Bala Sathyanarayanan, Chief Officer at Greif: Be That Village for Someone

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Bala Sathyanarayanan, Chief Officer at Greif: Be That Village for Someone

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Bala Sathyanarayanan is Chief Human Resources Officer of Greif, and a Mogul Top 100 People Leader of 2026. He was born and raised in Madras, now Chennai, and started his career as a graduate engineer trainee at Otis, part of United Technologies.A technology transfer posting took him to Kuala Lumpur, to work on what was then the world's tallest building. He says the machine was the easy part: it is the same machine wherever you are. The human dimension was the hard part, and that is what pulled him toward management and leadership. Back in India to train people on the new technology, the head of management development watched him teach and saw something Bala had not seen in himself. That became safety and training officer, then management development, then human resources, then Coca-Cola India as operations training manager.When his wife's company moved her to the United States, he followed and started again from scratch: Polaris, Avaya, Hewlett Packard, then Xerox as executive vice president and head of business transformation, and for the last eight years, Chief Human Resources Officer of Greif.He is clear about who put him on this path. A school teacher, Mr. Victor, who ran the scouting program and pushed him into the sciences. His wife, who believed he would have more opportunity in America before he believed it himself. And at Hewlett Packard, his boss Susan Kelliher, who told him to think bigger than his current role, then spent years creating the exposure to make it real. He still stays in touch with her.At Greif, colleague engagement went from the bottom quartile to the top decile on Gallup over eight years. The company's net promoter score is 72, the highest for a B2B company in the packaging space, and the 149-year-old company has had the best stock performance in its history.In this episode, Bala tells Tiffany Pham why leaders are asking the wrong question about AI, what he built when he made a digital twin of himself for his own colleagues, how a name he was told was unpronounceable shaped what he thought was possible, and the two-word answer he gives anyone one seat below the chief officer role.Chapters:00:00 Welcome00:35 Madras, now Chennai00:46 Starting at Otis as a graduate engineer trainee01:10 Kuala Lumpur, and the world's tallest building01:27 The machine is easy, the human dimension is not02:15 Was the move into HR planned? It was not03:02 The first believer: the head of management development03:24 Mr. Victor, the teacher who pushed him into the sciences04:10 Coca-Cola India, and following his wife to the United States04:35 Polaris, Avaya, Hewlett Packard, Xerox05:00 Head of business transformation at Xerox05:50 How the Greif call actually came06:15 Susan Kelliher: think bigger than your current role06:38 A last name he was told no one could pronounce07:44 Being nurtured into the seat, not just told about it10:29 It takes a village, and paying it forward11:03 The day the job came, and the first person he told11:28 His wife believed before he did12:18 The first week as chief officer13:00 Bottom quartile to top decile of colleague engagement13:23 An NPS of 72, and what engagement does to the stock13:49 His proudest accomplishment15:48 How he thinks about AI and the future of work16:13 Stop asking for the ROI on AI17:03 Training colleagues so AI takes tasks, not jobs18:35 BalaBot, his own digital twin19:52 Tiffany on 35 pinned repeatable workflows23:02 Why leaders have to use the technology themselves23:51 Advice one seat below: will, and then skill24:36 Reading the room, and what was left unsaid25:25 Rapid fire27:18 CloseQuotes:"He saw potential which I did not see in me. And he gave me that opportunity. He gave me the platform.""It was Susan who told me that you need to think bigger than your current role.""At that point in time, I never expected that someone with a name like mine, a last name which is still unpronounceable for so many of my own friends, I never thought of being a chief officer in America.""Before I believed in myself, she believed in me.""It takes a village to build someone. I want to be that village for someone else.""Rather than asking for an ROI on the AI investment, the question which we are asking is, what will happen if the company does not embark on an AI journey? That's a bigger risk.""I've actually built a digital twin for myself. It's called BalaBot.""Look at AI as there to help them, not to replace them.""They have the will, which means they have the ambition. Along the way, they also need to have the skill.""Take great care of your people. Your people will do the right thing of taking great care of your customers.""We will drive for 30, 35 minutes. Both of us will never say a single word in that journey. But we would have had a great conversation."

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