Invest in sports to create Leaders

Hindustan Times’ Shine Jobs quotes Kunwer Sachdev alongside Yes Bank’s Rana Kapoor and other India Inc leaders on why sports — not appraisals — may be the country’s best leadership training programme.

Hindustan Times’ Shine Jobs, in a Jeevan Prakash Sharma story, canvasses India Inc on a specific idea: that organised sport at work is not a perk — it is a leadership pipeline. Sachdev, quoted alongside Yes Bank’s Rana Kapoor, Sudeep Banerjee and Rajeev Kapoor, argues that Su-Kam actively promotes and rewards sporty employees because they carry a specific set of instincts that maps directly onto managing at scale.

Why Su-Kam prefers people who play

Sachdev’s core claim to HT is that people who play sport excel in life, take multiple roles well, and make better leaders — which is why Su-Kam offers those employees leadership roles and important profiles. His observation goes further: sporty people are structurally positive, and once they become leaders, they drive the organisation to success.

The soft-skills stack sport quietly builds

Sport, the piece argues, teaches teamwork under pressure, strategic thinking, sacrifice of individual for group, sportsmanship and integrity — the same soft skills that fail managers when their spreadsheets do not. Different sports train different muscles: chess and shooting sharpen concentration, football and cricket sharpen teamwork and planning.

“People who take part in games excel in life and in multiple roles and are better leaders — we therefore offer such employees leadership roles. People who excel in sports are very positive and drive the organisation to success once they become leaders.”— Kunwer Sachdev, Founder & MD, Su-Kam • Hindustan Times / Shine Jobs

Cricket, chess, hockey — and a broader HR trend

The piece reads like an early snapshot of an HR shift — from performance appraisals as the only lens on leadership to a broader lens that includes what employees do outside their desks. Yes Bank organises cricket matches. Steelbird sponsors domestic hockey. Sachdev’s Su-Kam rewards sporty employees with faster ladders. The through-line: leadership is built in low-stakes teams before it shows up in high-stakes ones.