Conceptualised 12 years ago, People Matters Are You In The List has become a beacon to identify the talent powerhouses who are resilient and innovative. So far, this initiative has recognised 163+ emerging HR leaders over the years, many of whom have progressed to prominent positions within management, including roles like HR Heads or Function Heads.
Over the years, People Mattes has strengthened the process of identifying high-potential talent in HR in India. This year, they partnered with Aon to make the evaluation process more rigorous and aligned with the evolving needs of HR, people, work and business.
The People Matters Are You In The List awards powered by Aon in its 12th edition focused on identifying the bold and courageous emerging HR leaders of tomorrow. Over a span of four months, 1000+ applicants had to go through a rigorous evaluation process, with 20 HR leaders recognised as Are You In The List winners for 2023 at Asia’s largest HR and Work Tech conference, People Matters TechHR India.
The journey began in March with online applications, after which the applicants had to go through cognitive, personality and functional assessments that evaluated each applicant’s suitability for HR leadership roles, strengths and areas of development.
Aon brought in a fresh and innovative approach to identifying the HR leaders of tomorrow, with the aim to drive rigour into the assessment suite that focused on capability development for an enriching experience for the applicants. With the introduction of a battery of functional assessments across areas of talent acquisition, talent management, rewards, OD, L&D and the likes, People Matters & Aon ensured that not just behavioural competencies but domain expertise was also evaluated. Utilising sophisticated assessment tools and algorithms provided a comprehensive analysis of each applicant’s suitability for HR leadership roles. The personality and cognitive assessments evaluated personality traits, cognitive abilities, and leadership potential, giving insights into understanding if an applicant is a good fit for the specific organisational culture, identifying areas of development and making informed decisions about upskilling. The applicants were assessed on three core competencies: Business Acumen, Effective Partnership and Functional Expertise. The detailed developmental report given out to each applicant by Aon allowed them to work on the skills they need to hone in the evolving new world of work.
With the third stage, case-based situational judgement tests and video interviews, participants had to demonstrate their skills at handling real-life situations. This year’s highlight was also the penultimate stage of CHRO coaching with the likes of DN Prasad, GovTech Singapore; Pavitra Singh, Pepsico; Saurabh Govil, Wipro; Vibhash Naik, HDFC Life; Amitabh Hajela, GMR Group; Sukhjit Singh Pasricha, Indigo; Ritesh Rana, Britannia Industries; Anurag Patnaik, Nestle; Harshvendra Soin, Tech Mahindra and Dilip Pattanayak, JSW, who mentored and guided the finalists to face difficult challenges, strengthen competencies like business acumen and effective partnership, stay calm during chaos, think on their feet and learn new perspectives.
But before coveting the win, there was a final face-off with the CEO jury panel comprising Satish Pai, Hindalco Industries; Sukhleen Aneja, The Good Brands Co., The Good Glamm Group; Ashok Ramachandran, Schindler India; Samir MC, Fortune Hotels; Shivam Puri, Cipla Health; Amit Malik, WadzPay and Amanpreet Singh Bajaj, Airbnb, who identified the 20 emerging HR leaders and winners of People Matters Are You In The List.
On August 3, in an awards ceremony, the victorious 20 – Amrita Kaushal, MakeMyTrip; Anagh Agarwal, Asian Paints; Anisha Saluja, Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd.; Devansh Rohatgi, Amazon; Kritika Jain, RazorPay; Nandini Poddar, OYO Hotels and Homes; Nirjhari Kher, Titan Company Ltd.; Pallavi Gera, DCM Shriram Ltd.; Parijat Shrivastava, Bajaj Finance; Piyush Chhabra, Microsoft; Raghav Mahajan, Cairn Oil & Gas Vedanta Ltd.; Ravinder Kaur, Synopsys India Pvt Ltd.; Ritika Sharma, Boston Scientific; Shivang Ganatra, BPCL; Sukanya Bose, Infosys Ltd.; Vibhooti Gupta, Lenovo; Vani Garg, Pepsico; Vignesh Seetharaman, Mondelez India Foods Pvt Ltd.; Aditi Dixit, Titan Company Ltd., and Radhakrishna Balijepalli, Apollo Health and Lifestyle Limited were recognised by Nitin Sethi, CEO, Aon Consulting, India & South Asia; Ester Martinez, Founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief, People Matters; and some of the CEO jury and CHRO coaches in the presence of the HR community including senior HR leaders and Are You In The List Alumni, many of whom have now made their way to the top rung of management as HR Heads and Function Heads.
“In today’s volatile business environment, we need visionary HR leaders, who can be bold and brave to lead the change. This year, People Matters Are You In The List was designed to comprehensively assess the winners not just on behavioural competencies but domain expertise, capabilities, potential for leadership and areas of development. And I am sure the 20 winners will be frontrunners in the world of HR,” shared Ester, Founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief, People Matters.
“We, at Aon, extend our heartfelt congratulations to the distinguished winners of People Matters Are You in the List 2023! Collaborating with each one throughout this journey has been an absolute pleasure, and the award ceremony was a remarkable occasion for fostering meaningful connections. As you continue to excel, we encourage you to set even higher standards in all your endeavours,” shared Nitin Sethi, CEO, Aon Consulting, India & South Asia.
About People Matters
People Matters is Asia’s largest community and media platform for HR and Talent leaders. At the intersection of people, work and technology we design knowledge and experiences for over 300K talent and business leaders to co-create thriving workplaces. Our media platforms, events and research enable HR and business leaders to become the answer.
