Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Young Leaders: Questions CEOs asked candidates and what they were looking for

Aug 09, 2016, 04.53 AM IS Pramit Jhaveri, Citi
Tell me about yourself as a human being - the non-professional elements of life that are important to create leadership?
Jhaveri believes leadership does not have to be restricted to business leadership, it could be related to any sphere of life. He was looking for the person as a human being. He was looking for youngsters who can work seamlessly in all walks of life. He would bet on young people who have a broader and multidimensional approach.

Noshir Kaka, McKinsey India
Describe your greatest achievement through somebody else?

Kaka says that the first job of a leader is to lead himself or herself. "To lead others, you need to understand who you are," he feels. He was looking for a combination of domain expertise with their intrinsic leadership and curiosity and openness to learn.

Kalpana Morparia, JP Morgan
Would you make a better boss, better subordinate or better peer?

Morparia likes people who are passionate about what they do. She was looking for people who could think out of the box and be entrepreneurial even in a corporate environment. "You have to identify with the purpose of the company." She was looking for people who have the ability to assimilate and are extremely stretch goal oriented.

Sanjiv Mehta, HUL
How did your childhood influence you?

Mehta was linking the past, present and future through his questions. He was looking for people who know their purpose in life and their true calling. For him, strategic clarity, good execution skills and good communication skills are important traits of a leader, but, at the same time, one must have the ability to reinvent oneself.

Harsh Mariwala, Marico
How do you create a culture of innovation? How does culture impact the organisation's performance?

Mariwala feels that one ought to have a constant drive to search for things and learn. He was looking for people who have curiosity and an innovative mind that constantly strives to set new challenges and do something out of the box. He was looking for people who have a fair amount of general awareness about the overall political and macroeconomic environment in the country.

Roopa Kudva, Omidyar
When you are two levels below the CEO, the relationship with which stakeholders will become most important to you: your team that reports to you; your peers or your boss? Rank them in order.

With this, Kudva wanted to gauge if the candidates understood the nuances of various relationships.

Shikha Sharma, Axis Bank
What would your team say they loved about you and what would they say they disliked?

Sharma was looking for clarity: both in the way the candidate understood how his team viewed him as well as an understanding of his own strengths and weaknesses.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Paytm
How would you handle a scenario when a teammate or employee isn't doing any work?

With this, he wanted to understand how a potential leader would deal with the pressure of either having to let that teammate go or have a tough conversation with them about resetting the goals. "My learning is that expectations from people can be high. So, I wanted to evaluate what a manager or a potential leader would do when the outcome isn't as expected. My personal choice is for a leader who doesn't shy away from taking a decision." He also asked a lot of people how they would build a $100-million business.

Rajan Anandan, Google
What if you wake up tomorrow morning to be the CEO of the company you are currently working in? What would be the three things you would first do?

Anandan was trying to throw the candidates in situations where he would get to judge candidates based on strategic abilities and spontaneous reactions. His idea was to force them to think 'big picture'. He was assessing candidates' potential to be future leaders.

Pranay Chulet, Quikr
How do you see your leadership skills evolving, and how long do you plan to stay on in your current role?

A sense of purpose is an essential quality of a leader, felt Chulet. He was looking for people who are valued by their organisations, who are excited by their work and can demonstrate consistency in their career paths. Vineet Nayar, (formerly of HCL Tech) Sampark Foundation What was the biggest risk you took and what were your learnings from it? In his view, leaders need to stop judging themselves and just go ahead and take a decision. A good leader, he feels, must focus on specificity as well.

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