🌿 Howard Gardening Story #18 — Lakshmi, the Maestro of Moments

 

I only learned from Lakshmi, our Marcom Manager, that event management is taught as a science. Speaking to her revealed its vast scope — project planning, vendor negotiations, wooing sponsors, brainstorming ideas, managing egos, budgets, risks, and high-stakes decisions. It demands mastery of nearly every intelligence Howard Gardner defined. Yet, we never truly tapped into Lakshmi’s expertise. But let me go back in time and imagine ..... If she had been tasked with managing a Global Leadership Conclave, I imagine it would unfold like this: She walks into an empty hall — bare walls, mismatched chairs, dusty stage — and already see standing ovations, spontaneous laughter, and applause echoing. The guest list includes Industry heavyweights. The budget is tight as ever. Lakshmi maps the venue until she can navigate it blindfolded. She has perfected every detail — from lighting angles to the exact moment fresh jasmine greet guests. Then, she assembles her “orchestra”: caterers, tech crews, florists, and logistics teams, each cued to play their part. On the day, it’s magic. Keynotes glide on stage, sessions run on time, food is hot, coffee never runs out, and every delegate leaves feeling seen. The CEO shakes her hand: “I don’t know how you did it, but I didn’t worry about a thing.” 💡 For Leaders — especially CSR Heads: Your biggest impact initiatives depend on flawless events. Do you recognise the Lakshmis in your team — and give them the stage — before you desperately need them? In my view the CSR and HR heads would value these skills for their various events and projects - Author (for creating business stories), Photo/ videos graphers (to make the business stories alive) and Event managers.

Howard Gardening Story #17 — Monarch, the Logical Astrologer

 

Most C&B managers earn a reputation for being the bearers of bad news. Monarch? He earned respect — and even affection.

My ex-colleague and dear friend Monarch was one of the most brilliant Compensation & Benefits managers I’ve ever known — process-driven, deeply logical, yet a natural leader with a warm heart.

Anyone who’s worked in C&B knows: employees rarely feel fondly toward those who decide their salaries. But with Monarch, it was different. People left his office satisfied, even when they didn’t get exactly what they wanted. He knew exactly what to say and how to say it — a rare blend of precision and empathy.

I often thought of him as a classic INTJ, like Krishna or Chanakya — always five steps ahead in thought and action (want to know more about INTJ? Ask AI about MBTI and its 16 personality types defined by a mother daughter researcher duo) 

His love for learning seemed limitless. Beyond Excel sheets and salary bands, he explored disciplines that, at first glance, had little to do with HR — coaching, hypnotherapy, psychology. And then came Indian Vedic astrology. I suspect it was his logical mind, hungry for patterns and systems, that drew him in — even though he knew it wasn’t academically “proven.”

Soon, he was Head of HR for a large organisation. And I can’t help but imagine him blending his HR expertise with the human insights he’s drawn from astrology — recognising patterns, understanding motivations, and navigating complex dynamics in ways few could.

🪐 Question for HR Leaders:
Are you encouraging your people to bring their diverse passions — even unconventional ones — into the workplace? Could those interests spark new ways to connect, understand, and lead?

📘 Howard Gardening Story #16 — Nandu, the Unofficial CEO

 

When Nandu joined us in his late 20s in a global mobility role, no one imagined he’d soon lead one of the most spirited movements in our company.

We bonded quickly — mostly because of his deep involvement in Syntillations, our employee-led engagement wing.

The first thing he did? Call for a secret ballot election for the committee — something we’d never done before. I said “Sure,” curious to see where it would go.

Next thing I knew, Nandu had formed his own party, written a manifesto, and launched a full-on campaign — unit by unit, speech by speech. Of course, he won. Decisively.

What followed was a masterclass in engagement. Under Nandu, Syntillations became a cultural force. He curated events, ran clubs, and hosted a grand film awards ceremony where employee-made short films — all on sustainability — took center stage. (And this was before the UN’s SDGs were even a buzzword.)

