The balancing act of life
T S Sethi, General Manager, Oman Modern Electronics Co, believes the key to success lies in creating a positive environment

Serene and collected, that is T S Sethi, General Manager, Oman Modern Electronics Co. As we meet him, he is busy in the conference room, directing people and organizing things for the day. There are no signs of any strain or pressure that one normally associates with a high-profile job like his. As we talk to him it is clear that Sethi has a mind-set that helps to keep stress at bay.

An electrical engineer by profession, T S Sethi enjoyed working in Telco at the beginning of his career. In 1988, he joined the IT Division of the Al Hashar Group of Companies in Muscat. Here he successfully developed systems for various business functions and was instrumental in ushering in the era of computerised data processing and MIS across all companies of the Al Hashar Group. A firm believer in community development, he became the member of the school management committee at ISM which catapulted him to the position of Vice President at the end of his six-year-tenure.

It is Sethi’s commitment to work that has consistently put him in a position of leadership. When asked how he finds heading a division, he says it is a demanding job as a lot of customer handling goes into it. Giving a patient hearing to aggrieved customer is an important step to arriving at an amicable solution. With an astute understanding of changing times, he feels customers are more knowledgeable today and have to be handled differently. Within office, he tries not to be judgmental. Whenever there is a disagreement between workers, he takes a decision after listening to both the sides. Always converting the liability of a problem situation into an asset, Sethi has placed his division on a path of growth over the past three years.

Sethi says it is not that people are shy of working. But what alienates them from work is the lack of an encouraging and tension-free environment. So he tries to create a positive environment inside his organisation and of course ‘hard cash’ is always an added incentive for good work. Now that the world is moving from labour management to human resource management, a leader’s role is also evolving. But where does one draw the line between exerting power and showing camaraderie? Sethi feels for exerting authority, respect has to be earned from the workers. During his tenure with Al Hashar Goup in Oman, Sethi used to take short trips on weekends to discover Oman. Nizwa, Salalah, Jebel Akhdar – he remembers all with excitement. But over a period of time, the enthusiasm has subsided. Now he focuses on more sedate activities such as meditation, which means staying indoors. He describes Oman as hospitable and which, most importantly, fuels his inherent and constant desire for a peaceful milieu. His children studied here and grew up in a cosmopolitan environment.
 
Sethi spends quality time at home and doesn’t bring his worries home from office. Weekends are an opportunity to indulge in a favourite pastime – browsing through the internet and catching up with family matters. Sethi enjoys spending time in his cozy home done up beautifully by his wife. He also likes to do some light bedtime reading. Of course, Arthur Hailey had been a favourite once upon a time. He also has to take time out to browse through business-related technical literature and magazines to keep himself updated about market. Though Sethi has always been ahead on the leadership front, he has always remained grounded. He says leadership is all about honesty, sincerity and implicit divine faith matched by strength of conviction. And what is his quotient for success? “Opportunities had come my way and I demonstrated my abilities to capitalise on them,” promptly came the reply.

-Susmita De