Name: Dr. Madana Kumar, PhD

Title: Vice President - Leadership Development

Organisation: UST

Dr. Madana Kumar, PhD, is an industry veteran with more than 4 decades of Industry Experience in organisations like Bharti, HCL, IBM, etc.. He is a passionate student, thought leader, and practitioner of Servant Leadership. His passion is in Transforming Organisations by evangelizing Servant Leadership ( a topic he chose for his Doctoral dissertation) in all types of organisations, including corporations, Educational Institutions, and Social Sector organisations.

He is the co-founder of Leadyne Organisation Builders (www.leadyne.com), an organisation that has a vision of changing the leadership paradigm of organisations and individuals.. Additionally, he is currently leading the Implementation of Servant Leadership Culture in a Digital Services company, UST, enabling the organisation to accelerate its transformation and bring in significant business impact.

His efforts have brought several national and international laurels to him personally (eg, CLO of the Year, Global CLO of the Year, Talent Development Champion of the Year, etc) and for the organisation (Several Brandon Hall awards, ATD Awards, Learning Elite Listings, etc). The organisation transformation movement has resulted in organisations significantly enhancing their employer branding and Employee Engagement, a fact that is acknowledged by Great Place to Work, Top Employer Institute, Glassdoor, etc., while continuing to grow their top and bottom line.

Madana is recognized as a Thought Leader, Strategist, and Mentor in the fields of Leadership and Organisation Transformation. He is recognized as a Community Top Voice on Servant Leadership by LinkedIn.

He is a much sought-after speaker at several national and international conferences, Tier 1 Management Institutes in the country, and a prolific writer in several national and international magazines on the Topics of Organizational Culture and Servant Leadership. He is a much sought-after resource for Faculty Development programs in leading Universities and coaching for academic institution leaders. His Servant Leadership lessons are available on leading eLearning platforms, including Skillsoft, which is one of the largest eLearning content providers globally.

LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-madana-kumar-phd-5631b35/

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtiL6Jusbi2-0N1WjUwZ-qA

Thank you to the 2,000 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 Questions on Leadership!

We’ve gone through the interviews and asked the best of the best to come back and answer 7 MORE Questions on Leadership.

I hope Madana's answers will encourage you in your leadership journey. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jonno White

1. As a leader, how do you build trust with employees, customers and other stakeholders?

I build trust with stakeholders by embracing a human-centered approach. Never look at anyone as a "resource" but value them as a human being first. Never approach a relationship with a mindset of what-is-in-it-for-me, but with a determination to add value to them instead.

2. What do 'VISION' and 'MISSION' mean to you? And what does it actually look like to use them in real-world business?

1. The vision and mission of an organisation or an individual must never be about themselves. It must not be internally focused. It must reflect a higher purpose. It must be of significance to others and humanity in general.

2. The Vision and Mission should not be constrained by current realities or current hurdles. Leaders must be able to dream big and boldly. And this has to be balanced with learnings from the past, realities of the present and and the consequences for the future.

3. How can a leader empower the people they're leading?

A leader has two roles. A "leader" role, where he/she sets the vision/ mission/ values/ objectives for the organisation/team. And a "servant" role where he/she steps down and empowers the team to implement the vision/mission/objectives/goals. The leaders then become a resource and respond to the needs of the team. This means inverting the traditional organisation pyramid. This requires a leader to invest in the team members so that they climb up the "freedom ladder" and reach higher levels of autonomy.

4. Who are some of the coaches or mentors in your life who have had a positive influence on your leadership? Can you please tell a meaningful story about one of them?

1. I am greatly influenced by the writings of Ken Blanchard. He taught me a lot about Servant Leadership

2. I have learned significant lessons on leadership from Dan Gupta, the previous Chairman of UST Global. He does not care for titles and positions, but values individuals as they are and is willing to invest in people, no matter what. His business acumen is fantastic, and he always puts people first. That is the secret of his success. I can never forget our first meeting in New York, where we decided to go for lunch and he came and opened the car door for me, waited for me to get in the car, and then only geo inside the car. And this was not an isolated incident. He repeats this every time.

3. Professor Parvaiz Talib was my Guide for the PhD from Aligarh Muslim University. His simplicity, humility, and care impressed me a lot. He invested significant time in my thesis to make it meaningful for others.

5. Leadership is often more about what you DON'T do. How do you maintain focus in your role?

Leaders need to have the intuitive ability to separate the core from the clutter. For me, the core is people. If we focus on their needs, the other matters will fall into place. One of the easiest ways to practice this is as follows. When an issue comes up for your attention, demanding your time, your effort, etc., ask the simple question, " Does it have to be I who needs to deal with it? Can someone else in the team handle it?". As you ask this question more and more, you will notice that the time you spend on clutter reduces significantly.

6. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Everyone plans differently. How do you plan for the week, month and years ahead in your role?

This is an iterative process. I start with the higher purpose we have, break it down to objectives that we need to achieve in 30, 60, 90 days and set milestones. Then decide the actions required to achieve the milestones. Use the FAST framework to make sure that it works. FAST stands for Frequently Discussed/reviewed, Ambitious, Specific and Transparent.

7. What advice would you give to a young leader who is struggling to delegate effectively?

Delegation is a pre requisite for your own growth. If you do not delegate, you are (trying to) making yourselves indispensable, and that we means, you are stuck where you are right now. So for your own growths sake, give delegation a try.