“You should be prepared to unlearn”

Despite being a highly experienced leader in sustainable energy, Dr G. Ganesh Das still found his involvement in the Swedish Institute Management Programme extremely valuable, as it gave him new perspectives on weaving sustainability into a company-wide strategy - and know how to take a fresh look at his own leadership ambitions. 
A man with glasses and a beard, wearing a grey suit.

Even though Dr G. Ganesh Das has a PhD in Strategic Marketing & Consumer Behaviour as well as a senior role in India’s Tata Power-DDL he learned a great deal during his participation in the Swedish Institute’s Management Programme. 

 -It was insightful, intriguing and inspirational. 

However, he advised that participants “Should come to the programme being prepared to unlearn.” and to “Be open to new ideas and take another look at your ambitions.” 

 Already a highly qualified leader in his roles as Chief of Strategy, Collaboration, Innovation and R&D in Tata Power, and as CEO of the Clean Energy International Incubation Centre, Dr Das joined the programme to delve more deeply into sustainability and to develop his leadership skills further.  

 With developments globally and locally in India he believes that it’s extremely important to gain systematic and focused understanding of the area – especially because he sees it as his responsibility as a leader.  

 While the programme is extremely useful for self-development, it was also company development that motivated Dr Das to participate. With companies worldwide focusing more and more on being environmentally friendly, carbon-neutral and using fair practices in their everyday work, there was also a need from a company perspective to tackle sustainability and to understand how it can be part of a broader company strategy. 

 According to Dr Das a key aspect of building more sustainable companies is the acceptance of its value in everyday processes.  

 -It is challenging – it needs to start individually, internally, become valued – and then sustainability can become part of the mindset on a company level in much more pragmatic and effective way. 

 -When you are looking at technology and how you are serving your customers, you need to start looking at it from sustainability as well. How can we do that in a sustainable way? It is something that can become part of your processes and understanding this was a great takeaway for me. 

 After the programme, Dr Das didn’t waste any time in putting his new skills and knowledge to practical use. His company is now certified for sustainable procurement, and they also implemented processes to encourage sustainability in their HR policies. It was not always easy – while Sweden is at the forefront in this area and the case studies based on Swedish experience were excellent, the situation in India is different and to adapt those processes and ideas to India can be complicated due to lack of resources.  

However, Dr Das believes his newfound knowledge will equip him well to help his company contribute more strongly to building a more inclusive, collaborative and interdependent world. 

Find out more about Swedish Institute Management Programme Asia.