The Conference board has just put out a report on the FUTURE INDIA BUSINESS LEADER. Here is a summary of the report. It makes interesting points for future leaders and how we develop them.

1. The Future India business leader
Conference Board report

2. This report is the India leadership
2.0 project. It is about
understanding and developing a
global mindset in an era of
complexity and international
expansion.

3. You have to be energetic yet
patient and find opportunity in
adversity in India.

4. Developing a leadership pipeline
is a challenge.

5. Future India leaders need to be
triathletes –able to operate
seamlessly in the private sector,
with government, and within civil
society. The ability to influence
policy will be important.

6. Eight six percent of participants in
this study say it is ‘difficult’ or
‘very difficult’ to find , deploy, and
retain local leaders.

7. There is a rising tide for good
corporate citizenship and a
breakdown of trust.

8. The personal attributes required
for future business leaders in
India :
Courage, collaboration, self
awareness, comfort with
ambiguity, independent thinking
and integrity.

9. The future competencies required of
an Indian leader are : global mind set,
cultural sensitivity, ability to lead
change, communicate with others,
tell stories, manage global virtual
teams, nurtures and develops talent,
the ability to listen and make the
opinion of others truly count.

10. The Indian workforce will see
young people demanding more
autonomy, freedom ,
empowerment and flexibility.

11. A lot of Indian companies are
going local on leadership
development, to reflect diverse
perspectives.

12. Companies are in a hurry to make
leaders out of managers. It is not
easy to find inspirational leaders
that can motivate people in good
and bad times. We see great
managers who are poor leaders.

13. Leadership is a business issue and
an India Inc issue. If we don’t
define this, India cannot grow.

14. Human capital Challenge
Top 5 Global concerns Top 5 India Inc concerns
1 Human capital 1 Human capital
2 Customer relationships 2 Operational excellence
3 Innovation 3 Global political, economic risk
4 Operational excellence 4 Innovation
5 Corporate brand and reputation 5 Customer Relationships

15. India will need to develop leaders
in a compressed time frame.

16. India is a land of opportunity and
confusion.

17. An important skill in a complex
world is articulation. Leaders
should say it in a way that others
understand. Getting to clarity of
thought in ambiguous situations is
important.

18. We have tried to predict an
individuals future based on past
performance and demonstrated
skills and abilities. This is flawed,
research shows that
fundamentally different skills and
behaviors are needed at different
levels.

19. Learning agility is one aspect of
leadership that is missing in India.
Indian leaders don’t believe that
they need to invest in themselves.
They do not believe in continuous
learning.

20. Challenges for leaders
Global leaders
• Collaboration
• Change leadership
• Driving innovation
• Resilience
• Adaptability
Indian leaders
• Collaboration
• Change leadership
• Global awareness
• Driving Innovation
• Ethical decision making

21. In India we value being
argumentative, therefore we don’t
have listening skills. There is no
attempt to understand where
people are coming from. Because
Indians are bad listeners , they
miss many good ideas.

22. The problem is arrogant leaders
don’t understand the impact this
attitude has on an organization
and its people. In India, this issue
isn’t addressed head on so
nothing ever changes.

23. Rising above and staying pure
• Self awareness
• Learning agility
• Authenticity
• Doing what is right
• Collaboration