By Ruchi Shrimali

It was really an inspiration that led Mr. Anil Sachdev to lay the foundation of the School of Inspired Leadership (SOIL), which focuses on business studies and management education with right ethics and values. SOIL is quite different from other business schools because it moves beyond the Western concepts of numbers and statistics to include sustainability, community partnerships, responsibility for the society and environment in the modern leadership model.

Anil has earned his fame as a thought leader in talent management, leadership development and organizational transformation. He has won several National Awards including ‘The HR Professional of the Year'. He has been adjunct Faculty to leading business schools in India as well as abroad, including the likes of Indian School of Business, Kelly School of Business, Indiana University, and Ohio University.

In an exclusive interview with Shiksha.com, Mr. Anil Sachdev reveals what is his recipe for success.

Tell us something about your childhood and upbringing.

Family has the biggest influence in a child's life which decides what and how he learns and what his beliefs are. My father was in the Army. He was quite well-read. He did his MA in English Literature from Lahore during the days when India was still undivided, under the likes of Nobel Laureate John Galsworthy. He was the one to introduce me to the world of literature and how liberal arts play an important role in shaping the world to a better place.

At five, I was further inspired by the spiritual leader and saint of our times. When we used to attend his discourses, I could see the likes of our first President Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Gulzarilal Nanda, and India's who's who there. There, I came to know about India's ancient glory. I came to know how we Indians were responsible for 70% of world's GDP for thousands of years and how we were the first to come up with greatest universities in the world at Nalanda and Takshila.
Since then, I made it my goal to work on resurgence of India. I wanted to bring back the country's lost glory and work on its economic development without compromising on right values. I wanted to nurture and promote India's ethos and culture.

Even as a 20-year old, when I was still doing my MBA, I knew what I wanted to do. By God's grace, I have been able to follow my career path and life's goals just as I had planned them.

What have been your achievements?

I always realized that good education plays a very strategic role in one's life. So, I did my MBA from the University of Pune in 1975. To experience the real-world corporate life, I joined Tata Motors and then the Eicher Group in 1978 where I worked in Human Resources (HR), Operations Improvement, Strategic Changes and Total Quality Management (TQM) areas. I worked for 10 years creating and building Eicher Consultancy Services (ECS), which went on to become largest consultancy firm in India and had more than 150 consultants under its umbrella.

Then, I decided to start my own consultancy called Grow Talent that focused solely on human development. We became a leader in HR consulting business and helped several organizations across the world to realize the full potential of their personnel.

Apart from this, I have written several pieces and spoken in many national and global conferences on talent management, leadership development and organizational transformation. I have taught in several business schools worldwide as adjunct Faculty and Guest Lecturer. In 1993, both IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore invited me to be their Director but I was not ready to enter the field of management education yet.

I was not satisfied by what we were teaching in our best management institutes. Finally, when I was ready, I founded the School of Inspired Leadership (SOIL) and introduced a business education model that was in tune with India's culture and prides itself in inculcating right ethics and values in its students.

I also hold several public offices such as Chairman of National Committee on Industrial relations and Regional Committee on Human Resource Development of Confederation Indian Industry. I am the Trustee of the Chinmaya Mission, which is a 'Not for Profit' Institution.

What is your recipe of success?

I do not ape Western concepts blindly but that does not mean that I am blind to good things too. I realize that model of capitalism in US is failing us as humanity because it focuses on short-term profits. Indians, on the other hand, tend to think long-term. However, we also do not pay enough attention to responsibility we have towards our society and our environment.

We have to inculcate ethics in corporate practice and have to make sure that good values, ethics, and compassion form a part of our business model. This is what I believe in. This is what I follow.

At SOIL too, we pay as much emphasis to improving emotional intelligence and inculcating values in our students as we do to developing their analytical and other management skills.