Chandrashekhar Puranik – fixing the forging machine

    An electric maintenance operator whose shift had ended stayed back eight unpaid hours to fix a broken forging machine — because he understood that his job ended when the work was done, not when the clock struck 3:30 PM. This is what Initiative looks like on the shop floor.

    Chandrashekhar Puranik – fixing the forging machine

    Chandrashekhar Puranik – fixing the forging machine

    At 3:30 PM, four operators clocked out and went home. One stayed. Eight hours later, at 11:30 PM, a machine that could have cost his company its reputation with a vendor was running again — and Chandrashekhar Puranik hadn't asked for a single rupee extra. This is one of the sharpest stories in Stars at India Inc. on what Initiative actually looks like when nobody is watching.

    In short

    Where this sits on your Winning Kite

    Initiative is Trait #10 in the Self-Motivation cluster of Emotional Intelligence — the left side of your Winning Kite (KITE Leadership Framework). A kite needs balance on all four sides — EQ, RQ, PQ, rising to Success — to fly steady. Chandrashekhar's story shows what happens on the shop floor when one person's EQ — specifically, a deep sense of ownership — outweighs every rational reason to walk away at 3:30 PM sharp.

    The story: a machine, a deadline, and an empty shop floor

    I heard this story from my good friend Subhash Shinde, an HR professional who has spent years at NRB Bearings and across the HR fraternity. We were recording a podcast together and I asked him a simple question: "Who are the stars in your organisation?" What followed wasn't a job title or a designation. It was a story.

    Chandrashekhar Puranik was an electric maintenance operator. His job, on paper, was straightforward: keep a critical forging machine running. That machine produced engine parts for two-wheelers and three-wheelers — the kind of components that don't wait. One day, the machine broke down at precisely the wrong moment. A large order needed to be processed and dispatched urgently. If the company missed the deadline, it would face financial penalties and — worse for a supplier — damage to its reputation with the vendor. The stakes were not abstract. They were immediate and expensive.

    As this crisis was unfolding on the shop floor, the clock kept moving. Chandrashekhar's shift ended at 3:30 PM. So did the shifts of four other operators working alongside him. One by one, they clocked their completed tasks, reported to their supervisors, and prepared to leave — indifferent to the machine still lying broken and the order still undispatched. The manager pleaded with them to stay, laying out plainly what was at risk. Their answers were near-identical: "My shift is over. I'm tired. I have plans."

    Chandrashekhar was different. Despite his shift having ended exactly like theirs, he said one line that has stayed with everyone who has heard this story since: "I will not leave until the machine is fixed."

    What followed was eight gruelling hours. No overtime slip was promised. No one stood over him monitoring progress. He worked through tool after tool, technique after technique, troubleshooting a machine that four other trained operators had already walked away from. At 11:30 PM — nearly eight hours past when his working day was supposed to end — the machine roared back to life. The order was processed. The company was saved from the penalty and the reputational hit with its vendor.

    Why he stayed: ownership, not incentive

    Here is the detail that makes this story worth retelling in every leadership session I run: Chandrashekhar didn't stay for a bonus. He didn't stay for recognition. There was no promise of praise waiting for him at 11:30 PM — most people at the plant had already gone home. He stayed because he felt ownership. In his own understanding of the job, his responsibility didn't end when the clock struck 3:30 PM. It ended when the machine was fixed and the order was out the door.

    That distinction — between a job that ends at a time and a job that ends at a result — is, in my experience training over a thousand leaders across India, the single clearest line between an average employee and a star. It is also, not coincidentally, at the heart of what psychologists like Daniel Goleman describe as the self-motivation dimension of emotional intelligence: the ability to pursue goals with energy and persistence that isn't dependent on external reward. Chandrashekhar's eight hours are a live, shop-floor demonstration of that idea — not borrowed from a textbook, but lived on a factory floor in real time, under real pressure, with real money at stake.

    The other initiators in this chapter — and what they share

    Chandrashekhar's story doesn't stand alone in this chapter of Stars at India Inc. Several other stories orbit the same trait, and they're worth holding alongside his because together they show initiative isn't confined to crises — it shows up in quiet, everyday decisions too.

    Upul Chandana, protecting his team without being asked

    In the 1996 India–Sri Lanka cricket match, when the crowd turned hostile and started throwing bottles and garbage onto the field, Upul Chandana — fielding at mid-wicket — recognised the danger before anyone gave him instructions. He approached his captain, Arjuna Ranatunga, and suggested a tactical switch: he should move to the boundary, and the more experienced Aravinda de Silva should take the inner field, reducing the risk of an Indian player being struck and potentially disqualifying Sri Lanka from the tournament. It was a selfless, proactive read of a dangerous situation — and it protected both his team and the outcome of the match.

    The shipping clerk who found savings nobody asked for

    A shipping clerk whose job was simply to track incoming and outgoing shipments noticed the company was overspending on courier services. Nobody assigned this. There was no special project, no bonus on offer. The clerk researched alternative providers, calculated the potential savings, and brought a proposal to management — saving the company lakhs of rupees annually, entirely on their own initiative.

    Mrs. Shivani Chavan, building training programs nobody asked her to build

    Shivani Chavan, an HRBP at Sterlite (previously with Cosmo Films and Endurance Technologies), noticed gaps in employee training and development soon after joining. It wasn't in her KRAs. Nobody flagged it. She proposed and then built Management Development Programs and Skill Development Programs from the ground up, and employee productivity and engagement at Sterlite improved measurably as a result.

