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Gangadhar Joshi

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Gangadhar Joshi

Management Consultant Trainer

KR Sapkal College of Management Studies

Gangadhar Joshi is a member of:

Influenced by

I do not think any particular individual has influenced my life. Yes, I have acquired some good qualities from different people. My family, my school, my friends, my seniors, my colleagues, my sub-ordinates, my clients and lastly my MBA students, all have something to offer for me to learn and acquire. I always took one care, that, influence from others helped me to gain knowledge, skills development and attitude building. I resisted all those influences which would bring a sort of negativity in me.

I am strong believer of God which has made me an excellent human being. Being a Rotarian, humanity has been my main religion and sharing has been my passion. May it be my knowledge, my skills and my wealth I love to share. I believe in corporate citizenship which, for me, goes beyond just flag hoisting on national days. The question for me always is, Have I made India proud through my thoughts and actions??

Qualities needed to become a successful leader

A leader leads by example of Personal and Professional discipline. Discipline does not only mean compliance with laws & regulations, it includes all aspects of actions and behaviour. A leader is a visionary who buys others into own vision.Vision provides optimism, hope, enthusiasm, inspiration, motivation and gets commitment from all involved. Leader must possess wisdom to apply knowledge in managing challenges and negotiating complex relationships. A leader makes decisions in diverse environments weighing all facts & options. He pursues the goal with full commitment and evolves escape strategies in case of any setbacks. Leaders have moral courage of the highest order. Courage means ability to face issues without fear and take unpopular decision/actions for good cause. Humility is another quality a leader should have. A leader gives away all praise to others and accepts responsibility for failures. A leader demonstrates open and transparent character with sincerity & honesty.

Brief description about me

I am a Mechanical Engineer with Masters in Industrial Engineering from NITIE. I have extensive private & public sector experience in India & overseas and have been involved in advising Governments and industry at strategic level, developing/implementing change Management programmes, institutional strengthening, Business Re-engineering, Cost Reduction, Lean Manufacturing, Manpower Planning, Management Development and Performance Management. My international experience includes a variety of industries such as the steel, chemical, agro-industrial, plastics, electrical, electronics, automobile, machine tools, consumer durable, packaging equipment, Textile and glass. I have been been extensively involved in counselling and advising senior executives on developing and implementing their business strategy and has developed & presented workshops to top & senior managers in Strategic Planning, Productivity Management, Quality Management and Executive Performance Management.

Important lesson learned

Give 100% of what you have is the most important lesson of my life. If you do not have 100% to give, get 100% and then give 100%. Believe in your own conscience. If your conscience says "You are Right," yes, "You are right." Never compromise with your conscience.

Have 7 Cs in all endeavours you undertake. They are competence, courage, commitment, compassion, communication, creativity and character. If you could demonstrate these Cs the life would never let you down. It has been quite painful for me initially to follow this track. But with the time it is a very pleasurable and enjoyable road ahead.

Ensuring success

Read, think, Review, Retrospect, meet people, attend conferences & seminars. My consulting and training profession naturally demands that I am updated with the knowledge and tools to share with others. On personal ground try to keep yourself physically, mentally and emotionally fit. Join an organisation such as Rotary which takes you away from your routine. Just think that you are 10 years younger and your glass of life is half empty and you will never get old and outdated.

Important decision

The most important decision in my life was to leave job and join masters programme in Industrial Engineering at National Institute for Industrial Engineering (NITIE). This decision changed my career path altogether and helped me to enter into a management career at an early age. Living in hostel for the first time in my life also was a new experience which totally changed my personality and communication skills.

Starting my own consulting in 1983 was another most important decision in my life. It was the most difficult decision to make both socially and economically. The strong will power made me succeed on this venture.

Next important decision was to take up a job overseas. That broadened my outlook and gave me courage and confidence to work with international multi-cultured teams. Joining PricewaterhouseCoopers PwC), world's leading consulting firm, at almost half the salary was another very crucial decision. It gave a great exposure to managing world-class consulting assignments.

Degree that I recommend

A masters degree from NITIE certainly helped me in my career. Any Post-Graduate qualification helps you to stand out from the masses. As regards certification are concerned, it depends on the career you would like to pursue and at what stage you are looking for certification. Certification are generally helpful toward the beginning of the career. Once you have proven experience of say 10-12 years, certifications do not add much to your competencies. It can however act as a refresher to ensure that you are up to date in your profession. As a Director of B-school, we facilitated various certifications such as six sigma Green belt, APICS, Logistics etc. We also delivered SAP training to students. All that helped in improving employability of our students. If you are B-school what you do outside the syllabus is more important to the corporate world than what you do within the syllabus. The syllabus completion is done by all the schools.

