Hi, I'm Dharmesh Arora, and I'm the regional CEO for Asia Pacific at Schaeffler.
These are my biggest lessons.
There are no shortcuts to success.
I grew up in a in India in a middle class family, looking at my parents struggle to
make ends meet and the challenging environment around me.
I learned early in my life the importance of hard work.
It's important to have high ambition, but it's even more important to back that up with
the plan, a solid plan, as well as the grind it takes to achieve that.
We must continue to reinvent ourselves.
Never get too comfortable with the status quo.
That innate desire to disrupt yourself is very necessary.
This virtue has taken even more importance in the last years, as the pace of change continues
to increase.
In my 25 years of experience at automotive OEMs, and now, last 10 years at Schaeffler,
I have often and I continue to put myself into unfamiliar situations, be it a new role,
an expanded role, or an unknown geographic area.
Each one of these experiences has enriched me as a leader and as a human being.
Do not hold on to your people.
We as managers, as leaders, are to empower and enable the best in our team members.
And when they outgrow what they're doing, let them go and try their hand at something
that they aspire to do.
Better still, help them see what more are they able to do.
I have made mistakes.
In my first managerial stint as the supply chain manager at General Motors, I had hired
a very bright engineer from a very reputed engineering college in Mumbai.
Within three years, he helped me fix some of the perennial demand management and supply
chain challenges we had in our ERP systems.
Then, he wanted to go and work at sales.
I didn't let him go.
Within two months, he quit the company and go on and work for a competitor.
I had learned my lesson.
Now we all know the importance of teamwork and collaboration.
Now what makes a better teamwork?
There are many things.
The two I want to talk about are trust and vulnerability.
I strongly believe that the trust has to be lost and not gained.
For any organization to be successful, it's important that everyone is working towards
the same objective.
In such a construct, giving out or granting trust easily is the basis to create connections,
cooperation and collaboration.
Now, does it always work?
Have I not been let down?
Certainly I have.
But that will happen in any case, it's all part of life.
The second thing I'm going to talk about is vulnerability.
Now, vulnerability is not a weakness.
To the contrary, it's great leadership.
We all have our shortcomings.
Being vulnerable means being aware of your strengths and weaknesses.
And to be honest about them, with your team members, and with yourself.
So go out, spend time with your team members, with your colleagues, get to know them at
work and off work.
Be authentic, be humble.
Authenticity means leading by your heart, not only by your mind.
Authenticity allows me to bring my passion to work, and when I am able to combine the
two, I'm motivating myself and everyone around me.
Humility allows me to connect with people, and for people to relate better to me.
I'm able to listen, to connect better, to learn and to be curious.
In my long career, I have made great relationships with my supervisors, with my peers, and the
people who work for me.
But what I cherish the most, are the deep connections I've made with the members of
the organization who either did not work for me or with me.
I'm grateful and feel privileged to have made those positive impact to those young minds.