But his real gift? Creating belonging. Every induction included a Syntillations segment where newcomers joined clubs matching their interests. They didn’t just join a company — they joined a community.

Today, Nandu is a Vice President — and still a force for good. He’s been a COVID warrior in Bangalore, works with traffic police on civic issues, and remains deeply involved in CSR. I sincerely hope we have many Nandus around us — to inspire us, and to lead us.

💡 HR & CSR Leaders — Would you spot a young Nandu if you saw one? Would you nurture them to run like a CEO, even without the title?

The future is already in your workforce. The question is — are you looking?

👪Howard Gardening Story #15 – Sanjeev and the theory of multiple intelligences

 

Sanjeev was a bright young engineer in our company — razor-sharp, articulate, and quietly rebellious.

Every time he stepped into my office, I’d take a deep breath. He never came for small talk — only for big questions:

🌀 “How do you ensure my performance rating isn’t biased?”

🌀 “Why am I being evaluated on outdated goals?”

🌀 “Where is the link between performance and compensation?”

🌀 “What’s my growth path here?”

These weren’t complaints. They were challenges — offered with clarity, curiosity, and a genuine desire to improve the system.

Over time, an age gap melted into friendship. And even after he moved to Australia, we stayed connected.

I saw some great change in him after a while, probably marriage and fatherhood transformed him. He didn’t just parent — he practised parenting. He introduced his children to a wide range of skills — unknowingly practicing Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences. He gave his children what few working professionals manage — his full, present, joyful time. When I spoke to him last, he told me that many parents get in touch with him to guide them in parenting. His son, 11, speaks 11 languages and daughter speaks 9; they both give musical performances and run their video channel to teach the STEM subjects.

--

I look back with a twinge of regret about my life. I couldn’t give that kind of time to my son. But maybe this story sparks something in you. And that will be my solace.

💡 What if HR and CSR leaders recognised the parenting potential in their people?

Imagine communities of employee-parents — not just managing both worlds, but thriving in them. Sharing wisdom. Mentoring others. Supporting child-focused initiatives with empathy born from lived experience. 

Could your CSR Head tap into this Tribe of Tenders — to serve the very villages your company supports? I believe she could.

📘Howard Gardening Story #14 — Azim Premji and Docendo Discimus

 

🌟 Time for another corporate “fairy tale”

Three invitations. One unusual honour.

This story comes from a personalized book I created, a few years ago, to honour Wipro’s iconic Founder, Azim Premji.

It’s a glimpse of what may happen when quiet conviction meets compassionate leadership — and when workplaces nurture not just performance, but purpose.

Here goes the summary of my fairy tale - 

In 2010, Premji received three separate Best Teacher Awards — not for himself, but on behalf of his company.

Why? Because his people weren’t just building code.

They were building classrooms.

It all started with a bold question: 

“What if our best employees taught in schools and colleges — not after they retire, but now?”

🌱 The program was called Docendo Discimus — Latin for ‘We learn when we teach.’

⭐ Premji gave employees world-class training who volunteered to teach real-world topics.

🎓 People loved it. Students learned what the curriculum never taught them.

🧠 The company coined a new term — Cub-sourcing — real project work done by students, enabling talent spotting, faster onboarding, and lower training costs.

This wasn't just CSR.

It was culture. Community. And a sustainable talent strategy.

🧑‍🏫 5,000 students were project-ready from Day 1 when they joined Wipro.

💼 Employee pride soared — with stars embossed on ID cards for every year they taught.

🏛️ And in 2010, three state Governors called this company - India’s best teacher.

Not bad for a company that never claimed to be in the business of education.

🌟 What legacy will your people leave behind — inside or outside the boardroom?

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The story above is just a glimpse. The full story lives in the book I crafted for Mr Premji. Feel free to ask him for a peek. 🙂

Howard Gardening Story #13 — Trupti’s SIP (Systematic Inner Peace)

Trupti’s week begins before dawn.

At 5 AM, she’s on the mat — flowing through yoga, anchored in breath, aligned with her purpose.

