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Business News/ Mint-lounge / Features/  Sebi Joseph | A lift in the right direction
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Sebi Joseph | A lift in the right direction

The managing director of Otis on the merger of minds, returning to India and dealing with spirituality

Sebi Joseph says he admires music composer A.R. Rahman because he prays before every composition. ‘And see the beauty of his music,’ he saysPremium
Sebi Joseph says he admires music composer A.R. Rahman because he prays before every composition. ‘And see the beauty of his music,’ he says

There can be only one such embarrassing moment when you walk up to a restaurant, confidently push the door, only to find it locked from inside. I was outside Ming Yang at the Taj Lands End, Mumbai, and it was 7.25pm—too early. Retreating with as much dignity as I can muster, I run into the person I have come to meet, Sebi Joseph, a few steps ahead.

“They open exactly at 7.30," says the managing director of Otis Elevator Co. (India) Ltd with an easy smile. We don’t have to introduce ourselves, since there are not too many people outside the restaurant at that hour. We wait at the coffee shop on the level below for just a few minutes before we see Ming Yang’s doors open. I am surprised to see two tables already occupied by the time we walk in seconds later.

It’s been roughly a year since Sebi, a tall, slim man dressed in a pinstriped suit, returned to work in India, after several years of foreign assignments in places such as the Philippines, Singapore and Dubai. His mandate is to bring the Malad-headquartered India division of the company back to a position of eminence, after they slipped a bit over the last few years.

Illustration by: Jayachandran/Mint
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Illustration by: Jayachandran/Mint

The reason Sebi, 50, has worked in only this company all his life is, he says, because of a philosophical synergy between the two, apart from the fact that Otis has looked after him well and given him challenging assignments. “I had given myself two years when I joined Otis. I was so aggressive in my outlook then that I was sure I would move on quickly," he says. He has stayed on in Otis, which turned 160 years old on 3 April, for 25 years.

There really is no simple explanation for the “aggression"—Sebi grew up in the temple town of Thrikkakara, famous for its celebration of Onam, near Kochi in Kerala. His father was a math professor and college principal and Sebi studied in the industrial suburb of Kalamassery—both probably influenced him in some ways towards Regional Engineering College, Kozhikode, to study mechanical engineering. He says, however, that his first areas of interest were journalism and politics, but he never pursued them owing to a lack of courage.

“I couldn’t defy my parents. They were scared I would join politics because I was opposing the wrongdoings of society. They too didn’t have the courage to see their son in this role," says Sebi, smiling. “I was idealistic. I wanted to transform the world, which was an utopian ideal. We can transform the place we are in, which I realized later. So journalism didn’t happen, I didn’t join active politics, but went straight into the corporate world."

IN PARENTHESIS: Sebi Joseph may work in a company that deals with technology but his 75-year-old mother shuns electronics. “She believes something will go wrong, says Sebi. They recently had a chat about a water pump at his parents’ home in Kochi which was causing some problems because of a “simple autoregulator malfunction. “We don’t want, it will not work, she would say, we’ll later have problems. When I tried to reason, she said ‘I know better’. I didn’t argue because you never win an argument with your parents, right?

Otis had acquired the elevator division of LG, Korea, and in the Philippines it was merged into one company. Among the employees of this new entity were Australians, Koreans and Filipinos, with one Indian on top. “It was interesting and difficult," he says. “There were some issues after the merger because a merger of hearts and minds did not happen."

Sebi’s formula in this complex situation was to “lead and persuade with love". In Bangalore, he had already become increasingly spiritual, influenced by the works of leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and A.P.J Abdul Kalam, among others. He had even taken to vegetarianism and begun wearing Khadi; but once the foreign posting came, his wife Neena told him he would have to change his ways a bit. “She said I can’t be living Gandhi’s life. These are transcendental values. Additionally, getting Khadi (clothes) ironed is not easy either," he says, laughing.

His colleagues in the Philippines did not know much about India; they were familiar only with Sushmita Sen, who had been crowned Miss Universe in Manila. To endear them was not easy, he says, but it was possible, and in three years, “we could come to leadership position".

Sebi sips his Shiraz and takes a bite of the smoked shredded chicken starter, indicating a temporary truce with his desire to quit materialism, as he speaks of the next big thing after the Philippines. Sent to Singapore in 2007 and then to Dubai, he was caught in the middle of the financial crisis. One moment the Gulf was making rapid progress, the next moment there was no money, and Sebi was summoned to manage the crisis. Otis had also partnered with the promoters of Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. Sebi says: “My mandate was to sort collection issues, prepare for the future. Nobody would envy my position because I had to sell hope."

He speaks passionately about the Gen2 and Gen2 Switch technologies, which Otis launched in 2012—they use a polyurethane flat belt (instead of steel ropes), saving up to 75% in energy. He mentions the company’s big entry into infrastructure in India—Otis got the Hyderabad Metro Rail project, which is worth more than 400 crore, in April. This will be aided by the ongoing expansion of their factory in Bangalore, whose capacity will increase from 5,000 units a year to 10,000.

India is the second largest elevator-escalator market in the world after China, expected to grow from the current 43,000 units a year to over 70,000 by 2017. It’s a great time to be in the business, agrees Sebi, with the growth focused not only in metros but also in tier II cities that are fuelled by huge aspirations. The company’s biggest project in Mumbai is at Kohinoor Mills, which is expected to be the tallest commercial building in the country. “Urbanization is inevitable: so it’s good if other amenities accompany it," he says.

He admits to being influenced by prominent political figures—besides reading Kalam’s autobiography Wings of Fire multiple times, he is also motivated by Indira Gandhi, Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa and Abraham Lincoln. He says what keeps India together is its spirituality. “There is something magical here. We have surmounted all our conflicts and never invaded any country."

He also believes in the “keep it simple" policy that he practises in his daily life, even when dealing with a teenage daughter, Ria. He illustrates the learning with an example from when he was in college. Impressed by the 1965 Malayalam movie classic Chemmeen, Sebi was thrilled when he got the chance to accompany a journalist friend to interview the film’s music director, Salil Chowdhury. Sebi asked Chowdhury how he managed to use the sounds of the sea and bring in the flavour of Alleppey, considering he was unfamiliar with the language. The music director said he merely adapted some Hungarian score.

Sebi remembers, “He told me, it’s that simple; don’t complicate something by analysing it too much."

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Published: 20 Jul 2013, 12:04 AM IST
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