 |
| "Despite
a hectic schedule, I make it a point to book myself into
hotels with well-equipped gyms"
Darshan Mehta/CEO/VF Arvind Brands |
Every time Darshan Mehta, CEO,
VF Arvind Brands, jets out of the country on one of his innumerable
overseas trips, one of the first things he packs into his travel
bag is a pair of gym shoes and his workout clothes. While he spends
most of his working week shuttling between Mumbai, where he lives,
and Bangalore, where he works, he also spends considerable time
on the road meeting clients, partners and employees across globe.
Despite this hectic schedule, Mehta makes it a point to squeeze
up to an hour, thrice a week, on working out-he prefers to sweat
it out at the swish gym at the tony Bangalore Club, but travel constraints
mean that he has to often settle for a hotel gym. "I book myself
into hotels with well-equipped gyms," says Mehta, who also
burns calories with a twice-weekly game of squash.
While it was initially only select professions such as investment
banking where executives spent seemingly endless hours at work,
a booming economy means that people-across all levels-working
in several fast-growth industries such as it, retail and financial
services are now compelled to work long and stressful hours to
keep pace with this rapid growth. So, executives have to find
ways to fulfill their professional commitments and still find
time for family, hobbies and self, i.e., in other words, become
super executives, who don't grumble about long hours, family commitments
(and the lack of time to fulfill them) and the absence of time
away from work.
 |
| "I consciously
take three or four short holidays every year with family"
Saugata Gupta/CEO, Consumer Products/Marico |
How do they do it? IT companies were among the first to offer
employees destress options, including gyms, sports facilities
and lounges, to help them unwind and maintain efficiency levels;
now other firms also offer similar facilities. "Employees
need to be as competitive as possible. So, we emphasise practices
like flexitime and job rotation to help ease the burden,"
says Kalpana Srinivasan, Head (HR) at Aspire Systems, an outsourced
product development company.
"It's just as important to make time for yourself as it
is to make time for work and family," says Renuka Ganesh,
Associate Manager, Tavant Technologies, who took six months off
after quitting her last job, to pamper herself and unwind from
almost a decade on the job. A licensed student pilot, Ganesh has
learnt to manage her time to meet her changing lifestyle demands
(from being a member of the Air Wing of the National Cadet Corps
or NCC to being the mother of an energetic five-year-old).
| WHAT'S HOT? |
| Activities that are top
of the charts with today's super executives.
Gymming, circuit training
Yoga and meditation
Dance, especially calorie-burning ones like Salsa
Trekking, hiking and weekend trips to the great outdoors
Sport; everything from horse riding to biking to squash |
| SIX-POINT FIX IT |
| Do you do all or any of the following? If you
don't, it may be time to start.
Find time for your preferred activity, ideally after work
on weekdays or on weekends.
Make the effort to spend some quality time with your spouse
and children.
If you find yourself speeding to work and then back home
at the end of a day, check your company notice board or
the internet for groups you could join.
If you're planning to hit the gym with a vengeance, for
example, find good instructors and take it one step at a
time. Ditto for Salsa or Meringue; if you feel you want
to dance, look around for reputed instructors.
It may be more fun to go trekking or rock-climbing when
you are among a friendly bunch of colleagues or friends.
Make it a point to get together with friends and other
like-minded people for social interactions at regular intervals. |
A.L. Rao, coo, Wipro Technologies, uses a distinctly less active
way to relax; he follows a strict regimen of yoga and meditation
to unwind. An ardent fan of the Art of Living school of Yoga,
Rao can often be found meditating at airport lounges when he's
flying to important business meetings. Rather than enjoy an easy
Sunday, Rao prefers to drive to the Art of Living campus on Kanakpura
Road, on Bangalore's outskirts, and spend a day quietly meditating,
away from the chaos of the city. "I meditate for 40 minutes
every morning and 15 minutes every evening, wherever I am; over
the weekend I go running with music, since this helps me release
toxics and tiredness," says Rajnish, Head of Digital Marketing
and Revenue, msn India
 |
| "We work long
hours and riding is a great way to get away from the heat
and dust and traffic in Bangalore"
Indivar Reddy/Project Manager/OnMobile |
"Prioritising work as soon as it is allocated is the best
way to find time outside the confines of your cubicle," says
Indivar Reddy, a 33-year-old Project Manager with OnMobile, who
spends his weekend riding his BMW F-650 motorbike to destress.
"We work long hours and riding is a great way to get away
from the heat and dust and traffic of Bangalore," he says,
adding that executives must make time for themselves and a hobby
to maintain freshness. "For five days, we worry all day (and
often all night) about work, so it's imperative that we have something
to distract ourselves from work," says Reddy, who recently
rode all the way to Ladakh.
Travel is another great stress-buster. If you're the adventurous
sort, you could explore far-flung places, especially North East
India, which remain unspoilt due to its remoteness. If you're
on a larger budget, everything from Iceland to the Antipodes is
fair game, say travel operators. A recharge break, though, doesn't
have to be an expensive, long vacation. Many executives swear
by the benefits of shorter breaks to recharge their batteries.
