AZIM PREMJIs VALUE-BASED LEADERSHIP

Suparswa Chakraborty
Leadership Development involves identifying and measuring
leadership qualities, screening potential leaders from non-leaders,
then training those with potential. The definition makes it sound
like a simple recipe to keep cooking up a steady flow of leaders. I
wish it were.
According to Wicker-Miurin, the Characteristics of the New Leader
are:
1. They go away from what they know
2. Build bridges and walk across them
3. Have a sense of the great arc of time
4. Know that they depend on others
5. Remember that its not about them, but it starts with them
6. Have humility The Leadership Development function exists to help the
organization gauge the future, create the model of leadership that
will be needed to be successful today as well as to create a
benchmark of what the future will demand of leaders. Once the
benchmark is set, it is all about identifying potential talent that
can be groomed to take on the mantle of leadership in future and
then deciding what will develop those leaders to build the
competencies that will make them successful in navigating the
organization in a world we do not know yet. It is about preparing
for a world we do not know, for skills we do not know about yet
and using methods we do not always understand.
The agenda for Leadership Development is to first build
mechanisms that scan the environment that will prepare leaders
to make sense of data that can throw trends. Leaders have to
constantly scan the latest ideas from science, humanities,
technology and media to recognize data points that will help them
build an outline of the things to follow. The better the leaders
view of the ever changing future, the more successfully can they
prepare the organization to navigate in that direction ahead of
others.

The Leadership Development function has to then learn to predict

the leadership model that will be most effective in this world. For
a global organization like Wipro, it means a complex equation that
also factors in the cultural contexts, multiple generations, varied
and often contradictory regulatory mechanisms that the new
leader of tomorrows organization will grapple with. Would that
lead to one common model of leadership? Should that be different
for different businesses and geographies or should there be some
common elements and a few that are appropriate for the local
context where the leader is operating? After all it is against these
criteria that leaders would be stacked against to see how they
measure up.
Leadership Development is also about identifying what can be
taught better by training and what is to be developed by job
sculpting and coaching. It works best when there are multiple
learning options. Training is just one of the many ways in which
we can equip our future leaders to deal with today and tomorrow.
The organizations processes must all work in tandem to make
leadership development happen. It means making difficult choices
to abandon the familiar only to retrace the steps sometimes. This
is where technology can be leveraged to design content, to
deliver content, to replicate content and make insights available
on tap. It is not only time to re-examine the role of the Leadership
Development function in the organization, but also time to
evaluate how we can leverage social media to build a two way
conversation to sustain the learning and development process.
The notion what Leadership will mean tomorrow is still evolving.
Development is a complex process and some of the technology of
learning is in itself work in progress. Yet, the task of Leadership
Development cannot wait for all answers to emerge because by
then, the questions will change.
The Leadership Development Culture and Practices at
Wipro
One of Premji's most important accomplishments has been
creating a sinewy management culture that thrives even under

intense competitive pressure. He established two core principles

that are instrumental in building the character of his leadership
team.
1. The first is rare among India's family-controlled companies: The
chairman is not king. While Premji owns a controlling stake in
Wipro, he shares authority and responsibility with his
subordinates.
2. The second key principle: Premji believes in a zero-politics
culture. At Wipro, backstabbing, playing favorites, and kissing
up to the boss -- tactics that sap much of American executives'
energy -- simply don't work. Open and honest disagreements
are not only tolerated, but also required -- of everyone.
When tracing WIPROs efforts into its present global status a few
important issues come to mind. The reader may like to reflect on
reading as to how and why it was possible for WIPRO as an
institution to speak about its strongly subscribed values through
its leadership development processes. The process of institution
building given the constraints in Indian society appears clearly to
have built on clear expectations and focused nurturing that came
from a sentient leadership at WIPRO. Some of the salient steps
WIRPO took are as follows:
1. Defining Leadership Qualities
The biggest problem with a concept like leadership is that it can
mean so many things to so many people. There is a strong
temptation to attribute all possible good qualities one can think of
and come out with hundreds of qualities. Sometimes, these
include irreconcilable opposites in qualities. Like a strong
aggressive leader who chews competition but at the same time is
an extremely harmonious team player! At Wipro, we decided to be
more pragmatic. We have identified eight leadership qualities.
Currently they are :
1) Strategic Thinking - Anticipating the future through an
articulated vision
2) Customer Orientation - Customer at the center of the vision.
3) Aggressive Commitment - Pursue stretched commitments with
determination and focus

