That's the message from T. V. Mohandas Pai, Member of the Board and Head – Administration, Human Resources and Education & Research at Infosys. Mr Pai was delivering the keynote address at IIM-B's management conclave Vista 07.
Said Mr Pai, "Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Abraham Lincon prove that principles are timeless and are vital for aspiring leaders to follow. The teachings and life of Gandhi is a very important lesson for businesses today. He led by example."
Mr Pai's presentation was on the theme "Re-changing through leadership."
Answering the question of why leaders are important, Mr Pai said: "Leaders manage through times of change, they make things happen and leaders create revolutions."
Talking about future trend in the leadership area, Mr Pai said: "We are facing a huge shortage of leaders. In my view India is short of 10,000 to 15,000. Young managers should develop skills to fill the gap."
T. V. Mohandas Pai is a Member of the Board and Head – Administration, Human Resources and Education & Research at Infosys. Mr. Pai joined Infosys in 1994 and has served as a Member of the Board since May 2000. He served as the Chief Financial Officer from 1994 to 2006, and then voluntarily stepped down as the CFO to lead efforts in the areas of Human Resources and Education & Research.
Mr. Pai has been the driving force behind the Infosys' Campus Connect program, directed toward creating large-scale, systemic change in engineering education. This program aims to help academia improve its output by producing industry ready engineering graduates with better knowledge and capability. The program is also of strategic importance to Infosys, as the company recruits large numbers of engineering graduates to fuel its growth.
Mr. Pai has a bachelor's degree in Commerce from St. Joseph's College of Commerce, Bangalore, and a bachelor's degree in Law from Bangalore University . He is a Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA).
