Sandeep Dhar is no ordinary CEO. The man?s thoughts are not confined to a cubicle. Wordly wise and relaxed, Sandeep has a side to him that corporate world hardly comes across these days. His deep interest in Indian mythology, and its relevance in South Asia, is both astounding and refreshing.
The Tesco HSC CEO has over 20 years of experience, cutting across verticals like retail banking, IT consulting and business process management in Asia, Europe and North America. But all this exposure to the glitz and glamour of management has not diluted his sense of all round vision.
?There is only one sin, that?s not to be forgiven. And that?s arrogance. Mythology tells us that all avatars of God came to earth to punish the arrogant. In the corporate world too, I see a lot of arrogance around. It?s my deep faith in Indian mythology that helps me to stay out of it.?
He believes in maintaining his relationships with his mentors, even if he moves on from the company. So for him, Harit Talwar at Citi Bank and Jerry Rao and Bhaskar Menon at Mphasis are mentors even today. ?You may decide to leave the company, when it is clear that you cannot contribute further or the firm is not able to reward you any higher for your contribution. But that does not mean one has to dissociate from the relationship.?
At work, Sandeep believes in empowering his employees. ?I have had some great mentors in my career and so I try to do the same. I always try to help whenever a colleague is in need of it. Luckily for me, wherever I have worked ?be it Citi Bank, Mphasis or Tesco?I have been associated with good work cultures. It is important to delegate and empower, so that the employees begin to enjoy their responsibilities.?
Tesco HSC is the back-office engine room that Tesco, the third largest retailer in the world, banks on. Tesco is a $100 billion firm, employing over lakh people across 14 countries. In Bangalore, Tesco has set up a services centre which houses close to 5,000 people.
?We take great care to make sure that we communicate rightly with the employees. For me, customer service is top priority.?
Sandeep narrates an incident that changed his life, as far as customer service is concerned. ?When I was with Citi, an employee behaved rudely on the phone with a customer, who was defaulting regularly on payment of credit card bills. He termed the customer a ?bad? one. The employee then was given a dressing down by the manager who told him that there was never a ?bad? customer. Maybe the customer was in some financial difficulty. I learned a big lesson from that incident.?
From that moment, customer focus became a mantra with Sandeep. ?That?s what we try to drill down with our employees as well here at Tesco HSC.? The centre?s objective has been to provide Tesco with IT, business and finance services that drive Tesco?s global operations. ?We attract some top talent. Those who want to specialise in technology in retail come to us, and they find it quite exciting.?
The IT services group within Tesco HSC pushes technologies like cloud computing and virtualisation to cut infrastructure costs and make IT systems more secure and robust. Then there is the business services group that provides services that include recruitment, payroll and pension support. These are besides the finance and commercial services groups.
But does his hectic work schedule allow him time to indulge in his passions?namely mythology and Asian cinema. ?I do a lot of travelling. But hardly to the West. All my interest lies in South East Asia, where I find India?s footprints. I marvel at the spread of Indian culture across countries like Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia etc. It?s amazing to see how much Indian culture has been able to penetrate these places. But it seems that these countries are not too willing to give India any credit for it. Nevertheless, I find this whole thing very fascinating.?
Sandeep is also an exponent of yoga and meditation. ?My school had a yoga course, and I have been hooked ever since. I find yoga very therapeutic.
I also find the Kerala martial art form Kalaripayattu very interesting.
It will be great if we can popularise it abroad.?