By 7 AM, she’s in the kitchen — preparing breakfast and mentally prepping her teenager for school and life.

 She’s not just managing time. She’s holding space — as a mother, a mentor, and a calm centre in the morning storm.

By 9 AM, she’s a Senior Programme Manager in a global IT firm, orchestrating digital solutions for clients across continents.

And on weekends? She becomes a guide for others. Teaching breathing techniques, meditation, and yoga — to professionals across Europe. Not to change the world, but to help them navigate their inner universe.

What’s striking is how her own leadership style is transforming — more composed, more intuitive, more resilient.

 Her wellness practice is no longer a separate part of life; it's the very core of how she leads, connects, parents, and grows.

🔎 She’s not chasing impact; she’s embodying it.

 🔎 She’s not managing work-life balance — she’s curating a rhythm of presence.

💡 What if every company noticed the “Truptis” in their workforce?

 💡 What if HR and CSR leaders nurtured these quiet superpowers?

Imagine a wellness teacher hiding in your code team.

 A therapist in your techie.

 A mother who leads not just her family, but her team — with the same care, clarity, and calm.

Not every hero wears a cape.

 Some wear track pants and carry a yoga mat to Zoom calls.

🔔 Howard Gardening invites HR and CSR Leaders to look within — and help others do the same.

 ✨ Because sometimes, the most profound transformation begins not outside,

 but in the breath between tasks… and the hand that packs a school tiffin with love.

Howard Gardening Story #12 — Anil the magician turning garbage into gold

 

After a successful stint at a leading automobile MNC in Germany, Anil returned to India.
For years, he had mastered combustion engines, supply chains, and global business strategies. But back home, a new calling emerged — quieter, yet more profound.

One morning, he had an epiphany: to dedicate his life to sustainability.

Today, Anil isn’t talking torque and horsepower. He’s teaching communities about composting, running workshops on waste segregation, and inspiring youth to rethink consumption. His venture turns everyday waste — banana peels, paper scraps, garden trimmings — into rich compost and community transformation.

What once was engineering for performance is now engineering for the planet.

It makes you wonder: what if his passion for sustainability had been noticed earlier?
Would a Mercedes be powered by kitchen waste today?
Would an Audi sprout a green conscience?

🚀 HR and CSR leaders — here’s your invitation.
Within your high performers may lie hidden crusaders — for the environment, for education, for equity. People who are waiting for a platform, not applause.

Can your talent systems spot them?
Can your engagement programs nurture them?

Anil is a reminder: great potential doesn’t always wear a label.
Sometimes it composts quietly — until it’s given sunlight.

#CSR #HowardGardening

Howard Gardening Story #11 — Christina, a seed that grew beyond our garden

 

Christina was our marcom manager. Quiet, efficient, and rarely one to speak at length.
She always got things done — no fuss, no spotlight. Just steady brilliance.

Back then, if you’d asked me whether she had a poet or author within her, I might’ve hesitated. Not because she lacked talent — but because she was so unassuming, you almost missed her sparkle.

And then, she left.

📖 Not long after, her book “I’ll Do It My Way: The Incredible Journey of Aamir Khan” made waves.
🌱 Christina had bloomed — not just as an author, but as a creator of impact.

She became an environmental journalist, conducted workshops for schoolchildren, and worked with startups to sharpen their brand voice.

She crafted websites, told stories that mattered, and quietly built a world of meaning.

🏆 Soon, she was recognised among India’s Top 100 brand and content custodians.

Today, she’s a global crusader — nurturing opportunities for content writers around the world. Empowering others to find their voice, just as she found hers.

Sometimes the quietest ones leave the loudest legacy.
And sometimes, we miss the treasure that was right there all along.

Christina was that hidden gem.
We’re proud she once walked among us — a seed from our garden, who grew into a tree of her own, offering shade, words, and wisdom to the world.

🌼 Dear HR and CSR leaders

We sit on a goldmine of hidden talent.
Let’s dig a little. nurture a little.
You might just uncover your next author, innovator, or change-maker.

