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Hot Seat
Riding Hard, Winning Hard
Suyash Borar, COO, BM Birla Heart and Research Centre,
Kolkata is all set to take his successful organisation to the next level. Nancy
Singh profiles this dynamic leader
 His
youth strikes you first, next his exuberance and if that's not enough, his unending
passion is bound to leave an indelible mark on your mind. Not surprisingly,
Suyash Borar, COO, BM Birla has been an inspiration as well as mentor to many
aspiring young management students who wish to be as successful as he is, considering
that he has charted his own success story. He explains, "I had no godfather
and when I joined way back in the 1980s, healthcare was not even considered
a lucrative option."
Hailing from a finance background and joining healthcare is quite an unconventional
choice indeed, as a hospital is not really a good place for numbers. "Most
people think that being from finance is actually a disadvantage. But I disagree,
as it is the finance person who knows exactly what is happening in every department.
Every process has to cross this department. Hence, a financial person can successfully
lead any organisation across any vertical," Borar asserts.
The Growth Path
Borar started his career in the manufacturing sector with Hukumchand Jute Industries
in 1986. "Initially, the health sector came my way by chance as there was
an immediate requirement to organise funds for a health sector project and so
I was given additional responsibility. I had a good academic record with chartered
accountancy and post graduate diploma in business management," he recollects.
Thanks to his farsightedness, he decided to swim against the tide.
"In those days, usually retired army personnel used to join the health
industry. So, almost everyone advised against it, but I realised that it suited
my mentality with no excise duty, no sales tax, no income tax and no undue effort
to avoid them, and above all I could help people in the time of their need.
So, I shifted fully to the health sector. There I grew from Finance Executive
to Commercial Manager to Chief Financial Controller to Chief of the Organisation,"
reminisces Borar. All this, by the age of 42.
"I have almost 19 years of experience today in the healthcare industry
and I started off early at the age of 21. So, in a way, it was quite a well-planned
growth." And why not? This workaholic's success was inevitable, considering
the number of hours he worked day in and day out. Even today, he is known for
his undying enthusiasm for work and stays at the office for at least 10-12 hours
a day.
"For the initial 10 years, I used to not even take Sundays off and sometimes
worked for almost 15 hours everyday. I guess it was my youthful exuberance,"
he laughs. He adds, "From the first day of my career I decided that I would
be giving my best. During my initial days at BMBHRC, the pressure and demand
was very high as we wanted to make it one of the best Hospitals, comparable
to international standards. I used to work 10-12 hours a day and it is continuing
even now. Moreover, if you love your work, you never feel you are working,"
he philosophises.
Due to family commitments, he has stopped working on Sundays.
For a workaholic, it is indeed difficult to manage his personal and professional
life, but Borar seems to have learnt the art of fine balance quite well. "My
motto in life is to work hard and party harder! My time-management is quite
good and I have also been lucky in this regard as I do not waste much time in
commuting. I sleep for six hours. Moreover, I always try to do more than one
thing at time, for example, planning my daily schedule, making phone calls/
reading while commuting, which also saves a lot of time."
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 Born
on October 19, 1962 and brought up in Kolkata in an upper middle-class
family, Borar studied up to class 12 at Birla High School. He has an elder
sister based in Bangalore. He graduated in commerce from Calcutta University,
and did Chartered Accountancy from the Institute of Chartered Accountants
of India. He then pursued his postgraduate diploma in business management,
a special course on system analysis and programming. He is also an alumnus
of IIM-Ahmedabad having completed special senior management programmes
in 'Hospital Management' and 'International Strategic Alliances and Joint
Ventures'.
"I have been very lucky to have very educated,
understanding and supportive parents," he says. His father, SM Borar,
an advocate, was one of the most educated people in town. "He retired
as the Director in Reliance Industries (Jute) and even after retirement,
he is Director in a few companies as well as trustee/ chairman in a number
of social organisations. He is also a renowned writer and has written
many books and articles." says Borar. He admires his father and considers
him as his mentor. "I was fortunate to be brought up in a well-to-do
family. I have learned a lot including honesty from my father, who is
a man of strong principles and is very well respected."
 He
married Sarita in 1987 and has two children Saharsh (18) and Surabhi (16).
The Borar family, including his parents, make it a point that every special
occasion, be it an anniversary or a festival, is celebrated so that they
spend quality time together. He is a social person to the core and belongs
to a number of groups including a 'G-7' group for the elite of Kolkata
city who meet quite often to party. "At least two-three times a week,
I attend parties with family/ friends, which is normally after nine in
the night and mostly directly from office. I also go on holidays twice
a year, once around for 10 days and other for three to four days."
The leader that he is, he has made it a point to
learn something new every year to keep abreast of the latest. "I
think it is very important to keep learning and upgrading yourself in
this fast-paced world. Moreover, I truly believe knowledge is power and
hence there is always this undying quest to learn," feels Borar.
"I read a lot, whether it is books, newspapers, magazines, or management
articles on the internet," he adds.
The inquisitive leader is also a big sports and
adventure freak and loves horse riding. "I have always been active
since childhood and believed that health is wealth. My interest in riding
developed after I went to Derby races and also witnessed a few polo matches.
On horseback, one really feels like a king!" He has also played cricket,
hockey, badminton, table tennis, golf, squash, apart from activities like
martial art (Tae-Kwon-Do) at various levels be it in school, college,
club or organisations. "Nowadays, normally I play golf and badminton
between six to eight in the morning."
