Mark of a manager

The setting was five-star — the Crystal Room of the Taj Mahal Hotel — for the presentation of awards considered benchmarks in entrepreneurial and managerial excellence. In its golden jubilee year, the Bombay Management Association (BMA) instituted a new award — Management Woman Achiever of the Year — and receiving this honor on June 21, 2003 was Anu (Arnavaz) Aga, chairperson of the Thermax group of companies, a leading player in energy and environment management.

Aga has "courageously led and facilitated a major turnaround in the group. This included reconstitution of the board, shedding of non-core activities, rightsizing of operations, increased focus on the customer and driving a high performance culture,” notes the award citation. "She has the rare courage of her convictions and is passionately committed to the cause of ethics and fair play... (She) is a role model in many ways for the business community at large and particularly for women in management...” The citation particularly commends Aga’s "courageous leadership qualities, espousal of ethical practices and ability to stand up for worthwhile causes.”

What stood Aga apart from the rest of the crowd was her profile in courage. The years 1996-2000 saw terrible tragedies. Husband Rohinton, founder and head of Thermax, passed away suddenly in 1996, followed by the death just a year later of their 25-year-old son Kurush in a car accident. Thermax was floundering, tough decisions needed to be taken. The company has, from the time she assumed chairmanship in 1996, turned from the red to the black. (Thermax posted a net profit of Rs 7.2 crore in the quarter ended June 30, 2003, despite a fall in turnover. This was attributed to better treasury management, according to The Economic Times of August 1, 2003).

Anu Aga: role model for the business community at large and women in particular

Immediate past president of the Confederation of Indian Industry, Western Region, Anu’s outspoken anguish at Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s handling of the communal riots last year raised many a political hackle. She was among the sprinkling of industry leaders (Rahul Bajaj, Deepak Parekh, Jamshyd Godrej) who chose to take a stand, in an environment which saw most captains of industry more concerned about the loss of property and man-hours than the slaughter of innocent villagers and townspeople.

Accepting the BMA award on behalf of her mother who was away in the US was Anu’s daughter Meher Pudumjee who is group vice chairperson. "My mother would have loved to be present. I am very proud of her,” Meher told the gathering of management professionals in the audience and seated on stage — chief guest Keshub Mahindra, chairman of Mahindra and Mahindra Limited, BMA president S. P. Agarwal, vice president Devender Nath, Dr Ram Tarneja, Nasser Munjee, R. K. Chopra and others.

Receiving the Management Man of the Year Award 2002-2003 was R. Gopalakrishnan, executive director of Tata Sons and a member of the Group Executive Office, headed by Tata group chairman Ratan Tata. Simone Tata, chairperson of Trent Limited, who has been the driving force behind Westside, a chain of stores with an innovative approach to retailing in India, was honored with the Special Award for Innovation. Among the several other awards presented was Best Chairperson of BMA committees, won by BMA stalwart Nargis Wadia, director of New World Strategies Private Limited.

Living up to her reputation for forthrightness, in an acceptance speech read out by her daughter, Anu stated: "In the recent past we saw several corporate reputations take a beating for what is euphemistically called creative accounting. Transparency and accountability in business are no longer just seminar subjects, they form the bedrock on which stakeholder trust is established. As my late husband Rohinton Aga used to correctly say: ‘Profits are not just a set of figures, but of values.’”

Urging industry leaders to be aware of their social responsibilities and not to shy away from taking a stand, especially where the rule of law is violated, Anu urged: "The business community, with its intellectual strength, financial muscle, persuasive power and leadership needs to support sustainable projects which can make a qualitative difference in the lives of people. Hence, I strongly believe that unless leaders take an active part in what is going on around we will have successful businesses, but an environment with which we are not happy and which, in the long run, threatens business stability itself. I believe that corporate business responsibility means getting involved in creating a better tomorrow for India.”

