The key is to keep doing these kinds of programs, no matter the financial state of the company.
“We don’t slack off because we don’t have the money,” Raj says. “We just have a consistent effort going on, whether we are very profitable or whether we are slightly profitable.”
As a business leader, if you’re trying to become more efficient and cohesive, keep in mind that you’re in the people business, he says. You have to get people to buy in to what needs to be done.
“It can’t be like the army where you order things and they are going to happen because they have to happen. It doesn’t work like that,” Raj says. “This is more of a family environment — people have to buy into what the direction of the company is. People have to convince themselves that they will be treated fairly — that people with talent are going to rise and people who are not that sharp are not going to be getting jobs that they can’t handle.”
Takeaways:
- Do your job — pursue the right idea — first.
- Know your strengths and stick to them.
- Consistent management brings people together.
The Rajadhyaksha File:
Name: Vikram “Raj” Rajadhyaksha, P.E.
Title: Chairman and CEO
Company: DLZ Corp.
Born: Mumbai, India
Education: Bachelor’s in engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay; masters in civil engineering and an honorary doctorate for serving on the Board of Trustees, University of Cincinnati
How do you balance your business interests in the Midwest and India? The short answer is you don’t. We have people running that operation, India Hydropower Development Co., which is separate from what we do here. We produce power using hydroelectric plants. We own six of them that pump electricity into the state grid. The state, under long-term contracts, pays us. We’re building a seventh one right now. We do $10 million in revenue, versus $100 million here, and have a staff of about 100 people.
I go to India three or four times a year, two-week trips. Those have become routine.
Why did you get involved? It was offered to me. It was a challenge. It was also an area that I enjoy; this is my personal background in engineering. I’ve dealt with water resources and dams my whole life. It seemed like a good thing to do.
Have you always been interested in art? I was always interested in art. I have just collected Indian contemporary art. I like other art. I have seen a lot of art, mainly European art. But I asked myself whether there were any other Indians, because of my ethnic background; are there any good Indian artists? It was fascinating to find out that painted Indian art had disappeared between the 10th and 19th centuries. After independence, it started reappearing.
This artist I collect, Francis Newton Souza, was one of the first really prominent artists after the independence movement in India.
