Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
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CONTENTS
Psychology in Investing
Leading Self, Teams & Organisations
The Farm Bills 2020
The Mindful Workplace Women Leader Series: Geetha Ramamoorthi
The Art of Purposeful Leadership
The World of Challenger Brands
CavinKare‐MMA Chinnikrishnan Awards
EDITOR Gp Capt R Vijayakumar ﴾Retd﴿, VSM
MADRAS MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION
READERSHIP OUTREACH
Management Center, New No.240 Pathari Road
Gp Capt Dr R Venkataraman ﴾Retd﴿
﴾Off Anna Salai﴿, Chennai 600 006
Sundar R Vakeeswari M DESIGN
Ph:044‐2829 1133 Email:mma@mmachennai.org | mandate@mmachennai.org www.facebook.com/mmachennai
D Rajaram, Tayub Refai NOVEMBER
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Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
EDITORIAL
Gp Capt R Vijayakumar (Retd), VSM
An Eventful October & a Novel Initiative…
O
ur festivals and traditions are about us; its relevance
or safe for opening up in real earnest. Therefore, dear
is defined by our coming together to celebrate them,
members, bear with us as we continue to defer commencing
irrespective of our social status. None ever gave it
offline activities in full swing at the MMA Management
a thought before the pandemic! And now that we do, we
Center. Meanwhile, enjoy our high quality online activities
appreciate our festivals and traditions that much more. Every
and participate in them.
year, on Vijayadashami, the spirit of the celebration reminds us to make a paradigm shift from mind and body
CavinKare – MMA Chinnikrishnan Innovation Awards
consciousness to spiritual consciousness. Making such a shift
Mr Chinnikrishnan ushered in the ‘Sachet Revolution’ with
lets pure and noble intensions prevail, causing the triumph of
the thought that whatever the rich can enjoy, the common
truth and righteousness over the transcendental ego.
man should be able to afford. As a fitting tribute to his
The three months starting from Onam in the South to Diwali in midNovember are critical for businesses. Transactions in this period contribute around 30%– 40% of
MMA has taken the initiative to form a Women Business Council to ensure that women emerge as job creators, not job seekers. The objective is to inspire women to reach their potential in their career.
the total annual sales for several consumerrelated businesses. It is expected that pentup demand and fatigue will force consumers to step out and spend. Counter balancing that is the ongoing worry about the pandemic… The numbers are still quite high. We should not start believing that it is receding and take it easy. This situation is still not conducive NOVEMBER
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memory, the CavinKare – MMA Chinnikrishnan Innovation
sessions on “The Mindful Workplace,” which were very
Awards is a celebration of innovation in India. The awards
engaging and are relevant to watch. Do read the article
were presented in a grand virtual awards function, which was
covering the panel discussion in this issue. Also in this issue
telecast by Republic TV and was watched by thousands of
are articles on the new Farm Bills 2020, Purposeful
viewers. There is indeed a serious need for relentless focus on
Leadership, The World of Challenger Brand and more with
innovation, to democratise products and services. Please click
embedded videos. Please watch and read to enrich yourself.
to watch this unique virtual awards function and join us in our endeavour to promote innovation among small and tiny
The vaccine!
industries.
Finally, India has begun work on the Covid 19 vaccine. This will involve putting in place a robust supply chain and
Women Business Council
mobilizing resources to administer it. In the past, India has
It is concerning to note a downtrend in the proportion of
been successful in running public health programmes for
women employees in India. Their poor participation in the
immunisation on a large scale. Therefore, there is no reason
country’s work force defies economic logic. McKinsey Global
why we shouldn’t be able to do it again—as the Mahatma said,
Institution report said that India would gain $770 billion in
“In the midst of darkness, light persists.”
output by 2025 if women had the same opportunities to work as men. Although the government is considering raising the
Our Award!
minimum legal age of marriage for women from 18 to 21, this
You are probably aware of MMA bagging the prestigious “Best
move is not just de jure but de facto, requiring India to evolve
Management Association in India” for the year 201920. We
economically and culturally. Economic growth will empower
received the award at the virtual National
our womenfolk. In this context, MMA has taken the initiative
Management Convention of AIMA. How
to form a Women Business Council to ensure that women
the pandemic has changed our lives! The
emerge as job creators, not job seekers. The objective is to
trophy was later shipped to us. You should
inspire women to reach their potential in their career. You
have been here to witness our joy in
too can help us to conceptualize and facilitate workshops,
holding the trophy in our hands... As
master classes and programmes that women would find
always, dear member, it is your support
helpful by sharing your thought in a short 4minute survey.
and patronage that makes achieving such
Click here to take this survey.
milestones possible. It makes MMA
Do share the survey with your friends and contacts to help us further our understanding.
special, and makes us stand tall with the famous
MMA
spirit:
to
be
the
Fountainhead of Worldclass Management
MMA had organised a number of unique, thought
Excellence.
provoking events in October. Fear of Covid19 and long working hours have given rise to social anxiety, affecting the way we interact and connect with people inside and outside work. Social skills, which are developed over time, would lose
Let me know what you think about everything that’s happening at MMA. Send me an email at ed@mmachennai.org.
value without regular use. People are finding it hard listening to or even holding a conversation. MMA held two independent NOVEMBER
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SHYAMSUNDER ADYANTHAYA
T
here are two questions that I am asked frequently. The first one: Which is the best investment? We all want the highest returns at any point of time.