    Mr. Alok, chasing down an electricity bill nobody complained about

    Alok, an Operations Manager at a design company overseeing multiple offices, noticed unusually high electricity bills while doing a routine review. No one had complained. No one had asked him to investigate. He called a staff meeting, educated the team on energy conservation, installed automated timers, put up reminders near switchboards, and replaced inefficient equipment — cutting electricity costs significantly across every office, purely because he chose to look closer at a number that seemed off.

    What connects Chandrashekhar, Upul, the shipping clerk, Shivani, and Alok is the same thread: none of them waited to be asked. None of them needed a crisis dramatic enough to justify acting. They simply saw what needed doing and did it.

    The two employees every manager already knows

    Picture two people doing the same job in the same office. Employee A completes assigned tasks — nothing more, nothing less. Waits for instructions before acting. Says "that's not my responsibility" when a problem surfaces outside their exact job description. Leaves at 5 PM regardless of what's still pending. Focuses only on personal targets, not the team's or the company's. Hesitates to share an idea unless directly asked.

    Employee B completes the same tasks and then looks for ways to improve the process around them. Identifies problems before being told and proposes solutions unprompted. Steps up when help is needed even if it sits outside their formal role. Stays late when critical work genuinely demands it — without being asked twice. Thinks about the team's success, not only personal wins. Shares ideas freely and pushes to implement them. Takes calculated risks to drive change.

    Chandrashekhar was Employee B on the night that mattered most. The gap between the two isn't talent. It is a readiness to do more — and stars don't treat that readiness as a burden. They treat it as the point.

    Why most people don't take initiative — and what actually blocks it

    If initiative is this valuable, why is it still rare? In my conversations with HR leaders across companies like NRB Bearings, Sterlite, and dozens of others, five blockers come up again and again.

    What blocks initiativeWhat it sounds like
    Fear of failure"What if my idea doesn't work? What if people criticise me?"
    Lack of confidence"Who am I to suggest this? I'm just a junior employee."
    Comfort with the status quo"Everything's working fine. Why rock the boat?"
    Fear of criticism"If I speak up and it's rejected, I'll be blamed."
    "It's not my job" mentality"Why should I fix this? Someone else will handle it."

    Notice that none of these blockers require malice or laziness — they're simply the default human response to uncertainty. Which is exactly why initiative has to be actively built, not passively hoped for. As Carol Dweck's research on growth mindset suggests, people who believe ability and outcomes can be developed through effort are far more willing to risk the discomfort that initiative demands — a useful lens on why some employees stay at 3:30 PM and others don't, even when the underlying skill level is identical.

    How to diagnose — and build — initiative on your team

    To diagnose whether someone genuinely has initiative, I look for a consistent pattern: are they active and enthusiastic, self-confident and largely fearless about being wrong, hardworking and self-motivated without prompting, willing to act without expecting rewards, and driven by a real belief that they can make a difference to the organisation's outcomes, not just their own scorecard?

    For managers who want more Chandrashekhars on their floor, three practices matter more than any slogan on a noticeboard. First, notice and name it publicly when someone takes initiative — silence is the fastest way to teach a team that going beyond the job description doesn't matter. Second, give people genuine latitude to act on small decisions without needing sign-off for everything, because initiative that's constantly overridden dies quickly. Third, ask a different question in your reviews: not just "what did you complete," but "what problem did you solve that nobody assigned you this month." That single question, asked consistently, changes what people notice and what they choose to act on.

    I build this kind of behavioural shift into the leadership and employee training programs I run — because initiative, like every trait on the EQ side of the Winning Kite, responds to deliberate practice far more than it responds to a motivational poster. If you want to see how this fits into a fuller leadership development plan for your organisation, explore my Signature Corporate Training Programs or browse the full list of corporate training topics I deliver, including sessions built specifically around Initiative and Ownership.

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    Avinash Chate

    TEDx Speaker · Founder, The Future Corporate · Author of Stars at India Inc.

    Avinash has trained the Indian Army, BRO, RBI, BARC, JSW Steel and 1000+ corporate leaders across India. His work focuses on leadership, emotional intelligence and behavioural training rooted in Indian values and modern business needs.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What is the Chandrashekhar Puranik story about?

    Chandrashekhar Puranik was an electric maintenance operator at NRB Bearings whose shift ended at 3:30 PM, right when a critical forging machine broke down during an urgent order. While four colleagues left, he stayed back for eight unpaid hours and had the machine running again by 11:30 PM, saving the company from penalties and reputational damage.

    Why is this story an example of Initiative on the Winning Kite?

    Initiative is an EQ trait on the left side of the Winning Kite. Chandrashekhar acted without being asked, without expecting a bonus, and without waiting for permission from above — the defining marks of Initiative as an emotional intelligence trait rather than a job requirement.

    How can managers encourage this kind of initiative in their teams?

    Managers can recognise and publicly appreciate initiative when it happens, give employees the latitude to act without waiting for sign-off on small decisions, and consistently ask 'who solved a problem nobody assigned them this month' rather than only tracking task completion.

    What separates an employee who takes initiative from one who doesn't?

    An employee without initiative completes only assigned tasks, waits for instructions, and leaves exactly on time regardless of pending issues. An employee with initiative identifies problems proactively, steps up even outside their defined role, and believes their responsibility ends when the job is done — not when the clock says so.

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