It was late one evening last year, when Nripjit Singh ‘Noni’ Chawla received the call that changed the course of his life. Would he be interested in heading the Indian operations of Korn/Ferry, the world’s largest executive search firm with a turnover of $340 million and a presence in 40 countries? And if so, would he kindly fax his CV? Struck by the precision with which Korn/Ferry was conducting its own search, Chawla decided to find out more about a business he didn’t have a clue about. One visit to meet the firm’s partners in London is all it took to convince Chawla that it was time to end his 20-year career with ITC.

The visit also confirmed the view at Korn/Ferry that Chawla, with his marketing skills and experience of dealing with people, was the right choice. Says Edward Kelley, president, Korn/Ferry International, “Our Indian operation is one of our most important initiatives and Noni, with his broad ranging career in commerce fitted the bill”. Today, Chawla, 48, has spent just over a year as managing director, Korn/Ferry International. It has been one year of hyperactivity in which Chawla has led a peripatetic existence commuting on a weekly basis from Delhi to Mumbai where a branch office has been set up.

He’s been doing the whole gamut. As he says: “From business development to servicing existing multinational clients who were setting up shop in India, while still offering the high quality of service they were accustomed to. It also included the basic hiring, training personnel and meeting budgetary goals.” But perhaps what Chawla has had to expend most effort on is selling Korn/Ferry’s concept of executive search which is based on specialty practices built up within the firm. According to him, while a placement agency may get thousands of applications from aspiring individuals for a particular job, an executive search firm like Korn/Ferry does not advertise for the posts, but on the strength of its data base zeroes in on the expert their client is looking for.

Chawla also had to convince clients, used to cash-on-delivery deals, to pay upfront and that too in big bucks. The timing of Korn/Ferry’s entry was right since a great number of the firm’s international clients were expanding or establishing their bases in India. Companies like Monsanto and Citibank are Chawla’s clients but he adds that he’s been pleasantly surprised by the receptiveness of Indian business groups too.

While some people may regard Chawla’s career change as an oddball choice, those who’ve known him for a long time are not surprised. Chawla’s professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, Surinder P.S. Pruthi remembers him as “a young man never scared of getting his feet wet or hands soiled. He’s the kind to take chances”. Indeed, circumstances prodded Chawla into action — just before his new assignment he had been languishing in ITC’s power division that had become a non-starter following the spat with its foreign parent, BAT plc.

Recalling his first job at ITDC, Chawla says “it was the short ultra-patriotic phase in my life”, but it was fortuitous because that’s where he met his wife, Nilima. Wanting something more than a “PSU salary”, Chawla switched over to ITC which was recruiting for its fledgling hotels business.

He spent a solid 13 years in the hotels division which was interrupted briefly when he left due to personal differences with his boss to work at export firm Presidency Kid Leather. But, at the first welcoming hint from the then ITC chairman, A. N. Haksar, Chawla was back in ITC. “I told him, the reason why he had left was no longer there, and ITC was his home where he was always welcome,” recalls Haksar. Of his hotel days, Chawla says, “It was like being the CEO of a city. One had to look after the water supply, power and security and there was also the permanent population to take care of.” He spent a year training with Sheraton in Europe, at 31, after which he was posted as General Manager, Mughal Sheraton, Agra, a prize property in the chain which went on to get listed as one of the 200 best hotels in the world by Harpers and Queens.

This article orginally appeared in Business India - 17 November 1997