Grooming Leaders at Home

Family-managed business are very particular about imparting leadership to their young generation. They start grooming the leaders at home during the early stages of life. Usually fathers take the ownership of grooming the emerging leaders in the family. Fathers are tough & possessive. They have their own methods & tools. Aditya Birla, Dhirubhai were such fathers who developed exemplary leaders. How did they groom leaders at home? How should be the upbringing of our children done if we want them to be the leaders of future? What is our role as a parents?

Business families don't search emerging talent, they produce it at home.

For the leaders of the family managed businesses, home is the b-school. They learn life lessons at home. They also have role models at home.Usually fathers are the 'talent managers', due to obvious reasons, while mothers focus on developing the emotional intelligence. Grand fathers are revered as role models while the grandmothers generate human bonds & develop social skills. For many business scions father and uncles are the 'go-to men' for domain knowledge & for crisis management, mother is a soft-skill trainer and the grandparents are teachers who nurture ethics and family values.

Fathers teach in the office, mother on the dinning table, grand father on the lap & grandmother through bedtime stories.

Sibling Rivalry Siblings & cousins not only provide benchmarks for performance measurement but also put peer pressure by raising performance standards through their achievements. Higher the sibling rivalry higher is the performance. They introduce healthy competition & teach how to compete while you cooperate with each other. Business scions develop lobbying skills while outfoxing others in the sibling rivalry.

Safety Net The extended family lays the support net which helps while getting into new businesses and ventures. They provide psychological support & also support in trade relationships.

Great leaders like Aditya Birla realised that just a leadership DNA, management education and inheritance wasn't enough for their next generation to succeed in the Indian business environment. G D Birla laid the foundation, Aditya Birla created Birla empire, & Kumarmangalam gave it global scale & transformed a Marwari company into a professional company. Kumarmangalam Birla took over as the Chairman of the Aditya Birla Group in 1995, at the age of 28, following the death of his father. During his tenure as chairman, the group's annual turnover has increased from US$3.33 Billion in 1995 to US$41 billion in 2015. Every Birla generation, with its unique leadership style created its foot-prints. They added value and led the company for life.

Business families have core values, business models & philosophy. These assets are passed on from generations to generations.

Understanding inheritance & legacy Business families have deep understanding of inheritance, they know how to create & maintain legacy. The family managed businesses have their own core competencies which have been developed over the years. The leadership style & scale changes from leader to leader but these core competencies, shared values & collective wisdom remains the same. Different business communities in India have different business philosophies & business models. Marwaris, Gujrathis, Kachis, Sindhis, Banias, Chetiyars, Boharis & Punjabis differ from each other on these parameters & preferences. These things are deeply rooted because they form a part of childhood.

In 'Family Managed Businesses', fathers added value by providing required exposure, training & hand-holding in formative years.

In Birla family, fathers spent a lot of time with their children, educated them well, provided them with the required exposure at right time. They ensured that their next generation would go through the rigour, labour & pains of development. Mr. Aditya Birla did it by making his son, Kumarmangalam pursue a professional degree, CA, along side his under-graduation degree, B Com. Kumarmangalam admits today, that this decision was the best decision imposed upon him by his father. The academic pressure crushed him hard but he came out as a winner with enhanced stamina & persistence. It increased his tenacity and ability to perform under huge pressure & expectations. Such upbringing is Kumarmangangalm Birla's real wealth & his challenge is how does he take this legacy forward as a father.

Bill Gates used to drive & drop his daughter to school himself in the morning, before reaching office, spending 45 minutes.

Bill Gates' daughter's school was not on his way to office but was in the opposite direction. His wife was reluctant to drive 30 minutes either direction because she had to take care of 2 more kids at home. Bill offered to help her & used to drop his daughter happily to her school at least for 2 days a week. He took out time from his busy schedule to be with his daughter. The discussed many things, with his daughter on the way while driving the car. It was a part of her upbringing. Bill Gates brought a social change by demonstrating how responsible father he was. Listen to his wife Melinda gates interview below telling more about this. Click the picture below:-

Great leaders are great fathers, they teach through their deeds & become heroes of their kids too.

Great leaders take out the time for their kids rather than giving any excuse. It is their investment in the future of their company and securing the future of their mission. Such investment pays off. Great leaders shoulder their social responsibility of bringing up socially responsible kids & emerging leaders. They treat fatherhood as a societal responsibility and create roles models for the society by raising the bar for other fathers. Ajay Piramal had to join the family business immediately after his MBA (MMS) from Jamnalal Bajaj (JBIMS) in Mumbai. The untimely & sad demise of his beloved elder brother, Ashok, passed on the leadership baton at very young age. The upbringing at home helped Ajay Piramal to become what he is today.

Great leaders do get certain unfair advantages but they have to face a lot more unfair expectations.

