SUBMITTED TO

Prof. Suryanarayanan

TITLE:

Lessons on Values and Ethical Decision Makings from business leader Kiran
Mazumdar Shaw (Biocon)
Profile of Ms. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

Ms. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is a pioneer of the biotechnology industry in India and the founder of the
country’s leading biotechnology enterprise, Biocon. Named among TIME magazine’s 100 most
influential people in the world, Ms. Mazumdar-Shaw is recognized as a thought leader who has made her
country proud by building a globally recognized biopharmaceutical enterprise that is committed to
innovation and affordability in delivering best-in-class therapeutics to patients across the globe. As a
global influencer, she is ranked among ‘World's 25 Most Influential People in Biopharma’ by Fierce
Biotech, Forbes magazine’s ‘World’s 100 Most Powerful Women’ and Fortune’s ‘Top 25 Most Powerful
Women in Asia-Pacific.’ She has been recognized as the only Indian on Forbes' list of 'World's Self-Made
Women Billionaires.' She has been featured in ‘The Worldview 100 List’ of the most influential
visionaries by Scientific American magazine and named among the ‘100 Leading Global Thinkers’ by
Foreign Policy magazine. She has been ranked No. 1 in the Business Captains category on ‘Medicine
Maker Power List' 2018, an index of the 100 most influential people across the globe in the field of
medicine, where she has been among the Top 10, consecutively since 2015. She was felicitated with
‘Advancing Women in Science and Medicine (AWSM) Award for Excellence’ 2017 by The Feinstein
Institute for Medical Research, USA. She was honoured with the prestigious ‘Women Leader of the
Decade Award’ at the India Pharma Awards 2017 organized during CPhI & PMEC India, South Asia’s
largest pharmaceutical event. She has been named ‘India’s Most Respected Entrepreneur’ for 2017 by the
prestigious Hurun Report and felicitated as an exceptional woman achiever by Ministry of Women and
Child Development, Govt. of India for being the first Indian business woman to reach USD 1 billion net-
worth. In 2016, she was conferred with the highest French distinction - Chevalier de l’Ordre National de
la Légion d’Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour). She was also bestowed with ‘The Global
Leadership in Engineering Award’ by Los Angeles-based USC Viterbi, School of Engineering in 2016 for
excellence in biotechnology worldwide. The U.S.-based Chemical Heritage Foundation has conferred her
with the ‘2014 Othmer Gold Medal’ and the Germany-based Kiel Institute for the World Economy has
awarded her its coveted ‘2014 Global Economy Prize’ for Business. She has received two of India's
highest civilian honours, the Padma Shri (1989) and the Padma Bhushan (2005).

Ms Mazumdar-Shaw holds key positions in various industry, educational, government and professional
bodies. She has been appointed as a member of the high-level expert committee constituted by the
Department of Biotechnology (DBT) to review the autonomous organisations under the administrative
control of the department and more recently as a Governing Council Member of the National Institute of
Immunology, an autonomous research institute of the DBT. She has been appointed as Member of the
Steering Committee of the National Biopharma Mission, an industry-academia collaborative mission of
the DBT. She is Non-Executive Chairperson of the Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises
(ABLE), a not-for-profit pan-India forum representing the Indian biotechnology sector. She is a founder
member of Karnataka's Vision Group on Biotechnology, which she currently chairs. She has also been
appointed Chairperson of the Karnataka government’s Vision Group to encourage pharma and medical
devices units in the state. She serves as a member of the Governing Body of the Indian Pharmacopoeia
Commission and has previously served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the US Pharmacopeia
Convention. She is on the board of directors of the US-India Business Council (USIBC) and the Advisory
Council of the UK-India Business Council. She has been appointed as Global Alumni Ambassador for
Australia by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia and recently she has been appointed
as the Victorian Business Ambassador by The State Govt. of Victoria, Australia. She is also the Honorary
Consul of Ireland in Bangalore.

