The last time I met RS Sodhi in Anand was in 2019, when he introduced me to the then Chief Operating Officer (COO) Kishore Zala, who was to take charge as Managing Director of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Federation (GCMMF) when Sodhi retired later that year. The visiting card Zala handed me even said “managing director designate.” I was rather impressed. This was succession planning at its very best. This was the way multinational corporations handled it. GCMMF was proving itself to be a truly professional organisation.
Four years later, the impression is destroyed. What could have been a smooth, dignified corporate succession has ended up resembling a political coup d’etat. No formal passing of the baton, no farewell parties, no thank-you speeches. Sodhi’s unceremonious exit, via a letter from the GCMMF Board saying his “services are terminated with immediate effect” is a sad way to end his 40-year career in the organisation. But then again, the GCMMF Board has a history of behaving strangely when it comes to the retirement of the managing director.
One of the main reasons for the messy exits is the practice of giving the MDs extension beyond retirement age. This gives the Board discretionary power and results in machinations that could otherwise be avoided. Sodhi was given an extension in 2021, with the result that Kishore Zala ended up retiring before him without ever taking over as MD. Jayen Mehta, the next MD-designate was in danger of suffering the same fate. He is believed to have put his foot down and threatened to leave if the Board allowed the situation to drift.
Former managing director BM Vyas, who also bore the brunt of an unceremonious exit ten years ago, says extensions have affected GCMMF’s organisational culture. “Dr Verghese Kurien followed the cardinal principle that CEOs should retire upon superannuation. He believed succession planning to be one of the most important functions of a top manager,” he says.
I haven’t met Sodhi since 2019, but I have interviewed him on the phone many times since then. Over the past year, he did start suggesting I talk to Jayen Mehta on long term policies rather than him. A transition was obviously on the way. Why then the rude letter that served to create a controversy? Was it just poor communication?
Shital Kakkar Mehra, author of the bestselling book Business Etiquette, says, “When companies don’t follow decorum, their brand image suffers. Asking a CEO to resign with immediate effect is an option only if there is some indiscretion on his part, which is not the case in Amul.”
Sodhi himself is currently not responding to interview requests on this subject. Instead, he’s been communicating through Twitter, saying he is very happy with the GCMMF Board’s decision.