4) Global Thinking and Acting - Global cultural synchronization

with respect to issues and trends
5) Self Confidence - Belief in the abilities of self and team
6) Commitment to Excellence - Commitment to surpass the best
with respect to global standards
7) Working in Teams - Encouraging harmony and synergy for
getting multiplier effect from team
8) Building Future Leaders - Spending time with team; coaching
and pursuing developmental needs of team
Leadership Quality: Global Thinking and Acting: Anticipates
global trends impacting relevant markets and actively develops
people and processes to be globally competitive. He/she is at
ease while interacting with people from diverse national and
cultural backgrounds.
1. Encourages his / her team to constantly update themselves on
global issues / trends.
2. Actively attempts to understand and respect the cultural
nuances of the host countries of customers and employees.
3. Is able to build rapport and is at ease when dealing with clients,
partners or colleagues across geographic and cultural boundaries.
4. Identifies and contributes to the development of best practices
to suit the team's need for process improvements through
benchmarking with world-class practices.
Competencies for the Leader Role are based on behaviours of
Successful Performers. Behaviours that relate with high
performance are used to describe the competencies. Based on
demonstrated behaviours, levels of competency are defined. The
levels are scaled as competency indicators.
These descriptions also help users to identify positive and
negative indicators of the competencies. Reliable methods for this
phase are used, such as Structured Interviews - as part of Job
Analyses and interviews held with stakeholders for the Leader
Role. The Repertory Grid Technique is used later as a special
technique that involves stakeholders to compare and contrast
roles (e.g. boss, supplier, and customer) and formulate important
ways in which the roles are like the Leader role, and different

from the rest. These efforts converge in a Competency Dictionary,

comprising level-wise descriptions of successful role behaviours.
All of WIPRO Leader Qualities are similarly created, and
increasingly tend to reflect the success of WIPRO in global
geographies. These qualities are illustrated by examples of
leadership behaviours that are observable. This makes it easy to
understand and institutionalise the competencies. These qualities
are regularly reviewed in keeping with the changing context.
2. Measuring Leadership Qualities in Global Competitive
Context
The impact of Global Thinking and Acting runs across all of the
WIPRO Leaders Qualities. A few excerpts from WIPROs
measurement criteria will help us appreciate the same. E.g. Let us
look at a few other leadership competencies and the changing
emphasis based on global context. We consider here two critical
competencies that help globalization. Both are different, in that
one requires reflective thinking, and the other requires concerted
actions that are experienced by many others in ones team(s).
One of them is Strategic Thinking required for both strategies
planning and making. Strategy making is the expressive act that
follows strategic planning. The other is of Working in Teams. Today
working in teams encompasses motivation and bonding for
members with whom face-to-face interaction is minimal to say the
least.
Emerging focus of WIPRO Leadership Qualities :
Leadership Quality Earlier Now
Leadership
Earlier
Now
Quality
Strategic Thinking Focus on Domestic
Focus on Global
Players
Game
and addressing local Changes and Players
competitive forces
Working in teams
Focus on face-toFocus on Virtual
face
Teams that
interactions and
work asynchronously
morale in
across
location
date and time zones.

