Weighing in on the much-debated topic of work-life balance and putting in more working hours as suggested by some corporate leaders in the recent past, Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra said he believed in the quality of work and not the quantity.
Addressing the Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue 2025 here in the national capital, Anand Mahindra, said that the ongoing debate was wrong because it emphasises on quantity of working hours.
"I have huge respect for Narayana Murthy (founder of Infosys) and others. So let me not get this wrong, of course. But I have to say something, I think this debate is in the wrong direction," Anand Mahindra told the youth.
"My point is we have to focus on the quality of work, not on the quantity of work. So it's not about 48, 40 hours, it's not about 70 hours, it's not about 90 hours," Anand Mahindra said.
He said that it depends on the output of the work. "What output are you doing even if it's 10 hours? You can change the world in 10 hours."
Notably, several countries are experimenting with or have adopted a four-day workweek.
Anand Mahindra said he always believed that one has to have leaders and people in their company who make wise decisions and choices.
Expanding onto which kind of mind makes the right choices and right decisions, Anand Mahindra said it is a mind that is exposed to holistic thinking that is open to inputs from around the world.
"That is why I'm for liberal arts. I think even if you are an engineer, even if you're an MBA, you must study art, you must study culture," Anand Mahindra said. "Because I think you make better decisions when you have a whole brain when you are informed about arts and culture, that's when you'll make a good decision."
"If you don't, if you're not spending time at home, if you're not spending time with friends if you're not reading, if you're not, if you don't have time to reflect, how will you bring the right inputs into making a decision?"
Citing an example about his auto manufacturing business, Anand Mahindra said to manufacture a car for a family one must understand the family's needs.
"Let's take our business, you make a car. We have to decide what a customer wants in a car. If we are only in the office all the time, we are not with our families, we are not with other families. How are we going to understand what people want to buy? What kind of car do they want to sit in?," he argued.
In the same breath, Anand Mahindra quoted Mahatma Gandhi. "Open your windows, let the air in."
"You cannot be in a tunnel all the time," Anand Mahindra said, reiterating his support for quality of work instead of quantity.
Anand Mahindra was asked in a quick follow-up about how many hours he puts in. He avoided a direct answer and instead said quality was important.
"This is what I want to avoid. I don't want it to be about the time. I don't want it to be about quantity. Ask me what's the quality of my work. Don't ask me how many hours I work," he said.
Infosys's Narayana Murthy and Larsen & Toubro Chairman SN Subrahmanyan recently advocated for a long workweek. The remarks snowballed into a controversy, with many criticising them over work-life balance.
Coming back to Anand Mahindra, an active social media user, he was also asked how much time he spends on X. He responded by saying that he was not on social media to make friends but because it is an amazing business tool.
"I'm on X on social media not because I'm lonely. My wife is wonderful, I love staring at her. I spend more time. So I'm not here to make friends. I'm here because people don't understand it is an amazing business tool," he remarked.
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