The Hindu Business Line : Latha Rajan, Director, Ma Foi Management Consultants Ltd; Stella Maris College, Chennai

Industry & Economy - Education
Columns - BL Club
States - Tamil Nadu
Latha Rajan, Director, Ma Foi Management Consultants Ltd; Stella Maris College, Chennai

‘Connect socially’: (From left) Ms Ranjini Manian, CEO, Global Adjustments; Mr John Chiramel, Country Director, MAS Holdings (Pvt) Ltd; Ms Latha Rajan, Director, Ma Foi Management Consultants Ltd;, and Ms Leema Francis, Head of the Commerce Department, Stella Maris College, at a BL Club event in the college.

Our Bureau

Chennai, March 22 The new generation of CEOs have to be quick to understand what is required and adapt to change. They should be at home in an unpredictable work environment and be good people managers given that 60 per cent of all organisations today are engaged in the service-related industry.

Increasingly, organisations are becoming socially aware and are keen to connect with the community that they work in. The new generation of managers, therefore, should also be able to connect socially, according to Ms Latha Rajan, Director, Ma Foi Management Consultants Ltd.

She was speaking at a panel discussion presented by Indian Overseas Bank under the aegis of Business Line Club on New Generation CEOs at Stella Maris College. The discussion also featured Mr John Chiramel, Country Director - India, MAS Holdings (Pvt) Ltd (one of the largest apparel makers in Sri Lanka), and Ms Ranjini Manian, CEO, Global Adjustments. Mr Chiramel listed qualities that would remain relevant for managers through the generations. Honesty was at the top of the list, followed by the ability to manage people, the ability to work in teams and knowing the process or the job they were entrusted with.

He added that personnel in any organisation could be slotted into four categories: The competent employee with who the right attitude to work; the competent employee but with the wrong attitude; the incompetent employee with the right attitude – such employees, he said, were an asset in any organisation; and finally the incompetent employee who also had the wrong attitude.

Myths about success

Ms Manian shattered the myths surrounding successful people. The first myth - that only trained people can do the job - was completely untrue as the new generation was ready to pull out all the stops to get the job done. Second myth is that only B-school ideas would work since any idea could work provided it had firm foundations. Another myth related to failure and its perception as a black mark. This was a wrong notion since every failure should be taken in one’s stride and people should learn to move on.

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