Thus, WIPRO continually evaluates the business environment for

cues that affect the effectiveness of leadership strategies. E.g.
one of the transitions made after the adoption of Global Thinking
and Acting as a Leadership Quality is in dropping a few qualities
that seemed more managerial in nature. One such deletion was
that of Problem Solving as a Leadership Quality.
3. Leadership Composition for a Global Organization
With the sure presence of WIPRO in diverse geographies, it
became imperative to manage cross-cultural and multinational
workforces. Leaders who have the advantage of meeting up with
client needs from as close a quarter as is possible is best suited
for local management. To ensure such a impact, WIPRO has
infused its top management with leaders from host nations itself.
This has been the case with the largest of geographies like USA,
Japan and Europe. These leaders are naturally capable in their
own nations, and are quick in understanding the business of
customers.
4. Modifying relevant People Processes
Several ongoing processes like recruitment, training,
compensation and communication itself are affected by a global
scale of operations. WIPRO has suitably modified such people
processes so that employee behaviours are seen as consistent
with the leadership vision. E.g.When selecting for foreign
territories the Employment Opportunities legislations, in the host
nation has relevance to the conduct of selection processes. The
Recruitment Team is required to be certified on an Interviewing
Skills programme, wherein several nuances of interviewer
behaviour are taught. Legal implications and cultural orientation
of the interviewer are critical to effectiveness. Similarly, for
Training conducted overseas, Trainers are made aware of cultural
implications of instruction and employee diversity. To engage with
the field force, for example, a European (Ph.D.) with cross-cultural
negotiation expertise and sales experience has been charged with
the office of Field Capability Enhancement.
5. Developing Leadership Talent From Within

The process adopted for Leadership Development follows a

lifecycle pattern. The same is described below. To develop leaders
WIPRO trains its employees on a regular basis. We have created
development programs along the lifecycle pattern of leadership
development. There are five programs that focus on sharpening
leadership skills of individual leaders.
1. Entry Level Program (ELP): This is the first program a fresh
recruit goes through. The program helps the newcomer into
becoming a good management employee, like how to become an
effective team member, how to participate in meetings,
communications thoughts and feelings to others. Country-specific
cross-cultural training and the opportunities to work in different
nations has made our workforce adaptable and resilient.
2. New Leaders Program (NLP): This is designed for the first
time manager. Many people continue to be more comfortable
managing technology rather than people. This program teaches
them how to build teams, communicate, lead according to
situations and coach others. In the NLP, leaders are particularly
trained on aspects of managing virtual teams.
3. Wipro Leaders Program (WLP): This is addressed to the
manager of managers who still want to manage the teams
directly. From here on, it is a corporation-wide program. At the
WLP leaders are sensitized on the Diversity Principle, and mingle
with leaders from all parts of the world.
4. Business Leaders Program (BLP): This program is for
General Managers in waiting who need to look at business as a
whole and understand bottom line implications. It covers relevant
elements of finance and environmental scanning. The BLP has
focused attention on a single business case, which has a strong
international flavor and is run over several days.
5. Strategic Leaders Program (SLP): This is the highest
program aimed at Chief Executives. It helps them to design and
develop strategies in a global environment. From the inception
the SLP has been addressed by thought leaders from all over the

world. Luminaries from Wharton, London Business School, the

Indian School of Business, and the like are invited to share recent
perspectives on leading large corporations. At this level of
leadership interactions with senior leadership of client
organisations are also important. Therefore additional inputs on
being one-on-one with the Fortune 100 corporation leaders are
also given. Participating effectively in each of these programs is
necessary to progress in ones leadership career. Similarly, it is
very important to have the complete involvement of the senior
and top management of the company to participate as faculty. In
Wipro, for instance, Mr. Azim Premji, Chairman, addresses
participants of all Wipro Leaders Programs, Business Leaders
Programs and Strategic Leaders Programs. In his own words
What you will remember when you retire, is not which quarters
you exceeded your sales target or won large deals, but leaders
whom you helped in developing. Develop leaders under you, not
only because it is good for the business, but because it will give
you tremendous personal satisfaction He invests significant time
as a faculty in leadership development programs.
Advanced Experiential Learning
Recently, WIPRO has collaborated in a Global Learning Alliance
(GLA) with Learning and Development wings of large global
organisations, namely, Schneider, LOreal, Nissan, and Alcan.
Each organization sponsors approximately six senior leaders (at
the level of Vice Presidents in WIPRO) from within its multiple lines
of business to represent learning and development challenges in
a common forum, where facilitation is done by eminent faculty
from institutions like the London Business School, and legends like
Prof. Ikujiro Nonaka. These sessions are held at different points in
the year. The model on which it is based embraces globalization
in terms of cross-industry learning on burning issues and
socialization to create a supportive climate for leadership skills
development across business models and organisational change
contexts. The working model of this initiative is depicted in Fig 1,
below. Similarly, for leaders at lower levels, WIPRO has begun to
engage in similar fora, with the Indian Institute of Management,
Bangalore and Henry Mintzberg as a partner facilitator. That, in
brief, explains the moving spirit and energy behind Wipros drive

