Guest: Nandu Nandkishore

Nandu Nandkishore (Doreswamy Nandkishore; born 30 September 1958, known as "Nandu") is a business executive, venture capitalist and business school professor. He is the retired Global CEO of Nestlé Nutrition, and retired executive vice president and head of Asia Oceania, Africa of Nestlé S.A, Switzerland. He presently serves as an independent director on the board of several companies, and is a professor of practice at Indian School of Business and a guest lecturer at London Business School.

HIGHLIGHTS & TAKEAWAYS:

• 33:50 - 33:59 “KG: The idea of realizing that we are custodians, it’s a temporary space, but we have to live with ourselves and our conscience.”
• 35:09 - 37:50 Fundamental paradigms in skilling ourselves from Prof Nandu: 1) Be prepared to be laid off. 2) Be prepared for a portfolio gig career. 3) Prepare yourself to learn to use these tools to reinvent what you can do so you can become more inherently valuable. 4) Have a disaster recovery plan in advance.
• 37:02 - 37:11 “Today, education and learning has to be a continuous daily activity. So you have to keep re-skilling yourself, keep figuring it out.”
• 38:24 - 38:47 The path to your next job will be circuitous. It will not be a straight line. You’ll probably have to try and fail at many things and milk your network and go out and create more value till you can find the next gig that gives you fulfillment that is financial and mental.
• 40:24 - 42:14 Promoting managers to positions of responsibility. Prof Nandu’s two things to consider: 1) APTITUDE - “Do you have the skill set?” 2) ATTITUDE - “Are you somebody who sees the glass as half full or half empty?” 3) THE HUNGER - “Are you hungry? If you’re hungry then you will work 24/7”
• 42:26 - 42:33 “KG: Could it be created extrinsically? Can you create inspirational, motivational workplaces in your observation?” (Question to Prof. Nandu)
• 43:10 - 43:24 “ If you are honest and true to your purpose in what you state, how you state, I think young people resonate with that. And then they will demonstrate because young people are hungry for purpose.”
• 43:29 - 43:36 “It’s not difficult to get young people to work hard. It’s not difficult, but you have to connect with them.”
• 49:53 - 51:47 Three R’s Philosophy REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE. Focusing on SCOPE 3. 1) Governments have to drive that. 2) Companies need to find new business models that are a sweet spot between purpose and profit, 3) Consumers have to change their behaviors.
• 51:52 - 52:59 France Van Houten of Royal Dutch Philip talks about products as service business models. They move you from being sellers of products to sellers of service. Where you own the data, you own the customer relationship and the more value you create for your customers, the more chance they’ll keep coming back to you.
• 53:45 - 54:00 “KG: I find that some things feel like wicked problems that are so huge, we can’t tackle them really, especially a lot of individuals that feel intimidated. I’m just a cog in a giant wheel, but the way you’re positioning it, it makes it accessible because they’re examples.
• 54:16 - 54:22 “KG: We step away from green washing or woke washing into actually aligning values with action.”
• 54:38 - 55:00 “KG asks: What’s an advice you give to leaders at any level as they’re navigating their leadership journeys?” “Prof. Nandu answers: Know your core values. Know your core values that you will not compromise. Talk about them, publicize them and hold yourself accountable to them.”
• 56:01 - 57:10 Prof. Nandu talks about “The Best Leaders Are Great Teachers” from Harvard Business Review.
• 57:17 - 57:32 KG talks about The Power of One from Harvard Business Review
• 57:56 - 57:58 Prof. Nandu’s final advice: “Whatever you do, think of what’s your LEGACY?”

REFERENCES & LINKS:

Dance of Disruption and Creation Epochal Change and the Opportunity for Enterprise

ROUTLEDGE

AMAZON

BARNESANDNOBLE

ABBEYS

5 foundations of morality by JONATHAN HAIDT

DIGITALCOMMONS

CENTER FOR ARTISTIC ACTIVISM

The Best Leaders Are Great Teachers

HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW

The Power of One

HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW

France Van Houten of Royal Dutch Philip about their Business Model

CIRCLE ECONOMY