Stefan & caroline worked at Leman Highlander & Company for more than 20 years -

joined fresh out of business school

Stefan - head of consultancy's South Asia and Middle East business

Caroline - gloabal HR director

Turnover went up again - fourth quarter in a row - 32% over industry average -
employee survey abysmal

Mumbai office grown faster than others-business booming- but people not happy

BUT!
Vijay Kumar - managing partner, mumbai & Aparna Nayak - 2nd in command - assured
things were fine and showed growth figures

LH aggressively hired Vijay Kumar 8 years ago. VK prev star at McKinsey - perfect
Indian & US credentials, sharp business sense

3 years later - more than proved his worth = numbers fantastic, big clients flocked
him - abandoned McK, Bain and BCG

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PART OF PROBLEM - VK treats everyone like an assistant

2 years ago - Stefan regular visit to Mumbai - asked about 2 consultants who
abruptly quit bcoz VK was difficult to work for - Vijay sent resignation email to
Thomas Leman - talked down - but gave Stefan clear orders- keeping Vijay happy -
India brightest star, 2nd in revenue - no one wanted Vijay to go anywhere

PART OF PROBLEM - VK difficult to work for-claim by 2 consultants who quit abruptly

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Stefan - office at Nariman point - call with Vijay - who is at a meeting in NMM -
Stefan there for meeting with Kerimer engineering, talk with staff

Aparna - results beeter, pipeline strong, premier training ground for new
consultants

Out of window - employees busy but relaxed - last time in a rush, ducking in and
out, anticipating boss's movements, moods and demands - realized bcoz Vijay wasn't
there

PART OF PROBLEM - Some Employees complain, Seen to be busy but relaxed contrary to
previous visit

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Talking to staff - Amal most junior guy didn't say much, Rehan senior consultant -
mentioned things were little difficult

PART OF PROBLEM - VK was always demanding but employees thought he'd ease up once
office is established but it did not happen, only gotten worse

Complaints all centred towards Vijay - never see family, working/ sending emails at
4, not leave until he does otherwise he gives more work next day, many high
achievers felt inadequate and left

Spoken to Aparna - but she also not lose job, upset him

PART OF PROBLEM - Vijay never satisfies, creative genius intimidating, didn't trust
anyone but aparna & consultants who worked around the clock
No respect for employees - work too hard
Made all decisions
Doesn't like criticism - Makes comments to demotivate people - those who complaint
are not upto stds of consulting industry
Expects perfection all the time

EFFECT - losing consultants, bad mouthing leading to difficulty in finding

replacements, reputation attracted best hires past, not anymore

--------------------------

Aparna - Vijay heart & soul, built the entire office

PART OF PROBLEM - Vijay seen employee survey results - knows how unhappy people are
- thinks consultants need to grow up - complainers would leave, strong consultants
remain - considers typical pain of growing organization

Aparna - asked not to bring it up over dinner

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Stefan - talks & Vijay stays - improbable but not completely impossible
talks & Vijay quits- focus on retaining clients, keep revenue up

doesn't talk - situation gets worse - losing staff and clients

Talk to other senior partners but no time - not talking lost opportunity and stefan
must do job

Can start by asking his goals and how he'll need to change to acheive them - focus
on Vijay and not partners or consultants

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The conversation that Stefan is about to have is like any negotiation: If he’s not
willing to lose, he’s not going to win. But it’s a risk worth taking. If someone is
likely to ruin your organization, you need to address the situation immediately.

---------------------------

But talking head on without being backed by other senior partners - Vijay would
definitely quit than change his working style

Rather talk about goals for office - reaching them - presnt him a challenge - not
about changing but opportunity to expand his skills to match office's growth

A confrontation or even hint of questioning Vijay's working style might set him off
and so Stefan must refrain from asking him anything over dinner.
Instead he could ask about Vijay's expectations from his employees and address the
issues he feels exist. Stefan could then present both the sides of the issues with
the top management and arrange meeting to address the same.

While Stefan and Vijay are both Senior partners, Stefan must bring out the issue
with Vijay's management style. Complete inaction and unresolved issues would only
increase the stress and eventually result in loss in productivity among the
employees.