• In Conversation

New Generation is taking charge at HCL Corp. CNBC-TV 18’s weekly show India Inc Gen Next caught up with HCL Corp chairman Shiv Nadar and his daughter Roshni Nadar, who is the new executive director of the company, to find out more about it.

Shireen Bhan (SB):  Being only in your 20s, do you feel ready for the responsibility of being the Executive Director and COO of HCL Corp?

Roshni Nadar (RN): Partly yes, partly no. At Kellogg, I studied social enterprise. Then on July 13 this year, we rolled out our school Vidyagyan, which I have literally been involved with from the start till it rolled out. Now, I’ve handed it over to the principal and teachers; they have to see our vision through. In many ways, I have had the chance to apply a lot of what I’ve read or learnt about. So, from that perspective, I feel like I am sort of ready. The not-so-ready part is that I have my parents kind of guiding the way and helping me.

SB: Were you apprehensive about how people would respond to you entering at the CEO level without having officially worked at HCL Corp?

RN: The only person I was actually working with was my father and people in the Corporation. I hadn’t worked in the operating companies, or had any exposure there. So I prepared myself and came back to get involved with Corporation. The only other contenders were my mom or dad, since it’s a private-holding company. When we talk about strategic direction and investments, this is truly our family portfolio.

SB: So what target have you now set for yourself for the next 12-18 months?

RN: Within the next 18 months, we will roll out the next VidyaGyan (most probably in Varanasi) and the Shiv Nadar University. All the plans are in place and we have already acquired land. So I am hoping that, by next summer, we can at least put the School of Technology into action. In my mind, we have conceptualized Shiv Nadar University to be along the lines of an American university—we will have a school of communication, a school of management, a school of education as well as arts and sciences.

SB: Mr. Nadar, what does it feel like to have a new occupant on your floor?

Shiv Nadar (SN): Before Roshni went to business school, she was here at HCL Corpo for a couple of years. She’s not exactly new.

SB: But that was not really a formal role, was it?

SN: At that time, she was learning more. After coming back from business school, she has been given the responsibility—and I have stepped out of it.

SB: I know how strongly you believe in meritocracy. So did you feel there would be question marks about this ‘inheritor taking over’ kind of situation?

SN: Operationally, both the HCL companies are pretty much on their own. They really don’t come to the holding company for very many purposes. Roshni was inducted into the board of the corporation so she could understand how a board gets constituted or reconstituted, and now how new issues could be raised.

In HCL Corp, there is a large treasury. It has been collecting since the time the HCL companies were founded. So, when I handed things over to her to run, she was very well-qualified to do it. I am sure she will make her mistakes—that is the key point of developing. I have to let her make the mistakes, and then let her recover.

SB: You have a stake of about 68 percent in HCL Technologies and 55 percent in HCL Infosystems. Is this part of a larger succession plan, so that Roshni learns the ropes and eventually takes on a strategic role for the listed entities?

SN: Both the listed entities have their own chief executives. I had to work through the succession plan for both companies. HCL Infosystems was done 15 years ago; initially, nobody believed that I would be doing that. They said Shiv cannot go away from it. When HCL Technologies was formed in 1999—at the time of its formation itself—all authorities I held were given equally to three people: One is me, the other was S. Raman, and the third was Vineet Nayar. Roshni will succeed me in HCL Corporation—no question about it. And she has succeeded. As for the larger role of board formulation or equity-related issues, that responsibility will go to her with time.

SB: You’ve built so many entrepreneurs in your career at HCL. What’s your assessment of your daughter as an entrepreneur?

SN: When you want to build an institution, you have to exhibit patience, caution and extreme ambition—and when you do that, you should not be afraid to fall.

That’s what I had to teach Roshni, ever since she was a baby. I have been encouraging her to fall in her endeavors. Right from the beginning, I have tried to help her evolve in a mode that makes you try and do things and think of things that are much larger. One thing that Roshni does extremely well, which I have been watching out for very carefully, is that she doesn’t micro-manage. That’s the only way by which people have a sense of belonging to an organization, because they then build things.

SB: And what have you learnt from your dad with regards to your style of management and how you approach challenges?

RN: You must always have a Plan B. Plan A is going to fail. Whenever I tell my dad that this is the plan I have, the first thing he says is, “What if this doesn’t work? Do you have a backup?” And he’s referring to a sustainable, almost equally-matched backup plan, not something to just throw back on. That is one thing that I have learnt from him. Even in the way that he has worked over the years, I have seen him making notes about everything. Now, I also write everything down!

©Entrepreneur December 2009

Tags:
HCL, Roshni Nadar, Shereen Bhan, Shiv Nadar