for developing leaders from within. WIPROs recent emphasis on

non-directive coaching, and teaming interventions at senior and
middle management levels have a deliberate design around key
learning experiences. WIPROs Corporate Human Resources
Development team has the custodianship for Leadership
Development in the company. From a team identified with a
composition of high-caliber leadership trainers, the emerging
emphasis of this group has been on facilitated interventions in top
management groups across the corporation. Their interventions
have facilitated interactions between clients and Delivery teams,
Strategic Business Units and top management strategy making in
critical businesses.
The Leadership Development Framework

According to Ajim Premji there are 10 steps to leadership

which goes as below:
First, leaders must develop powerful personal credibility. This
means they should not only be consistent in what they say and do
-but must deliver on their commitments. The leader has to
generate a collective enthusiasm for the team, and the team
must have faith in the leader before they commit to his or her
dream. All research shows today that personal credibility-is the
most important ingredient of leadership.
Second, great leaders tell people clearly what they expect from
them, whether it be in terms of performance or values. The more

that is expected from people, the more they tend to deliver. Low
expectations can lead to low ambition and hence low
performance. Winning leaders are demanding leaders. They
demand discipline, accountability and continuous increase in
performance and productivity.
Third, great leaders are great teachers and coaches. Expectations
alone are not enough. Neither are rewards and punishments.
People need guidance on the path they need to follow. This does
not mean that the leader should spoon-feed his people. It only
means that the leader must have the capacity to look ahead and
give the right amount of guidance at the right time. At Wipro, we
encourage our top management to address our high potential
managers. I personally invest half-a-day of my time in every
leadership development program in Wipro.
Fourth, successful leaders need to have energy and be able to
energise others. Leadership demands extraordinary physical,
mental and, some would say, spiritual energy to remain on top of
the demands made on them. I have found that my own job has
become amazingly complex in the last few years. There is no
longer any debate on whether a person should work smart or
hard. Leaders must work both hard and smart, long and intensely.
In a recent survey at the World Economic Forum, ninety-nine per
cent of the leaders attributed their success to hard work.
Fifth, leaders do not always have to be in the limelight. One has to
realize that leadership is not privilege but a responsibility. Think of
birds flying in a formation. At different times, different birds lead
the formation. The leader must know where to lead and where to
step back. I remember this story which someone told me
Sixth, winning leaders face reality. They do nut dither. Leadership
is about making tough yes-no decisions. Winning leaders are
willing to decide with imperfect data, if needed, because
leadership is about making judgements that others, are either
unwilling or unable to make.

Seventh, leaders keep renewing themselves. They constantly

learn from their own experiences and those of others. They
constantly learn from their own experiences and those of others.
They create knowledge capturing and sharing processes and
methods in the organization.
Eighth, leaders surround themselves with people who err on the
side of optimism. If people are always in the company of cynics,
they will soon find themselves becoming like them. A cynic knows
all the reasons why something cannot be done. Instead, leaders
spend time with people who have a "can-do" approach. They
choose their advisors and mentors correctly. Pessimism is
contagious, but then so is enthusiasm. In fact, reasonable
optimism can be an amazing force multiplier.
Ninth, leaders play to win. Playing to win is not the same as
cutting corners. When you play to win, you stretch yourself to
your maximum and use all your potential. It also helps you to
concentrate your energy on what you can influence instead of
getting bogged down with the worry of what you cannot change.
Leaders do their best and leave the rest.
Tenth, leaders respect themselves. Without self-confidence, it is
impossible to lead. This is needed even more in conditions of
uncertainty and change. In Wipro, one of the leadership qualities
on which we measure our leaders year after year is selfconfidence.
Finally, leaders have the ability to preserve when all odds are
against them. This is especially important when the leader
chooses to do something innovative or take a path not travelled
before. The first reaction to this is usually criticism, not applause.
But if the leader preserves, he may attract many others to follow.
Challenges in Leadership Development in Wipro
Although, WIPROs success with leadership development is
acknowledged in India today, challenges of growth continue to
represent itself through unprecedented scale and speed