There are various investment options—real estate, gold, equity, debt, etc. Over a 30year period from 1992 to 2020, the Sensex has given a 13% annualised return and gold has given around 11%quite a good set of returns for both the asset classes. Similarly, a real estate investor might say that he made a lot of money in real estate. Any investment which
returns, if you had invested Rs.1 lakh in 1990, you would have
participates in economic growth and in which you invest with
had Rs.40 lakhs in 2020. This is great, but this is where the
proper understanding and the right approach will make a good
problem starts. While the long term returns are good. Over
investment.
the shorter period, there are wide fluctuations. For example, in shorter periods, Sensex gave no returns in the
Is it a good time to invest? This is the second question people ask. We are advised to have a longterm focus. Based on the Sensex giving 13% CAGR NOVEMBER
ten years between 1992 and 2003; but it went up six times in five years between 2003 and 2007. Similarly, gold gave no return for seven years in two periods between 1996 and 2003 2020
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Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
and again between 2013 and 2019, but has gone up three times
Money is personal to all of us. It may mean security to one
in seven years between 2006 and 2013. Year to year variations
who doesn't have money. For a person who has money, it may
are also large. If you look at the annual financial year Sensex
represent status, freedom or power. Since money is personal,
returns, it ranges between + 83% to 38%. So how do we
investing money becomes a very emotional process. Emotions
handle this? You can’t ignore the short term. The long term is
in turn tend to create reactions (Fig.1) and reactions create
just a collection of short terms that we need to manage.
wrong decisions and wrong decisions lead to our under
Markets, by nature, always move up and down more than fair values for two reasons: 1) There is an underlying business cycle. 2) This is magnified by human behavior. E.g., Now there is Covid. The stocks of the businesses that have benefited have gone up much more than the benefits they get out of the impact of the disease; similarly stocks, whose businesses have been hit by the disease, are hit even more than the real impact
performance. When biases bearhug… How do psychological and emotional biases impact our investment returns? To answer this, let us take a ride on equities (Fig 2) from the period April 1997 onwards. This chart shows the return from equities over 18 months.
of Covid. When emotions have a bull run… Charles MacKay in 1841 wrote a book titled, “Extraordinary popular delusions and the madness of crowds.” He talks about the various bubbles that happened in the previous centuries and discusses not only economic bubbles but also with respect to beliefs and philosophies. It is still relevant and an interesting read to understand how humans behave irrationally when they are free to act. Markets are volatile because of human behaviour. The consequence of volatility is that investment returns vary across time cycles. This is difficult for us. Hence an FD is preferred
People constantly look at past returns for making future
to something that may give a larger return over the longer
investment decisions. This is very natural because past is the
term but goes up and down.
only thing that we are sure about. Future is always uncertain and we don't want probabilities and possibilities. Everybody wants certainty. This is a consequence of what is called the Recency bias. What is immediate in our memory and what we see is what decides and drives our actions. In this chart (Fig 2), in 18 months, people have made () 25% i.e., negative return. When people come for the first time, they have often undergone this experience at least once. Their portfolios are heavily loaded towards fixed deposits and other fixed income NOVEMBER
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securities. They are playing safe. They are not interested in investing in equities. People who have invested feel bad. They
Although there are small ups and downs, the market continues to go up and you start feeling thrilled that you have done something right.
look at options other than equity. Herd mentality Ten months later, the equity markets have gone up by almost 60% from the bottom (Fig 3). People who had invested earlier might have made about 20 to 30% returns. Now it starts getting everybody's attention. People around you start talking
start coming up with new fund offers (NFO). Stock market
about money they have made and this in turn gives us an
comes up with IPOs. News channels beam success stories.
affirmation that this is good to get into and the social
You become overconfident and may even start borrowing
confirmation bias comes into play.
money or move money from other assets. Greed starts
Once we get this social confirmation, we start looking at it with interest. This leads to a herd mentality as more and more people start getting into this asset. For instance, gold is in the news now. Between 2011 and 2018 April, SIP investors in gold made 0.5% return p.a. and no one was interested. But, since April 2018, with Covid and other related fears, gold has gone up by 40%. Everybody is now interested in gold. Scholarly articles are written about gold even in the mainstream newspapers.
building up. At this stage, a lot of people would have made money over the last two or three years. Momentum traders get in and drive the prices higher. All predictions for the asset only talk of higher levels. Tips start floating around. You find people bragging about the great return they have made. The Bubble bursts In the next ten months, the market is practically back to where it was about four years back. The asset was highly overvalued. Investors who look at value, start selling and the momentum
Per se, this is not a bad starting point. This is the only point at which you are motivated to start investing in an asset. I got into the equity market in 1984 during an IPO boom when the markets moved up and lot of IPOs were coming out. How you deal with this will determine whether you become a good investor or not. If you have been early in this, you put in some money cautiously. You are likely to taste initial success as the markets keep going up. You are confident. Everyone seems to be making money. You feel some regret that you were not bolder. traders also start trading in the direction of the markets. You Success and euphoria
start feeling anxious but you do not believe that you are
Although there are small ups and downs, the market
wrong. You were recently feeling that you have the right
continues to go up and you start feeling thrilled that you have
formula. You could not have been wrong. If you had got in
done something right. Invariably, this is also the time that
slightly early in the rise, your portfolio still shows profit. You
all product sellers start marketing things to you. Mutual funds
put in more money to average down. Your loss aversion sets
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in. (Fig 4)
gone up 3.5 times in 3 years. New investors come in and they
Over three years, you made no money (Fig 5). Your portfolio is deep in the red. People tell you that that if you can't
get into the same cycle. This is the nature of the market and it will keep happening all the time.
invest a lump sum, do a Systematic Investment Plan (SIP). But at this stage, whatever you have done, you carry losses. You came in saying you are in for the long run, you could take the risk. Now you blame the Advisor, Manipulators, Regulators. Everyone but you – people were out there to cheat
you. Herd mentality is in action now on the way down. FEAR, Despondency sets in. Equity at this point possibly has the most future potential but you cannot be convinced. You think, “What's the big point being in this asset?” You sell and you move to another asset which is doing well recently; probably, an apartment, because now the real estate market is booming, and repeat the same cycle there. Another year and a half goes by. Market has recovered slightly. If you had not exited earlier, there is some sense of relief as at least your losses are reduced. You want to get out of the market. Where does the market go? Over the next nine months, market doubles from where it was in the previous period and you recover all your losses (Fig 6). Everything goes on well for the people who have
If we look at the net equity inflows and compare it with
stayed but the majority have lost interest and got out of the
the Sensex returns, we can see that whenever the returns are
market.