My strongest skill

As a consultant, I always believed in working with my clients and not for my clients. I respected the clients' knowledge and experiences in their own fields before recommending any new systems and methods.Working with people and empowering people to perform their role have been my strongest professional skill. As a Director of B-school I gave lot of autonomy to my staff in managing their own things. I always avoided upward delegation and made the staff solve their own problems. Empowerment is the key to extracting excellent performance out of people. I exercised all three ways of getting things done ie. SAM (Convincing), DAM (Incentivising), DAND (Enforcing). Analytical thinking, creativity and Decision making are some of the key skills I posses. I believed "doing things differently rather than doing different things." and "doing the right thing right the first time." That is individual and organisational excellence!!!

My family background

I come from a upper-middle class family, born, educated in Mumbai, India. My parents gave me best of the education and family values.I lost my parents before I could turn 40. I have been happily married for 38 years with my wife delivering mostly a home maker role. I have 2 sons, both married and settled in USA with their families. We are grand parents of 3 grand children. I must say, we are a happy, closely knit and contented family.

My achievements

I am proud of what I have been able to deliver to my clients as a management consultant. Some of the results which I proved for my clients were really in odd and challenging circumstances. Credibility and reliability are the two biggest achievements of my life more than the monetary gains I received. "Gangadhar Joshi is a person who can deliver" is my national and international recognition with whoever I have associated with in my career of 4 decades. Long and successful association with world's leading firm PricewaterhouseCoopers is just one evidence of my achievements.

Other major areas of my achievement was as Director of Symbiosis Inst. of Operations Management (SIOM). Within a span of 3 years I took SIOM to a level of recognition by the corporate world as source for competent Human Resource. 100% placement with packages matching with best of the B-schools and hosting national & international conferences was a great achievement. I brought corporate culture to Business Education.

More about myself

I would like to share some of my thoughts about B-education in India. I am not eligible to be a B-school Director because I do not have Ph.D. as per AICTE/UGC norms. However, I strongly believe that the real success factor for my success as Director of SIOM was my corporate experience. I knew the other side very clear and therefore could manage the supply side better. Directors of most B-schools in India do not understand business and/or have no exposure to the corporate scenario.

Unfortunately most B-schools do not do enough to ensure that their students receive value for the investment they make in higher education. Institutions have to come out of the compliance mode and get into developmental mode. They should be clear about the competencies which the students need to make a good career. What the institution does outside the syllabus really differentiates it from other run-of-the-mill institutions of higher education.

My role model

It would not be unreasonable for me to say that there is no role model which I tried to emulate in my life. I was always "Gangadhar Joshi" and lived as "Gangadhar Joshi" socially and professionally. Yes, there have been few individuals from you I had learnt a lot and acquired many skills.

Starting with my father who influenced me in terms of discipline, perfection and personality.

I learnt HR practices and Performance Management from Dr. Om Kaul, one of my professors in NITIE (1973-75). Learnt to win and deliver quality consulting assignments from Howard Digby-Johns, Sr. Partner PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Initiative to develop a country

Firstly let them be good corporate citizen of this country. Comply with all the rules and regulations, pay all taxes as due and have high degree of community sense. Let them be out of Corporate Social Responsibility just as a slogan or campaign, and practice it in reality. Rotary International has a four way test which says "Of all the things we think, say or do

1. Is it the truth?
2. Is it fair to all concerned?
3. Will it bring goodwill and friendship?
4. Is it beneficial to all concerned?

I do not think anything else to be done if we all follow this test. Professional ethics is another area which need to be observed very strictly. Most professional associations have code of conduct which generally remains on paper.

Finally, take care of your next generation and ensure that they too become value adding citizens of this country. If you are value adding citizen today, there is every likelihood that the next generation would be tomorrow.

Thoughts on Education system of our country

I am more acquainted with management education in India. Dr. Sam Pitroda has said in his report that we produce certificate/degree holders and not professionals/Managers. The AICTE/UGC practices are more restrictive and not promoting better education. Therefore, most institutions are in compliance mode and not in development mode. It is for the head of each institute to bring in quality in education if he so desires.

My strategies for SIOM:
-Recognise/accept, education is a business of delivering value
-Establish clear vision & direction
-Clear definition of input(in-Students)/output(Out-Students);evolve transformational processes with standards.
-Go beyond the university syllabi;create opportunities for experiential learning
-Go beyond AICTE/UGC/NAAC norms in resources deployment
-Focus on Competency building not just giving MBA cert.
-Promote stakeholder interaction/involvement
-Establish/promote open/transparent environment
-bench mark globally;create global alliances/network

Couple of years from now

My life was never directed by any specific goals. I took the things as they arrived in front of me and jumped into opportunities. Most of the opportunites were very successful.

I am 64 now. I therefore have no specific career ambitions. I still look out for opportunities to assist the corporate world and B-schools improve their performances. I have also just finished writing my book titled "Campus2Corpoare" which will be published by SAGE publications in 2014.

Apart from this I look forward to be physically, emotionally and mentally fit and enjoy a senior citizen's life. May god provide me that opportunity for ever!!!