The search for the successor to Ratan Tata has just got heated and the rise of Noel Tata just adds fuel to the fire and creates an immense speculation on who may succeed the modern day legend but that search seems to be a far more liberal one than the problems faced at Deutsche Bank.
“ With speculation reviving over who will succeed Josef Ackermann as chief executive officer (CEO) of Deutsche Bank AG, the company will have to decide how German the leader of Germany’s biggest bank must be.
The answer may reveal whether the 140-year-old Frankfurt-based institution embraces its role as a global investment bank that makes most of its money trading securities on international markets, or whether long-standing business and political ties to Germany remain paramount.
The rise of Anshu Jain, 47, to sole head of the investment bank last month put him in charge of more than 80% of Deutsche Bank’s profit and reinforced his position as a frontrunner to become the CEO. One catch: he was born in India and doesn’t speak German, a potential handicap for an executive who must negotiate the corridors of political power as well as global markets.
“Based on performance, Jain is the crown prince,” said Lutz Roehmeyer, who helps manage about $15 billion (`70,050 crore) at Landesbank Berlin Investment GmbH in the German capital. “But Deutsche Bank has a split personality—a global investment bank being run out of London and a German lender with a very political role. Any successor’s key challenge will be bridging these two worlds.”
Deutsche Bank ducked the issue last year by extending Ackermann’s tenure for three years after the board failed to agree on a replacement.
The Swiss-born Ackermann, 62, rekindled speculation about succession in May when he told shareholders that he’s been holding “intensive” talks on the topic with supervisory board chairman Clemens Boersig for months.”
The Tata’s search looks much simpler considering the fix Deutsche bank has gotten itself into and ducking the problem has increased its magnitude with Global coverage, Speculation, Rumours and even Betting.
The clash of Past Present and future and the organization caught in a whirlpool realizing it has a danger if it ducks any of these issues.
Anshu Jain represents the best person to take over as the CEO but it has a risk attached of not being in line with the values and tradition of the company especially considering the political links in Germany.
But if the company wants to have its local image and does not want to change it then it could go for a local CEO it may well lose its best employee and the person who heads the cash cow division considering upto 80% of the revenues are coming from the Investment bank division to which they cannot turn a blind eye.
The suitors for Anshu Jain won’t be low. He would expect anything but the CEO and anything less than that may cause an issue as he would realize that this weakness over the language would encourage him to defect
The future is compromised because without the man who has increased the profits exponentially the company could stutter in the short run and may concede ground to its rivals and it will also project a bad image for any potential Non-German speaking employee realizing that they could never ascend till the top.”
The company is at cross roads and on the verge of sacrifice and damage reduction.
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