dimensions. Implications for leadership in WIPROs current

environment include:
1. Fostering a climate in which a younger workforce rises to
challenges of leadership faster than their predecessors, given the
rate at which business opportunities present themselves across
diverse business sectors in multiple geographies. The younger
generations in most parts of the world stand on newer
educational paradigms and are seeped in possibilities that can be
accessed faster than was once imagined. A major challenge for
leadership development in a relatively young workforce is to be
able to balance the needs of novelty with a sense of responsibility
for the future.
2. Sufficient learning required to embrace the diversity of
cultures, business sector models in different markets and
geographies, has to occur more comprehensively. The dominant
thinking around institution building has largely originated in India.
Accommodating newer thought from foreign cultures and
workforce within its mainstream culture is an act of leadership
that needs closer attention.
3. We now have lesser time in which to help teams discover their
purpose, and follow through in performing service operations.
While such teaming is more common, the complex teaming
problems arise at managerial and strategic levels as leaders
grapple with rapid and complex information flows that affect
short-term and mid-term business outlooks. This dimension is
amplified when teams work across virtual spaces from different
continents.
4. Business Growth can often hide many a weakness in
organisational routine. A focus and repeated stress on creating a
winning culture could potentially instill a sense of infallibility.
Leaders who are insensitive to such possibilities may project a
false sense of confidence. A square challenge for leadership at
WIPRO then is to be able to manage the scale and speed of
business growth with a sense of realism and requisite humility.

5. As service providers in IT, the variety of market sectors served

is generally a source of revenue potential. However, this potential
can be realized only when leaders come to terms with the
business model dynamism in client domains. Leadership response
to changes in clients business models is the key to future
enablement of business.
Conclusion: Contribution of Leadership Style and
Management Practices in Wipro
Many factors can be considered when looking at organizational
effectiveness, the back-office foundation of service delivery, and
its effect on quality. Some of these factors include:
1. Commitment to quality: - A companys commitment to quality
can be truly successful only when it starts at the top of the
organization and employees and managers alike believe in the
vision of quality for the company. The objectives of quality must
be ingrained within the culture of the company, which is, in turn,
passed on to customers and ties back to business objectives.
2. Highly skilled employees: -A strong attention to training
employees on a companys quality processes, whether directly or
indirectly, can result in a highly cohesive workforce. A rigorous
training program can be a catalyst for consistency throughout the
company. Additionally, it may provide a standard approach to
software engineering, from requirements gathering through
release and acceptance testing. Furthermore, having a structure
in place to manage skill competencies with market demand is
essential to getting the right people placed on the right projects.
Lastly, having the processes in place to acquire new
competencies and stay ahead of the learning curve will be a key
asset to clients, who look to services firms to understand the
latest technology trends.
3. Responsiveness and flexibility: - While it may be harder to
measure the benefits of responsiveness and flexibility and their
relationship with quality, the team believes that these attributes
can largely contribute to the overall success of a services
engagement. Having the tools necessary to support employees in
their daily interactions with customers can go a long way toward

empowering them to respond quickly to clients needs and

provide workarounds to problems in a timely manner.
4. Strong work ethic: - Although work ethic is largely a subjective
criterion, it can be supported through a companys overall
attitude toward quality and attention to customer satisfaction.
5. Lower turnover of employees: - A strong attention on
employees and their training can result in a lowered rate of
employee turnover. This is of significant importance to customers,
who invest a lot of time and energy in educating service providers
about their businesses. Lower turnover of employees can also
contribute to faster completion of projects because many
employees will have the accumulated synergies from working
together and with the client.
6. Robust project management processes: - Solid project
management expertise and its supporting tools and applications
are a critical success factor for the smooth completion of any
project. This has become even more important as large,
enterprise-wide projects may be composed of multiple
subprojects and may involve geographically dispersed resources.
7. Strong communication flow between client and services firm: Another benefit of an integrated quality system is the continuous
monitoring of current projects. This may take the form of
customer visibility tools that allow customers to keep track of a
projects progress, particularly when projects are done remotely
from the clients site. It may also help to keep the communication
flow open and direct, which may assist the meeting of tight
project deadlines.