CEO & Board of Directors
Leadership perspectives: A conversation with Mahesh Chhabria
Heidrick & Struggles’ Suresh Raina & Deepti Agarwal speak with Mahesh Chhabria about effective board leadership and find out what it takes for Indian companies to succeed on a global stage.
October 19, 2026
15m to watch
Mahesh Chhabria is an independent consultant and independent director with more than three decades of experience across investment banking, private equity and corporate leadership. Most recently, he served as managing director of Kirloskar Industries, where he led strategic initiatives spanning business incubation, M&A, capital allocation and group-wide transformation. Earlier in his career, he held senior investment roles at Actis and 3i, following more than 13 years at Enam, where he became co-head of investment banking.
In this video, Mahesh Chhabria shares how strategic oversight, capital allocation, and risk management support business scale. He examines how board responsibilities and stakeholder expectations differ across family-owned businesses, professionally managed companies, and multinationals. The conversation also highlights the importance of clear board–executive communication, diverse expertise, and continuous engagement, alongside constructive challenge and robust governance frameworks to identify blind spots, strengthen decision-making, and create sustainable value for all stakeholders.
