When you meet S Sandilya, chairman Eicher group for the first time, there are a couple of things that strike you at once. The first will be the complete absence of arrogance or ?airs? as one would expect of a group chairman. It will only take you another look to figure that his eyes are taking in every detail and his brain is quickly analysing your words to come up with witty remarks. All are delivered with a gentle smile or hearty laughter as he gives answers to all that you ask. We meet him at the SOS Children’s Villages of India’s Faridabad premises. The not for profit organisation takes care of underprivileged children and has been operating in the country since 1964. Sandilya joined the organisation as its president in July this year taking over from Padmashree JN Kaul who stepped down after over 44 years of service. He is also the first president from outside the organsation. Always the professional, he says that he chose the organisation impressed with the systems it had put in place.

SOS takes in even two day old children and places them under the care of a mother who looks after around ten children at a time. She has a proper house where the children grow up with their siblings, are sent to premium and quality schools. The child is even married by the organisation. The children and mother relationship carries on after the child leaves the organisation. ?Some children call the mothers to come and live with them and have even taken them abroad, while some children still come to the village to spend time and stay with their mothers for a few day. I am impressed by the absolute family system these people have been able to put in place. It is not an ad hoc effort but one that has been logically thought through and promises to give these children an opportunity to experience normal childhoods,? says Sandilya.

He stresses on the fact that SOS seems to have put the right processes in place. ?As in business and in other situations that require management of some sort, getting the processes right is the key,? he says. Is this his approach to business management as well then? ?Absolutely. I am a total process person. Processes are manifestations of logical thinking in action. They increase productivity and free time for one to concentrate on other tasks,? he says. He denies that being a process person he is not focused on achieving results, an allegation against ?process people?. ?Processes may fail, but then one can fix them. It is easier to fix a problem when one can put a finger on it. Leaving things vague means spending extra time on first finding the problem and then finding the solution,? he says.

He gives SOS’s value system as another reason for joining the organisation. ?It matches my own. I believe that everyone should have equal opportunity for growth despite their background. The organisation provides for a level playing field by equipping these children with skills for their life. It’s a fair thing to do,? he says. ?Is that something that he applies in his office as well? ?Sure, I believe in fairness and it is equally important to appear to be fair. Lack of integrity or doing anything against the interest of the organisation you work for is something I do not tolerate in people at all,? he says. He gives these reasons as also being responsible for him having stuck with the Eicher group for over 30 years. ?The promoters also believed in the same values. I did get other offers but then one decides what is more important to one. The group met with my priority structure,? he says.

Sandilya joined the Eicher group in 1975 after stints with DCM and Union Carbide. He joined as a finance specialist but soon moved on to various positions in operations as well. ?I was made to cut my teeth on projects of different nature. In 1979, I was made to run Generators India Limited, a unit making diesel generating sets. Then, I was then in Alwar looking after the diesel engines and tractors plants and was on the managing committee of a school that Eicher ran as well,? he says. So was he comfortable doing such varied projects. ?One should be open to learning new things all the time. If one has this attitude, then one can do anything. My seniors believed in me and I was open to doing new things,? he says. But what if one fails? ?One should be allowed to fail. You learn something new every time you do,? says Sandilya.

Not surprisingly, his ?can do? attitude impressed group promoters enough to appoint him the director of manufacturing and operations for the first major diversification into commercial vehicles by the Eicher group in collaboration with Mitsubishi Motors of Japan and later became its managing director. Further roles and promotions saw him moving back to the group headquarters in 1998. After another two years, he was appointed the Group chairman and CEO. After Siddhartha Lal took over as the new CEO for Eicher Motors, this management veteran has now moved on to the role of the chairman. He is no longer as hands on as a CEO needs to be and is more concerned with charting the future growth strategy and vision for the group. One of the very first graduates from IIM Ahmedabad, this management graduate has indeed come a long way. But has he changed somewhat in the journey. ?I have always had the willingness to learn something new, so that has not changed. I have also been a systematic person. So in that sense, I have not changed much. However, experience does ring in perspective. And I have gained from the same,? he says.

Sandilya also says that he used to be a perfectionist earlier and was too focused on achieving perfection. ?I still strive for it but have learnt that one should not get too lost in perfection. If you are too focused on detail, you might miss on things that are important,? he says.

So what does he look for in people when he hires them now? ?Attitude is important. One must have a positive attitude to learn. Someone arrogant is not desirable as one needs to be able to work in a team. Though you might be hired at a senior position, one man cannot run the show. He needs to be a team person,? says Sandilya. And what is his take on office politics, something that he must have encountered on his way up the corporate ladder and must be seeing now as he leads the organisation? ?I have zero tolerance for office politics. It just spreads negative vibes in the organisation. We actively discourage it in our offices,? he says. He adds that he did indeed encounter a lot of office politics in his career but handled it with positive manipulation. ?One can get his views across in the right way by discussing it with people. This too is an approach we promote in Eicher,? he says. The group held a participative strategy building workshops a while ago. The entire business unit from junior to senior levels participated in the same. ?Such events give the workers a feeling of ownership in the company,? says Sandilya.

He pointed out that if we wanted to really know more about him as a corporate leader, we must ask other people. ?Only they can tell, what I am like to work with as they are the ones who do so,? he says. So we ask Humsa Dhir, the group corporate communication person, ?What strikes you about him most is his approachability. Everyone has access to him. He is impartial and very open to feedback. He is also very dynamic and offers remarkable insights. What’s very distinctive about his style is his way of delivering these insights. He often does that in the form of anecdotes where each one of us can take away what is relevant to us. The way one does from stories,? she says.

Even at around sixty, the energy bursting forth from Sandilya is unmistakable. Perhaps it has something to do with his healthy lifestyle. He remains a staunch non-drinker and non-smoker and loves travelling and spending time with his family. So what are his future goals as he approaches 60? ?Life is a journey and I believe in doing things that satisfy me. They are my milestones,? he says. “Taking on the role of president at SOS is another step in the journey,” he asserts.