positive, the inflows are also positive and when the returns
In the next two years, the market goes up another 75%.
become negative, the inflows start disappearing. Investors
The portfolio which doubled in the previous 1 year has now
who invest in a mutual fund end up making a couple of
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percentage point less returns than what the mutual fund itself
the race track, the weather and so on. You look at two or three
offers and this is a pattern that is seen across the world.
horses which might do well and bet on one out of three horses. Even here, the chances are that you will lose but you keep
The myth of risk‐free return
doing it and might make some money sometime. With
We have gone through a journey of anxiety, regret, fear, anger,
investment, you can’t take a blind call. You have to ensure that
relief, joy, greed and euphoria. We have also seen how some
your capital is safe and that you're going to get adequate
biases like recency/hindsight, social confirmation, loss
returns with appropriate risk. This involves effort. People
aversion and overconfidence lead us to make wrong decisions.
think they can get into the market without any effort.
Why is this happening? Fundamentally we have a problem in understanding what risk is. Risk is always there
Effort pays dividends
in anything that we do. Risk free is practically return free. We
Often when people come to me for investments, I find they
have to weigh the possibility of gain versus the risk of loss.
have 50 to 60 stocks, and they don't know why they have
Risk comes from not knowing what we are doing. For
bought it. Half of them are not even traded today. They have
example, Indian roads are one of the most dangerous places.
just mistaken speculation and gambling for investment. They
In a year, nearly 150,000 deaths are reported, yet we don't
have not done any work on any of these other factors.
stop going out in the road. We learn how to manage the risk. The risk perception itself is not constant and it depends on our recent experience—success or failure. An investment advisor or a mutual fund distributor is supposed to assess the risktaking capability of an investor when they come in. When markets are rising, investors say that they are prepared to invest for the long term, when markets fall, they want to exit. Suddenly, their risk perception changes. Gambling, speculation and investment The distinction between these three is confusing to many.
To me, Effort is a combination of three things—Time,
Gambling is going behind the possibility of gain, ignoring the
Knowledge and Aptitude. You should have time on hand. If
risk of loss completely. For example, if you bet on one horse
you're busy with your career or anything else, then it is better
out of 10 in a race, without knowing anything about the horse,
that you stay out of direct investing. If you have time on hand,
you would be gambling. Somebody has given you a tip that a
you could develop knowledge and understanding. You can
particular horse is likely to win and you put your money. If
possibly Google and get many reports on any stock today. But
you win, you win and if you lose, you lose your money.
understanding is making sense of that information.
Speculation is about taking risks in the hope of gain,
Knowledge and understanding has to be complemented with
based on conjecture. In the same example, let us say you are
aptitude and emotional discipline. For instance: Just because
not just depending on a tip from somebody; you look at how
you have time and follow cricket does not mean that you have
the horses have been faring in different races, you’ve seen the
the aptitude to play competitive cricket. You definitely need
pedigree of the horse, the conditions in which the horse runs,
emotional discipline. A good cricketer might have practiced
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well, but on the day of the match, if he hits a loose shot and gets out, his career will not last long. It is similar with stocks. If you go and buy a stock that drains all your money, then you will never make a success of your investing. So you need to tailor your investments to the effort that you are ready to put in. Luckily, in equities, for different levels of effort that you are ready to put in, different products are
in the market, it is essentially the investor behavior which
available. Eg. People who want to do derivative trading, must
makes the largest amount of difference. The second base is
be willing to put in a lot of effort. The impact of your trades
the asset allocation. Fees and transaction cost, timing and
with debits and credits to your bank account on a day to basis,
taxes come in the next order of importance. Most of the
require high level of emotional control.
investors focus on the top four. What really matters is the bottom two of the pyramid. So what can be done? *
Invest within your expertise, do research; buy quality stocks. Be confident in your investments, but don’t fall into the confirmation bias trap, where investors only give importance to facts that support their view. It has been noticed that people spend less time on buying stocks than they would, on buying a household appliance. They would probably buy other assets like a house or a property with much more thought and research. Base your
All trading is effectively a zerosum game for all the
investments on strong business fundamentals. Set
participants put together. For every buyer there is a seller and
guidelines, maintain a consistent framework and
vice versa. For someone to make money in trading someone
find investments that fit within it.
loses money. A majority of the small traders loses money. A
*
Keep track of your thoughts, reasoning and feelings.
few players make money. Every time you trade, you have to
Why did you buy the asset? When you want to make
get both the buy side and the sell side right. Buying stocks on
a change, remind yourself why you own the
trading strategies require you to continuously follow the
security. Understand the root cause for wanting to
markets on a day to day basis, do analysis and research them
take action. If all the primary reasons for your
deeply. It involves frictional costs like brokerage, taxes and
investment are still valid, there may not be a reason to sell.
also frequent emotional triggering as you watch your stocks.
*
Remember brokers do not make money when you buy and
Don't try to predict the future. None of us knew we would be in this Covid situation one year back.
hold. So you will be constantly badgered with information on
*
prospects, strategies etc.
Focus on the long term and believe in the power of compounding.
*
Avoid impulsive decisions. Give yourself a cooling
What is important?
off period. Don't rush to buy a stock just because
If you look at the hierarchy of returns (Fig 8) that you make
you can trade easily with a mobile phone and that
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*
you know some online trading tools. Think over for
years should not be put into anything that is ill
a couple of days and then decide.
liquid such as property or into any investment
Diversify but don't over diversify. Diversification
which is volatile in its price and where you may have
helps in the psychological aspect because you don't
a problem in disposing of.
get affected much by one asset going up and down
*
but when you over diversify, there is much more
years reach, determine a target asset allocation.
work to be done. *
*
*
plan, systematic withdrawal plan and periodic
who comes with a suit and tie or tells you something
rebalancing, say once in six months or once in a
on TV is not an expert. If they are not there to take
year.
you are the only expert. You are the one who is
Luck is your blue chip
supposed to take the required amount of care.
