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"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers."
~ Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow
Last updated as of October 2016.
Kushagra Merchant has been engaged in the management consulting profession since June 2007 and is practising as an independent management consultant since July 2012.
Before becoming independent, Kushagra worked as a management consultant, first, at Accenture India's Domestic Business division, and then, at Monitor Inclusive Markets, Monitor Group. He also worked as a software engineer at Atos Origin India immediately after his graduation.
Kushagra holds a post-graduate diploma in management (P.G.D.M.) from Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, and Bachelors in Engineering (B.E.) from K.J.Somaiya College of Engineering, Mumbai University. He completed his higher secondary education from Jai Hind College, Mumbai University, and schooling from The New Era School, Kemps Corner, Bombay (sic).
What types of organisations does he consult? He works with mission-driven (development sector), profit-driven, and impact-driven (social enterprises) organizations. He confines himself to micro, small and medium-sized organisations.
What does he do? His experience is in helping organization's develop, i.e., change from within. This is accomplished through a process characterized by one-on-one dialogues, mindful sequencing and patience & persistence from leadership (sometimes even more so from Kushagra). It is aimed at bringing harmony between strategy, execution and people aspects of the organization, and ensure that these in turn align with the purpose, temperament and values of the organization.
What is the intention behind and desired benefit of such a process? To move the organization from being reactive and impulsive to purposeful, objective, reasoned and consistent in making and executing decisions. The intention is that the organization ultimately views itself as an 'organic, natural and evolving system'.
Why does this kind of decision-making matter? Because it transcribes an organization into an institution.
Why become an institution? This is the question which the leadership of each organization must answer for itself. The popular (and not necessarily correct) answers are: succession, sustainability, and moving away from the cult-of-personality. However, the deeper and more enduring reason is: to anchor the organization within a right set of values and sense of purpose.
Doesn't being an institution mean being formal, process-driven and bureaucratic? No. For a mission-oriented organization, it means placing the community in the centre of decision-making. For a profit-driven venture it means being honestly responsible to the interest of its shareholders and the government to whom it has to pay its rightful tax. For an impact-driven entity it means being able to subdue commercial considerations in front of impact considerations. Being formal, process-driven and bureaucratic has nothing to do with any of this.
What skills does it take for an organization to tune itself in this fashion? Five of them (amongst others): a) The skill of wearing a strategic corporate finance lens at all times; b) the skill of thinking bottom-up; c) the skill of looking at any decision from many angles but not getting locked into any one of them; d) the skill of being acutely sensitive to how people think and behave; e) and the skill of not getting caught inside the whirlpool of latest buzzwords and fads of thinking.
Can he help infuse these skills? The reader of this bio is encouraged to skim through the remainder of this website to independently ascertain the answer for herself.
What are the notable influences on shaping his approach? The value investment philosophy of Prof. Benjamin Graham (1894-1976) as articulated in his book 'Security Analysis'; the philosophy and methods of development of mind articulated in the Pali Canon of the Theravada Buddhism as compiled at Access to Insight; the fascinating history of evolution of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.; and, importantly, the philosophy underlying the C programming language and Unix operating system.
How can an organization get maximum mileage out of him? By allowing him to speak his mind freely; engaging him in all key internal conversations and decisions; and seeing the relationship with him as one of marriage and not a one-night-stand/fling/self-conscious-dating/live-in.
Isn't this approach about people development and HR? No. Sensitivity to people is an important element of the process. But it is not the irreducible (central) element of it. The purpose of existence of the organization is.
Is this approach organizational coaching under a different hood? Yes and no. Yes because it appears like, and to some extent is, a coaching exercise. No, because it is more hands-on and focused singularly on generation and preservation of institutional capital.
Do clients really benefit from this approach? Difficult to say. At the end of the day, each client 'uses' consultants to serve a specific agenda, which may or may not be an agenda of an 'institutional nature'. The more the client's agenda diverges from an 'institutional imperative' the lesser a benefit will the client derive from such an approach. What Kushagra can guarantee is that, independent of the client's personal agenda, he will stay the course of what he believes to be in the interest of the organization's purpose.
Would he claim that all his engagements are successful? If the answer to the previous question is held to be true, then it follows quite naturally that the answer to this question should be a no.
Is this moral self-righteousness? Carried to a dogmatic extreme---yes. Confined to the task of remaining focused on the organization's ability to generate deeper value in a manner fair to all concerned stakeholders---no.
Whom would he credit for his interest & real appreciation of this aspect of management consulting? His parents. In a manner, he has slided by chance into a discipline similar to his father, but with a different type of clientele. The great, and somewhat surprising, part is that this sliding happened naturally without any prodding from outside, or any conscious thought from within. There is after all some logic to the saying: like father like son. Of course, a caveat is in order: the son is solely accountable for all the not-so-profitable and not-so-merit-and-credit-worthy deviations.
A long-form profile can be accessed here.
A list of associations / engagements can be accessed here.
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