#CSR #HowardGardening

Howard Gardening Story #10 – Ranjan and the music of Leadership

 

When Ranjan joined us as Head of a Business Unit, my first impression was:
No-nonsense. No small talk. All business.
He radiated that electric energy we often associate with high-performance leaders.

But as we got to know each other, I discovered the symphony behind the suit —
🎼 A passion for music
🍳 A flair for cooking
🌾 A fascination for Masanobu Fukuoka’s farming philosophy
💖 And a deep compassion for the underprivileged

One day, I asked him if he would oversee our music community.
He said yes instantly — and ran the club meetings like boardroom strategy sessions!

That was Ranjan — precise, passionate, and full of life.

He passed away some time ago, far too early, at just 50.
I still miss him deeply. But the joy he created through work, music, and friendship… still lingers.

Dear HR/CSR Leaders,

What if some of your senior leaders actively owned employee communities — not as a side hobby, but as part of their KPIs?

Could it boost your employer brand?
Could it help them de-stress, reconnect, rehumanise?

Maybe… the music they bring could transform your workplace.
What do you think?

🙏🏽 If there's someone from your work life who still lives in your heart — for who they really were — do share their story. 

🌿Howard Gardening Story #9 – Narendra, the VP with healing hands

 

Some say acupuncture is pseudoscience.
Some swear by it.

Narendra — my lifelong friend and ex-colleague — belonged firmly to the first group.
Back in the day, if you had whispered “acupressure” near him, he would’ve rolled his eyes all the way to Huangdi Neijing (an ancient Chinese medical text) and back. 😄

But life has a funny way of pressing the right points.

Cut to a few years later, and here was Narendra — a VP, no less — passionately talking about ancient Chinese treatments, meridians, and magical touch-points.
He had become a walking-talking wellness warrior. 🧘‍♂️

Of course, we were his guinea pigs. And were happy to be part of his new journey.
And you know what? It worked for many.
I remember a time when one colleague insisted on talking about Narendra and his magic touch in one of our all-staff meetings (Imagine that — acupressure in the middle of a business dashboard review)

This is one of his ways to connect with his team, other than his daily coffee meetings on the birthdays of his team members.

👥 Dear HR and CSR Leaders,
Would you dismiss such passions as pseudoscience?
Or explore how they could evolve into stress-relief practices at work?

I’m curious — what surprising employee passions have pressed the right buttons in your workplace?

To my friends, waiting for your call to tell me some exciting Howard Gardening stories.

Howard Gardner, the proposer of the Theory of multiple intelligences would probably put Narenra in two buckets viz. Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence and Interpersonal Intelligence.

#HowardGardening #CSR

🌿Howard Gardening Story #8 – PVL and the SMART Objectives generator

 

My story today is about my techie friend PVL.

But let me start with my problem statement - In the mid-2000s, I had the responsibility for performance management in our India office. One recurring headache? Getting employees to write meaningful performance objectives in our centralised system.

Despite many workshops on SMART goals, most techies filled in random rubbish. They saw it as a pointless HR task. And honestly? It was painful to look at.

Let me now come back to PVL. PVL, a techie to the core, would drop by once in a while. We’d chat over coffee. One day, I shared my frustration with him.

He didn’t offer advice. Didn’t ask too many questions. Just nodded quietly and sipped his coffee.

Two days later, he returned.
With a solution.

He had created an online Objective Generator. Just select your role — and voila — you’d get a set of 4–5 high-quality, ready-to-use objectives.

No fanfare. No presentations. Just a simple tool that worked.

I was stunned.
I said, “PVL, this is amazing!”
He smiled, shrugged, and said, “It was easy. Anyone would have done it.”
And left.

Dear PVL, I remember you to this day — with immense love.

💬 Dear HR and CSR Leaders
Do you have such silent tech angels in your organisations? .. Those who solve real problems, even when it's not their job?.. Who expect nothing in return?

