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MANAGING The Near-Death Hall Of Fame It's easy to make a wrong career move. But the experience of some Indian execs shows it's possible to make a comeback. Here's how. By Seema Shukla
In some ways, it was almost disappointing. On my quest for careers that had been resurrected, ''brought back from the edge of the precipice,'' as my overwrought editor put it, I'd expected to encounter far more graphic descriptions of corporate near-death experiences. I'd expected to meet with thankful executives recounting moments of sudden epiphanies when they realised their careers were in trouble, big trouble, but that hadn't happened. That the 10-odd executives I spoke to had gone through the corporate equivalent of a near-death experience wasn't in doubt. It was equally evident that none was the worse off for having made a gigantic career blunder. Piyush Gupta, dotcom India's poster boy for all of the eight months he headed go4i.com, is back where he came from, Citibank. When he left the bank, he was head of its Indonesian operations and on the fast-track. Today, he is in-charge of the online initiatives of the bank in Asia, and, on a faster-track. ''I have no regrets,'' says Gupta, who has no reason to have any-his dotcom experience may have well helped him land this assignment. ''Most people who have gone through such an experience in their career will benefit in the long run.'' Then there is R. Shyam Sundar, arguably, one of the country's finest consumer marketers, who left SmithKlineBeecham for Max New York Life. Five months after he joined, and a full six months before the business rolled out, he was out again. One headhunter says Sundar joined Max NYL too soon, before the company could find a CEO, and when it did discover Anuroop 'Tony' Singh, he wanted to put his own team in place. So, Sundar did a born-again thing, and ended up as head of marketing at Dabur India's healthcare division. Soft landing, that.
It can happen in a hyped up industry like horizontal portals; it can happen in a sunrise industry like insurance; it can even happen in a mature industry like chemicals and aircraft-parts. In 1996, after a decade and half with the DCM Group, Manoj Kohli moved to Escotel as head of its human resources function. Eighteen months later he got what he considered his biggest break, an opportunity to be the Executive Director in charge of operations of transnational Allied Signal that had (in those days) ambitious investment plans for India. The investments never happened, Allied Signal decided to focus on China, then got taken over by Honeywell, and Kohli left. ''I realised that if Allied Signal wasn't growing, there was no way I (my career) could'', reminisces Kohli. His destination: Escotel. His designation: CEO. Picking up the pieces without getting hurt
Time was when a bad career move spelled d-e-a-t-h, especially for senior executives. That things have changed is apparent from the three instances reported (one is an accident, two is a happening, three is a definite trend). Strapped as they are for competent professionals-and things get really tight at the senior management level-companies are no longer averse to hiring, well, failures. Not failures in the conventional sense of the word-like Coke's Sergio Zyman who managed to live down the New Coke debacle (he was the man in-charge of the project) to become the company's marketing head-but failures in terms of making a wrong career move. ''Today, there are lots of senior positions going and few people to fill them, so executives who have made a wrong move or two, still get a look in,'' says Rajinder Sinh, the head of hr at HFCL. B. Anatharaman found that out to his surprise. The 46-year old chartered accountant spent 17 years with tyre-major Goodyear in various parts of the world. Not happy about being asked to shift to the company's Indian arm which wasn't exactly setting the roads ablaze, he moved to the Indorama Group as President and CFO. The change from a professional, transnational culture, to an entrepreneurial, family-managed one didn't suit Anantharaman and when the Max Group offered him the post of CFO he jumped ship. ''I didn't expect an offer so soon, but I was happy to get out,'' concedes Anantharaman. Expect to hear more stories like Sundar's and Anantharaman's says Preety Kumar, the CEO of search firm Amrop International. ''It's happening more now. And will continue to do so as people keep pace with the economic environment by shifting jobs.'' If such changes do not always work out, blame it on the inability of individuals to cope with a change in culture, unrealistic expectations on the responsibilities that come with the new position, or simply, the unwillingness to deal with the uncertainty associated with several start-up situations. A surprise move followed by an even more surprising exit doesn't look good on resumes. ''You have to be able to justify why you moved out,'' says R. Suresh, the CEO of another search firm, Stanton Chase. ''It is essential to give yourself time in a new situation. If things still don't work out, walk out.'' Pumping the Rolodex helps. As do keeping in touch with people and happenings in one's previous company and industry, and being candid about why things didn't work out. But even the worst of career moves has some things going for it. Kohli, for instance, learnt all about the Six Sigma process and how it could be applied to non-manufacturing contexts at Allied Signal. It was Larry Bossidy, then Allied Signal Inc.'s chairman who introduced the concept to former colleague and golfing buddy Jack Welch. There is, of course, such a thing as making
a wrong move once too often. ''If it has happened to the same guy twice,
our warning antennae go up,'' agrees Kumar. That's the caveat, then. The
best of managers can make mistakes and end up in a dead-end company, a
no-future job, or with a sadistic, control-freak CEO. India Inc., will
allow them one mistake, and just that. Cats may have nine lives; careers
have just two. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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"I'd never felt this kind of fear
before. My entire career flashed before my eyes in a few instants. The
immediate-future had never looked more uncertain...'' The speaker paused
for effect, but spoilt it by taking a sip from the cup of coffee on the
table before him; his table, a typical I-am-obviously-not-real-wood piece
of office furniture, and the coffee was standard vending-machine fare that
came in a Styrofoam cup, not a mocha from the nearest coffee bar. The man
was obviously mouthing lines he thought I wished to hear mouthed (and I
did these); he was a good actor, but not good enough. I put a cross
against his name in my pad, another dud.
