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``We must build on the resources represented by our young professionals and by our nation's farmers."

Verghese Kurien

Chairman, Institute of Rural Management and Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd., Anand, Gujarat.

``We must build on the resources represented by our young professionals and by our nation's farmers. Without their involvement we cannot succeed. With their involvement, we cannot fail''

Kurien is the architect of Operation Flood, the largest dairy development programme in the world.

Kurien pioneered the Anand Pattern when he was the general manager of the Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union.

The Anand model is essentially an economic organisational pattern for small producers who join hands to benefit from an integrated approach in handling their produce. The system enables them to obtain the efficiencies and economies of a large-scale busin ess through professional management, the freedom to decide their own business policies, adopt modern production and marketing techniques, and provide those services that small producers individually can neither afford nor manage. The cooperatives under t his model have progressively eliminated middlemen, bringing the producers in direct contact with consumers. In spite of opposition to these projects by middlemen and other powerful vested interests, Kurien has been able to make major breakthroughs in the dairy and oilseeds sectors because of the support he mustered for these projects at the highest Government levels.

``I had six Ph.Ds. Money is not the only reward once the belly is full. Such people that I required, I got. At that time the dairy industry was in its infancy. Glaxo, Nestle, were there. My prestige was an inviting factor. The farmers don't mind managers being paid higher salaries. Quite a few things work because of the `work' you do''.

Kurien's Anand mindset:

* The ethic of mastering one's own subject;

* Focus on others' needs, whenever you are supposed to serve;

* Internalisation of the externals one serves; as far as my work is concerned, I must take others' needs into account;

* Constructive iconoclasm towards bureaucracy;

* Clarity of mind about seemingly small elements that go to make up great endeavours. The devil is in the details.

The above excerpts are from:

Thought Leaders

The Source Code of Exceptional Managers and Entrepreneurs

By Shrinivas Pandit

Publishers: Tata Mcgraw-Hill

Price: Not mentioned

The author is a management counsellor who has earlier worked with Blue Star, Hardillia Chemicals, Johnson & Johnson and Siemens. At present, he is a Fellow of the Institute of Personnel and Development, UK.

Picture: Verghese Kurien, Chairman, Institute of Rural Management and Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd., Anand, Gujarat.