Early impressions
I don’t exactly know why Rajendra Narula reminded me of Napoleon Bonaparte.
As the Chief Operating Officer, he oversaw corporate affairs and marketing and sales in the ₹12,000 crore automobile tyre manufacturing company, where I had recently joined as the Head of HR.
He was reputed to be a genius with a prodigious memory. At the same time, he was known to be ruthless with anyone who crossed him. Was it this combination of ‘genius and ruthless’ that reminded me of Napoleon? Maybe.
Every organisation has its war stories — these are the arteries and veins that make up its lifeblood and define its culture. And it was Rajendra Narula or RN, as he preferred to be addressed, who figured prominently in many of these. If you ever crossed him, knowingly or unknowingly, he never forgave you. Getting someone fired was not his style — that was too easy and painless. He just got you into a situation where you felt humiliated every day and the only options you were left with were to either apologise or quit.
One up-man ship
I met RN as part of my induction.
“You know Ramesh, I missed interviewing you the day the CEO met you. He did check with me though, and I told him, given your experience in the FMCG industry, you would be an asset here.”
I knew RN was lying — my appointment letter had been signed and given to me by the CEO right at the end of the interview. Nevertheless, I said, “I appreciate that Mr Narula.” There was no point in confronting him on that one.
“Please address me as RN.” he said with a smile. It was then that I noticed the spiritual guru’s large photograph on the wall behind him. RN’s grin bore a close resemblance to the beatific smile in the photo.
War of words
Over the course of the next few weeks, during operational review meetings, I witnessed acrimonious exchanges between RN and the Head of R&D, Murthy. The CEO was concerned that warranty costs (where customer tyres are replaced free of cost) had gone up from 2 per cent to 4 per cent of revenues, and were hurting the company’s profitability.
RN put the blame squarely on R&D. Murthy, on the other hand, clearly blamed RN’s warranty policy, which he felt was too lax. While the war of words continued between RN and Murthy, the outcome was a foregone conclusion — no one took on RN and got away unscathed. And this was not the first time Murthy had crossed RN.
It was clear that Murthy was being victimised and all this was taking its toll on the team spirit and morale of the senior team. Professional integrity demanded that I try and diffuse the situation, but taking on RN would have its consequences for me.
Whilst pondering over this dilemma, I remembered the words of one of my professors at IIM. He had said: “It’s easy to be virtuous when the stakes are low. But it takes real courage to stand on the side of truth when everything for you is at risk.”
The confrontation
I met RN in his office.
“I hope you can see that this tension between you and Murthy is affecting the general morale and team spirit,” I began.
“I see what you mean Ramesh, but please realise, warranty costs have gone up by ₹240 crore. And somebody must be held accountable,” he said.
“I know RN, but the problem may also lie in the quality of raw materials. Or maybe our warranty policy is indeed too liberal.”
“I suggest you stay out of this Ramesh. Nothing I can do here,” he snapped.
“Okay, RN. But there is something else I wanted to talk to you about.”
I knew it was not going to be easy but it had to be done. I continued, “I have been hearing from credible people in our company about something involving you.”
RN sat up straight, “What do you mean?”
“It is said that we once had to pay the round trip airfare from Chennai to Mumbai to 20 sales candidates. You had changed the interview location to Mumbai so that you could attend your guru’s convention there.” Before he could respond, I continued, “And that one of your dealers had paid for your holiday to Europe last year.” I waited for his outburst.
There was none of it.
“I don’t know what you are talking about Ramesh. If there is any proof of what you are saying, please bring it to me.”
“RN, I just wanted to share with you what I heard. I would like to leave it there,” I said, and walked away.
Over the next few weeks, RN instituted a committee to investigate the real reasons behind the increase in warranty costs and study all existing processes in material purchase and warranty policy.
Morale among senior team members improved. Murthy stayed on.
And I stopped shadow-boxing with my fears of impending doom.