Remember at the end of it all, time and circumstances play a
Keep your expenses – fees, brokerage, taxes to a
great role in life. Sometimes you may not get your investments
minimum.
right for a long time but suddenly all the returns that were
Emergency situations always crop up; so have
missing may come into your portfolio. Luck is important in
emergency funds available in a liquid form. *
Ensure that you have adequate health and life insurance cover.
* * *
Build a well thought out plan, considering your
investing. The only point is that you need to put yourself in its way. Do not assume that without doing anything or putting in enough effort, you will get lucky.
income, needs, time horizon and risk capability.
Tailpiece: In investing, patience is a virtue.
Don't get carried away by what everyone else is
I suggest you should read the beautiful blog written by
doing.
Morgan
Have emotional control. Have discipline to
Money.” (colloborativefund.com/blog) dated June 1, 2018.
implement the plan. *
Automate your process. Do a systematic investment
Be cautious about following experts. Everybody
responsibility for the consequences of the decision,
*
Based on the surplus funds which are beyond three
Review your current asset allocation. My view is that any money that you require for the next three NOVEMBER
Housel,
titled,
“The
Psychology
of
He is a very lucid writer. Books written by Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky and Richard Thaler will also give you good insights into this subject. 2020
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NOVEMBER
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MEERA NAIR
T
he agricultural landscape in
remaining amount. Arthiyas thus play
licensed agents. APMC collects market
a very important role in the farmers’
fee, license fee, etc., from the market
life.
participants. Agricultural
produce
market
Farmers sell their produce to the
India is distinct from what
committee (APMC) mandis are the
arthiyas /middle men or the licensed
exists across the world. About
regulated market yards for agricultural
agents at the APMC mandis. Arthiyas
86% of the farmers in India have a
produce. They are present in majority
sell the produce through auctions to the
landholding size which is less than 2
of the taluks across the country. APMCs
wholesalers.
hectares. 50% of the Indian population
were established in the 60s to prevent
cartelization and political influence
depends on agriculture for their
exploitation
livelihood. Small and marginal farmers
intermediaries.
are in perennial debt. They borrow
agricultural markets in India is under
discovery
money from arthiyas, who are the
the state government. Hence each state
mark .Despite the inefficiencies, farmers
middle men/brokers/traders at high
has its own APMC Act to regulate
had to sell their produce at the APMC
interest rates, buy inputs through the
physical
mandis or pay a market cess if they sold
borrowed money and also sell their
commodities. According to the APMC
produce to them. The arthiyas deduct
Act, first sale of the commodities
the loan amount from the value of the
produced in the region have to be done
produce and then give the farmer the
under the aegis of APMC through
of
trading
NOVEMBER
Over
the
years,
farmers
by
resulted in several inefficiencies in the
Regulation
of
mandis. Transparency and price
of
2020
agricultural
23
remained
a
question
it at farm gate. Though India opened up the economy in 1991, the agricultural sector continued to be regulated. Several
Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
reforms including Farm bills were
imposed by the APMC Act will create
Assurance and Farm Services Act 2020
introduced this year.
alternate market places for the
will allow farmers to enter into
agricultural produce. Farmers, traders
contracts with private players, exporters
Farm Acts 2020: What do they
and value chain participants will have
and processors. By entering into
contain?
access to multiple markets. They can
contracts, farmers will have access to
President’s
choose to sell their produce at APMC
higher quality inputs, cultivation
approval, the Farm Bills that were
mandis or to private players. Farmers
methods and practices. This will also
passed in the Indian parliament, have
will benefit from decreased marketing
reduce the market risk and price risk for
become Acts. They are “Farmers’
costs and higher price realizations.
farmers.
Produce
APMC mandis will continue to operate.
mechanisms arising out of conflicts due
(Promotion & Facilitation) Act 2020,” The etrading platform (eNAM) inside
to contract farming have also been
“Farmers
(Empowerment
outlined in this Bill.
Protection)
Agreement
Having
received
Trade
the
and
Commerce
Dispute
resolution
and
the APMC mandis will continue to
Price
operate. Trading opportunities outside
Amendments to the Essential
Assurance and Farm Services Act 2020” the APMC mandis will result in
Commodities Act ensure that stocking
on
and “Amendment to the Essential
competition between APMC mandis and
limits will not be imposed by the
Commodities Act”.
private
government on the private sector.
players.
There
will
be
Farmers’ Produce Trade and
opportunities for private players to set
However,
Commerce (Promotion & Facilitation)
up market places and etrading
intervene in case of natural calamities
Act 2020 will allow agricultural produce
platforms for agricultural commodities.
like flood, drought, etc. Commodities
to be sold and marketed outside APMC mandis. Removal of earlier restrictions
Farmers Protection)
(Empowerment Agreement
NOVEMBER
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on 24
the
government
may
and
like cereals, pulses, oilseeds, potato and
Price
onions are also removed from the list of
Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
essential commodities. Farmers suffer
contract farming is already in place. The
huge postharvest losses due to lack of
redressal mechanism for disputes
adequate storage facilities, especially
arising due to contract farming will be
during bumper harvests of perishable
at the sub divisional magistrate level.
commodities. These changes are
Clear time lines have also been outlined
expected to increase private investment
in this. However, sceptics feel that small
in warehouses and cold storage facilities
holding farmers will not have the power
and improve efficiency of the value
to fight big corporates if the contracts
chain.
are not fulfilled. To overcome such
The Farm Acts are expected to
concerns, small holding farmers can
widen the choice of farmers and other
become a part of collectives like farmer
participants in the Indian agricultural
producer organizations (FPOs) before
value chain. There have also been
entering into contracts with corporates.
several concerns regarding these Acts.
This will also increase their bargaining
Are they valid?
power considerably. 3. Will commodities get hoarded?
