Executive Vice President and the Group Head of Human Resource Development at Infosys. Krish has facilitated organizational transformation and building a strong talent pool. He is passionate about organizational development.

Krish-Shankar.jpg

Krish Shankar

<h4>
 KRISH SHANKAR is an Executive Vice
 President and the Group Head of Human Resource Development at Infosys.
 Krish has over 30 years of experience and has facilitated
 organization-wide transformation and capability development, and been
 instrumental in building a strong talent pool through a series of
 leadership development initiatives. He is an avid reader, and loves
 wildlife photography and trekking. A football enthusiast, he is
 passionate about teaching and exploring new ideas in Human Resources and
 organization development. In this exclusive interview, he speaks with
 V SRINIVASAN and
 SHARAT HEGDE in his hometown of
 Bengaluru, India.
</h4>

 Q: What is your understanding about the role and importance of
 character from a leader’s perspective?


 KS: Character is what I would call a
 set of values that are very strongly expressed. If you were to take
 three or four values that a person strongly believes in and
 demonstrates, then that really becomes his or her character. These
 values are basic, like honesty, transparency and trust. While skills are
 there, connection with leaders comes from their character, these deeper
 values. We build trust with people through these values, through the
 integrity and honesty that we show. And I think they are very important
 for building relationships, teams and long-term things. They are very
 important for leaders, because they describe what kind of leader we
 really are.


 Skills are also important. I think both go hand in hand, but if you look
 at really successful leaders, it’s their character that stands out. They
 may or may not be very successful at work, but they’re always
 well-regarded by people, they’re always the ones who people look forward
 to meeting. If they also have skills, if they are also good at strategic
 thinking, then they will be good at their jobs also.


 
 Q: A lot of conventional interventions in organizations emphasize the
 importance of building role-based capabilities and competencies, etc.
 Do you feel that the element of character, and its formation and
 development, needs attention, or is it something that you expect the
 candidate to have brought along with them?


 KS: A lot of character is formed
 early on: the family has a lot to do with a person’s character. But as
 people enter organizations, organizations can give them time to reflect
 on this, and give them good role models, because in the end all of this
 is through role models. If you look at it, the first job that you have
 in any company, and the first leaders you interact with, have a big
 impact on how you think about leaders and leadership. Exposing employees
 to role models with character helps them, and they say, “Okay, these are
 the things I want to see in myself.” So role models are very, very
 important.


 Character is not formed in a day; it is formed over time. It takes a
 long time to form, and even longer to change. Though the basic stuff is
 from your childhood, it can still be shaped as you go along, because
 your mental model is how you deal with people, your mental model is how
 you deal with adversity, your mental world can be shaped over time. It
 can be sharpened over time. I think character can be developed, and I
 think leadership development has to focus on the following things: role
 models, mode of mentorship, time for reflection, feedback, and giving
 people the opportunity to decide what they want to be, what is it that
 they want to be known for.

<hr />
<h5 style="text-align: center">
 If you’re not enjoying what you’re doing 
 then look for something else. 
 There is always enough to do, 
 but enjoying your work is more important.
</h5>
<hr />

 
 Q: What is your advice to young professionals who are at the start of
 their career today?


 KS: Wow, this is the mega question I
 think. We need to write a complete book on this! Well, I shouldn’t be
 giving you clichés or preaching here. It’s very tough, because the world
 is different today, and people are different. There are a few principles
 that I will share, and then we’ll leave the individuals to decide how to
 take them forward.


 Enjoy what you’re doing. 
 When considering a career path, I would say explore, decide, look around
 and enjoy what you’re doing. If you’re not enjoying what you’re doing
 then look for something else. There is always enough to do, but enjoying
 your work is more important.


 Have a measure of what will keep you motivated. What is it that you
 want to achieve? 
 A little bit of deeper thinking and road mapping your career is very
 important. It’s difficult to say what you will be doing by a particular
 time, but at least have a principle of saying: What keeps me happy? What
 is it that I really want to be doing? What is it in five years from now
 that I want to be doing for my community, for myself, and for my family?


 <img class="lazyload w-100 h-auto"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/cultivating_leadership2_220a98788d.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-03T07:54:38.149Z"
 alt="cultivating-leadership2" />


 Take everything you do as a learning opportunity – every job and
 every activity.


