Anand Mahindra’s strategy to hiring high management is deceptively easy: a 90-minute unstructured dialog that checks curiosity and decision-making with out scripts. This philosophy drives the Mahindra Group’s ESEE framework, with ‘Enable’ figuring out leaders who can execute advanced methods independently.
Anand Mahindra’s commerce secret for hiring high management is disarmingly easy: a 90-minute, unstructured dialog. No scorecards, no preset questions—simply an try to observe one factor: curiosity, and the way a frontrunner will behave when there are not any scripts to observe, when nobody is watching. At its core, Mahindra’s mannequin hyperlinks management, danger, and execution right into a single system—one that enables the group to place early bets with out shedding strategic self-discipline.
Mahindra outlined these concepts in a current interview with McKinsey, the place he spoke about management, risk-taking, and the group’s transformation playbook. Within the Mahindra Group, that dialog isn’t an outlier; it feeds into a bigger system by way of its ESEE framework—Envision, Structure, Enable, Energise—with “Enable” at its core: figuring out leaders who can tackle advanced, evolving enterprise challenges and execute with out fixed path. If “Envision” defines the long run and “Structure” builds the organisation, “Enable” determines who is trusted to carry that technique ahead.
From Potential to Performance
That philosophy has formed each management selections and enterprise bets at Mahindra. Veejay Nakra’s trajectory is a working example. After engaged on the launch of the Scorpio SUV in 2002 and happening to set up it as its first model supervisor, Nakra demonstrated his skill to construct and scale a product—earlier than being tapped to lead the group’s South Africa enterprise, a transfer that raised eyebrows internally however has since paid off with Mahindra rising as one of many fastest-growing auto firms in that market.
As the group expanded, this leadership-first strategy was scaled underneath CEO Anish Shah, whom Mahindra credit with fine-tuning the fast-track growth of high-potential expertise. The underlying concept is easy: individuals keep once they develop, not due to perks or pay.
Where Strategy Meets Risk
Mahindra has typically traced this strategy to his early coaching in filmmaking, the place he realized to spot patterns, construct narratives and empathise with characters. Leadership, in his view, isn’t very totally different—understanding motives, shaping a narrative and provoking individuals to play their half. That perspective has additionally knowledgeable how he approaches danger: not as a binary wager, however as a constructed narrative with a number of outcomes.
That lens was evident when the corporate launched the Scorpio SUV in 2002—a transfer broadly seen as dangerous on the time. Internally, nonetheless, it mirrored what Mahindra describes as “asymmetric risk-taking”—the place the draw back is proscribed however the upside might be transformational.
The identical logic utilized greater than a decade later when the group started investing in electrical automobiles, lengthy earlier than the market gained traction and at a time when the choice drew scepticism. With India’s EV market now accelerating and Mahindra’s electrical SUV portfolio gaining floor, these early bets are being reassessed. Within the corporate, they’re seen as an extension of the identical playbook: envision early, construction for scale, and allow leaders to execute with out ready for certainty.
Culture by Conversation
Over time, this strategy has additionally formed tradition. “Culture is built conversation by conversation,” Mahindra has stated, arguing that it can’t be imposed however emerges from how leaders behave when nobody is watching.
That pondering discovered expression within the group’s “Rise” philosophy. “Rise isn’t about Mahindra rising—it’s about enabling others to rise. Whether it’s a farmer whose tractor helps him double his yield or a woman who gets her first bank loan, that’s the measure of success. That one word gives people a sense that they could be more,” Mahindra has stated, describing it as a purpose-driven id that staff throughout ranges have come to personal.
Going Beyond Personal Legacy whereas Building Polymaths, Not Specialists
The identical perception underpins how Mahindra develops management. Its govt packages are designed to create polymaths relatively than specialists, primarily based on the concept the long run belongs to these who can join dots throughout disciplines, an strategy aligned with the group’s want to function throughout numerous sectors.
Mahindra has pushed again on the thought of non-public legacy, arguing that what endures isn’t the person however the establishment. As he places it, the objective is to construct “a company in which people were the best that they could ever be.”
Published on March 20, 2026