Almost all successful CEOs of the past and current corporate organizations have valued human resources as the greatest contributor to success. Yesteryear leaders of PSUs like Dr. V Krishnamurthy, who took BHEL to new heights, established Maruti and turned round SAIL, R K Talwar, who lead SBI, or some recent examples of Narayana Murthy, Deepak Parekh, Kumar Manglam Birla, Ratan Tata have displayed a heavy inclination towards human resource and people skills.

I would like to mention a very recent example where an HR Manager of an MNC, after significant experience, was elevated to be Director HR and subsequently included in the Board of Directors of the MNC.

The main reason why most people in HR don’t make to the TOP is because they have not groomed themselves to become HR driven business Managers. Most HR Managers fail to grow beyond their mundane administrative roles and perform tasks that are easily outsourceable. Thus, the potential CEO in you remains suppressed, and your psyche doesn’t allow you to look towards this important aspect. So, how do you go about this aspect? There are numerous methods; however, the following points may help.

• While doing your primary tasks, keep updating yourself with the functioning of profit-generating departments/sources. Interact with these persons informally and understand the ground realities and challenges. Study the Company Newsletters and other related materials.
• Understand and analyse the various strategies of the organization and formulate your view plans and correlate this with the type and quality of the people force that is available and the changes you envisage for further improvement.
• At the right time during some formal discussions, you may bring up these points, including your analysis and suggestions. At first look, they may say mind your business/work, however, you may be seen as a person who thinks in the interest of the Organisation and you have sown the seed that the key persons will value.

All CEOs are required to be good HR people, and past leaders have demonstrated this. It is high time HR recognizes the potential they are sitting on and changes their outlook.