Telecom turns training school for future CXOs
HR experts say the telecom sector offers a lot of training, flexibility and broad experience required to work across functions.
By Ambika Naithani & Rashmi Pratap, ET Bureau |
MUMBAI: After FMCG, telecom is emerging as the new breeding ground for future CXOs. HR experts say the telecom sector offers a lot of training, flexibility and broad experience required to work across functions like manufacturing, operations and marketing, Jayant Khosla, who was heading Airtel's mobility business for the western region, now heads Future Group's insurance business with French company Generali.
According to him, setting up telecom networks is akin to manufacturing. "In fact, networks is a tougher factory to manage. In other companies, factory job is done once it gets a quality approval seal. But, in telecom, factory job is on an ongoing basis. The factory comes into play every time a call is made on the network," he said.
Managing scale and speed and realising the role of customer care in services industry are also crucial the experiences telecom sector offers.
Firdose Vandrevala, the erstwhile chairman for Motorola in India also quit the company last year to head Hirco, a real estate firm by Mumbai-based developer Niranjan Hiranandani. Similarly, former Idea Cellular CEO Vikram Mehmi is now the CEO of Birla Sun Life Insurance.
"CEOs from telecom business can fit into any business unit, be it consumer banking in the financial services space or technology in an IT/ BPO company," says R Suresh, MD, Stanton Chase India, an executive search consultancy.
Bharti Airtel HR director Krish Shankar says telecom provides a confluence of certain factors that makes it an apt platform for talent development. "In five to seven years, there will be more CEOs from the telecom sector than from FMCG. It is telecom where you have a huge challenge of integration, a dynamic environment and that builds a solid base," he said.
Telecom, like FMCG, involves functions like operations and marketing with just that in case of the former there are more complexities since manufacturing in telecom implies networks in circles. "Telecom as an industry is undoubtedly much more demanding and complex and someone from the sector can fit into senior leadership positions in any other industry." said Mr Suresh.
Though the business life cycle and consumer set of telecom sector can be similar to the FMCG sector, there are dissimilarities between the two.
Says Sandeep Chaudhary, leader of Hewitt's Rewards Consulting practice in India, "There are just five to six prominent telecom players in India that are also grappling with senior leadership issues. In that sense FMCG companies have always maintained a good focus on leadership development programmes."
According to him, setting up telecom networks is akin to manufacturing. "In fact, networks is a tougher factory to manage. In other companies, factory job is done once it gets a quality approval seal. But, in telecom, factory job is on an ongoing basis. The factory comes into play every time a call is made on the network," he said.
Managing scale and speed and realising the role of customer care in services industry are also crucial the experiences telecom sector offers.
Firdose Vandrevala, the erstwhile chairman for Motorola in India also quit the company last year to head Hirco, a real estate firm by Mumbai-based developer Niranjan Hiranandani. Similarly, former Idea Cellular CEO Vikram Mehmi is now the CEO of Birla Sun Life Insurance.
"CEOs from telecom business can fit into any business unit, be it consumer banking in the financial services space or technology in an IT/ BPO company," says R Suresh, MD, Stanton Chase India, an executive search consultancy.
Bharti Airtel HR director Krish Shankar says telecom provides a confluence of certain factors that makes it an apt platform for talent development. "In five to seven years, there will be more CEOs from the telecom sector than from FMCG. It is telecom where you have a huge challenge of integration, a dynamic environment and that builds a solid base," he said.
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Telecom, like FMCG, involves functions like operations and marketing with just that in case of the former there are more complexities since manufacturing in telecom implies networks in circles. "Telecom as an industry is undoubtedly much more demanding and complex and someone from the sector can fit into senior leadership positions in any other industry." said Mr Suresh.
Though the business life cycle and consumer set of telecom sector can be similar to the FMCG sector, there are dissimilarities between the two.
Says Sandeep Chaudhary, leader of Hewitt's Rewards Consulting practice in India, "There are just five to six prominent telecom players in India that are also grappling with senior leadership issues. In that sense FMCG companies have always maintained a good focus on leadership development programmes."
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