Airtimes: Indian Standard Times

Saturday, December 10 at 9:30am, 20:00hrs, 22:30hrs (replay)

Sunday, December 11 at 06:00am, 17:00hrs and 20:30hrs (replays)

Monday, December 12 at 09:00am (replay)

This week on TALK ASIA, Satinder Bindra sits down with India’s Shiv Nadar, head of the HCL Group of Companies, one of the largest computer hardware and software conglomerates in the country.

Nadar is a self-made billionaire who defines success not just in terms of what is reflected in the bottom line. “The benchmark which I will use is how well is this organization serving its stakeholders, and how strongly is it built to serve its stakeholders. See, stakeholders are basically three, the customers, the employees, the shareholders. We follow a principle of employee first. If we put our employee first, and if they are satisfied and they are happy, and if their aspirations are filled here, then they will do things which will be naturally making our customers extremely happy, which in turn will take care of the shareholder,” the billionaire says.

The secret to success, Nadar says, is staying aware: “… you must, you have to carry that feeling. You know, like they say, in Africa, you know I’ve seen the posters of it it’s very nice, if you’re born a gazelle, you get up in the morning and think that how I run faster than the fastest lion, and if you’re born a lion, how do I run faster than the slowest gazelle. So, whichever way, if you’re born in Africa, you get up and run. So, if you’re going to be an entrepreneur you have to stay permanently paranoid.”

Inspiration, for Nadar, comes from athletes from the sporting world and not from fellow businessmen. “You know, I’m a very avid watcher of many games, and some of the sports people have stayed my very good friends. And I have seen the passion to achieve certain gold, and the goals are always a level of excellence… when they win, they are extremely happy. When they fail, you can see them, in their face, their goal association is 100%,” he said.