This case study explores the evolution of the Indian executive career and the changing role of a CEO in the dynamic and less predictable business environment. Quoting examples from top Indian companies - in both the manufacturing and service sectors - this case provides an overview on the new age CEO, the roles and responsibilities, and shows how the younger generation can better lead the Indian corporate entities. It delves into many issues to discuss: Whether the young CEOs have the requisite experience and exposure to lead an organization at the helm, the reasons for today's organizations looking for a relatively younger generation to take charge, and whether age and experience count any longer.

Rich Templeton (Templeton), became the CEO of Texas Instruments, renowned for developing and commercializing semiconductor and computer technology, at the age of 45. Dinesh Paliwal (Dinesh), 51, replaced Sidney Harman (Harman), who retired at the age of 88, as the CEO of audio equipment giant, Harman International. Abhi Talwalkar, 44, became the CEO of semiconductor giant, LSI Corporation at the age of 41. India Inc. too is following a similar trend.

In March 2009, when 55-year-old, Satish Kumar stepped down after a long tenure as the managing director at the FMCG company, Henkel India, the board did not look for a company veteran to replace him. Instead, it appointed 39-year-old, Jayant Singh (Jayant), the former chairman and CEO of GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, Sri Lanka. Likewise, in November 2008, when Tata Chemicals' managing director, Homi Khusrokhan retired, 42-year-old, R Mukundan succeeded him. Similarly, 45-year-old, Nitin Paranjpe took over as the youngest-ever CEO and managing director for the FMCG giant, Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (HUL) and 47-year-old, Chanda Kochhar (Kochhar) took charge of ICICI Bank as the CEO and Managing Director. Many more young talents abound from manufacturing and services sector companies (Refer Exhibit I). What do all these instances imply?

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