Dr Anish Shah, MD and CEO, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., had a candid chat with Amit Sinha, President, Group Strategy, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., during the recent LEADERSPEAK session with the Group Corporate Office. During the freewheeling conversation, Amit spoke about his journey, his first impression of the organisation and how the Mahindra Group’s strategy and sustainability initiatives are coming together to create an impact.

Here are some of the highlights of his discussion with Dr Anish:

What influenced his decision to join Mahindra
“The ‘secret sauce’ (referring to the Kung Fu Panda animated movie) at Mahindra is about the culture, people, professionalism and most importantly, the warmth. I have worked with several Indian and global organisations, but this secret sauce is the best at Mahindra. That was the biggest differentiator for me to join this institution. Working with an outstanding organisation and people will be a learning opportunity for me and help me contribute to this institution.”

His first impression of the organisation
“The quality of the teams and the people — their professionalism and warmth are outstanding. The support I received from my colleagues and the learnings I had from them all exceeded my expectations.”

On the Mahindra Group being at the cusp of strategic transformation
“At this pivotal point of 75 years, we have the opportunity to transform ourselves. We can take a leadership role in multiple areas. The Group is at that pivotal point where it will shape itself for the next 25, 75 and 100+ years journey.”

The two most important learnings

• The Hanuman syndrome
  “Hanumanji could do so many things, but he needed to be reminded of his capability. I personally feel that every Mahindra employee has a bit of Hanuman in us; we just need to know our capabilities so that we can take this organisation to the next level.”
• Go all in and pursue excellence
  “The difference between entrepreneurship and a corporate job is that, for example, when a restaurant owner sees another restaurant opening in front of him, he will see it as competition, but an employee will see it as another job opportunity. In order to make Mahindra great, we need to be the entrepreneur and think like that restaurant owner instead of the worker, and go all in to pursue excellence.”

On the Mahindra Group’s ESG commitments
“The world is now waking up to the fact that climate change is real. At Mahindra, sustainability has been a focus for several years, and we are one of the leaders globally. As a leader, we have the ability to change the global narrative — how decisions are being made at the global level in corporate boardrooms. To that effect, our ten commitments are quite ambitious and require significant execution. Signing them as our commitment shows our resolve that we care about our planet and we will do the right thing for our stakeholders. Since we believe that people + planet = profit, we will not go for profits alone.”

However, the discussion at the virtual townhall didn’t centre around business alone. Don’t miss this clip of a fun conversation between Dr Anish Shah and Amit Sinha.