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Anjali Prayag

Bangalore , Dec. 8

"WHEN Azim H. Premji is in a meeting with us, we are only aware of the task at hand. He is only there to see that the job is well done and never to promote himself," says Mr Anand Swaminathan, Manager (Corporate Branding), Wipro Ltd.

In a study by global human resources and outsourcing firm, Hewitt Associates, Mr Azim H. Premji, Chairman, Wipro Ltd, possibly the most enigmatic personality in India's corporate sector, was voted the top CEO among 203 others in the Asia-Pacific region.

What makes the Wipro line-up go for success and how does the captain lead the team to it? Business Line got an insider view from the company's HR team.

The study found that the `CEOs' involvement is much higher in financially successful firms and that the best CEOs spend 25 per cent or more of their time building leadership.'

Confirming that this was one of the key strategies at Wipro to build internal leaders, Mr Ranjan Acharya, Corporate Vice-President, Human Resources Development, Wipro Ltd, says, "Apart from spending half a day in the Wipro Leaders' Program, Mr Premji spends an enormous amount of time on talent planning and review of all senior and top managers." He even goes through the appraisal and 360-degree feedback of every senior manager. The report highlights another common factor among the top players in the corporate sector:

These companies on an average groom about 76 per cent of their total leadership internally and hire the remaining 24 per cent from outside, while the others fill up to 41 per cent of their leadership roles with external talent.

And all the leading ten companies studied by Hewitt in Asia-Pacific have a specific strategy for developing leaders, compared to 72 per cent of the other study companies. And most of these companies use their leadership competencies in their succession-planning processes, discloses the report.

Commenting on these conclusions, Mr Pratik Kumar, Corporate Vice-President, Human Resources, Wipro Ltd, says, "Wipro has always followed these processes. We have been `focussing right' from the beginning." The stories about how Wipro has created leaders in the IT industry, is old hat now.

Talking about Mr Premji's leadership style, Mr Pratik Kumar says, "He believes that personal credibility is one of the most important traits of a leader. Leadership must coach and energise others is what Mr Premji demonstrates at the training sessions."

Mr Kumar also points out that Mr Premji knows `when to back out of the limelight and credit someone else in the organisation with success.'

Other factors that have contributed to Mr Premji's success as a CEO have been transparency and involvement. "Winning leaders are demanding leaders too," says Mr Kumar.

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