The wait has ended. The six-feet-tall frame of Madhav Mohan strode into the lush reception parlor of  Taj Lands End, Bandra. His handshake took my breath away, reminding his credentials as a Karate black belt holder. He inherited his multi-faceted persona from his illustrious father ‘Mali’ Madhavan Nair, who was a writer, journalist, musicologist, Kathakali exponent, broadcaster, tennis champion and an athlete. Madhav Mohan’s passions saw him enacting the roles of a IT entrepreneur, banker, quiz master, coloumnist, national level tennis champion, aviator and martial arts exponent, eventually leading to the final calling – that of a mentor.

Madhav Mohan was delighted when I mentioned the novel “Circus’ written by his father, in which animals form a new circus company, introduce innovative and out-of-the-box ideas, raking up massive profit and appreciation. “That was a path-breaking novel. It was the first fictional work in which an employee buy-out was discussed.”- He added that he continue to utilize many of his father’s visions in his mentoring job. He maintained that mentoring- which is supposed to be a western concept- has evolved from Indian tradition.

Excerpts of the interview:-

Can you explain what a mentor is?

A mentor is a non-judgmental person, a listener. In my case, I had seven careers before I ended up here. You need a multi-disciplinary approach, which I was lucky enough to inherit from my father. When one has many interests, you can take tools from each of them and apply them to a particular field- in this case, mentoring business establishments to success.

How did you realize the need for a management mentor in companies?

Companies regularly sent executives for training. I myself trained thousands of mid-level and junior-level executives. After the training, the executives are charged up. They go back to the company and try to implement those ideas. But the boss who is not exposed to the training, pours cold water on it, de-motivating the executive. The eventual result is that the company is paying money to de-motivate the employees.

Here is when I realized that the boss also needs training. But who will tell him that he needs correction. The boss or CEO remains in a strategic vacuum. People are always telling him things, which he wants to hear. What he hears might not be the reality. It is a strange organizational dynamic. The mentor is there to fill this vacuum.

In an article written by you in ‘The Hindu’, you drew parallels between a mentor and Lord Sri Krishna.

You read it! Great.. Lord Sri Krishna is the greatest and oldest example of mentoring. Bhagawad Gita starts with ‘Arjuna Vishada Parva’. After refusing to fight in the battle of Kurukshetra, Arjuna was pouring his woes. Krishna patiently listened to Arjuna and then started mentoring him. The Lord termed his behaviour as ‘Anaryan’, ‘Asweekaryam’ and ‘Akeerthikaram’. “You have been scorching the enemies all through your life. You should continue to do it.”- the Lord implored Arjuna. This is the highest level of mentoring. Although mentoring is floated as a western concept, it is deeply rooted in Indian tradition.

What if there is a struggle between tradition and progress? Something like the Sethusamudram controversy..

There is no clash between tradition and progress. People don’t resist change. If so, we won’t be sitting in 21^st century knowledge economy. People resist BEING changed. Our tradition needs tremendous technological upgradation and nobody is challenging it. As far as the Sethusamudram Project is concerned, it is not a product of economic considerations. Naked political play is in display. Not only the advocates of tradition, environmentalists and local fishermen are also opposing the project.

A company consults a mentor when it is not doing well. An expected piece of advice is downsizing. You seem to be against this.

My advice will be to RIGHTSIZE. In the process of rightsizing, we may have to downsize. Ten years ago I mentored Mathewsons, a company in Kerala. It had 75 employees and 2 crore turnover. After ten years, the turnover has increased to 35 times and the number of employees has been reduced to 40.

Do you insist that the companies should have corporate responsibility in issues like affirmative action, environmental concerns etc.

Of course. This is explained in the concept of ‘Resultocracy’, which I have formulated. In a Resultocratic regime, companies are there for profit. If there is no profit, a company dies. A company can display all the raaz-ma-taaz  and yet produce no results. It is like “Operation successful, patient died.”

Result is defined as an ETHICAL outcome which subscribes to the following five definitions:- 1) Specific 2) Measurable 3) Binary  4) Time-defining and 5) Challenging  The definition itself displays my concerns on business ethics. I will step only if the company CEO is ready to change along these lines. Neither love nor money will change my resolve.

It is often said of Keralites that they work for others, making them rich. But, they don’t display entrepreneurial skills to become rich themselves. Is your Keralite psyche preventing you from running a company instead of advising others to do so?

I am not running a company because I don’t enjoy it. I consider myself as a very wealthy man, who derives pleasure from helping others.             

I hate being termed a Keralite. I am an Indian. I don’t agree with the linguistic division of Indian states. Kerala is a state which is steadily advancing backwards. After my studies in USA, I would have disappeared in the west. Instead, I came back to my parent state and started the first IT company in Kerala, Synergistic Softwares. We trained more than fifty thousand IT professionals to take the state forward. In my stint as Director of SBT, the bank has grown six times. Even after all efforts of nation building by people like us, the state is lurking backwards with no future in sight.