Ms Mazumdar-Shaw has been elected as a full-term member of the Board of Trustees of The MIT
Corporation, USA, and is on the board of advisors for The National Society of High School Scholars,
USA. She is on the board of trustees of the Keck Graduate Institute in U.S. She is a Member of the Board
of Governors of Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, founder member of the Society for the Institute
for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Bangalore and is the past Chairperson of the Board of
Governors of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. She also serves as the Lead Independent
Member of the Board of Infosys Ltd and Non-Executive Director on the Board of Narayana Health. Ms.
Mazumdar-Shaw is involved in several charitable organisations. She serves on the Global Advisory
Committee for the Women and the Green Economy Campaign (WAGE)™ initiative and is a member of
the MIT Charter Society, USA, in honour of her philanthropic commitment to the Institute. She is also
associated with The Live Love Laugh Foundation, a leading not-for-profit organisation spreading mental
health awareness, as a member of its Board of Trustees. Ms Mazumdar-Shaw’s commitment to affordable
healthcare extends beyond business. Her philanthropic initiatives are directed at making a difference to
the lives of the marginalized communities. Through Biocon Foundation’s primary healthcare centres,
telemedicine initiatives, health awareness programs, public health and sanitation initiatives and preventive
screenings for oral and cervical cancer, she is making an enduring impact on society. She has also
established the 1,400-bed Mazumdar-Shaw Medical Center in Bangalore to deliver affordable world-class
cancer care services to patients irrespective of socio-economic status. She has also set up the Mazumdar
Shaw Center for Translational Research, a non-profit research institute dedicated to developing scientific
breakthroughs for treating a wide range of human diseases. Her philanthropic efforts have led her to be
featured in the Forbes’ List of ‘Heroes of Philanthropy’. Ms. Mazumdar-Shaw is also the second Indian to
join the Giving Pledge global initiative created by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates that
encourages billionaires to give the majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes. Ms Mazumdar-Shaw
holds a bachelor’s degree in science (Zoology Hons.) from Bangalore University and has earned a
master’s degree in malting and brewing from Ballarat College, Melbourne University. She has been
awarded with several honorary degrees from Ballarat (2004), University of Abertay (2007), University of
Glasgow (2008), Heriot-Watt University (2008), National University of Ireland (2012) and Trinity
College, Dublin (2012) for her pre-eminent contributions in the field of biotechnology. Ms Mazumdar-
Shaw is married to John Shaw, a Scotsman and Indophile, who headed a leading textiles MNC Madura
Coats from 1991-1998 as Chairman and Managing Director. John Shaw is currently the Vice-Chairman of
Biocon.

Shradha Sharma, A Journalist in Yourstory.com quotes the below before sharing her Interview with Kiran
Mazumdar Shaw as an article on the website.

“Shradha Sharma remembers her mother telling her, grow up to become as graceful, self-reliant and
successful like Kiran Mazumdar Shaw. For her mother, she and millions out there in India, Kiran is a role
model in true sense. She has created a place for herself in an industry which was not known to have
women leaders. What she had was sheer will, a spirit of daring and a dream to make a difference. And,
she has done it all.”
What did Kiran learn from her Parents:

Kiran’s parents had a great influence on her. As per her views her father was a man ahead of his times. He
used to tell her that just because she is his daughter doesn’t mean she shouldn’t have an aspiration to
pursue a career. In fact, he wanted her to pursue a career.

He was also a brew master and he wanted one of his children to be a brewer so he said, you do it. And she
was like but I am a woman. And he said, ‘why shouldn’t you? It’s all in your mind. You can be a very
good brew master.’ He had that kind of faith in her. Her father also taught her a lot of good values. He
used to say, “I’ll tell you something, there is good in every human being, and if you’re a good manager
you bring out the goodness in people. A good manager is someone who brings out the good in everyone.
And it’s for you as a manager to actually bring out that goodness.” She always thought that was such a
telling a piece of advice.