Leaders of the family managed businesses are measured against huge benchmarks. They have to fight against the law of averages which predicts against their performance because they are the sons of the successful fathers & grandfathers. Ambanis, Singhanias, Piramals, Birlas & other family managed businesses have to maintain this tradition if India has to become a superpower. Outliers in their family can put their business empire in danger.

Leadership comes as inheritance only when the person develops an ability to add value.

This explains the mega success of the industry leaders from family managed businesses like Mukesh Ambani, Kumar Mangalam Birla & his father, Rahul Bajaj, Robson Walton etc. The deficit on this account can put the person in difficulty. The tenure of the leadership depends on their ability to keep themselves up-to-date and relevant by adding value. The official position becomes redundant for such leaders.

The best investment in the world is investing time in your children. Get into their world & help them in getting into the real world.

Great political leaders also invest time in their children. Pandit Nehru wrote beautiful letters to Indira from prison. Xi Zing-ping used to take his daughter on bicycle ride. (see the photo on right). Emerging leaders, even from the political parties, must learn this. The leadership future of the promising Indian leaders like Priyanka Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav, Stalin, Supriya Pawar-Sule & Praniti Shinde depends on their ability to add value. The child of the leader who develops the ability to contribute becomes the 'leadership heir' rather than a legal heir. Struggling business and political scions lack this ability hence get rejected in spite of the leader's efforts to pass-on the inheritance.

Cursing own profession at the dinning table Some parents seek my advice to convince their children to get into their professions but kids don't want to do that. Parents feel they are fools. I educate parents & tell them that the are the source. They keep cursing their profession on the dinning table or in the drawing hall discussions. Kids listen to it carefully & form their opinions against that profession.

Business families teach their kids the world is same everywhere, seeking opportunities is important than just complaining.

Developing Attitudes B schools impart knowledge, experience develops skills. Business families focus on developing right attitudes to make their next generation 'Business ready'. Business families provide training to their kids on how to compete in the unfair world. They provide training to mould the environment rather than looking at it as a hurdle. They also develop an attitude to look at the half glass full rather than looking other way round. The 'On-Off' switch gets fitted which becomes useful to lead happy family life while working under huge pressure in the business.

Our Story Our only daughter Supriya always makes us very proud parents. She secured Maharahtra Governments high school scholarship, secured 96% in SSC (10th grade board) exams), & 90% in 12th grade exam in Commerce. In 2016, she secured the Gold Medal from Mr. Mukesh Ambani, during convocation for securing the first rank in the University of Mumbai undergraduate degree, Bachelor of Commerce, B Com in 2016. She was selected for internship in very tough selection process, by the Swiss Bank & did her internship at Credit Suisse Asia Pacific office in Hong Kong, China. It was proud moment to see her sitting on the 99th floor of the 107 storied tallest building in Hong Kong which is the commercial capital of Asia. Now she works with the Tata Group company, Tata Capital & recently identified as the 'Emerging Leader' at just 23 years of age. Recently she scored 730 marks in her GMAT score which can take her to Harvard or Wharton business school for sure. Her strong bond with socially commited Tata group will make her come back even after her MBA in America after a couple of years.

My wife, Arti, who works in the leadership position in the reputed bank in Mumbai & I realised Supriya's leadership talent in her early age. We tried very hard to give her maximum time. Her mother who was exceptionally good student in her school days, used to take care of Supriya's study while I was touring globally for my work in the international marketing. I use to teach her Maths. She is strongly bonded to her grandparents, cousins & the entire extended family. We focused on her overall development. Our family friends expected her to go for technology education in IIT Bombay which is the trend in the Maharashtrian middle class families but Supriya chose commerce & management, we supported her decision.

We taught our daughter that building character is important for developing a career. We taught her value of hard work

She is very obedient but still rebellious child. She wants to understand logic behind every 'family discipline' which she has to obey. But once convinced, she will implement it completely. We were so much happy to see our daughter being loved equally at her school, college, friend circle & now in the Tata group where she works. Arti & I always inspired her to do more & match her potential. We made her realise how she was a gifted child & how we choose only one child so that we can concentrate our parental efforts on her in spite of our busy corporate & academic careers. Arti & I always knew that the God gifted us world class talent & we have to take her where she belongs. We always knew that the God chose us as the parents of the corporate leader, India will be proud of. Now it is matter of her efforts, our guidance & family's sacrifice supported by Ganapati Bappa's blessings.

?About the Author: Prof Dr Ajit Patil was awarded 'Top Voice on LinkedIn - 2017'. He is a Management Writer; Marketing, Business Development & Retailing Consultant. He conducts Management Development Programmes; trains & coaches Sales & Marketing teams. He has been teaching MBA students in India & overseas for over 18 years. He can be reached at [email protected]

Supriya, with her precious gift after securing a Gold Medal in the Mumbai University.