For multinational corporations, it makes good sense to have leaders experienced in
For multinational corporations, it makes good sense to have leaders experienced in working with expanding Asian markets.
Vindi Banga (above right) grew up to become a top executive at the food and personal-care giant Unilever, then a partner at the private-equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. His younger brother Ajay (above left), after heading Citigroup’s Asian operations, was last year named CEO of MasterCard — all without a degree from a Western business school and without abandoning his Sikh turban. When Ajay took over at the credit-card company’s suburban — New York City headquarters, the Times of India crowed that he was the first “entirely India-minted executive” at a multinational’s helm.
The Banga brothers are two of a growing roster of global Indian business leaders, a roster that includes CEOs such as Citigroup’s Vikram Pandit and PepsiCo’s Indra Nooyi as well as the deans of both Harvard Business School and INSEAD. Yes, ArcelorMittal’s Lakshmi Mittal had the advantage of growing up in the family business, but now the family business has grown into a global powerhouse under his leadership.
It’s risky to generalize about India, a subcontinent of 1.2 billion people, just as it’s simplistic to stereotype the Western executive or the Chinese business leader. Motorola’s Sanjay Jha or Berkshire Hathaway’s Ajit Jain, one of those tipped as Warren Buffett’s successor, succeed due to talent and drive, not because they’re Indian. And bosses like Nooyi spend most of their formative career years outside the country. Is it that they may just happen to be Indian? As Ajay Banga notes, “You are who you are because of what you do, not the color of your skin.”
The data suggest Indians are scaling corporate heights. In a study of S&P 500 companies, Egon Zehnder found more Indian CEOs than any other nationality except American. Indians lead seven companies; Canadians, four. Among the C-suite executives in the 2009 FORTUNE 500 were two mainland Chinese, two North American Chinese and 13 Indians, according to a study by two professors from Wharton and China Europe International Business School.