 "Mukesh Ambani's secret to leadership is strong relationships")
Set to retire by the year-end, Tata Sons chairman Rata Tata has pipped India’s richest CEO Mukesh Ambani as India Inc’s most powerful CEO, while brother Anil Ambani, chairman of Reliance Communications, is among the worst leaders, said an E_conomic Time_s survey today.
The CEOs were evaluated by corporate people in senior/middle management roles on six important parameters - ‘Leadership’, ‘Strategy & Innovation’, ‘Performance’, ‘Stature’, ‘Social Contribution/ Sustainability’, and ‘Governance’.
Undeterred by the 2G controversy 500 senior executives interviewed by ET have voted for KM Birla of the Aditya Birla conglomerate as the third-most powerful CEO because of their success in the retail sector, followed by Azim Premji of Wipro and Chanda Kochhar of ICICI Bank. The other top CEOs include Deepak Parekh of HDFC, AM Naik of L&T, Anand Mahindra of M&M and Infosys’ KV Kamath.
[caption id=“attachment_320824” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Mukesh Ambani”]
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The list also features a ranking of global Indian business leaders, with London-based LN Mittal at the top, and Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo and Nikesh Arora of Google at No. 2 and 3, respectively. Nobel laureate Amartya Sen heads a separate ranking of global thought leaders.
Based on the survey here are some interesting facts about India’s top 10 most powerful CEOs.
1. Ratan Tata’s second career choice is flying planes, while his best friends are his German Shepherds. The only thorn in his life is his connection with the 2G scam.
2. Mukesh Ambani’s leadership style is relationship-based and his biggest indulgence? The $2billion Antilla!
3. Kumar Mangalam Birla became the youngest Indian to chair a multi-billion dollar conglomerate at 28 and his favourite drink is a Diet Coke.
For more click-through trivia on Azim Premji, Chanda Kochchar et al read the entire piece here.