Getting stuck at work for 12 hours or more may be an unwritten
requirement nowadays, but taking short breaks helps balance the
work-related fatigue. "I consciously take three or four short
holidays every year with my family," says Saugata Gupta,
CEO, Consumer Products, Marico, who makes it a point to spend
time with his kids and take brisk walks every morning.
 |
| "It's just as
important to make time for yourself as it is to make time
for work and family"
Renuka Ganesh/Associate Mgr./Tavant Tech. |
While many people prefer to unwind by meditating and trying to
mentally shut out the daily grind, others prefer more unusual
pursuits. Ashwini Kapila, Director, Barclays Capital, for instance,
is an avid cyclist who also likes to go trekking in the Western
Ghats and has even driven from Mumbai all the way to Leh, via
Manali, Drass and Kargil. Sridhar Iyer, Senior Vice President,
Consumer Credit Risk, Personal Financial Services, HSBC, plays
basketball religiously every weekend (he's even on the YMCA team
in Chembur, a Mumbai suburb). "I also get my hands dirty
by working on my plot of agricultural land at Pali, on the outskirts
of the city," he says.
If Kapila's experience is anything to go by, it may be a good
idea to hook up with like-minded colleagues, since a large group
often adds some extra zing to these activities. "I am able
to undertake these activities thanks to my colleagues," says
Kapila. One of his colleagues goes cycling with him in the morning.
While biking grew from a commuting necessity to a passion for
Reddy, finding a hobby or activity away from work need not happen
this way alone. Executives say a good place to start is often
the company notice board, which could list gyms that offer company
discounts, and provide news on dance, drama and music classes.
Then, there is the wide world of the internet and sites such as
craigslist.org or even the more local burrp.com, which offer local
listings to work-weary executives. Within companies, there are
often groups of employees who have common interests and some water-cooler-side
gossip is perhaps the easiest way to get started.
 |
 |
| "I get my hands
dirty by working on my plot of agricultural land at Pali,
on the outskirts of the city"
Sridhar Iyer/Sr. VP, Consumer Credit Risk/HSBC |
"I am able to undertake these
recreational activities thanks to my like-minded colleagues
"
Ashwini Kapila/Director/Barclays Capital |
At the end of the day, it is important to take a long-term view
of things and demarcate well-defined boundaries between work life
and activities away from it. "Work is stressful and we tend
to get completely spent by the end of every week. To be prepared
to go back to work energised every Monday, you must be able to
disconnect (and then reconnect) with the daily grind," says
Reddy. Arvind's Mehta adds that while it's important to find a
way to relax, it's important to be as dedicated to your preferred
activity to really unwind. "Working out is like an addiction
for me; I must spend time in the gym or on the squash court regularly,"
he says.
Engineering Finances
India Inc is looking for financial engineers.
Deal Street is getting increasingly complex and difficult. It's
no longer enough for companies to dip into their cash reserves
or approach banks for finance to buy up other companies. Cross-border,
and even domestic, deals now require complex financial arrangements
that are increasingly becoming the domain of a niche group of
specialists. Financial engineering, as this is called, is already
an accepted, and very lucrative, domain in the West. Now, Indian
companies, too, are beginning to scout for people with this specialisation.
The preferred candidates are MBAs with a specialisation in finance,
or Chartered Accountants, or someone with both qualifications.
Says Shiv Agarwal, CEO, ABC Consultant: "Even Chartered Accountants
are now increasingly coming out of accounting mindset and becoming
finance specialists."
-Rishi Joshi
FACT BOX
WHO'S HIRING: Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan Chase,
Goldman Sachs, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank and a host of other
companies.
WHO'RE THEY HIRING: MBAs with specialisation
in finance and Chartered Accountants.
AT WHAT LEVELS: Mostly at the senior or middle
management levels.
AT WHAT SALARIES: A middle-level executive,
with 5-10 years experience, can get salaries of Rs 30-40 lakh
P.A; at senior levels, the pay can touch Rs 1 crore. They also
get hefty commissions.
AND THE NUMBERS: Industry-wide figures aren't
available, but given India Inc's appetite for M&As, demand
is expected to explode in the years to come.
COUNSELLING
Help, Tarun!
Q: I am currently in the final year of graduation in commerce.
I want to direct TV commercials in future. Is there any course
I can take up? Please suggest.
You can do courses in advertising and media relations as well
as film directing. For example, Xaviers Institute of Communication,
Mudra Institute of Advertising and Communication and various other
institutes offer courses in film direction. There are also several
schools offering these courses abroad. Also, you can start by
assisting someone in the field. This is a trend that has evolved
over the past few years and it provides a great opportunity for
newcomers to learn the craft.
Q: I am doing a one-year PG diploma in marketing. I
want to explore opportunities in logistics management in retail
chains. What are the job opportunities in retail, and are there
any specific courses? Please suggest.
There are short-term courses in Logistics and Operation Management.
An MBA with an operational leaning may also enhance your career
prospects in this field. There are plenty of job opportunities
not only in the retail industry but in all industries involving
manufacturing, stocking and selling as well as in the consulting
and shipping industries.
Answers to your career concerns are contributed by Tarun Sheth
(Senior Consultant) and Shilpa Sheth (Managing Partner, US practice)
of HR firm, Shilputsi Consultants. Write to Help,Tarun!
c/o Business Today, Videocon Tower, Fifth Floor, E-1, Jhandewalan
Extn., New Delhi-110055.
Answers to your career concerns are
contributed by Tarun Sheth (Senior Consultant) and Shilpa
Sheth (Managing Partner, US practice) of HR firm, Shilputsi Consultants.
Write to Help,Tarun! c/o Business Today, Videocon Tower, Fifth
Floor, E-1, Jhandewalan Extn., New Delhi-110055..
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