 You can keep doing the same things, but if you step back and say, “Okay,
 what did I learn from it? What can I do better?” then the next time it
 will be something very different. With every mundane thing that you do,
 consider it as a learning activity and see how you can improve.


 Career is not just work, but a set of mentors, a set of friends, a
 set of people with whom you want to interact. 
 Build this right from day one. Have mentors in the company, and mentors
 outside the company. Have friends in the company, and friends outside.
 It will give you a fuller understanding of what is happening.


 In this day and age there is no one career that you will
 follow. 
 I would say that everybody will go through two or three different
 inflexion points in their career. You may be doing something for five to
 ten years, and then you may move and do something else. So you’ve got to
 be learning and ready for those pivot points, moving around and doing
 something different.


 
 Q: Can you give one example of any initiative that you have launched
 in a company, for example Infosys, which has had a profound impact on
 people in terms of any of those values we have discussed so far?


 KS: One of the things we thought
 about in Infosys was: How do we get people to connect with their
 purpose? So about a year or two back we came up with the concept of
 ‘power teams’. It was a small experiment. We got people to come together
 as a team and think about what they’ve loved doing; what they’ve
 enjoyed; what they’d like to see for their own learning and development.


 We talked and brainstormed, and at the end of it we asked them to give
 feedback to others in the team on: What are you good at? What will make
 you great? So the others would say, “Yes, you are good at this, this and
 this, but by doing this you’ll be greater,” which created a real bond
 among them.


 Many of our HR people ran this program across the organization. The idea
 was to give people time to reflect on what they want, their own
 development and the purpose of their team, but also at the same time
 bond with the team. They were exploring how they could really help each
 other, which they had never done before. It was a small thing that we
 did to bring a little more focus on themselves, their teams and their
 purpose.

<hr />
<h5 style="text-align: center">
 There is a cognitive surplus, 
 so they want to do something more. 
 That’s why so many people are writing blogs, 
 because they want to express their interests; 
 their minds are working and they’re not able to 
 really utilize all of their capacity.
</h5>
<hr />

 Q: You mentioned that individuals have to reflect on balancing their
 individual work life, family, serving humanity, and developing their
 own interests, hobbies and things like that. Do you see organizations
 taking these ideas and enabling their employees to contribute to
 social and community causes outside their work?


 KS: Well, there are many! If we just
 take Infosys, there are many people who are doing things other than
 work. We have something called Samarpan, which is all about giving
 people opportunities to do CSR projects. They go to nearby schools and
 teach. They’re part of various clubs. We also have the Samaritans
 Counseling Network, where people are trained to be counselors. They
 learn, they’re trained, and they can identify when people are in
 difficulty.


 We found that many people are interested in things other than work.
 Generally their minds are not fully occupied. There is a cognitive
 surplus, so they want to do something more. That’s why so many people
 are writing blogs, because they want to express their interests; their
 minds are working and they’re not able to really utilize all of their
 capacity. Many organizations are using CSR, and they also have internal
 clubs and various other initiatives. For example, at Infosys there is a
 running club. Many people are members, and some are organizers. They’re
 trying and doing something. Many companies are starting clubs and
 activities in their organizations, because they get people together,
 remove some of the stresses of life, and build a stronger social
 bonding.


 Q: Finally, would you like to speak about someone who has been your
 role model?


 KS: I have had many role models
 during my career. When I was a student at Xavier Labour Research
 Institute, Father McGrath, one of the founding Fathers, was one such
 role model. An American Irishman who came to India at an early age and
 stayed in India for 50 years, he embodied many admirable human qualities
 and did a lot for the community. He was respected and trusted by the
 workers of Tata Steel and the local villagers. He was a great listener,
 not at all pretentious and he valued people.


 I also remember one of my first HR Directors at Unilever. When my mother
 was going through an operation within two weeks of my joining Unilever,
 he empathetically listened to me and granted me leave with an open
 heart. He became a mentor to me and even today we are connected and
 meet. Such people make a big difference to us. They stand out in their
 humanness, empathy and the fact that they are prepared to invest a lot
 of time in us.

Q: Thank you so much.
KS: Thank you!
<hr />
<h4 style="text-align: center">
 Interviewed by V SRINIVASAN and SHARAT HEGDE
</h4>
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