Major concerns
The Bill allows intervention by the
1. Traders and arthiyas will lose
government during natural calamities
money/States will lose revenue:
or in case of excess price hike. It
The Acts pave the way for alternate
remains to be seen whether this Bill will
markets. If agricultural commodities
actually result in hoarding or whether
are sold outside the APMC mandis, the
farmers and other value chain
traders and arthiyas will lose out on
participants will be able to hold on to
commissions. Revenue through mandi
their stocks in anticipation of better
fees and market cess is also expected to
price.
decrease if trades happen outside the mandi area.
4.
The
issue
about
MSP
(Minimum support price): MSP or
2. Will big corporates take over
changes regarding MSP have not been
small holding farmers? Corporates
mentioned in the three Farm Acts. The
will not take over farmers. They will
government has also clarified that there
enter into contracts with the farmers.
will be no change in the existing MSP
Until now, farmers were entering into
structure. Though 23 crops are covered
unwritten contracts with corporates,
under MSP, only about 6 % of India’s
processors and other value chain
farmers actually benefit from it. Hence
participants. Now it will be legally
MSP is not of much relevance to a
permitted. In some states like
majority of farmers. Beneficiaries of
Tamilnadu, legislations permitting NOVEMBER
2020
25
The state collects mandi tax, rural development cess and arthiyas also earn commission on transactions that happen at APMC. There will be huge revenue loss if transactions happen outside the mandi. Hence farmers, traders and arthiyas in Punjab and Haryana are against the new farm bills.
Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
Agricultural markets have opened up. There will be competition between APMC mandis and private markets. Due to increased competition, mandi taxes /market cess are likely to come down. There will be competition between private players to source best quality produce.
MSP have largely been rice and wheat
market cess are likely to come down.
and banks in this area. Entrepreneurs
farmers from Punjab and Haryana. In
There will be competition between
will also find ample opportunities to
Punjab, most of the rice and wheat
private players to source best quality
participate in the agribusiness value
produced by the farmer is bought at
produce.
chain.
MSP by FCI at APMC mandis.
There will also be competition
The landscape of the Indian
between states to attract private sector
agricultural sector is expected to change
development cess and arthiyas also earn
participation
agricultural
considerably. New models are likely to
commission on transactions that
landscape. States that provide a
evolve. Farmers are the backbone of the
happen at APMC. There will be huge
favorable environment will have better
Indian economy. Instead of considering
revenue loss if transactions happen
investments in agribusiness and will
farming as an activity, there is an
outside the mandi. Hence farmers,
emerge as major players. Different
opportunity for this sector to be finally
traders and arthiyas in Punjab and
business models will emerge. Innovative
treated as a business enterprise.
Haryana are against the new farm bills.
models that are inclusive are likely to
The state collects mandi tax, rural
in
the
survive. Farmer collectives will also Possible impact at ground level
increase. State governments will also
Agricultural markets have opened up.
give incentives for collectives. Formal
There will be competition between
credit requirement by the farmers /
Meera Nair is an agribusiness
APMC mandis and private markets. Due
farmer’s collective will increase. There
consultant and executive coach.
to increased competition, mandi taxes /
will be a huge opportunity for NBFCs NOVEMBER
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Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
NOVEMBER
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I
did most of my schooling in a
sincere, liking the people and delivering
levels from your current position. You
small school, in the beautiful city
results and taking hard decisions but
will
of Jodhpur. I grew up in a
always doing them with great empathy
detergents. Is that something you want
and respecting people.
to do?”
conservative, small community and that
be
marketing
manager
of
shaped a lot of my values. When you
In 1991, I had the first twist in my
It was a tough decision, for
grow up in a middleclass family in
career. Hindustan Lever at that time had
somebody who has had constant
India, you grow up with striving,
taken over Pond’s operation. They asked
promotions and running a big
willingness to work hard, try be
me to run the South Region as branch
organization. Nevertheless, it made a lot
personally frugal and yet want great
manager and I thought it was a good
of sense. If I wanted a career, then I had
success.
stepping stone.
to do this. I took the demotion, moved
From there, I went to IIT and IIM
to Bombay from Chennai and worked on
and life was just a straight line. I joined
Down, but Up Again
brands like Surf, Rin and Wheel. It
Pond’s
sales
After a couple of years, I got a call from
turned out to be an amazing experience.
throughout my career there. Within
Mr Harish Manwani. He said, “You had
I learned a lot and was able to contribute
seven years, I ran the national sales,
a spectacular sales career. You have
a lot to the company’s success.
managing a sales force of well over 200.
great potential and I think it is time for
Under 30 years of age, it was quite a
you to do some marketing. Since you do
and
remained
in
responsibility and it taught me a lot not have any brand marketing leading large teams, being authentic, experience, you will have to go two NOVEMBER
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On a Slippery Road My career with Levers was going extremely well when I had an
Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
unforgettable experience. We had a
interviews with an option to say ‘no,’ if
North Region sales conference in
the offer did not suit me.
Shimla. After attending it, my colleague
There was a CocaCola interview
Ashwini Mehta and I went from Shimla,
session and I was offered the position of
took a drive to a place called Kufri
marketing director in India. I was
where we wanted to see snow fall, which
already marketing director of Levers for
we had never seen. It did snow and
detergents. So I declined. After a few
snowed a lot.
months, they offered me the post of
On the way back, the roads were
marketing director of Latin America
slippery. We kept telling the driver that
based in Buenos Aires. I agreed and
we should stop and wait. But he
that's how I started my next phase. My
dismissed our concern and said that he
family and I moved from Mumbai to
could even drive the stretch with closed
Buenos Aires. Moving to a new country
eyes.
where they spoke a new language and a
At one particular turn, the car started skidding and I could see it was going over the edge. So I opened the
new company, all at the same time,
and keep all of them in mind. 3 Things About Leadership Enterprise Leadership is about three things: •
People and inspiring culture
•
Gaining commercial edge
•
Shaping
with
competitive advantage. This is something that I have distilled based on my experience. To be able to lead an organisation, you have to lead people and set an inspiring culture. An inspiring culture leads to motivation and performance. The business needs to have a
could have worked out disastrously but luckily it turned out well for me.
future
commercial edge in different aspects. The areas of supply chain, production,
door, told Ashwini that we should jump
There were many twists and turns
immediately; we both jumped and the
since. I moved to Atlanta. I went to
car went over the cliff. The driver was
Philippines and ran Coke business
rescued by an Army convoy that came
there. For the last 10 years, I've been in
that way but he did not survive. This
Denver managing the international
incident woke me up to a number of
business as CEO and Chief Growth
existential things.
