Odds and More Odds- The Story of Harjeet Khanduja

Harjeet Khanduja is a TED Speaker, Writer and is currently Sr Vice President-HR, Reliance Jio. He has been conferred with several recognitions and awards including the HR Personality of the Year 2018, HR Leadership Award, Top 50 HR Tech Leaders, LinkedIn power profile (2016 & 2018) and Global Learning Award. Harjeet is a Thomson medalist from IIT Roorkee and has completed his management education from NMIMS and INSEAD. He has been published in leading magazines, books and journals including People Matters, Business Manager, Insights plus, HR.com, Human Factor, The Indian economist, Chicken Soup. He is on the advisory board of several reputed organizations. He has handled HR for large multinational organizations in various geographies including India, US & Canada.

A Roller Coaster Childhood

“I was studying in the best English Medium school of Bareilly. My parents accompanied me to the annual function where they told me that they want to see me on stage one day. I thought that they were expecting too much from me. When you start seeing your target as impossible, then you don’t care about it. Same thing happened with me. I topped from the bottom. School refused my admission for the next session.”

Then he saw his father knocking the doors from one school to another for his admission. Everyone revered his father as one of the best scholars city had seen. Harjeet also realised that despite the family’s economic condition, his father wanted the best education for him. Finally he got admission in another English Medium school.

“For the first time, I wanted to be like my father. An aspiration can change the direction of life. Suddenly, books started making sense to me and I was among top 5 students of the class. Top 5 was still no good, because you do not get to the stage. I found another way of going to the stage I started doing stand-up and stage performances. If there is will, then there is a way. I performed a solo act on the stage in the annual function. Unfortunately, my parents did not attend the function. They did not want to put any more pressure on me. Thankfully they heard it from the principal that their kid is bright.”

His parents somehow could not believe the principal. They thought he might have flair for something other than studies. They arranged for sports. But he was worse at sports. They sent him to a music school. That did not work out either. Then they figured out, the problem could be the language. They shifted him to the best Hindi medium school in the city. It was class 8th. There used to be a board exam for class 8th in the time.

“My parents studied with me and prepared me for the exam. My father used to take me to examination centre and narrate stories of his hardship that how he used to loan books and study under the street light. Core message was that if I want to be a teacher like him, I needed to get first division. Stories are the best way to influence minds.”

His father narrated a story of his examination. Examination paper had a instruction — Answer any 5 five questions. He answered all the questions and wrote that check any 5 questions. Harjeet performed the same stunt next day. Stories are double edged swords. Then his father was cautious about which stories to tell. However, his biggest problem turned out to be Hindi. In math paper, there were 10 true false questions. He got them all wrong despite knowing all the answers just because he could not understand language. At the end, he got exact 60 percent marks- first division on the edge.

“The Hindi medium school had more opportunities on cultural side. I was active in debates, dramatics and drooling. My father was worried because he did not see me taking a path of securing first division. He explored the best coaching in the city and got me admitted there. The coaching made me more confident. Two months before the exam, I had an argument with a teacher based on my confidence built in the coaching. The teacher wrote to my father that I should not be allowed to sit for the board exam or I will fail. Overconfidence always gets you into trouble.”

Exams happened. Harjeet sat for the exams. He calculated that he would get 369 marks. His father was anxious because it was just 9 marks more that the first division. When result came, his calculation went slightly wrong. Instead of 369, he ended up with 469. He became the first person in family to get first division with honours. This was the time his father was truly proud and was thinking beyond boundaries.

“During summer vacation, I started coaching centre along with my friends preparing students for class X. Started publishing a hand written newspaper. Became more active in Debates, social activism, Dramatics and started writing poetry. Passed class 12th with honours with the same trick — Hard work and diligence.”

Harjeet appeared for Bareilly college entrance examination. He was among top 5 and they were sending the top 5 to Manali. This was the time to decide whether to join BSc or to drop a year for engineering preparation or do both. His father advised him — “Be focused. Never ride on two boats.” He decided to drop a year and started preparing for engineering because everyone told him that was the right thing to do.

“I was casual about preparation. Not too great in coaching. I was discussing with one of my friends that I have already got first division in X and XII. I don’t need to prove anything more. He said if you do not crack the competitive exams then people will start doubting whether you got those marks on your own. You can never sit on your laurels. I worked even harder and by God’s grace secured a decent rank in all the exams. No one was expecting this outcome.”

