Pradeep Kar
Founder, Chairman & MD
Microland
Pradeep Kar is a member of:
Keys to Effective Leadership
Leadership means first what comes to my mind clearly is a sense of responsibility, a sense of conviction, a decision what I will take someone needs to be convinced, an ability to make a significant impact on business, customer and Industry.
Reaction During Crisis
It depends on the situation. You have to be objective, make sure you have
adequate data on table. When two choices arise, I take the decision
basing on my intuit feel. It all depends what is the underlying factor,
understanding both sides of the situation, getting a fair perspective.
Crucial Decisions and its Result
In 1989, the future was on networking, we start following on that. The
second decision was in 1991, when Indian economy opened up,
people started buying multinational brands, so we tied up with Cisco,
Synopsys. In1999, there was internet boom, so we focused on that and
again 2001 when internet burst happened, we quickly sold 3 companies. In
2002, we thought IT outsourcing will happen, now we can see the benefits
of staying the course.
Desire to Change the Past
Yes. The 3 companies, which we sold, if we could sold them a year
earlier, we could have got 10-20 times more money. But looking back
you can always connect the dots.
Unique Practices to Build Future Leaders
As we are competing with tier-1 companies or multi-billion companies, we
need talent who are more entrepreneurial, responsive and faster.I spend a
lot of my time in hiring people. Each month I invite 5 employees
with their families to have launch with me.
Role Model
I really didn’t have the benefit to have a mentor. But
for me Steve jobs who is really stands out and has done exceptionally
well. We make sure all employees will go through his Stanford speech
during induction. It’s really inspiring.
Leadership Traits that You Appreciate
Patience. Sometimes it’s better to leave things alone; people will eventually find the answer.
Fostering Innovation
We have chief Innovation officer who reports to me. I ensure what they
trying to do, they are well supported and adequately funded.
Suggestions on Leadership
Whenever you interact with an employee, they should feel inspired. We need to celebrate success everyday. You should take the ownership as a leader and you have to be responsible and accountable.
Advice to Budding Entrepreneurs
You have to stay optimistic and should have the self belief.You can’t be
a captain of a ship and think that it’s going to crash. Raise money when
you don’t need that. Hire the right people.
