Mahindra CEO disagreed with billionaire boss Anand Mahindra a month into job: 'Take the no as a gift'

Mahindra Group CEO and MD Anish Shah recently shared an anecdote about the company's culture of healthy dissent, revealing that just a month after taking charge, he said “no” to his billionaire boss, Anand Mahindra.

Mahindra Group CEO said that eleven years ago, he said no to a proposal that Mahindra was planning to take to the board.(PTI)

In an interview with news agency PTI, Shah said that eleven years ago, when he was a month into his tenure at the Mahindra Group, he said no to a proposal that Mahindra was planning to take to the board.

"I saw that, and said I wouldn't do this. And here's why, all the reasons why I wouldn't. Anand in his usual style, turns around and said, 'Okay, I'm going to invite you to the board meeting tomorrow and ask you exactly the same question I asked you today, and I want you to give the board the same answer that you gave me today'," he remembered.

The next day, after Anand Mahindra presented the idea at the board meeting, he told them about Shah's different points of view. Shah then shared it with the board, and they decided not to do it.

With this as a base for the company culture, Shah said that now he does not see a 'no' from a junior colleague as dissent but as a valuable gift. He credited Anand Mahindra for creating an open environment within the company.

Referring to the incident, he said, "That gives you a sense of the openness that Anand has always had in bringing in diverse views. As he always says, we need to get to the right answer for the company. And we would need to look at all the diversities before we get to the answer".

Shah, who became the chief executive of the Mahindra Group in April 2021, claimed that people often have misconceptions about CEOs. "I think the thing that most people will get wrong is that you can get everything done through power. Whereas, a good leader will get things done because others want to do," he said. "To me, I would take the no as a gift".

He claimed that while it is not easy for "someone three levels below to come up and say that you need to do something different. What you're doing isn't right and that's sometimes where the best ideas will come from".