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Writer's pictureKaumudi Goda

The Human Conversation with Prof Nandu Nandkishore


Personal Anecdote








Get To Know Our Guest

PROF. NANDU NANDKISHORE:


Nandu Nandkishore (Doreswamy Nandkishore; born 30 September 1958, known as "Nandu") is a business executive, venture capitalist and business school professor. He is the retired Global CEO of Nestlé Nutrition, and retired executive vice president and head of Asia Oceania, Africa of Nestlé S.A, Switzerland. He presently serves as an independent director on the board of several companies, and is a professor of practice at Indian School of Business and a guest lecturer at London Business School.


HIGHLIGHTS & TAKEAWAYS


  • 12:48 - 13:02 “Every disruption comes with a creation of a new paradigm,  a new industry, a  new set of employment opportunities.”  (Talking about his published book  “Dance of Disruption and Creation. Epochal Change and the Opportunity for Enterprise”)

  • 13:04 - 13:32 Three Structures of Prof. Nandu’s book.

  • 17:05 - 17:28 Our sense of personal identity is changing.

  • 17:59 - 18:15 “Somebody once said that the mark of a good leader is that he/she can simultaneously hold two conflicting thoughts in his mind at the same time and still function samely and with two conflicting beliefs.”

  • 18:16 - 18:21 The art of leadership in today’s day and age is to balance these tensions.

  • 22:35 - 24:25 5 foundations of morality by JONATHAN HAIDT (Professor Haidt identifies five moral foundations: (1) harm/care, (2) fairness/reciprocity, (3) ingroup/loyalty, (4) authority/respect, and (5) purity/sanctity.)

  • 25:27 “Will this harm the equation of TRUST we have with the CONSUMERS?”

  • 26:19 - 27:20 “Why do good people do bad things?”

  • 27:56 - 28:01 “We are amazing humans in how we can justify our own actions to ourselves.”

  • 28:25 - 28:46 “You know there is a decision that leaders have to make which is to be constantly vigilant, be constantly paranoid and constantly re-examining your core values. Are they still relevant if they’re relevant, are the actions I’m taking in line with that.”

  • 29:07 - 29:31 Tip/Advice on how to evaluate your actions -> “Don’t get into any job, any position, any designation with a thought that it belongs to you for eternity, it doesn’t. The designation, that title belonged to somebody else before you and will belong to somebody else after you. You only have the usage of it for a period of time.”

  • 29:52 - 30:02 “Treat yourself as a custodian of the role for that period of time. And as custodian, what is your legacy going to be?”

  • 30:54 - 31:02 “KG: How do we enable individuals acting within organizations to feel a sense of agency?”

  • 32:01 - 32:15 “Look people in the eye and treat them as human beings so they could still live with some human dignity and of course some financial compensation that would help them continue to live a good life. (Regarding laying off people/employees)

  • 32:22: - 32:53 Where your company for whatever reason is facing a disruption? “You have to do what you have to do. You still can’t keep people, keep paying everybody the way it was earlier. But do it with heart. Do it with heart. Do it with kindness. Above all, that’s kind of one core message. I’m starting to realize, BE KIND.”

  • 32:59 - 33:29 Prof. Nandu talks about THE THREE FOLD TEST. First, is it true? Second, is it kind? Third, is it necessary?

  • 33:50 - 33:59 “KG: The idea of realizing that we are custodians, it’s a temporary space, but we have to live with ourselves and our conscience.”

  • 35:09 - 37:50 Fundamental paradigms in skilling ourselves from Prof Nandu: 1) Be prepared to be laid off. 2) Be prepared for a portfolio gig career. 3) Prepare yourself to learn to use these tools to reinvent what you can do so you can become more inherently valuable. 4) Have a disaster recovery plan in advance.

  • 37:02 - 37:11 “Today, education and learning has to be a continuous daily activity. So you have to keep re-skilling yourself, keep figuring it out.”

  • 38:24 - 38:47 The path to your next job will be circuitous. It will not be a straight line. You’ll probably have to try and fail at many things and milk your network and go out and create more value till you can find the next gig that gives you fulfillment that is financial and mental.

  • 40:24 - 42:14 Promoting managers to positions of responsibility. Prof Nandu’s two things to consider: 1) APTITUDE - “Do you have the skill set?” 2) ATTITUDE - “Are you somebody who sees the glass as half full or half empty?” 3) THE HUNGER - “Are you hungry? If you’re hungry then you will work 24/7”

  • 42:26 - 42:33 “KG: Could it be created extrinsically? Can you create inspirational, motivational workplaces in your observation?” (Question to Prof. Nandu)

  • 43:10 - 43:24 “ If you are honest and true to your purpose in what you state, how you state, I think young people resonate with that. And then they will demonstrate because young people are hungry for purpose.”

  • 43:29 - 43:36 “It’s not difficult to get young people to work hard. It’s not difficult, but you have to connect with them.”

  • 49:53 - 51:47 Three R’s Philosophy REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE. Focusing on SCOPE 3. 1) Governments have to drive that. 2) Companies need to find new business models that are a sweet spot between purpose and profit, 3) Consumers have to change their behaviors.

  • 51:52 - 52:59 France Van Houten of Royal Dutch Philip talks about products as service business models. They move you from being sellers of products to sellers of service. Where you own the data, you own the customer relationship and the more value you create for your customers, the more chance they’ll keep coming back to you.

  • 53:45 - 54:00 “KG: I find that some things feel like wicked problems that are so huge, we can’t tackle them really, especially a lot of individuals that feel intimidated. I’m just a cog in a giant wheel, but the way you’re positioning it, it makes it accessible because they’re examples.

  • 54:16 - 54:22 “KG: We step away from green washing or woke washing into actually aligning values with action.”

  • 54:38 - 55:00 “KG asks: What’s an advice you give to leaders at any level as they’re navigating their leadership journeys?” “Prof. Nandu answers: Know your core values. Know your core values that you will not compromise. Talk about them, publicize them and hold yourself accountable to them.”

  • 56:01 - 57:10 Prof. Nandu talks about “The Best Leaders Are Great Teachers” from Harvard Business Review.

  • 57:17 - 57:32 KG talks about The Power of One from Harvard Business Review

  • 57:56 - 57:58 Prof. Nandu’s final advice: “Whatever you do, think of what’s your LEGACY?”


REFERENCES & LINKS 


  • Dance of Disruption and Creation Epochal Change and the Opportunity for Enterprise


  • 5 foundations of morality by JONATHAN HAIDT


  • The Best Leaders Are Great Teachers


  • The Power of One


  • France Van Houten of Royal Dutch Philip about their Business Model

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