I’d love to hear your stories. Let’s celebrate them. 🌱

#HowardGardening #EmployeeEngagement #CSR

 

🌿Howard Gardening Story #7 – The herbal garden that crossed oceans

🌟 Time for a corporate fairy tale — rooted in reality.
This story comes from a personalized book I created to honour Biocon’s visionary Founder, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw.

It’s a story of what’s possible when we apply the Howard Gardner philosophy of multiple intelligences at work — and invite people to bring their full selves into the workplace.

Here goes —

Some people plant seeds of passion

Kiran’s employees planted actual medicinal herbs.

What began as a group of employees curious about Ayurveda turned into a living garden on their company campus — where people were encouraged to pluck leaves and eat them for wellness.

Visitors came. Including a Dutch client — who was so inspired, they asked Kiran’s team to help build a similar herbal garden at their Netherlands office.

But there was a condition.

“It should be a collaborative effort. Our employees should experience the joy of creating value — just like you did.”

🌍 The project became a symbol of shared purpose across continents.

📈 It enriched client relationships.

🌱 It seeded new community landscapes in Indian cities and villages.

💡 It gave rise to valufacture — creating value through passion.

To my HR and CSR leader friends reading this:

- What unspoken intelligence is growing in your people right now?

- What seeds of community can you water today?

- Let’s create not just engagement — but legacy.

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The story above is just a glimpse. The full story lives in the book I crafted for Kiran Mazumdar Shaw. You might need to ask her for her copy. 🙂

 

Howard Gardening Story #6 – Chirag: From Codes to Chords

What if the best outgoing student of your engineering college, a gold medalist, gets picked by Microsoft… and then walks away from it all?

Not because he failed. But because something else started playing in his heart.

Meet my young friend Chirag, Founder and CEO at Chirp Handpans.

He climbed the ladder fast—first a software engineer, then a program manager. By all external measures, life was sorted.

But inside, a strange rhythm had taken hold of him.

Chirag had fallen in love with an unusual musical instrument: the Handpan—a UFO-shaped percussion instrument born in Switzerland in the year 2000.

He didn't just want to play it.

He wanted to make it In India.

From circuits to steel shells, from deadlines to drone notes—Chirag took the leap.

He now crafts these soulful instruments for a global market, creating a beautiful blend of engineering and emotion.

And it makes me wonder...

Did his managers at Microsoft know about this parallel passion?

Did anyone help him weigh the risks of starting a hardware business, especially in a niche space like handpans?

Who mentored him on creating a USP? Or was it all trial and error, fueled by fire?

To my HR & CSR Leader friends:

What if an employee’s true calling lies outside your domain?

Can we support such outliers with mentorship and CSR platforms?

Could their side passions bring unexpected value to our cultures and communities; And company brand?

Chirag's melody now plays loud and clear.

Would your company have let him tune it?

Howard Gardening Story #5 – Gaur Gopal Das: From circuit boards to spiritual sparks

 

Howard Gardening Story #5 – Gaur Gopal Das: From circuit boards to spiritual sparks

Today’s story isn’t about someone from my workplace.

It’s about a modern-day monk who began his career as an electrical engineer at Hewlett Packard.

My hero today: Gaur Gopal Das.

From solving circuits to solving life’s puzzles, he transitioned from engineer to monk, and then to a global life coach and motivational speaker.

With humour as his compass, he calls his sessions “sit-down comedies”—a witty nod to stand-up.

He once said he didn’t quit his job; he simply “upgraded himself into a life coach.”

Today, this ex-engineer lights up hearts and minds across the world—from Google to the UN, from Salesforce to the British Parliament.

And it makes me wonder…

Did someone at HP notice his spark when he was just starting out?

How would his ex-colleagues describe working with him?

To my HR and CSR Leader friends:

- Do we make space in our organisations for people with a spiritual bent of mind?

- Might these conversations actually add business value?

- Would you know a few awesome people who’d love to “upgrade themselves into life coaches”, like Gaur Gopal Das did?