ICTC President, Sareet Majumdar Featured on Indo-Us Leadership Panel

August 29, 2017

Indo-US Chamber of Commerce acts as a platform for which Asian American professionals and business owners are able to exchange ideas, interact, and communicate within the business industry by promoting professionalism and excellence through education and community involvement. At the latest Indo-US event, one of the questions the chamber looked to discuss was: what does it take to be a successful entrepreneur and leader today? With a strong panel of three industry leaders, the audience was able to hear their experience on how to become an effective leader.

One of the panelists included Sareet Majumdar, the 2016 Indo-US Chamber Businessman of the Year as well as President of ICTC Global Manufacturing Solutions. The other panelists comprised of Alpesh Patel, President of Benzer Pharmacy and Bonita Pharmaceuticals as well as Seema Jain, CPA at Axiom Business Consulting. All of which partake extensive experience as trailblazers within their industries.

As the President at ICTC USA, Sareet Majumdar utilized his industry knowledge to speak about the shift in leadership from the industrial age to the technology age. He explains that while traditionally a leadership model was based on a top-down approach to management, the technology age steered leadership towards a bottom-up approach. Even though a top-down approach is comparable to “ruling with an iron fist”, Sareet explains that technology is a collective approach that has become an integral part of problem solving within any company. Since the framework of leadership has shifted, if leaders work from a top-down approach, many millennials will be deterred from working for a company that is unable to open themselves up to innovative ideas.

Now the essential question: how is a leader made? Sareet believes that leaders are not born, but nurtured. He explains that role models are essential for the cultivation of leaders because the only way to become a leader is if you are taught to lead. Furthermore, Sareet points out that leadership is composed of trust established between the employer and the employee. He compares this to a good coach that is able to bring out the absolute best in an athlete. However, they are only able to do this because there is established trust. Only with trust is a coach able to challenge and push an athlete into success.

Sareet shares the role model that helped shape him into a leader: his mother. With an inspiring journey, his mother’s story began with her attending Medical School in India, who then studied in England, and ultimately lead her to the United States. When she arrived, she changed her profession from an OBGYN to Psychiatry. Sareet goes on to explain that a community is stronger as a result of immigration. He points out that the one commonality that every immigrant has, is that they take risk. They are able to leave their comfort zone and move somewhere they don’t have anything or know no one. Sareet continues to share that having that person that was able to take that risk to create opportunities for others is an amazing story.

When asked to describe the relation of a vision to a mission statement, Sareet delivers an anecdote referring to the mission of the man on the moon. He explains a story of President Kennedy walking through Cape Canaveral where seeing a janitor sweeping the floor. The President asked the janitor what his job. The janitor replied, “I’m here to put the man on the moon.” Sareet shares that this should be a theme for any company, where the mission is clear to all. Everyone no matter what role that they play in it, all must work collaboratively to accomplish the task at hand. This anecdote is also a perfect example of the importance of transparency and clarity.

Sareet expresses the importance of connecting with all employees within an organization. There are about 100 people in production. Every month he calls a meeting to deliver the news and update his employees on company news. In his company Sareet explains that they all might be working on one cable and might see it as just a cable. However, if they know that the cable might be made for some sort of airplane, and then the cable takes on more significance. By seeing the larger function, it renders the cable’s creation that much more important, thus employees become more dedicated to the work.

After listening to the panel of leaders, it is evident that mentorship, effective communication, vision, and clarity not only make for a great and successful leader, but an efficient and prosperous business.

For more information on Sareet or ICTC, visit ICTC USA. Also, follow ICTC on Twitter or Facebook! Also, be sure to learn more about the Indo-US Chamber of Commerce by visiting them on Facebook or Twitter!