The Hindu Business Line : ‘Seek workplaces that develop leadership skills’

‘In India, youngsters expect to have a vertical career path, with promotions every one or two years. That’s not going to help them develop their leadership potential to the fullest.’

David Everhart, Managing Director, Leadership Development Solutions (Asia), Korn/ Ferry International.

G. Naga Sridhar

What should young managers look for in their jobs besides good working conditions and a handsome pay?

A good boss and the opportunity to learn leadership, according to David Everhart, Managing Director, Leadership Development Solutions (Asia), Korn/ Ferry International, a global provider of talent management solutions,

“For corporates all over the globe, a top priority is talent and leadership development. Unlike earlier, you don’t have 20-25 years to develop new executive talent. You have to do it much faster because the market is growing faster,” Everhart told The New Manager in Hyderabad.

So what should young mangers do in the circumstances? The management expert has a simple solution. Find a good company and a good boss. “Upcoming managers need to develop these skills by working for a boss who knows how to teach, coach and mentor them,” he says.

Further, one needs to be more patient and humble in their career expectations. “In India, youngsters with talent expect to have a vertical career path, with promotions every one or two years. That’s not going to help them develop their leadership potential to the fullest. You need to be able to convince people to take on lateral assignments that are different from what they’ve done before, shoulder special projects, etc. This will pay rich dividends,” Everhart observes.

On the management education scenario which is largely polarised between the IIMs, other premier schools and the ordinary B-schools in the tier-II and III cities and its relevance to leadership issues, Everhart has some frank observations.

“In India, I think MBAs are overrated thanks to the importance given to the formal education approach to leadership. But you don’t learn leadership in a classroom. So, I think Indian companies should forget the formal degree programmes. They should consider ways to teach people how to be effective leaders on-the-job. By emphasising academic credentials, they are actually missing the point. Young managers should also look for this,” he points out.

This attitude should also be reflected in the hiring process. “Rather than asking me whether I have an MBA or not, they (the companies) ought to be asking me: ‘What kind of business experiences have you had?’, ‘Have you ever worked for a difficult boss, how did you handle that?’, ‘Did you ever work on integration?’ Focusing on schooling may not always help in identifying talented managers,” he says.

Everhart sums up the success mantra for young managers in simple fashion: “Don’t try to maximise your short-term profits at the expense of your long-term career goals. Find an experienced business leader that you respect and you can learn from, and stay with him or her. Seek as much feedback about your leadership style as possible from people around you, including people who work for you.”

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