My basic philosophy is to have fun at work and work while you have fun

Chief operating officer of Aircel, Gurdeep Singh is the new poster boy of

the Indian telecommunications industry, having successfully moved Aircel from a

regional player to a national player. Today, Aircel is operational in eighteen

circles in the country and holds the record of launching services in eight

circles in a span of thirty to forty days. His management style is reflected in

the growth of the company.

Singh is responsible for the pan-India operations of Aircel. In addition,

all marketing, sales, customer service, IT, Aircel business solutions and

network functions of the company report to him. He holds a Masters degree in

Management Studies from BITS, Pilani. Aircel already claims to be numero uno in

four circles: Chennai, rest of Tamil Nadu, Assam and the Northeast; and at the

second position in Jammu & Kashmir.

He is the man behind the emergence of the Aircel brand in the country. In

a career spanning twenty-five years, Singh has worked for industries ranging

from consumer durables to telecommunications. Prior to joining Aircel, he was

working with Vodafone as operations director, and was responsible for central

India operations.

Here we delve into his likes and dislikes in a free-wheeling interview. He

talks about his hobbies, childhood dreams and leadership styles among other

things:

What were your dreams when you were growing up?



My father was a mechanical engineer, and used to work on a shop floor. He

was working for the Indira Gandhi Canal project, and his work involved extremely

rigorous physical labour. While I was growing up, I decided to never ever to

take up a job which involved physical labour. As a small boy, I dreamt of a

white collar job. It was for this reason that I decided to go in for management,

and not to do engineering.

What are your hobbies? What do you like to do in your spare time?



I read a lot, mostly management and business related books. Currently, I am

reading, `Eating the Big Fish' by Adam Morgan. It is about innovation, and I had

to especially order it.

I also love to watch Hindi movies, and watch all kinds of Bollywood movies.

At times, I watch as many as three movies in a month. I especially like Aamir

Khan movies, and find Aishwarya Rai very graceful. Of the recent movies, I

enjoyed Oye Lucky and Dev D. I also like to watch reality shows on television.

How do you maintain your work-life balance?



My weekends are totally devoted to my family. I don't like to work on

weekends, and spend my time with family and friends. I am extremely close to my

family. My son is doing engineering in the US and my daughter is in the 10th

class. I am also very fond of Hindi movies, and catch up on latest releases on

the weekend. I also like to swim regularly.

What would you say is your leadership style?



My basic philosophy is to have fun at work and work while you have fun.

Thanks to technologies like Blackberries, laptops, etc, now everybody is

connected all the time, so work is all pervasive. Hence, it's all the more

important to have fun while working.

One has to realize that people love their freedom, and like to have their

space. At Aircel, we like to use our mistakes to learn from them and increase

our productivity. We practice an open door management. We also encourage our

employees to have a bit of an entrepreneurial streak in them.

I try to remember that I lead a group of leaders. Once you realize that, your

attitude automatically changes. You yourself begin to work very differently. I

like to work in a collaborative style.

We are an extremely open company, and have quarterly key performance

indicators (KPI). We like to have `open meetings' or informal style meetings. It

is a highly interactive style of functioning. The senior management is quite

accessible to the employees, and it helps in developing the culture of the

company.

Any special project for employee development?



In this context, I would like to mention that our employees are our biggest

strength, and we take special care to develop them. We are coming up with Aircel

Academy in Gurgaon, which will conduct courses for the development of the

employees. Our stakeholder, Maxis also has something similar. The academy will

be spread over 20,000 sq.ft and will house a 104-seater auditorium as well.

We have a very young and a vibrant team and the average age of an employee is

around seven years younger vis-a-vis industry standards. In such a scenario we

have to cater to their skill sets, talent and attitude.

How do you motivate yourself and the team?



I strongly believe that one has to motivate one's own self. Besides, the

organization and the boss you work for should inspire you to do your best. We

are extremely fortunate to have good shareholders who inspire us to do our best

and give us enough freedom.

What are the challenges you faced in moving from a regional player to a

national player?



The challenge right now is to scale up and ensure that the organization

develops the bandwidth. We are also extremely conscious of the culture of the

company, and want to build Aircel into a respectable brand. We would like to

position Aircel as the brand of the future-a mass iconic brand of the next

decade. In the current year, we are going to concentrate on branding and rollout

of services. It is a challenge to scale up and ensure that the organization

develops the bandwidth which is equivalent of a national player.

What would be your message to the young generation?



While growing up, it is important for an individual to identify the areas

they want to work in and then excel in it. They should also be open to partner

with other people. I find that the new generation is far more receptive to new

ideas, and is willing to experiment, which is very important. The young

generation should realize that there is really no shortcut to hard work. I also

strongly believe in learning from others and here I would like to mention that

they should be willing to cooperate and honestly adopt instead of just copying

from others.

Gagandeep Kaur & Baburajan K



gagandeepk@cybermedia.co.in