SPECIAL REPORT
Anand on the rooftop of the ITC Grand Bharat in Gurgaon
HE DOESN ’ T LOSE SIGHT OF HIS FRIENDS . HE MAKES LOTS OF ACQUAINTANCES AND BUSINESS PARTNERS , BUT HE LOOKS AFTER HIS CLOSE FRIENDS .
“ We were awestruck ” when Anand addressed the new recruits , Chadha remembers . “ This is the hotelier you want to become in life .”
After college , Chadha was a trainee room service manager when Anand was GM at the ITC Maurya in New Delhi , around 1991 . ( Anand ’ s nickname among the junior managers at the time — unknown to him — was “ Superman ,” Chadha says .)
“ He ’ s been a mentor , a guide and a friend at the same time ,” Chadha says . Anand is “ not a businessman , he ’ s an absolute hotelier ,” from his unremitting focus on the guest to his relentless pursuit of ever greater efficiencies .
“ He said , ‘ Anil , everything in life has to be measured … If you can ’ t measure the input , you can ’ t measure the output ,’” Chadha says . “ He ’ s still like that .”
Early in Chadha ’ s career , Anand
SANJEEV BAGAI
spent an hour every Saturday leading him and other young managers through another book — Sun-Tzu ’ s “ Art of War ” — and drawing parallels to corporate life . Chadha has gone on to do it for his reports as well .
ART OF HOTELIERING Anand says he has read at least eight versions of the Chinese classic . “( Sun-Tzu ) calls it a battleground , we call it a marketplace . He calls it an enemy , you call it a competitor . He calls it arsenal , you call it brands .”
He names other influential books : “ In Search of Excellence ,” Jack Welch ’ s “ Straight from the Gut .” Compared with the pull-no-punches CEO of General Electric , how does Anand describe his own management style ?
“ I think mine is flexible ,” he says . “ Normally to discipline a person , you de-motivate him ... My style is a very high
‘ HE BUILDS THE NEXT GENERATION ’
The younger generations of Indian professionals are important to Nakul Anand . ITC Ltd . is opening its first international property , in Sri Lanka , next year , but historically its focus has been entirely on India , and so has Anand ’ s . He has held top posts in the Indian chapter of the World Tourism & Travel Council , the Hotel Association of India and other tourism bodies . He is the chairman of the Federation of Associations of Indian Travel and Hospitality ( FAITH ), a group of 10 organizations that he helped consolidate to focus and maximize their influence .
He views his leadership as a mandate to promote tourism as an economic activity , not just for Indians but by Indians , to activate the government ’ s interest , and to tap into the potential of its historic cities . “ India is blessed with what we call a demographic dividend ,” Anand says : In 10 years , its population is expected to surpass China ’ s expected population of 1.45 billion , and the youth will need jobs .
“ One of the largest employment multipliers is tourism , and therefore the government must come forward and support tourism , because tourism can create jobs across all strata of society ,” Anand says .
30 hotelsmag . com November / December 2019