“India may be the ideal CEO training ground”, says a recent article in TIME magazine. Carla Power, the author of the said article, writes:
“The Banga brothers [Ajay Banga, CEO of MasterCard and Vindi Banga, a partner at Clayton Dubilier & Rice] 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.” Citing a study by two professors from Wharton and China Europe International Business School she mentions:
“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 […].”
Elaborating further she writes:
“What factors account for the rise and rise of India-trained business minds? “Our colleagues in our Asian offices are asking the same question,” laughs Jill Ader, head of CEO succession at the executive-search firm Egon Zehnder International. “Their clients in China and Southeast Asia are saying, ‘How come it’s the Indians getting all the top jobs?'” It could be because today’s generation of Indian managers grew up in a country that provided them with the experience so critical for today’s global boss. Multiculturalism? Check. Complex competitive environment? Check. Resource-constrained developing economy? You got that right. And they grew up speaking English, the global business language.”
The full article, dated August 1, 2011, is available at TIME magazine’s website:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2084441,00.html