more-in Fancy degrees and reputed institutions may help an individual land his first job, but it is performance that ultimately takes one to the pinnacle of his career. Honeywell Executive Chairman Dave Cote could not succeed as CEO of GE as he apparently did not have an MBA degree. But he turned around Honeywell from a $20 billion company in 2002 into a $115 billion one today, almost close to the market cap of GE at $130 billion. Sharing his experiences in a conversation with C.P. Gurnani, CEO and MD, Tech Mahindra and former Chairman of NASSCOM at the World Congress on IT and NASSCOM India Leadership Forum 2018 meet at the HICC here on Monday, Mr. Cote said the turnaround came when he changed the work culture, portfolios and processes in the company. “Without proper work culture, strategic decisions would never work,” he said. “I improved the process for IT, finance, HR and manufacturing through five initiatives and 12 behaviours such as making the customer the primary focus, effective communication, integrative thinking, team work and diversity, global mindset, et al,” Mr. Cote added. Honeywell is an American MNC that produces a variety of commercial and consumer products in various sectors. Mr. Cote said he made a difference when he started giving importance to software development and as a result, 50% of engineers in Honeywell are today involved in software development. Asked to share success mantras with new entrepreneurs, Mr. Cote said mobilising a large group of people only constituted 5% of the story and that it was more important to pick the right direction for one’s company and the ability to make the entire organisation move in that direction. “The last two are real jobs to be accomplished for success,” he said. Admitting he was a fan of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his emphasis on digital technology, Mr. Cote said three major trends that would drive growth in future were economic growth of China, population growth of world that would touch 10 billion from seven billion in the next three decades and changes in technology. “Our company has domain knowledge, software and sensors, and going forward, we will benefit from the digital trend. Industrial revolution impact lasted for 150 years. Digital technology is only 50 years old and will go a long way,” he signed off.

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