Officer of Molson Coors. I did some of
People and An Inspiring Culture
the cutting edge things and handled Hong Kong Terrace and Interviews
I've seen in my experience that four
M&A for them. Since January 2020, I've
That's when I got this interesting call
things have worked tremendously in
set up my own business.
every organization that has been
from a friend of mine who was a head hunter. He asked me, “Do you want to see Britain handing over Hong Kong to China on July 1, 1997, from the Mandarin Oriental, sitting on top of the Hong Kong Terrace?.” “I’d love to,” I said. I had to spend five days watching all the ceremonies as a VIP. Somebody was going to pay for everything. The catch was that I had to attend a few
Leadership frameworks generally
sales, marketing, brands or innovation need to have an edge in terms of what it does commercially. Organizations need to look at and shape or create the future.
successful and they are:
deal with how you become a great
1)
Inspiring vision
leader, which is about living leadership
2)
Balance between flair and rigour
or leading the self. But it is also about how you get teams and enterprises to become
great.
Sustainable
breakthrough success happens if we can
3)
Trust,
empowerment
and
accountability 4)
Investing in future capability
keep these three things—leading self,
A Coke for Every Soldier
teams and the enterprise—integrated
CocaCola is an interesting organization.
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Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
At the time I joined in 1996, it had only
cap increased four to five times during
time, we were able to create an
three CEOs in the previous hundred
this period and the business really
absolutely spectacular new brand of
years. Those CEOs built a business with
exploded. It was a tremendous
Excel which could match and beat what
creative vision. After that, it had a series
expression of what the company wanted
we expected from P&G.
of changes.
to do.
CocaCola
became
successful
during and in the aftermath of World War II. The then CEO Robert Woodruff had a vision that a cold Coke must be available wherever there is an American soldier, at five cents, no matter which end of the world he is. To make that vision a real event in 140 countries in a matter of two years, they set up bottling plants and all kinds of refrigeration and other facilities. This explains why Coke has been far more successful globally, even though they had a much more of a fight in the US with Pepsi. After WWII, the
In parallel, we created sales plans. We had no time to check and do market
Flair and Rigour: Winning a War Pond’s was a business that had a lot of flair. People were empowered to do a lot of things. Hindustan Lever, when I moved in, was more about rigour —process, approvals, steps, market research and rechecking of the research. There was rigour in whatever it did.
research. These had to be done with a lot of flair. After about a year, P&G scaled back their launch thanks to the power of the distribution of Levers and the tremendous product advantage we had. We were ahead of them in the market with the next generation products and all these happened within weeks.
Proctor and Gamble (P&G) was entering India then and we knew they were going to come up with great products which Hindustan Lever might not be able to match. Here is an interesting story.
We introduced Surf Excel in sachets and our demand exploded. All the rigour had to come in, without that we wouldn't have been successful over time, but that flair truly helped us take off and preempt our big competitor. This
American soldiers went everywhere and
I had very capable people working
balance between flair and rigour may
Coke either followed or preceded them
with me in the marketing team in
vary based on business and life cycle,
to all these countries.
Hindustan Lever. One of our members
but leaders must keep thinking about it
visited a printing press and there he
as they build their organization.
Robert was followed by the next CEO Roberto Goizueta who headed Coca Cola when I joined. He died soon after in 97. He wanted Coke within an arm's reach of every human being in this world who desired it. Both these leaders created a sense of purpose. The purpose created everything from reaching every corner, having cold refrigeration and creating desire in the minds of the people. All these led to the second golden period for Coke between 94 and 98. Their market
discovered a proof of a detergent to be launched by P&G lying there. It was a failure of P&G not to have taken care of it. It gave us an idea of what they might be doing.
Pond’s is the best example for trust, accountability and investing in future capabilities. They had the ability to get the best talent, invested in their capability and then trusted and
We had only Surf in our kitty. We
empowered them; at the same time, it
had to do something spectacular and
held them accountable. This created a
fast. Arun Adhikari who headed the
pipeline of success for Pond’s during
division gave me total freedom and said,
those periods.
“Kandy, do anything but don't lose this war.”
Within
three
weeks,
we
formulated and tested and in a month’s
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Cultural sensitivity is extremely important. Different companies operate differently on this dimension. There has
Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
to be a balance between the
100% a year. The market leaders White
organisational culture and the country’s
Claw and Truly hold 75% share.
culture.
My team and I had to go through a huge amount of internal and external
When I was in Molson Coors, I
barriers to launch these. This will shape
The leadership should aim for a
found it impossible to convince my
the future of beverages in the US and
commercial edge. From a consumer
management that this is a category that
Canada and is an example of how you
product
we should invest in and ideally do an
can shape a nonexistent market.
oriented
company’s
perspective, three aspects are critical:
acquisition. They dismissed it as a fad
•
Experience of the consumer
and that we have to focus only on beer.
•
Engagement of the customer
Eventually, we launched it in 2019 but
•
Effectiveness
it was two years late. It needed new
of
the
organisation; it should earn
capability,
more, use less and invest
investments. If we had launched this
wisely Investing in Innovation
technology
and
new
disruptive innovation, or done the M&A on time, we would have been in a far commanding position.