(At the Thermax annual general meeting on July 31, Anu announced her decision to retire as chairperson in September 2004 in favor of Pudumjee, who is 37. Anu will continue as director on the board, focussing on social work, reports The Economic Times of August 1, adding that the Thermax board has decided to allocate one percent of net profit every year towards social causes.)

Coincidentally, it was exactly 10 years ago that the BMA had honored Rohinton Aga with The Management Man of the Year Award. Aditya and Kumaramangalam Birla, Parekh, Keki Dadiseth and Godrej are among the august winners of this Award.

"Her vision has been to provide high quality fashion at affordable prices with an international shopping experience. In a short span, 10 retail stores (Westside) have been set up in major cities. She has been able to achieve all this by extensive use of IT (Information Technology) in inventory management of over 20,000 different products, maintaining stringent quality standards and providing superior service...” stated the citation for Simone Tata. "This is a delightful surprise and rather unexpected. What good fortune has provoked this award!” smiled Simone, accepting the honor from Mahindra. "In business, innovation is the only way to survive and prosper. I have had a long innings full of excitement and challenges. I surround myself with young and capable managers and receive great advice, great ideas. We will continue to accelerate (the business)...”

Leavening the Saturday morning with his humor was Gopalakrishnan. "By now, after so many speeches, it must be pretty predictable what I’m going to say, so I won’t say it... The BMA in a moment of impetuosity and aberration gave me the award! The big danger of awards is that one gets carried away and begins to believe that everything that is said is true!”

"I usually shy away from such functions,” Mahindra declared, "but one look at the list of recipients and I felt I could not deny myself the pleasure and privilege of giving awards to persons like these.” In a hard-hitting address, the doyen of industry commended the changing mindset of the people in political power through the 1990s and the dawn of the new millennium. "It is no longer considered a sin to make money. Industry, however, has to become a part and parcel of framing national policy. We must not shy away from public policy... As we increase our economic activity (in a globalized arena), we will face a hostile environment (as is happening, for example, in IT)... The irony is the developed world seeks our markets but keeps their own markets shut... We must not fall for bullying tactics.”

Recalling the dreadful era of the 1950s-80s in India, Mahindra queried: "The misguided policies of that time —how did they not destroy us as in the Soviet Union? The draconian laws, misguided planning killed all enterprise. It often seemed like a conspiracy; was it a conspiracy to keep people in poverty and ignorance? Indira Gandhi (Prime Minister at that time) threw me out (when he commented on this).” No one is against transparency in corporate governance, Mahindra declared, but "everything is blamed on us poor businessmen. The most important element are the parliamentarians. They legislate change, frame policies. The time has come to seek our democratic rights. If we do not, we will get change we do not deserve.”

Running the advertising agency Inter Publicity for 30 years till it was sold, Wadia is now into consultancy in advertising, marketing and event management. Associated with the BMA for 10 years, she is the chairperson, for the third time, of the Women in Management Committee, which focuses on the empowering of women and giving them recognition for their achievements. "We support and encourage women who dare to make a difference e.g. Anahita Pundole in her campaign against illegal hoardings, or Nandini Sardesai who spearheaded the cause of voting rights for women at the Bombay Gymkhana. This year we are going to focus on NGOs (non governmental organizations) run by women, as well as women bureaucrats,” asserts Wadia.

Founded in 1954 by N. Dandekar, Minoo Masani and a few stalwarts of Indian industry, the BMA is an independent non-profit making entity and is considered one of India’s foremost management associations. It conducts, according to their fact file, a seven-day residential Executive Development Program and over 100 management development programs of one or two days duration, in addition to four-five major conventions in IT, HRD (Human Resources Development), marketing, financial services, etc. Minoo Shroff (currently Bombay Parsi Punchayet chairman), Nanabhoy Davar, Dr Rustom Davar, Dr Minoo Daver, Soli Doctor, R. J. Khambatta and Kersi M. Gherda are among its roster of presidents.