He joined University of Roorkee. Studied hard and got his branch upgraded to Industrial Engineering. Then he decided to give something back to the society. Soon he started the Council of Technical Scholars (COTS) with the help of his friends. This was to help students prepare for competitive examinations. He was contributing to COTS whenever he was at home. Always pass on what you have learnt.

“I needed some extracurricular at College as well. I tried joining dramatics but could not join the club. In the second year, I conceptualised a newsletter with one of my friends. We started “Watch out”, and in our first attempt, it was not even readable. Then we worked on taking it to professional level, and established it as a brand. After 3 years of effort, it became the official news letter of IIT Roorkee. Setting up a sustainable organisation takes much more than just hard work — Passionate People.”

In the fourth year, the students were to do a project. Harjeet wanted to do something unconventional. He shared an offbeat idea with friends. They decided to take an unusual project of setting up of a fibre reinforced plastic lab at college. This was a herculean task because this was not on paper. Things were to be built physically, administrative approvals were required. All that happened. Towards the end, the team decided to make a movie on preparing fibre reinforced plastic and got the Thomson medal for the project.

“My family was a family of poets and I was below average as per the standards set by the local poets (at home and outside). Bareilly had a rich culture of poetry back in those days. I tried multiple times but was not able to carve a place in the poetry community of the city. But then one of my friends arranged for my appearance as youth talent in the biggest kavi sammelan (Poets Meet) of the city. The world class Hindi Poets appreciated my unconventional poetry, and gave me a name — Tuktuk, which was a huge boost to my confidence. By the time I had passed engineering, I had appeared on Radio as well as National television as a poet. I did more than 100 stages, got published in few books and made my place in Hindi poetry.”

Dreaming Bigger and Bigger

Harjeet began his career with Tata Motors and made decent progress. His childhood dream of becoming a teacher was calling him. The Council of Technical Scholars had a good base and there was a decent opportunity to set up his own educational institute. On the other hand, his mother wanted him to become a civil servant. He was confused initially. His mind was wandering in all directions, whether he should choose poetry as his career, go for teaching, continue as engineer or attempt civil services examination.

“I needed a mentor, coach, or a guide. I got married and I got all of them in one. My wife was the first person to believe in my capabilities when even I was not aware about them. She helped me take a decision and I focused on putting my heart and soul in becoming a decent engineer.”

One of the biggest problems Harjeet faced was spoken English. His wife had a Master’s degree in English, and she supported him all the way. She told him to believe that he could speak English, and it isn’t as hard as it seems. Soon he started watching English movies and after some time overcame the barrier of spoken English.

“My view was small, my dreams were smaller. My wife expanded my horizon and persuaded me to dream bigger. She used to analyse my mental roadblocks and put them in front of me. This exercise is the foundation of the heights I have achieved till date.”

His son became another reason for whom he dreamt bigger. He taught Harjeet to deal with his team patiently. His son also inspired him to develop aspiration and the habit of smiling.

“I hated technology in my college days. During my training with Tata motors, I started enjoying technology. During placement, I had requested to join software division but was placed in HR as an industrial engineer, the role I was hired for. That refusal invoked my passion for technology. I set-up the first intranet for Tata Motors, and since then I’ve only been exploring further. My son has been a constant source of inspiration in this exploration and he always keeps my passion kindled.”

Since then Harjeet has been on his toes to learn and adopt new technological innovations in HR, be it artificial intelligence or machine learning. He acquired working knowledge of HR in the Tata Group. Then Tata group created a team of HR professionals from all group companies and sent the team for a 6-month long Gurukul program on HR. Then Harjeet did his MBA and became the HR Head of a company not very long after. His work got published by NASSCOM and a HR journal.

“Till then, I thought that my passion was poetry. One day, my childhood friend called me and asked me “Are you enjoying?” I said “No, I am at work” He asked, “Do they chain you when you are at work?” That moment, I realised that I work 16 hours a day without getting bored, which makes it my passion.”

Once when Harjeet was working with Tata motors, a team was pondering over a problem. He accidentally reached there, heard the problem and proposed a solution. They were amazed, they told him that they were stuck with the problem for 5 days. That moment he realised that he was good at problem solving. A friend suggested to Harjeet that patenting recognises such problem solving skills, if you propose good solutions. He has filed two patents so far and is working for more, solving problems in the different fields that he has worked in.

