Business Leadership

“People are our most important asset.”This is an oft-repeated refrain in organizational mission and vision statements, as well as in various communications from the CEOs. On the other hand, there is a continued feeling amongst the HR professionals that the HR function continues to be an “underdog” and lacks impact and influence in their organizations. How do we resolve these seemingly disparate perspectives? Has HR really come of age in the boardroom? What do CEOs really expect from HR? How does HR currently fare against these expectations?

“Performance appraisal ratings are like a roll of the dice – utterly random”. “Performance appraisals are based on the whims and fancies of the line manager.” “The things I get rated on are different from what I do on the job”.

HR needs to understand business—especially, the financial aspects. This is a very familiar complaint that business heads often voice in organizations. The HR department on the other hand feels that finance and accounts people expect them to understand the different budget heads as well as cash flows, though we are not familiar with financial terminology. These and similar observations led Rajesh Walawalkar, a Finance and HR professional with 26 years of experience, to share his thoughts around the topic ‘Financial Intelligence for HR at the Ahmedabad forum.

Leadership is an often overused word in the corporate dictionary with most organizations willingly investing millions of dollars in developing the leadership capabilities of their managers.  The reigning belief is that organizations succeed or fail on the basis of how well they are led.

The media is abuzz with the appointment of 37-year-old Marissa Mayers as chief executive officer of Yahoo. The top job at Yahoo, the troubled erstwhile technology bellwether and Wall Street favorite – is newsworthy on its own but the attention Mayers has drawn is extraordinary. Why all the fanfare - you may ask.  It is primarily because: