India's Prolific CEO Guru: KV Kamath

Mentioning Kochar as his favorite, Kamath had made many upset whom he mentored over years. He has made his choice with Kochar by making her the Managing Director and CEO of ICIC whereas he is now non executive Chairman.

In 1995, after an eight year stretch at Asian Development Bank in Manila, Kamath intentionally decided that if the government-promoted project finance institution was to alter itself into a universal bank, he would first need to build up the talent pool.

As quoted by ET, Kamath said, "My journey into mentoring was a very conscious one. We had a large pool of people, most of them in their 30s, but none of them at seniority levels required by the organisation. I had to watch for talent and once I spotted it, it was my job to provide them opportunities to grow. Once they had reached a senior level, I then needed to rotate them through different areas so their talents were rounded. At the same time, mentoring is not a group exercise. Each one's need is different."

Shikha Sharma, Managing Director of Axis Bank, was the one among Kamath's mentees. Ten years junior to him at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), she joined the bank and worked with KVK in the strategy department, where she learnt from him how to work with spreadsheets, which wasn't part of the IIMA curriculum back then.

Sikha remembers how Kamath's mentoring approach altered completely after he returned from Manila. She says, "Before he left, he was fatherly, a classic mentor. When he came back, his style was detached. He was like Professor Higgins from My Fair Lady. But he was equally effective in this second avatar. He didn't demonstrate any softness, but he was supportive."

CEO of JP Morgan, Kalpana Morparia is known to call Kamath "boss", even in the presence of her present day bosses from JP Morgan world-wide. The former lawyer recalls how KVK shifted her from ICICI's legal department to head its treasury and communications functions and eventually to the post of joint-MD. She says, "I had thought my functional expertise as a lawyer was my most valuable contribution, but he felt I had leadership qualities. He has this uncanny ability to identify traits in his subordinates that they don't believe they have."