“I am an introvert in general but public speaking comes naturally to me. A class mate from NMIMS introduced me to an event organizer stating that I am a very good speaker. First I thought he was being polite. I spoke at the event, and didn’t think much of it. After that I was getting invitations for speaking assignments nationally and internationally. Eventually, I got invited to a TEDx event, which made me feel accomplished as a speaker, despite feeling like an introvert in smaller social circles. Things always came to me by serendipity, and I was lucky enough to have the guidance and the wisdom to hold on to the right opportunities.”

Harjeet has been writing in Hindi since childhood. He wrote for magazines, newspapers but all in Hindi. When he was studying at INSEAD, he started writing blogs. A closed group started appreciating these blogs. His son helped him proof read his articles, which gave him confidence that he can write equally well in English. Soon he was writing for various HR magazines and started blogging on LinkedIn. The writings on LinkedIn made him a LinkedIn Power profile. His first book is expected soon.

“Even after leaving poetry as a profession, I kept writing for online magazines. I did multiple shows on TV. I was awarded the Hasya Samrat award. World Hindi foundation also invited me to United States for poetry recitals in 2016.”

When he joined Tata Motors, his first assignment was to supervise the assembly line along with two of his batch mates. The deliverable was to make sure that the target numbers of vehicles are rolled out each day. One day his batchmate got hurt, and they took him to a doctor. Doctor asked, “What do you do?” He said “We push vehicles.” (Hum gadi ko dhakka dete hain). Since the line was manual and all the workmen used to be busy with their work, we contributed by pushing some vehicles to the next station. When someone defines what you do, then you know what you do.

“I was disappointed with myself. I wanted to do something meaningful, something impactful. Line manager told me if you can reduce one person from the line, it will create ripples across the organisation. I sat on the assembly line for 3 days and just observed. I found that most of the people waste time in movement. I redesigned the assembly line and implemented the design with the help of workers. That reduced 8 people from the existing assembly line. It did create ripples, and Ratan Tata met me personally and appreciated my efforts. When you know what to do, you figure out the “how”

I used to start my day in time and finish in time. Then I saw a colleague of mine was staying back after the work hours. I started competing. I became dependable for everyone. My wife fully supported me and with her support I got recognition and rewards. Behind every successful man there is a woman.”

Harjeet’s career advanced quickly at Tata Motors, learned a lot, got promoted and transferred to Mumbai corporate office. At the plant, he learnt how to work with his own hands. At the corporate level, he developed a holistic view of the organisation.

Harjeet believes, “Investing my early 8 years with Tata Motors was the best decision of my life.”

Views On Life

“Most of my views about life are inspired by my wife

- There is always a positive side — We were sending some people for foreign training. Everyone was telling me to introduce a bond for them. My wife asked me — Think about how you can turn this into a positive experience. We instead introduced a retention allowance for them. Since then I have tried to see positive side of each and every situation.

- Think outside the box — Our housing society organised a function. The responsibility for arrangement was given to my wife. She gave the food order to the women of the society instead of outside vendors. Food was better and cost was lower. I try to emulate a similar philosophy at my work.

-Life is nothing but Purpose — I believe God sends everyone with a purpose. Earlier you find the purpose, more time you have to serve the purpose.

Always keep your approach of doing a world class job.”

Harjeet is passionate about improving education and inclusion. He works with various colleges, universities and associations on improving quality of education. He mentors entrepreneurs on building sustainable organisations. He has been co-chair of NASSCOM diversity committee and has been awarded by NASSCOM thrice for promoting diversity.

When Harjeet was a kid, he wished to be like Amitabh Bachchan. Today also he wants to be like Amitabh Bachchan. The reason has changed though. He no longer wants to be angry young man. He rather aspires for the ability to assess his strengths and redefine himself consistently. He believes, “Do something more meaningful, something more impactful.”

Since childhood, there was a phrase on the kitchen wall of their house.

“You can’t change the past but you can ruin a perfectly good present by worrying about the future.” He has always lived life in the moment, as it comes across.

“I read a story that someone asked a woman who planted huge tulip gardens in Netherlands. She always said one flower at a time. I believe in the same principle.

Over the years, I have researched and developed techniques which make people more effective at work. I conduct sessions for corporates on various topics including Managerial effectiveness, Digital Workplace, Humour at Work. I do master classes and business simulation workshops for selected academic institutions.The plan is to formalise and help as many corporates, institutes and people as I can.”

Here are some success mantras Harjeet deeply believes in and practices himself:-

- Develop a habit of listening

- Believe in yourself

• Embrace new ways of working

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