Image 1. Kiran with her parents

He also instilled high ethical values in her. He used to say, “There is no point in taking shortcuts, there is
a good way of doing business and a not so good way of doing business. And I want my daughter to run
her business in an honest way. And I want my children to have a very high sense of integrity in society.”
Image 2. Kiran with her parents as a child

Her mother was always there for her. She believed in the same values as her father. She believes in self-
reliance. After her father passed away, her mother started her own venture to keep herself mentally
engaged positively (she had never worked previously and was a homemaker). She ran her own business
even at the age of 82. She said one day to her, “You know I read that Alzheimer’s and Dementia happen
to people who don’t keep their minds engaged and I want to keep myself really busy, and if I run a
business, it will keep me fully engaged.”
The Mentor Who Taught Kiran to Be Unconventional, Resourceful & Fearless

“The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the
purpose of satisfying it afterwards,” said Anatole France, the famous s French poet, journalist and novelist
who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1921. Kiran quotes “I consider myself lucky to have found
teachers who believed in this philosophy at my alma mater, Bishop Cotton Girls’ School, Bangalore. And
the person who personified it was Anne Warrior. She was not just my teacher — she became my friend,
philosopher, and mentor!”

Image 3. Anne Warrior(Kiran’s most influential Mentor)

Kiran states that Anne Warrior was the one who taught her to think for herself, to excel in everything she
does and to do things differently and creatively in order to make a difference. Born and educated in
England, Anne Warrior brought along her British sense of humour when she came to India soon after
marriage. Thanks to her, English Literature classes did not mean dull hours of reading Old English prose.
Rather, they were about the discovery of the theatrical potential of Shakespearean drama. Similarly,
poetry readings were an exercise in nourishing the soul. In Anne Warrior’s classes, students not only
learnt to appreciate literature but also trained their minds and built their confidence in public speaking.
Her unconventionality also rubbed off on them. Once, she got them all to creatively spruce up a wilting
garden patch into a designer cactus garden over a weekend to win our class ‘The Garden Patch of the
Year’ award! This team effort was one that brought creativity, resourcefulness, and a winning mindset to
the fore among their class. Looking back at the past, Kiran’s experiences like these that led her later in
life to break convention and do many of the things that were considered pioneering for young women in
the 1970s.

In the 10 glorious years spent in school, Kiran had internalized the Cottonian motto of "On straight on!”
and the words of the school anthem that exhorted us to fight injustice, unfairness, and corruption. These
values are what have stayed with her over the years and even today she continues to use every platform
available to speak out against inequality, dishonesty, and unprincipled behaviour. Kiran believes she has
gone on to build my company Biocon on the core values of "integrity" and "ethical behaviour." Inspired
by her mentor, Anne Warrior, Kiran has always endeavoured to pass on the experience acquired over four
decades as a business leader to young entrepreneurs who are just starting off. As the chairperson of
Biocon, her effort has been to empower, enable, and mentor leaders at multiple levels in her team. She has
provided ample opportunities to others to develop their leadership potential and to instill a sense of
ownership among them to take forward her vision and mission. As Chief Mentor of the Biocon Academy,
her attempt has always been to shape the careers of aspiring biotech graduates while developing high-end
talent for the Indian biotech industry. She has also been a mentor to many, many talented women
professionals and inspired them to shed their diffidence and break the gender barrier. In doing all this, she
has tried to emulate her mentor, Anne Warrior, who sadly passed away at the age of 82. Anne Warrior
taught Kiran the value of mentoring as epitomized in the words of the American essayist and poet Ralph
Waldo Emerson: “Our chief want in life is somebody who will make us do what we can.”

Values and Ethics in life, analogy with respect to a stage in Decathlon

Kiran says” There will come a time when you will need to have long term, strategic goals. Your
responsibilities will shift from being task and activity oriented to problem gauging and problem solving.
This will call for strategic thinking that will enable you to create enduring value for you and the
organizations that you serve. This is what builds great companies and great leaders. Integral to this is an
uncompromising code of values and ethics. Today’s sporting world is mired with doping controversies
that have dented the ethos of fair play and sportsmanship. In the context of business, whilst performance
enhancement by leveraging new technologies is imperative, corrupt practices that provide surreptitious
business advantage are akin to performance enhancers that are unethical and illegal. India ranks poorly in
the ease of doing business which has led to speed money and high levels of corruption to deal with an
over regulated economy. The advent of the digital world has now brought focus on e-regulatory reforms
that will deliver both transparency and traceability which will hopefully mitigate this malaise.”

