced its food, cleaning services etc. Smaller companies should use opportunities to exploit the weakness of bigger corporates and start catering to that need. There may be inefficiencies in the bigger companies and the small units can capitalise on these inefficiencies. Small players can bring in an emotional content which the large companies are not capable of," he adds.
Chatterjee elobarates further on the advantages of small units in the 4.0 world. "Small units can personalise products which bigger companies cannot. Companies need not grow big for scaling up is not the only option for business, but scaling down and sustaining for a long time can help businesses. First, value has to be created which automatically generates volume. Investment should be on quality and micro excellence will be the key," he reiterates.
Gender diversity in IIMs
IIMs have increased their seat share to women by enrolling 33.5 percent women for this academic year, in their flagship two-year programme. This is a steady rise from the 28 percent in 2018. Talking about the role of women in the current business scenario, Chatterjee says, "The biggest market in the world is neither India nor China. It is the 'Woman.' Women do not have nationalities. The buying behaviour is decided by what a woman chooses. Women are decision makers as far as buying is concerned. So companies need to recruit more women as entry-level managers to understand their customers' buying behaviour. So, the companies turned to institutes like IIMs, whereas IIMs were producing only 8 to 10 percent of women candidates which was the case a few years ago - a demand-supply mismatch. Women are placed by organisations in our placements at a faster pace than men. It is because the 'learnt qualities' which women possess, like being less aggressive, more accommodative, good team players, customer-focussed and network style of leadership. All these are essential business values which the companies need in their leaders and since women have this in them by their learning history, the institutes cater to the needs of the companies. In fact, IIM-Kozhikode was the first to bring in more women. We had 52 percent women in 2012 and now all the other IIMs are catching up," he concludes with a smile.