Banking on growth is key for the real deal

The Life: Farhad Irani joined Mashreq Bank as executive vice president and head of retail banking six months ago. He speaks about why his employees are yet to see the "real" him.

Farhad Irani, the executive vice president and head of retail banking at Mashreq Bank.

Farhad Irani joined Mashreq bank as the executive vice president and head of retail banking six months ago. Here he talks about why his employees are yet to see the "real" him.

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What kind of a leader are you?

I think this team around me hasn't seen the real me because I have had to morph into a role in the first six months, which has been pretty tough in terms of questioning the status quo and removing policies that have made us immobile. This bank was number two and we dropped to number eight in three to five short years. You have got to exercise some pretty excessive force to change the momentum.

So who is the real you, and what will your management style be?

I think what they will see is a resolute leader who is as hard on himself as he is on everyone else. I lead by example, am action and execution-orientated but extremely caring for people who really deliver. I am not going to be here for more than three years, so I want to leave behind a legacy that it was in this era that this team brought Mashreq to a leadership position.

How do you plan to do that?

The first thing is to have the right team in place, the right leadership team and the right execution team. That happened in the first six months. The second thing is a plan that excites people. That's been put in place. The third thing is making sure we have the right incentives in place, making sure we have the right enablers and support in place, making sure we have the right risk policies in place, and that's there as well. The fourth thing is execute like crazy. The fifth and most important is to celebrate success as a team.

What is the best way to let people go?

The best way is to be sincere and straightforward. You can't point the finger at someone and say 'I was told by so and so to do it.' You've got to take responsibility and people appreciate and respect that. There is a way of doing it. You've got to be sensitive. I feel happy that a couple of folk I had to let go I made sure I found them a job in banks in Dubai personally. In the long-term scheme of things I think people grow as a consequence of that experience.

How do you encourage creativity in your employees?

I don't accept any proposal the first two times. I tell them go back and think some more. If it's good, of course I say it's fine. My tendency is to try and fix it, but I am holding back from that. So my role increasingly is to open doors for people and get them to think beyond the box so they can come back and not just make a better decision but feel better in terms of how they have grown.

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