Employees First, Customers Second: Turning Conventional Management Upside Down

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One small idea can ignite a revolution just as a single matchstick can start a fire. One such idea - putting employees first and customers second - sparked a revolution at HCL Technologies, the IT services giant. In this candid and personal account, Vineet Nayar - HCLT's celebrated CEO - recounts how he defied the conventional wisdom that companies must put customers first, then turned the hierarchical pyramid upside down by making management accountable to the employees, and not the other way around. By doing so, Nayar fired the imagination of both employees and customers and set HCLT on a journey of transformation that has made it one of the fastest-growing and profitable global IT services companies and according to BusinessWeek, one of the twenty most influential companies in the world. Chapter by chapter, Nayar recounts the exciting journey of how he and his team implemented the employee first philosophy by: Creating a sense of urgency by enabling the employees to see the truth of the company's current state as well as feel the "romance" of its possible future state Creating a culture of trust by pushing the envelope of transparency in communication and information sharing Inverting the organizational hierarchy by making the management and the enabling functions accountable to the employee in the value zone Unlocking the potential of the employees by fostering an entrepreneurial mind-set, decentralizing decision making, and transferring the ownership of "change" to the employee in the value zone Refreshingly honest and practical, this book offers valuable insights for managers seeking to realize their aspirations to grow faster and become self-propelled engines of change. About The Author Vineet Nayar (Shortlisted: 2011 Thinkers50 Book Award)is the vice chairman and CEO of HCL Technologies, a global information technology services company based in India. Nayar's success has been fuelled by his unconventional management philosophy of putting his employees first, and customers second. By making management accountable to the employees, he has driven HCL to greater success, a journey related in his book Employees First, Customers Second (2010) in which he details how he set about his management revolution. Among his less conventional management techniques, Nayar makes a point of dancing at the company's employee wide Direction event, both on stage and among the crowd. It helps to remove the barriers between employee and CEO, he says. In India, Nayar studied for a first degree in engineering, and then an MBA. He joined HCL in 1985, and was appointed president of HCL Technologies in 2005, CEO in 2007 and vice chairman in 2010. Under Nayar, HCL has won awards for best employer and most influential up and coming company. Table Of Contents Chapter 1: Mirror Mirror: Creating the Need for Change Chapter 2: Trust Through Transparency: Creating a Culture of Change Chapter 3: Inverting the Organizational Pyramid: Building a Structure for Change Chapter 4: Recasting the Role of the CEO: Transferring the Responsibility for Change Chapter Five: Find Understanding in Misunderstanding: Renewing the Cycle of Change