A Collage of Memories

This article was published a year ago on my retirement from TMTC in the Learning Post.

Now, a year later, I would like to share this with a wider audience. It's hard to believe that one entire year has gone by! So much in my life has change but a few things remain constant: the love and affection of colleagues and friends both past and present. Please join me as I revisit my thoughts from July 31, 2021.

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Dear Colleague, I trust you and your loved ones are doing well.

This is also a time to reminisce about my career, which spans around 40 years! Condensing so many watershed moments in my life is not easy, but I will try to do them justice. Let’s start a little before my career. The day before I went to college, my father and mother sat me down and told me that they loved me dearly, and I had the freedom to do what I wished, but they also told me what the right path is. Their act of trust in me and giving me the freedom to make my choices made me feel responsible.

I recall my first day of work. It was about 6:00 AM on April 13th, 1983, when my mother shared this Proverb,?“Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it is in your power to act.”?Sometimes the words of someone you love and admire reverberate in your mind, and so was the case with my mother’s words here. As life unfolded, I think the various responsibilities I had gave me enough opportunities to share the good I could.

Many thoughts come to my mind as I pass on the baton at the Tata Management Training Centre. During my time here, I have often said to people that I thoroughly enjoy what I do and do not consider it to be 'work'. In my mind, that is what defines the transformative nature of TMTC, the first corporate university in the country and the second oldest in the world. For JRD Tata to envision a leadership development centre in 1947 when there were no management institutes in the country was, I think, pathbreaking.

The intellectual architecture of TMTC is equally supplemented by the cultural architecture, which the team at embodies through building trust, providing stewardship and impeccable execution. It was therefore a privilege to be part of this team and to lead them. I am genuinely grateful to each one of my team for their support and trust in me in these six years. The transition from physical to digital this past year was almost like changing the course of the river overnight. Team TMTC rose to the occasion and did admirably over the lockdown to demonstrate that learning is key to many things in the pandemic.

I believe it is essential for a person's values to be so imbued that they're able to stand for what is right for the institution. Two incidents come to my mind in this regard. In the first situation, a guest occupied a room on the premises beyond the completion of the programme they attended. Since the guest wasn't on the premises but their luggage lay in the room, I had given an executive order to remove their suitcase and leave it with the administration. Gautam, a now retired butler, went against this order and persuaded his manager as well, saying that they would manage the situation to see that work and the stay of future participants didn't suffer.

In the second incident, Sham, who is another butler, was helping a faculty member arrange the furniture in a classroom late at night to prepare for his session the next day. In the process, the faculty member injured his toe. Sham swiftly took action by offering first aid till he could reach out to his seniors. I marvel at this sense of ownership, stewardship and extreme customer orientation. I Believe a team is extremely good when someone who hasn't completed school education or taken a course on customer service can think differently and have the self-assurance to execute a plan.

More recently, as we were all coming to terms with the 'new normal', a lady programme coordinator faced challenges in the form of several medical emergencies, one after the other. Her parents were injured and needed care and her grandmother was hospitalized, and she had to step in as a caregiver. This programme coordinator continued on her post to see that the programme went on smoothly during this particularly trying time for herself. I also noticed all her colleagues stepping in to support her so that the reputation and work of TMTC could be upheld. This attitude of service and dedication to the institution is commendable.

The impact of our team's dedication is palpable too. A few years ago, a batch of IAS officers attended a programme at TMTC, wherein we included feedback with a psychometric instrument. In a one-on-one coaching with one of the officers, he discussed his blind spots and watch-outs He listened to me attentively to my questions and took steps to act on the sessioin. Two years later, he gave me a call inviting me to an event with a few days' notice. He said that he was launching a nation-wide initiative and that he wanted me to be present at that launch. Additionally, he wanted me to address the audience! What touched me was he publicly acknowledged the role of what he learnt at TMTC in helping him launch a project of national importance. The event was attended by several ministers, international partners as well as the NITI Aayog members. In my mind this defines the amazing platform TMTC is and the transformative power of the classroom and coaching.

This journey has also enabled me to experiment and take risks. One such initiative is called 'Unconventional Learning' where participants and members of Team TMTC go to unfamiliar contexts to observe, assimilate, learn and apply these learnings to their own context. We once went to the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and listened to the officers talk about the work they do. Also present was the project leader who had launched GSLV Mark 3 D2. One participant asked the officers a question which seems very innocuous and familiar to us in our day jobs: 'How do you set individual key result areas? '. There was silence. No one responded. The person repeated the question. One of the officers said, 'I don't really understand your question'. Several participants immediately chimed in with a chorus of 'Tell us, how do You set individual key result areas? '. One of the senior members of the space centre then responded thus: 'You know, it takes all of us in this room 7-10 years to design and develop a rocket and about 10 weeks to assemble it all together from different places. After those years of preparation, it takes us only the first 20 seconds of the launch to tell whether our outcome is a success or a failure. So you see, there's nothing individual about it. We are all in mission mode. This taught me that whatever work we do, we should look at it as a mission rather than a 'job' or 'career'.

I will retire at the end of July 2021. Looking back, I think the changes I have seen can be expressed in these words: previously when you came to TMTC, it was a facility, but now TMTC comes to you, it is a solution for you, your department and your company.

I am delighted Anand Shankar succeeds me in this learning mission. I am glad that he brings both his experience and insights from different worlds to TMTC. I want to thank you, for all your support and partnering during my tenure at TMTC, for the last six years.Along with colleagues at group HR and the team TMTC, we have collaborated wonderfully. It has been a rewarding journey and truly we have all achieve a lot together, including awards at international forums for the business impact our programs create and our innovations in learning. We have also learned a lot and raised the bar.

In closing, I recall a chat I once had with Prof. Das Narayandas of Harvard Business School. Talking about the character and quality of the staff at TMTC, I said that nothing has ever been lost at TMTC, because the staff have impeccable honesty. Prof. Das remarked, 'Emmanuel, you are right that nothing has been lost, but a lot has been found'.

Many years ago, Nazarene my wife, in a conversation, told me?‘you become invaluable by the value add you bring’.?This is an excellent question to grapple with, How may I add value and therefore make myself invaluable? I think that is the key to competitive advantage.

Finally, I want to leave these words with you – ‘with humility comes wisdom’, and wisdom is integral to learning. May wisdom guide you in all your endeavor.

A Collage of Memories