THE BUSINESS OF BUSINESS IS "PEOPLE"--REESTABLISHED, REVITALISED

I have kept something I once heard very close to heart. When I met the CEO of a large consulting firm in New York some time ago, he said something that just stayed with me – “Pick your highest performing business partner and make that person the Head of HR”. People are the most critical asset in a consulting firm, so you need to put your best person in charge of your people. It made absolute sense.
------Richard Rekhy, CEO, KPMG India----

I personally believe that if we care for people the result will be high performance. So, when I became the CEO, I took the opportunity to ask one of our best performing partners – Shalini Pillay - to take on the reins of managing HR and ensure that we give our people the best. I chose her because I wanted someone who was a high performer as well as passionate about people . In fact, I’ve had such a keen interest in people that I had offered myself for this role to my earlier CEO, so that I could make a difference and transform KPMG India to be on of the best places to work. I believe it’s the most critical role, because you would be responsible for the most expensive asset in the business – our people.
------Richard Rekhy, CEO, KPMG India----

SHALINI PILLAY IS AN ENGINEERING GRADUATE AND A CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT BY QUALIFICATION. HER POSITIONING TO THE HEAD OF HR POSITION IS A CLEAR MESSAGE TO THE HR OLDIES AND NEWBIES THAT HR IS NOT A MATTER OF QUALIFICATION OF A B SCHOOL DEGREE, IT IS A MATTER OF "ATTITUDE" WITH "BUSINESS EXPERTISE AND EXPERIENCE". WELCOME MOVE. WELL DONE KPMG, INDIA, WELL DONE RICHARD REKHY....
IT APPEARS, THE "BRAHAMANISM" OF HR IS OVER.

Richard Rekhy, CEO, KPMG India, in conversation with Rajlakshmi Saikia, on his dream to make KPMG the most-envied firm by becoming the clients’ and employees’ first choice
In 2012, KPMG India introduced a unique process of democratic succession planning to ensure that the right CEO from a people and business stand point takes the deserving seat.
Richard Rekhy, the first CEO of KPMG India to be appointed through this process, shares his plans to introduce a culture of ‘Collaborate to Win’ in the firm.

At Andersen, besides my business role, I was also given the role of overseeing HR in the company and Andersen was not the friendliest place to work in. I personally worked to make it into a people friendly organisation, to a point when our attrition rate fell to almost zero. I had some very difficult conversations with people when we had to ask them to move out, because it is in the interest of the individual and the organisation. There is no personal vendetta. It is not about likes or dislikes, it is about you not standing for the values that the organisation stands for. So, yes, Shalini (our present Head of HR) will also go through these same challenges, but this is in the best interest of the business and so must be done.

------Richard Rekhy, CEO, KPMG India----