Vineet Nayar

Vineet Nayar Speaking Topics

• Leadership is the right you earn and not an entitlement. How to earn that entitlement?

  Nayar believes that leadership is not an entitlement but a right one earns through one’s actions every year, every day and in fact, every minute. Beginning with the assumption that every person has a leader within who is just waiting to be discovered, Nayar will help attendees discover that magical leader within them by outlining nine non-negotiable fundamentals of leadership. The session will cover practical insights from real-life work situations and enable managers and professionals to draw energy, inspiration and the right to lead from those they lead.

• Myth – You will be successful! Creating magic by thinking outside the box of reason and logic

  Nayar believes that it is a myth that all who graduate from good B schools or make it to so-called “big” companies, or high-brow teams, will become successful. His analysis has revealed that only 1% of aspirants get to become a CEO of a meaningful company or a startup, 9% almost get there and stop one stage before the final peak and 90% do not get anywhere close to their aspirations and ambitions. It is also a myth, he says, that those who work hard make it big as 99% of people work very hard.

  In this session, Nayar will address the crucial ensuing question—why do 90% of us fail to meet our aspirations and why only 1% of us are able to create magic?

  His speech will help audiences discover the catalysts that hold the answer to this question by encouraging them to structure efforts “outside the boundaries of reason and logic,” ultimately helping them discover their “uniqueness” and “ability to create magic.”

Inspired Leadership

A perfect storm is brewing all over again. The economic growth is slowing down; policy paralysis aided by leadership inaction on bold reforms holds little hope for the future. Employees are increasingly feeling overwhelmed with disappointment and helplessness, and the business outlook is turning pessimistic. So is this crisis a threat or an opportunity? How do you inspire and lead in such turbulent times?

Nayar believes that turbulent times need “managers” to transform themselves into “inspirational leaders.” Those who inspire are trusted, respected and deliver results others will find difficult to even think as possible. Inspirational leaders are unconventional, bold, fearless, honest, passionate, caring and most importantly, they know their teams will climb the Everest if that is what is needed today.

So how does one learn to be such an “inspirational leader”?

In this session, Nayar will share one possible systematic approach of reaching this goal. The focus would be on practical ideas and ground lessons that are very relevant for managers and leaders aspiring to lead in turbulent times.

Employees First, Customers Second – Unconventional Approach to Organization Transformation

In this candid and personal account, Nayar will recount how he defied the conventional wisdom that companies must put customers first. He believes that since employees are the closest interface with the customer, they are the new value zone for companies: the place where value is truly created for customers and therefore organizational accountability should lie first with the employees, and not the other way around.

In this session, Nayar will recount the exciting journey of how he and his team implemented the Employee First philosophy by: -Creating a sense of urgency by enabling employees to see the truth of the company’s current state as well as feel the “romance” of its possible future. -Creating a culture of trust by pushing the envelope of transparency in communication and information sharing. -Inverting the organizational hierarchy by making the management and the enabling functions accountable to the employees. -Unlocking the potential of the employees by fostering an entrepreneurial mindset, decentralizing decision-making and transferring the ownership of ‘change’ to the employees.

Refreshingly honest and practical, this session will offer valuable insights for organizations in need for transformation and managers seeking to realize their aspirations to grow faster and become self-propelled engines of change.

Organization Transformation – Getting it Right

A recent McKinsey study delved into the performance of companies over a 25-year period of time and reached two very interesting conclusions. First, almost 90% of the companies go through a crisis at one or the other point of time in their lives. Second, only 10% of them are able to recover their pre-crisis value. Sustainable recovery and turnaround, if this research is to be believed, is almost an art form, a cryptic formula that very few people seem to be able to crack.

In this session based on his experience of transforming HCL Technologies (a $4.8 billion global IT Services company) to not only recover its pre-crisis value but rather increasing it by six times in both revenues and market cap, Nayar will provide insights which look at transformation or turnaround as a structured, multilayered process.

The session will cover topics like understanding and facing catalysts of crisis, 4-tiered structure of transformation, role of the management and how to make change sustainable.

Managers vs. Leaders – How do you make the transition?

Everybody loves a leader. Everybody wants to be a leader. But only a few actually become one. Every day, thousands of executives and managers in corporate corridors across the globe struggle to make this transition, but very few succeed. While the aspiration quotient for leadership is very high, a practical road map for the journey is still virtually undefined.

Having mentored many high-performance managers in his three decades of celebrated corporate career and having researched on the subject widely through his writings, Nayar has arrived at a structured transition approach to this dilemma. He has defined three key interventions that will provide directional indicators and checks to reinforce leadership behaviors before it is too late.

In this session, Nayar will introduce the audience to these ‘litmus tests’ and provide them tips and cues to master the behavioral patterns required to transition to the glorious ‘other side.’