Top ten take away from Leadership Excellence Summit 2022

1.?Why Strategic Leadership Role:?The Leadership Excellence Summit started with the discussion as to why it is important for a Company Secretary to aim for a Strategic Leadership role. The consensus was that the Strategic Leadership role enables partnering with businesses by providing value-added services, leading to the possibilities of exponential growth for the business as well as a Company Secretary. All three panels unanimously recommended re-engineering the curriculum to facilitate easy penetration into the leadership role.

2.?Industry Expectations:?The expectations of Industry from the Company Secretaries to take up the leadership role were clearly culled out and it was stated that the first and foremost requirement is to understand the business, secondly should have the zeal to add value, and last but not the least should be a business enabler and not a show stopper. Industry expects the Professionals while maintaining excellence in their present domain should also look beyond to play an active role in advising & planning corporate transactions/actions.

3.?Developing a culture of Perfectionist:?It was advised that the Strategic Leaders should develop a culture of perfectionist and zero tolerance to give necessary confidence to the business regarding the compliance risk.?If in any case?an error happens, system should be revisited to check and ensure that the error should not be repeated.

4.?Right Mindset & Training:?Mindset was considered the biggest bottleneck and it was stated that curated training can easily help in overcoming this challenge. It was re-emphasized that the importance of training in the making of a Professional should not be undermined and necessary corrective steps should be taken to foolproof this part to prepare our next generation to bring the necessary agility, expertise, and leadership skills to meet the Industry expectations. At the strategic level, a different kind of behavioral skill set is required. Apart from being agile and passionate about excellence, our members should always work with Growth Mind Set, not with Fixed Mind Set. It means they should be always ready to accept new challenges instead of avoiding them.?

5.?Sustainable Learning & Growth:?To continue excellence in a leadership role, no compromise should be made on health to have sustainable learning and growth curve. Members must use/practice some tools and techniques to take care of their minds and body.

6.?Challenges of women Company Secretaries:??The women Company Secretaries who have to leave their profession or take a break for some time because of their personal reasons or family commitments, were advised to keep themselves Relevant to minimize the restart challenges. Here relevant means being agile for recent developments and passionate for their profession. If these two are there in their habit, any sort of break will not create any hurdle in coming back.

7.?Mega firms to position the PCS firms for Strategic Leadership Role:?It was stated that the size of the organisation, infrastructure, technology & domain expertise plays a very signification role in building necessary perception regarding the capability to undertake Strategic leadership consulting roles by PCS firms. This can be possible only through the formation of mega firms. ICSI has to play a major role in not only encouraging the members for the same but also providing models and templates for necessary mergers/collaborations.

8.?Group Company Secretary: As a Group Company Secretary, one is expected to demonstrate leadership skills, perform multiple tasks, respond to uncountable e-mails/ attend several meetings/calls, co-ordinate several stakeholders including authorities, satisfy the expectations of the Promoters, and above all ensure the Compliance in letter and spirit, therefore one should consistently invest in compliance tools, master on time management, develop the habit of maintaining a to-do list, instead of relying on memory, master himself in setting out priorities, develop a team who can take responsibility to take care routine functions & learn the art of effective delegation, in addition to taking interest in each and every aspect of the business value chain. Keeping academic interest alive will keep you ahead, and distinct, provide opportunities for Global compliance and add proximity to the business.

9.?General Counsel:?The Panelist emphasized the need to remove the myth that to take a position of a General Counsel (‘GC’), one has to have a degree in law. The Company Secretary qualification is more than sufficient, however, one has to possess the necessary legal acumen, analytical skills, and a deep understanding of the law. The role of in-house legal counsel is to understand the pressure points, strategy, and objectives of the business and effectively communicate the risks and legal issues involved in any decision to management to enable the management to make informed strategic choices within an acceptable legal risk profile. As a GC, one has to play more of a leadership position by guiding and navigating the business in terms of Governance, Risk, and Compliance (‘GRC’). The GC has to help the business not only identify the risks a Company/ business is exposed to but at the same time help navigate some of the issues.?The GC is the business partner to the Board, Senior Management, and HODs to help them ensure that the Company is not exposed letter to unforeseen risks which sometimes can have serious and disastrous consequences. GC has to understand the business well and is required to be easily and always be available to the Business Heads to resolve the business issues. As a GC one has to plan things well in terms of handling various issues. GC needs to have a good team of in-house lawyers to handle various issues. The capability is not developed overnight but over a period of time. The GC has to understand the regulatory framework, and the changing landscape of law which is not applicable to the business of the Company but even outside industry issues (generally impacting the judgment). GC has to take out time and develop a habit of reading and regularly updating himself/herself. With experience which gets developed through the grinding process, one can easily develop this capability.

10.?Advice to the members aspiring for Strategic Leadership Role:?In addition to mastering the subject well, one needs to invest time in understanding the business and remain relevant by making value addition to each aspect of the business. Understanding company business and processes, business partnering, and adding value to the business is critical. Optimal utilization of tech is indispensable. Networking with business leaders, regulators, newsprint, and media agencies are of prime importance. Inculcating a culture of teamwork, better communication, coordination, and excellence among team members to ensure their growth as well as functional excellence. Organizing detailed/ weekly reviews with teams, learning the art of delegation, a better understanding of business, processes, usage of technology, following updates on the Industry, economy, and regulatory front, and formal & informal interaction with board members and regulators are all key ingredients to success ladder. The bottom line to taking a ride on an exponential growth spree is to reach the minds of the Promoters by continuous value addition.