Imagine having a workforce that is dedicated to the hilt, is motivated when the back is against the wall and is disciplined. Sounds unreal? Well, not really, if one were to apply certain battlefield strategies to the boardroom. This, according to senior leaders of the armed forces and industry will lead to employees delivering delight to their customers.

This was discussed at The Custommerce National Convention held in the city on Friday . Business Line was the media partner for the event.

Encouraging leaders to take the initiative and be sensitive to the customer, Lt Gen (Retd) Shamsher Singh Mehta said, “You cannot win in the boardroom if you are afraid of taking risks.” He said that organisations must understand the vulnerabilities of the competition and act swiftly to fill the gap in services the competitor has left.

Drawing parallels between the battlefield and boardroom, Mehta said that it is important for leaders to delegate responsibility. “As a leader if you take 1/3rd of the time to plan, you must give your executives 2/3rd of the time to execute,” he said.

Bhaskar Pramanik, Chairman, Microsoft India said that the success of his company lay in protecting its vast customer base. He quoted extensively from Sun Tzu’s “Art of War,” to convey that building a favourable ecosystem for employees within the organisation, innovation, and playing to win as some of the attributes that are the essential ingredients in winning the corporate battle. He also took the opportunity to take a shot at rival Apple when he said, “Apple designs products for the elite…at Microsoft we focus on democratizing our products to cater to broad base of people.”

In the armed forces, motivation is high because the cadet signs up for the services voluntarily, said Vice Admiral (Retd.) S. C. S. Bangara.

>satyanarayan.iyer@thehindu.co.in

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