Match your aspirations with that of the company - Mr. Dinesh Kumar, in conversation with Anupinder Kaur in September 2006

Dinesh Kumar, Director, COO - CBay Services

As the Director and COO of CBay’s Indian operations, Dinesh Kumar oversees strategy and lends direction to the central backend operations of the company. He has been instrumental in the smooth implementation of CBay India’s policies and programmes and coordinates its day-to-day operations. Before joining CBay, Mr. Kumar was the Joint General Manager with the Essar Group, a leading industrial house with business interests in steel, shipping, oil, gas and telecommunications and, before that, with Associated Cement Companies Ltd. (ACC).  He has more than seventeen years of experience in project management, finance and corporate relations. His academic background includes an MMS (Master in Management Studies) in finance from the University of Bombay and a Bachelor’s degree in engineering from Bangalore University.
Mr. Dinesh Kumar, in conversation with Anupinder Kaur in September 2006

What made you take up a management course after studying engineering?
I think the answer lies in the full form of the degree - MMS i.e. Master of Management Studies. Once you start working as an engineer or in any other profession, you are exposed to situations that require you to arrive at solutions that may be right the first day and not so right on the second day. You have to interact with different people in different situations and react differently too.  The management course develops these skills, fine-tunes them and equips the person to grow in the field. A formal education definitely equips you to handle the changing environment more efficiently. The corporate environment in the last 18-20 years has changed drastically and a formal degree does help in grooming a person for the challenges involved.

You seem to have made quite a few changes in your career. How did you manage the shifts? Did you have to face a lot of obstacles to reach this level?
There has been a lot of shift in my career. I’ve worked as an engineer, then in finance, then in operations. For me, it was just that one thing led to another, there was no preconceived plan. I was willing to take the chances and every time you take a chance you weigh your options and figure out if you are equipped to address the new scenario. This attitude is necessary for every newcomer who decides to come into the industry. You need to know what has to be done because there are opportunities and all you need to do is decide where would you fit in best and where you want to go and what you want to achieve.

After working for an Indian company like Essar, you are now working with an international company - CBay. This is quite a transition. What differences have you noticed between working with an Indian group and an international one?
Looking at it purely from the management perspective, there probably are some differences. The one thing that comes to mind is that in an international set up, you often work with people whom you never meet on a daily basis. This can have an impact on how you manage situations. Therefore communication  - oral and written, is crucial in addressing these situations. You also address different cultures, time zones and situations and you need to know how to get your point of view across. Also you have to first learn to agree so as to disagree respectfully.

Do you think our Indian management education equips one to be a global manager?
Yes and no.
Yes, to the extent that we do have the academic curriculum that grooms a student. No, because when we were students, we were exposed to management situations, projects and exercises where we were given examples of American companies. I think we need to dovetail contemporary practical exercises into the curriculum, keeping in mind the changing corporate requirements and environment. It could be, for example, from a service sector perspective, how to tackle the situations arising from functioning across different time zones or how to tackle rising attrition, or how to merge multi-talented people at various locations. Such issues need to be woven into the course. A management graduate will work in a particular sector like manufacturing, financial, consultancy, BPO, etc. and s/he needs that sectoral knowledge. With the changing scenario, the curriculum also has to change and bring in this practical flavour.

Our management curriculum grooms a student for corporate responsibilities but does it groom one for entrepreneurship?
The word entrepreneur is a self-igniting word. If a person has it, he does it. One has to see whether the external environment offers the stimuli to ignite that button. If there are people who really want to train and become entrepreneurs, then they definitely can pick up guidelines from a management course as it provides the necessary inputs for it. But a practical exposure to different facets of business in a curriculum would greatly help a budding entrepreneur, whether it is issues like raising funds, conceptualising a business idea or just taking the basic decisions of a business.  Though the curriculum provides these skills, I think it is not enough to make you an entrepreneur; the spark has to be there within the person. A person with the entrepreneurial spirit reacts differently to situations from a conventional corporate person. Such a person has to assess situations clearly and be ready to take the initiative.

Do you think that young entrants have the right attitude while embarking on a new job?
Of late, I have observed that when young MBAs come in for an interview they make every effort to paint a hyped-up image of themselves. They emphasise only those aspects that they think would meet the company’s requirements. Their focus is totally on themselves. I think it is important to have the right attitude whether one is a fresher or a middle manager or a senior manager. The right attitude has more to do with each individual and no management course can teach it.  No person can survive in an organisation with an attitude where s/he does not get along well with her peers or her subordinates or with her seniors. You can get into an organisation on a hyped up image today but that alone does not guarantee your existence tomorrow. Forging relationships is the key.

Often many young MBAs from premier B-schools except the journey to a CEO’s position to be a quick one for them. In your view, what is the main criterion for a quick career growth?
Probably one sentence sums up everything- ‘Nothing can delete experience’. You’ve got to live those days, you’ve got to walk the path of hard work and you have to learn how to address competition within your company, your environment and rekindle your spark, regroup your strength, define your weaknesses. It’s a journey that every MBA will have to take and it takes time, there are no short cuts and experience is required. It is also important that you envision that whatever you do is in line with what the company wants you to do. You need to match your aspirations with those of the company. You must equip yourself with multi-tasking skills and soft skills. But growth will not happen immediately, one has to be patient and understand every facet. Eventually, you will definitely be equipped to be a CEO and when this takes place all that you have gone through would help you to garner more respect.

Do you think that you have made any mistakes in your career?
Well, actually, no. I say so because I have always learnt something from my mistakes.  Each experience finally adds to and enhances one’s work. Just because a decision is difficult to make or has had unexpected consequences, it does not mean it was a bad decision. You live that tough day, you go through that tough experience but it helps you today.

In what way has your presence contributed to the growth of CBay?
My professional life is 24X7X365. When we started we were three people; today, we are about 5000 people. I’ve been with the company to see this growth.  My presence has probably helped the company in realising the dreams that
its promoters had. We have succeeded in providing a business model to India, and today the company is ready to grow exponentially.

And what is your success mantra?
It has to be my pragmatic approach to everything. Be practical, think clearly on what it is that one has set out to do and find the right way of doing it. This is an approach that rarely fails.