Living Leadership Three things are important for leading self: •
Attitude and motivation; Be out of the box
•
Growth mindset
•
Breakthrough thinking
We put ourselves into a box because we think we can’t do it; we need to survive; we have to do it for the sake of
Shaping the Market Having missed out on Seltzer, we learnt our lessons. In US and Canada, the regulations on Cannabis were loosening up. When it is used in beverages in low doses, it is like a beer without any side effects (like hangover), unless it is misused. I have helped the company to
duty; or to satisfy our desire. Unless we know why we are in the box, we can’t break out of it. Gandhi, Martin Luther King or Mandela (Fig 3) did not get bogged down by the boxes. They had a purpose in their lives and went out of the box.
launch these in Canada where Molson Coors Canada and HEXO have created It is important to innovate in your core areas because that is your business, but you have to go beyond the edge and also be disruptive (Fig 1). To cite an example,
a Joint Venture called Truss, focused on nonalcoholic,
cannabisinfused
beverages for the Canadian market. (Fig 2) When I joined Coca Cola, Coke sales
in late 2014, White Claw launched a
was declining. There were top level
hard Seltzer—an alcoholic, flavoured
changes and the CEOs then had not only
carbonated water in the US. It is not
put themselves but others too in the
made from distillation but from
boxes. When Neville Isdell took over as
fermented sugar and it has a food
CEO, things began to change. He created
flavour. In 5 years, it has reached a
a purposeful organisation.
category of $5Bn and is growing at NOVEMBER
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Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
When Trouble Brewed in a Deal
Aprender ﴾Learn﴿ Spanish
instance of how growth mindset can
In Molson Coors, in the year 2012, I had
When I joined Coke, Buenos Aires in
help you as a leader.
to finalise a huge deal in London to
February 1998, there was a football
acquire the Central and Eastern
world cup in France. We created a
Breakthrough Thinking
European business of StarBev. At that
marketing campaign in Spanish as the
This requires us to take a breakthrough
time, my family’s health situation put
whole of Latin America was football
stand, identify biases and beliefs that are
me in a box. I could not go ahead with
crazy. It was very good but I could not
not working, identify pathways to
negotiating the deal. I flew back to
fully grasp the message as it was in
breakthrough, be agile and dynamic and
Denver and with my family’s support, I
Spanish. I told my team that within the
not to give up. Apple and Tesla are good
went again to London and clinched the
next three months, all of us should work
examples of breakthrough thinking.
buy out for $3.5Bn, which totally
only in Spanish. It was a challenge but I
In 2004, the diet coke sales were
transformed Molson Coors. The
set myself the goal. I stopped reading
declining. It was essentially meant for
concept of growth mindset developed by
English newspapers and listening to
professional women. We decided to do
Carol Dweck and popularised in recent
English news channels; instead, I
something different. We introduced a
times by Satya Nadella of Microsoft is
switched to Spanish newspapers and
new product called Coke Zero which was
another
of
channels. It was tough. But I learnt the
meant for the men. It became a big
leadership. With growth mindset,
language soon, broke my barriers and
success and a profitearner for Coke.
Microsoft has transformed itself.
started speaking in Spanish. This is an
important
attribute
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Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
NOVEMBER
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L
know the term Nish Kam Karma then.
ife is a journey. I believe in the
thought. It did not lead to Nish Kam
80:20 Pareto principle which
Karma (NKK) but the process started
says that 80% of our results
then. We were able to focus on doing
Mission Connect
come from 20% of our actions. We
our work and having fun learning and
My first job at Citi group was to start the
modulate between 80 and 20 all the
growing. We were not pulling each
Citi NRI program in North America. We
time.
other down. We were there to support
went from practically nothing to 500
each other. It didn't stop with my
million dollars in three years. It was a
The Fragrance of Realisation
immediate partner MS. The group kept
great success. But frankly, we didn't
The breadcrumbs of my realisation
growing as Pond’s was a prolific
even think of the numbers when we
began at Pond’s where I started my
recruiter. The whole culture was not
started it. Our mission was to connect
career. It was an amazing experience.
about competing but fulfilling.
with the community who had left India. We needed them because India was
Two of us – M S Narayan and I – were recruited at the same time in Pond’s.
Dad’s Army
perilously close to having no foreign
Our Chairman Mr V Narayanan told me,
My dad was in the Army. I spent a lot of
exchange reserves. So here we were, not
“You and MS are not competing for the
time with his friends. What inspires the
looking for a reward.
same job; your job is to make yourself
soldiers in the heat of a battle? It is not
My small team and I worked
redundant in your position, because
bonus or stock options. It is love of the
practically every weekend doing
that's when you'll grow.”
job. It is ‘being fulfilled’ in the purpose
seminars and live TV shows trying to
they set themselves for. I didn't even
talk to people about the India that had
That was such an enlightening
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Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
changed and the India that lay ahead. We built connections and business followed. Philotimo – The Greek Josh I moved from there to Europe to start relationship banking in Greece and take care of the Citibank business in Central Europe. I realised that the people in Greece were driven by a spirit similar to the spirit of ‘Josh’ we have seen in the bollywood movie ‘Uri.’ They were fascinated and motivated by this spirit. Greece was always considered an underdog even though it was the best
the word ‘Nish Kam Karma’ (NKK) with
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna
performing Citibank business at the
me and I owe it to him. That's where the
exhorts Arjun for desireless action. He
time compared to Germany, Belgium
thought process began to come
is not saying, “Do not act.” He says, “Act
and other places. It won the race to
together.
and just don't worry about the rewards.”
launch Citi’s new ATM networks.
I am blessed to have a beautiful
Greeks did it first. When we talked to
family. The children are doing well. I
them later, they said there's a term in
have a life partner who's also my
Greek called ‘Philotimo.’ It roughly
spiritual guru. She is the one more
translates to purpose and pride and love
evolved than me. How did all this
of honour. It was not money. It was not
happen?
reward. The Dotcom Mishap In the year 2000, I saw all the dotcom billionaires minting money and I tried to join the bandwagon and failed. My motivations were wrong, as I learned the hard way. I was being driven by valuation and equity stakes.
