IEGD Assigment No.

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Personality to Emulate- Mr. Anand Mahindra, CMD M&M
Born on May 1, 1955 in Mumbai, Anand Mahindra is Chairman and Managing Director of
Mahindra Group, a US $16.5 billion organisation. His tenure at the organisation has been
marked with series of challenges which helped the group shape into a diversified and
respectable conglomerate.
Career & Life

Mr. Mahindra was born in a renowned business family with a deep individualistic and
intrepid streak. He opted to study Architecture in Mumbai, instead of taking easy route to join
family business. He then ventured for film and photography, before finally realising his true
potential to become a leader. He later on went to study management at Harvard Business
School (class of 1981) and in the same year he came back to India to start off as Executive
Assistant to the Finance Director of Mahindra Ugine Steel Company Ltd. (MUSCO), a steel
producer. Later on he held various Executive positions within the organisation.

In the early nineties, when India was on the cusp of its transition from an economy controlled
by the heavy hand of the government to a place where entrepreneurs were more in command
of their destinies. Though the company was one of the larger industrial manufacturers in India
with a long history, its products and technology were far from modern. Its major offerings
were utility vehicles derived from the jeeps used during World War II and small farm tractors
that were priced competitively for the companys home market. In a sales arena where the
government was often the largest buyer, design and product sophistication was not valued,
and manufacturers could often thrive by offering the most cost-competitive product. But, with
the upsurge of middle class aspirations that followed the opening up of the Indian economy,
the market was about to change. Mr. Mahindra was quick to appreciate Indian buyers mood
showing his assertive capabilities and started off to transform the company into budding
automobile manufacturer.

Mr. Mahindras intrepid streak took him to challenge countrys major automobile
manufacturers, when he decided to venture into SUV segment. At that point of time, only
Tata Group had a comparable working business model in that segment. But Mr. Mahindra
went on with his passion, starting from scratch, which eventually culminated into production
of companys most celebrated SUV - Scorpio in 2002- an instant success. Which later on
became most awarded SUV in its respective segment.

Mr. Mahindra lead M&M group have had gone through many failures and stiff challenges. A
joint venture with Ford Motor Co. lead to launch of the automobile veterans Escort sedan in
1996. But the car was priced out of the reach of most buyers, and was also marred by quality
problems. Though these failures must have raised questions but Mr. Mahindra has never lost
focus from his goals. He had learned from his each mistake which made him better and better.

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Today, M&M is the undisputed leader in India for SUVs and utility vehicles, with its most
popular utility vehicle model selling more than 100,000 units a year.

Why I want to emulate Mr. Anand Mahindra as a leader in me:

Mr. Mahindras intrepid and openness to experience streak appeals me the most. Whether he
decides to take up Architecture or to challenge major competitor, he has shown his will and
appetite to challenge conventions and contemporaries. He has forayed into uncharted
territories (entering SUV segment) and has shown perseverance. He is not only an assertive
person but also a great learner. He has faced many failures but never lost his vision. He has
steered the company from dark ghettos of early nineties to posh position as we know today.
Mr. Mahindra is not all a business man, but also a keen football fan and a photography
enthusiast. His philanthropy runs from educating underprivileged girl child with project
Nanhi kali to providing meals to children with project Nandi.

How Industry Leaders spend time:

As I couldnt get information about how Mr. Mahindra spends his time on his day to day
activities but I am summarising a survey conducted on 267 C level managers (vice
presidents and higher) of fortune 500 companies by entrepreneur.com. The link to this study
is kept under references title.

The leader generally start their day at 6:15am and end at 11:40 pm, a total of 16 hrs & 55
minutes of active time. They do at least 45 minutes of exercise. Leaders believe that exercise
improves mood and boosts energy. Around 35 per cent of time is spent on communication
which includes email, texting and conference calls. 25-30 minutes is spent on strategizing
day/week/month/year activities/goals for long term success. They spend more than two hours
each for delegating daily tasks to subordinates and team work. Leaders spend at least 8 hours
per week for socialising with family and friends away from work. Most importantly
maximum of them spend almost 30 minutes per day devoted to personal development.

Reasons for Managers to fail and thus become Ineffective Managers:

1. Accepting conventional company wisdom without question; example, we always

promote from within.

2. Acting too slowly when changes are needed now.

3. Tolerating subordinates who are ineffective, hinting at improvements needed instead of

taking decisive action.

4. Not challenging or try reworking for betterment, the way things are done, the way we
have always done it.

5. Not handling priorities.

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6. Not taking calculated risks, lack of boldness, nerve, and self-confidence

7. Not asking for help or advice when needed i.e. being egoistic.

8. Not recognizing their own weaknesses i.e. not doing SWOT analysis frequently.

References:
1. www.mahindra.com
2. http://www.thomaswhite.com/global-perspectives/anand-mahindra-chairman-
and-managing-director-mahindra-mahindra/
3. http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/236853
4. http://www.johnballardphd.com/blog/ineffective-managers-and-handling-
prioritie

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