How many HR leaders make it to the boardroom? Why do people from the HR fraternity fail to become CEOs? How many of us would even dare to dream about making our presence felt in the Fortune Top 20 and be what Bill Conaty was to Jack Welch? These were the thoughts that left me wondering when I kick-started writing "Walk Through HR Maze."

To answer the questions, it is imperative to understand the role of a CEO. In my view, it could be broadly looked at through three dimensions:

1)    Generating profitable growth

2)    People management

3)    Creating a leadership pipeline

The experts in the latter two competencies are none other than WE, the people in HR fraternity. Now, if we look at the core competency that CFOs bring to the table, it is obviously not people management & their ability to create a leadership pipeline. The question we need to ask here is: "in how many organisations do HR leaders enjoy equivalent or more respect than the CFO?" I haven't seen many in my career so far.

We as HR professionals tend to spend the majority of our time in initiating and instituting a wide variety of innovative programmes covering employee relations, performance management and succession planning to drive organisational performance, build meritocracy culture and focus on growth from within, resulting in enhanced employee satisfaction scorecards. Without doubt, this is essential, and the leaders in the past have done the same. However, even now, in the 21st century, many of us tend to follow the suite. Today, the context is changing, and expectations are rising - not mathematically but geometrically.

With the belief that HR has a significant role to play in shaping the corporate culture and provides a 'glue' that holds various organisational elements together, the book 'Walk Through the Maze' delves deeper into the role of HR and provides informative insights into HR functional expertise while also touching upon strategy and key goals. In a nutshell, the book helps:

Readers get a conscious and objective overview of the entire HR value chain and its strands

Management institutions to bring up HR Managers, thereby enhancing their success rate

HR professionals to understand best practices and customise them to fit different business contexts.

The book caters to HR professionals of all ages and gives them a foundation oversight. It also guides budding experts and enables them to understand the nuances of the HR function and build requisite competencies.