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The Pushy Leader
Perfectionism has a tendency to go to extremes and so has been the case with
Borar. Once, one of his team members from the quality department was on an official
tour in Toronto, when suddenly his presence was required in the Hospital. Borar
actually had him flown back for just one day! "I agree, I'm pushy to an
extent, but you have to notice that even I have been relentlessly working, so
I see no harm in expecting others to do the same. Given the lackadaisical attitude
of people in eastern India, if you want to be of international standard, at
times you need to push people to make them deliver their best. It is definitely
an advantage as the result is always good," he insists. But doesn't this
pushiness make him rub people the wrong way? "At times, people do misunderstand,
but I guess this happens to others as well. Moreover, when people see results,
they understand. It is evident from the results that BMBHRC is the only standalone
organisation from eastern India of international standing and has many firsts
to its credit. Moreover, those who know me well and even my strongest critics
have appreciated my planned and organised way of functioning. In any case, as
they say— 'you can't please everyone all the time,' he reacts.
True to his belief, even his strongest critics appreciate
his commitment, his dedicated loyalty to the organisation and honesty. Says
a colleague on condition of anonymity, "His perfectionism makes his expectations
seem unreal which has led to some people being disgruntled and leaving the organisation.
But at the end of the day, he is an extremely honest human being who has paid
every single penny of his expenses to the Hospital." As such a young leader,
it may have been indeed difficult to gain acceptance, but Borar thinks otherwise.
He feels that his integrity saw him through. "I never had any major problems
or difficulties. Initially, some people may have had some doubts but I guess
sincerity, honesty, hard work, knowledge and finally results may have changed
their mind. Incidentally, you may be surprised to know that when we started
BMBHRC, the average age of the team was around 27-28 years," he says. The
Hospital started with 50 beds with a staff of around 180 in the year 1990.
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 Favourite
food: South Indian and tandoori.
Favourite holiday destination: Himachal
Pradesh and Switzerland
Favourite Books: I keep reading articles
actually. The last book I read was 'Winning' by Jack Welch, and now I
am reading 'Good to Great' by Jim Collins.
 The
car he drives: Honda City
How important is money to him
For me, happiness is most important in life. Money can't buy you happiness.
No matter how much you earn, you will still earn less than the wealthiest
person in the world. And again, even if you are the wealthiest, you will
still be eating dal, roti and biscuit, made of maida (wheat flour) not
gold. Moreover, everything will remain here in this world itself. You
can't take anything with you. Though money is important, it is only up
to a point.
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Taking Birla to Newer Heights
No hard work goes waste and if BMBHRC is standing tall today and considered
as one of the best hospitals in India, it is indeed a true reflection of how
Borar's beliefs and sheer hard work has paid off. He successfully led the team
to make BMBHRC the first Hospital in India and the only hospital in Eastern
India to be accredited by National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare
Providers (NABH) in February 2007. "Initially, when we had applied for
NABH, we were not at all expecting that we would be the first in India to actually
receive NABH, but it so happened that we got it in record eight months,"
he beams.
While other healthcare leaders are realising the value of IT today, such was
the foresight of Borar, that he started off the computerisation process of BMBHRC
way back in 1990, at a time when people from healthcare were not even aware
about computer functions. Not only this, under his leadership, the Hospital
went on to become the first Hospital with ISO 9001, ISO 1400 and OSHAS 18000
certifications as well. His obsession with quality also brought the Hospital
NABL and CAP (College of American Pathologists) for pathology laboratories.
"When a patient approaches a hospital, normally the first thing on his
mind is quality of care and safety. That is why we focused on quality and it
is very evident from our vision, mission and policy and if quality is in place
other things automatically fall in place," he feels. Today, thanks to the
incessant efforts to deliver quality care, the Hospital has an infection rate
of less than one per cent.
His endeavour of excellence doesn't end here. Every organisation's biggest strength
is its people and in a service-oriented industry like healthcare, it is rather
the backbone of a successful organisation. "I am quite a positive thinker
and really feel it's very important to keep your employees happy. We have taken
various HR initiatives including the balance score card performance management
system, which is followed by Fortune 500 companies," says Borar. In fact,
this year the Hospital won the 'Express Healthcare Excellence Award' conferred
by the Indian Express Group for 'Best Inspirational Workplace' award. He was
also instrumental in initiating air ambulance services for the first time in
eastern India. In 2008 BMBHRC also got the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi National
Quality Award— Commendation Certificate and the coveted Jamnalal Bajaj
Award for Fair Business Practices.
The Hospital is also accredited for postgraduate courses in Cardiac Anaesthesia,
DNB Courses in Cardiothoracic Surgery and Post Graduate Diploma in Community
Cardiology (PGDCC), as well as postgraduate courses in Bio-Medical Instrumentation
in collaboration with BIT. Under Borar's leadership, BMBHRC opened the first
private nursing college in eastern India for BSc and MSc courses in Nursing.
Leading the Race
Whilst he has delivered more than any leader could promise and established Birla
Hospital as one of the best brands in the Indian healthcare industry, the Hospital
will now expand to conquer new frontiers. "Having established our name
at par with international standards in quality and other parameters, now we
are going for expansion. A Hospital is being built at Jaipur, to be commissioned
next year. The Government has allotted us land in Haldia and Siliguri. We have
also been promised land at Rajarhat. We have started a few pathology collection
centres and will be setting up some diagnostic and information centres as well.
Discussions are also going on for taking over the management of a few hospitals
in India and abroad," reveals Borar. After having achieved so much at an
early age, he is raring to scale new heights. For Borar, the journey has just
begun.
nancy.singh@expressindia.com
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