Kiran’s Values can be seen embedded in Biocon’s DNA as well

Biocon Limited (Biocon/Company) believes that good Corporate Governance emerges from the
application of the best management practices and compliance with the law coupled with the highest
standards of integrity, transparency, accountability and ethics in all business matters. Biocon also believes
that sound corporate governance is critical to enhance and retain investor trust. Hence Biocon’s business
policies are based on ethical conduct, health, safety and a commitment to building long term sustainable
relationships with relevant stakeholders. The Company continues to strengthen its governance principles
to generate long term value for its stakeholders on sustainable basis thus ensuring ethical and responsible
leadership both at the Board and Management levels.

Board Evaluation

Pursuant to the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 and Regulation 19 of SEBI LODR, the Board has
carried out the Annual Performance Evaluation of its own performance, the Directors individually as well
as the evaluation of the working of its various committees. A structured questionnaire was prepared after
taking into consideration inputs received from the Directors, covering various aspects of the Board’s
functioning such as adequacy of the composition of the Board and its Committees, Board culture,
execution and performance of specific duties, obligations, independence, governance, ethics and values,
adherence to corporate governance norms, interpersonal relationships, attendance and contribution at
meetings etc.
The performance evaluation of Independent Directors is based on various criteria including experience
and expertise, independent judgment, ethics and values, adherence to the corporate governance norms,
interpersonal relationships, attendance and contribution at meetings etc.

Company Values:

Biocon Foundation

Over the years, Biocon Foundation has built a strong reputation for the quality of its programs and their
impact in addressing social, humanitarian and environmental challenges facing India. Based on our strong
belief that our programs would make a more meaningful impact if delivered in partnership with the
government and like-minded organizations, we have partnered with government agencies for all our
programs.

Some of the initiatives are given below:

 eLAJ Clinics: In FY18, 10 new eLAJ Smart Clinics were added, taking the total number to 21.
 WASH Initiatives
 Child Malnutrition
 Education Programs

Awards During FY18

Biocon Foundation received recognition from Government and nongovernment organizations as well as
the corporate sector. Some of the initiatives were recognized as the most innovative, sustainable and
impactful CSR programs of the year.

 Biocon Foundation Awards Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association (IDMA) Corporate Citizen
Award 2017
 The Social Change Award 2017 for eLAJ Smart Clinics
 CSR Health Impact AwardIndia Health and Wellness Summit 2017
 CSR Excellence Award 2017- CSR Health Project of the Year- IICSR Conclave 2017
  1st Runner-up, CSR Journal Excellence Awards 2017
 Award & Certificate of Appreciation from Government of Rajasthan to Soorwal PHC for
exemplary services in Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan

“It Takes 20 Years to Build a Reputation and Five Minutes to Ruin It" , Kiran Mazumdar Shaw’s life has
been exemplary in the field of Biotechnology, her Ethics and Values played an important role in shaping
her career and reaching greater heights. She continues to inspire women entrepreneurs to break barriers
and make a difference.

Sources:

1) http://kiranmazumdarshaw.blogspot.com/2016/08/ethics-of-winning.html
2) https://www.rediff.com/getahead/report/achievers-in-pics-how-kiran-mazumdar-shaw-founded-
biocon/20141125.html
3) http://getahead.rediff.com/report/2010/jan/29/career-shadow-a-ceo-kriti-mehra-meets-kiran-
mazumdar-shaw.htm
4) https://yourstory.com/2014/11/kiran-mazumdar-shaw/
5) https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/mentor-who-shaped-me-taught-unconventional-fearless-
mazumdar-shaw/
6) https://www.biocon.com