HR Leaders who have inspired me!

Unlike the yesteryear, where people fall into the HR gamut due to organizational need, I belong to a generation who consciously picked HR as my specialization for my Master's. in this article, I am going to enumerate the factors that pushed me to pursue HR as a profession and those HR Leaders who inspired me to be the professional I am today!

LOYOLA COLLEGE - I did my Bachelor's in Commerce (2004-07) and Master's in Human Resources (2007-09) from this prestigious institution. In the 5th semester of my Bachelor's I had a HRM paper, handled by Prof. Mr. Alston Rozario. This was when the first seed of HR specialization was sown into me. Mr.Rozario took us across the subject so well that I was literally amazed by the subject that I started to obsess over it day & night and started to enquire about the prospects for HR Master's. I had two options in front of me.

1. MBA - HR and
2. MSW - HR

I was particularly drawn towards the course structure of MSW (Master's in Social Work) and ended up doing MSW-HR. My master's course was enriched with more people oriented thoughts inculcated by professors like Mr.Purnachander, Ms. Akila, Mr.John Paul and Dr.Arul Kamraj. I excelled as an overall performer with the unrelenting guidance of these professors who moulded my young mind.

I passed out of my Master's in 2009, amidst peak recession. I had two job offers and both were revoked owing to the global recession. I was clueless, confused and stranded. I was going around industrial zones giving away my resume like bit notices. My cousin sister (who again is a HR Professional) referred me to a export garment manufacturing organization. That was when, I got to know Mr.Charlie Roy!

Mr. Charlie Roy - I still consider myself very lucky to have been hand picked by this gentleman to work for him as a Management Trainee. Yes! He gave me the much desired break among peak recession. He set me out into the wild by assigning me to a factory with around 600 employees. Unfortunately, the person who I was supposed to report to quit the job and I reported to Mr.Charlie. The export garment industry has frequent audits by the buyers and these audits are nightmares. Each and every audit is a litmus test, not only for the HR department, but for the entire organization itself. Every other audit I had been through has been a great experience for me. The "fresh out of college" professional learnt the nuances of real time HR from this man! It was a very brief stint for about 1 year with this exemplary thought leader, but, I still consider him as my mentor and look up to him and his thought processes till date!

Murugappa Group - I can proudly tell that I am a product of Murugappa Group having associated with this group for over 6 years out of my 10 year HR career. This was indeed my cocoon where I transformed into a steady HR professional under some amazing HR Leaders. This was the place where I learnt about responsible autonomy. Mr.Sankar Ganesh was my first ever supervisor here at E.I.D. Parry (India) Ltd. The very first lesson that he taught me was being independent and responsible. He boldly gave me responsibilities that I myself would have hesitated to delegate. He helped me walk through the testing times with ultimate balance and judgement.

Mr.Shanmuganatha Durai was my next supervisor who took my learning to the next level by letting me handle things far above my designation. He helped me master the relationship tight rope walking within the organizational hierarchy

I had the enormous opportunity to learn the art of HR from highly skilled masters at Parry like Mr.Sathyavrdhan and Mr.Swaminathan. Their guidance and insights have helped me to run a highly unionized organization, at the peak of union troubles, with me having just over a year of industrial experience!

Tube Investments of India - I owe a great deal to this organization as it always tried to bring out the best version of myself. Thanks to its robust management and the effervescent leaders it had. Mr.N.Prasad hired me thru a group internal transfer program from E.I.D. Parry. For a professional who had grown up in factory, the corporate office was too slow. Handling Mid to senior level recruitment for corporate functions, R&D, IT & Finance, also handling the Compensation & Benefits for the entire organization of around 4000 employees was quite challenging and enriching. This was the man who taught patience to this hardcore factory brought-up! I have never seen him raising his voice. He gets the work done by what I define as politely-stern demeanor. I am still trying to master this art of supreme patience, and, I am still trying only!

Mr.Sarath Kumar - My Contemporary! The best gift I got for myself during my tenure at Renault Nissan Automotive was this man. This man's thought process and his skill in developing frameworks amazes me till date. He has been my confidante and guide all through the time I have known him, since 2013. I have learnt the art of developing, intertwining concepts into workable frameworks for ready consumption by the stake-holders from this amazing HR talent. The best part of these frameworks are that they are exhaustive with no loop-holes and generate the desired results. His knowledge and the depth he traverses have always awed me and I feel blessed to have him in my closest circle!

Mr.RB Selvakumar - The bold stance - The personality - The thought process - The way it is articulated. All these attributes carves him out as a specially inspiring leader. I reported to him in my last assignment in India as the Head of Central Recruitment for Tube Investments of India. The space he gave me broke all barriers and helped me to reach out to him for help for some critical life decisions that I made. This gentleman hates to micro-manage and trusts his team completely, however he ensures that we are on top of the assigned job and ensures that we complete it successfully. He is one leader to whom you can approach at any given point in time with NO inhibitions. He had always been there for his team when they needed him!

Mr.Israel Inbaraj - Though I haven't had an opportunity to work directly with him. I had the golden opportunity to be part of the Loyola HR Alumni steering team. He was the driving factor and with few people like me, he created wonders by making the Loyola HR Alumni a legally recognized body. The approach that he took and the autonomy with target oriented activities inspired a lot of us, especially me. I have ever since looked up to him as a mentor and guide and reach out to him for various life matters where I anticipate careful guidance!

These are the few people who have continuously inspired me to become a fine professional that I am today. There are definitely few common factors among all the professionals I have listed out above. They are all simple, reachable, highly knowledgeable, helpful, considerate, self-less, compassionate and more importantly HUMANE!

These are some of the great leaders in my life who didn't create great employees, rather, they created great leaders!

Happy International Human Resources Day to all theses miracle leaders and to all the HUMAN Resources professional across the world!