“I make talent. I manufacture talent. I don't look for talent. All I'm looking for is those who are devoted to the purpose. Rest we can do,” said Sadhguru in a recorded interview played at the annual 'Human Is Not A Resource' (HINAR) leadership programme organised by Isha Leadership Academy.
The three-day event was held at Isha Yoga Centre in Coimbatore from June 9-11.
Asked about his “magical” ability to mould less-experienced people to handle key positions, Sadhguru said: “It's management. It's not magic. The moment you call it magic, you are taking away the value of it.”
“We are essentially talking about managing situations or managing people. They're not two different things. But generally, everybody tries to manage situations. It's best you manage people. If you manage people, if you keep them at their best, situations will be fine,” he added.
On Day 2 of the event on Saturday, ISRO chairman S. Somanath interacted with the participants. He revealed that the space agency does not have a designated HR department and it is the role of leaders to generate passion and involvement in each one of those joining the ISRO.
"The secret is to create passion and involvement in each person. We don't have an HR department to evaluate, mentor, or move people around. We do this ourselves. As much as I look at rockets, I look at people. And like me, there are many leaders in the organisation who do this function,” Somanath said.
The ISRO chief further claimed that only a few staff of the organisation are from premier institutes like the IITs. Terming the nurturing of talent as an important element in building institutions, Somanath said: “The talent is immense in this country. And you have to only explore those talents and then create an ecosystem by which they can really grow to a level you will surpass the brilliant people around the country and around the world.”
Anuradha Razdan, Executive Director, HR, Hindustan Unilever, talked about her company's ability to churn leader after leader. "We have produced leader after leader, across generations. The one thing that ties them together is the mindset of 'leaders building leaders'. This is something that we have been able to sustain and grow," she said.
The three-day event saw industry veterans, thought leaders, business and HR heads from organisations across India sharing insights from their fields with participants. Those who attended included Samit Ghosh, Founder, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Ltd.; Vasanthi Srinivasan, Professor, IIM Bangalore; Amit Anchal, Board Member, Ola Electric; Himanshu Saxena, Founder and CEO - Centre of Strategic Mindset (COSM) and Pratik Pal, CEO, Tata Digital.