Byham was speaking at presentation and talk on “India’s businesses in transition - the key role of leadership.” organised by the Indo-American Chamber Of Commerce, Pune Branch and Development Dimensions International.

Byham, who is recognised as an authority on talent management, especially around the theme of “grow your own leaders” which is also the title of one of his many successful books — said Indian companies are not very good at hiring people, as they depend in textbooks of practical techniques.

Byham also expressed concern over the disinterest of chief executive officers and top management in participating in developing individuals and giving them the kind of exposure needed to grow.

“Intervention of senior management is very necessary to crate the right type o leadership. It is important to identify a few deserving people and train them by moving them across various section and branches of the company locally and globally. Indian companies need to speed up the way they handle and take up human resources,” he added.

At the pace Indian companies are growing, getting the right, qualified people is becoming difficult. Retaining them is another crisis,” said Byham.

Stressing that the interviewing methods in India are “bookish’, Byham said, “Ask behavioral questions, use the individual’s past experience to predict the future and accordingly define his role, competency and another aspects.”

Byham added that what may hold the country back is that organizations necessarily don’t lack leaders but people development is slow and not able to match the economic growth, as today various departments have budget allocations which are some times more than turnover of companies 10 years back.