Alok Ohrie, President & Managing Director, Dell India, has over 25 years of experience in the IT industry across various leadership positions. Prior to joining Dell, Alok led IBM’s Systems and Technology Group in India from January 2010. Alok holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication from the National Institute of Technology (formerly REC), Suratkhal (Karnataka). Alok is an accomplished business leader with proven track record of managing businesses, people and customer relationships. At Dell India, he is an executive sponsor for D&I and Dell Giving Initiatives. Alok is the Chairperson, Dell India D&I Council.
                                   In conversation with Dinakshi Arora
- Why is it important to have women in senior leadership roles?
Having a strong female representation, particularly in senior leadership roles, is a business imperative, responsibility and opportunity. Dell is committed to accelerating the increasingly powerful role that women play in driving global economic growth. Women share a unique approach and insight into managing a business. They constantly demonstrate a better understanding of the importance of people relationships and are committed to their roles. There is a need to visibly demonstrate equal opportunity of employment and career progression.
- What has been your organization’s focus to promote women in senior leadership roles?
Strong leadership development is part of the missing link for directing women’s career paths upward in many companies. This is not so at Dell, which offers its ‘Women in Leadership’ training to women employees – director-level and upwards. The course provides women leaders with not only executive-level classes to help groom them, but with specific action plans to get them there. Dell has in place many programs and initiatives that focus on promoting women in leadership roles such as Women Powering Business, Women in Search of Excellence (WISE), Women Inspired to Learn & Lead (WILL) and Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network (DWEN). Dell has also partnered with Catalyst – a leading non-profit organization with a mission to expand opportunities for women and business – to foster an inclusive culture within Dell.
“We need to give each other the space to grow, to be ourselves, to exercise our diversity. We need to give each other space so that we may both give and receive such beautiful things as ideas, openness, dignity, joy, healing, and inclusion.â€Â -Max de Pree
- Why is it important for men to be involved in ensuring that women have upward mobility?
Dell believes that men play a critical role in creating opportunities for women leaders. Men have the potential of being powerful ambassadors for implementing many diversity and inclusion Diversity & Inclusion MUCH MORE THAN THE RIGHT THING TO DO initiatives, as well as influencing other male peers to support gender initiatives. The involvement of men is crucial to the realisation of the gender-equality movement and any attempt to coalition of support must include men. Dell has been associated with MARC (Men Advocating Real Change), a community currently being incubated by Catalyst, with a mission to expand opportunities for women and business. The program showcases member-generated advice, insights, and best practices to inspire men who wish to expand gender diversity within their organizations. Dell is a member of this community and has 20 senior and emerging Dell leaders engaged in the program, aimed at galvanizing solutions to create lasting benefit for women in IT. We have additional programs like ‘Maximizing Team Performance’ that helps remove unconscious bias that hinders diverse team members from delivering their best.
- What is success, when it comes to gender inclusion?
Despite the implementation of various government schemes for women, the fact is, with nearly 160 million women in India, the Sixth Economic Census by the Ministry of Statistics and Programe Implementation found that women comprise only 25.56 per cent of the country’s total workforce. Gender equality is not a gender issue. It’s a human issue. While both diversity and inclusion are now increasingly valued as vital characteristics in most companies, neither the acceptance nor the appreciation have equated to an ideal, all inclusive workplace. To be a successful company and a great place to work, businesses must be able to leverage the similarities and differences of all team members, and use it as competitive advantage. Having an environment that positively values individual differences sounds likes successful inclusion.
- What characteristics do you look for in a prospective leader?
Progressive organizations leverage their leadership and hierarchy to influence and maintain open lines of communication. Leaders must share critical information in a timely and forthright manner. This emanates from a strong sense of equality, where every team member has an innate desire to know the exact direction where the organization is headed. This also comes with a strong sense of trust, where leaders must have enough confidence to be transparent with their team members. The ability of an organization to identify and invest in the right people is critical to build leaders. Dell has pioneered this through talent management; providing support to encourage, nurture, and build the leaders. More importantly, Dell goes to the extent of sponsoring potential leaders.
- What advice would you give to a woman who aspires to be CEO of a Fortune 500 Organization?
To be at the helm of the most reputed companies globally, women need to overcome any reservation they may have in advocating for themselves. I would say – challenge yourself, take risks, choose growth and development above all else!