For me, it is about seeing Krishna or your favourite deity whoever it is, as the purpose. If you're not a believer, you can think of nature or energy as your purpose. There is someone higher than the humans, driving us.
I didn't work towards a reward. It happened because we did the right thing and left the results to whoever was taking care of things. I began to understand and discover my true strength. After my mishaps with start ups and trying to get rich quick, I began to understand that there was a higher purpose in all of us and we became
Around that time, I was working
Krishna devotees. That's how it
with my colleagues in a technology
happened for us. I'm not here to
company called ‘Mastek.’ On our board
preach.
It is not about becoming a sanyasi or dropping material desires. I work 12 to 14 hours a day. It gives me a lot of pleasure. But I am still on the journey, trying to discipline the mind through Sadhana. Situational Leadership Another concept which is related to NKK is leadership. I grew up in an army household. The US Air Force developed the ‘crossroads hatch’ pattern of situational leadership and it was copied
was Mr Gurcharan Das and he first used NOVEMBER
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Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
sustains you during adversity and gives you a constant context for decision making. It brings out the best in you and in others. This is what leads to greatness and it is selffulfilling. Our Purpose Insured Us Let me give you an example from Covid times. We are a software data and claims company. We help automobiles. Our purpose is to keep them safe and back on the road as quickly as possible. We work with insurance, body shops and repair shops. by GE, Citi and others.
leadership structure doesn't matter
Most people start as an individual
anymore.
It's
about
purposeful
contributor. I started my career as an
leadership. Are you being fulfilled?
assistant brand manager at Pond’s, then
Leadership is situational. It's personal.
grew up to manage a Brand team, then
It's not hierarchical. That is an
a department, become a P&L leader
important concept that goes along with
and an Enterprise leader. This is a
NKK. We are all leaders and followers.
perfectly legitimate career path and
Even the President of the United States
goal. It tells you who the leader is.
is answerable to the House and
However, there is more than one path to Mount Everest. There can be individual
contributors
and
I've
Supreme Court. There's a leader and a follower in everyone. We can learn to
When Covid hit, naturally traffic stopped and accidents reduced. Our business dropped precipitously. Our purpose is putting people back on the roads. People still had repairs; damages were coming up. But they were afraid to go to body shops. We took that purpose. We were on a digital path even before Covid. We now accelerated the digitization of solutions to make it a completely touchless experience. In the process, we are getting more business
become servant leaders.
from insurers and more unsolicited calls
certainly run into many in my life who
Living with NKK
do not want to go through this ladder,
When you are on purpose, you are in a
but they can be hugely successful too. I
My point is that if you are on
flow. Time doesn't seem to matter and
don't think Lata Mangeshkar wanted to
purpose, stay focused and don't worry
you are in a Zone in which you are
be the CEO of a company. She wanted
about the exact results, things will
completely oblivious to what is
to bring out her talent to the highest
happen. You are automatically more
happening around you.
transparent, connecting more with
level possible.
than ever before.
Every one of us has a purpose. We
people. You have higher EQ; you
I was a chief marketing officer 20
were not born to be random occupants
appreciate your strength and know your
years ago. I'm back to being that in
of Mother Earth. You have to figure out
limitations. When I'm on a trek, I know
some roles today. The truth is that this
what is your purpose. Your purpose
I cannot find my way back to the base
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Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
camp. But I'll find somebody who will
she said, “There is a post man who has
Ford versus Ferrari. It is a biopic about
help me. That is the whole point about
been giving me two rupees from his
Ken Miles who did a 24 hours, Le Mans
being on purpose and being in flow. Let
monthly salary since 1940. Those two
race an absolutely excruciating
me give you more examples of NKK
rupees mean more to me because he
endurance race and won it. He was
from the world around you.
gives till it hurts.” That’s the mindset of
finally cheated of his prize that he won.
people who are about a purpose.
He turns to his sponsor and friend and
Just Good Science
says, “You promised me the drive. You
During Covid times, I watched the movie
The Wealth of Giving
didn't promise me the win. That's
‘Radioactive.’ It is about the Marie Curie
Mr. Warren Buffett is seen as probably
okay.”
family which won five Nobel prizes, an
the most driven at 87. He is the most
amazing feat. She could have patented
successful finance person to have ever
radium and made billions. She did
lived. If you read the biographies on
nothing of the sort and kept saying that
him, there is a quote from Peter Buffett,
she just wanted to do good science.
his son. “The thing that Warren Buffett talks about all the time is that wealth
Two is More Than a Million After leaving Pond’s, I had the opportunity to meet Mother Teresa. Unfortunately, I went to her with a commercial proposition and it had nothing to do with NKK. I thought I had a brilliant marketing idea. She pointed out to me was that her project was about love and not about money. “I never ask money but the Lord just provides,” she said.
ethic is not the same as work ethic.” He says his father is the happiest when he is in his study immersed in the
I am training myself that I don't pray for rewards. I don't pray for even spiritual gratification and this is my prayer to the Lord: “Just give me what you desire, what I deserve and if that happens to make me rich or poor, peaceful or agitated, it is all yours, your problem, your fault.” It is liberating when you do that.
balance sheet of a company and he comes out like dancing, not because he
NKK – What it is ﴾and not﴿
has counted his money. He is giving
Great thinkers and personalities from
away 97% of his wealth. He keeps telling
time immemorial have said pretty much
people when he goes to commencement
the same thing.
speeches, “Take the job as if you were
Purpose is the meeting point of your
independently wealthy and then you'll
passion and talent. It is about action in
do great.”
the pursuit of personal excellence, not
The day I met her, a big company in
rewards. It is not about renouncing
Calcutta had donated a large tract of
Miles to Go
land which was probably invaluable. But
I watched recently a fantastic movie
action or the material world.
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I have been fortunate to have
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Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
interacted with billionaires Ross Perot,
visual ever made is the human being
the selfmade billionaire; Michael Dell;
and that he was there to talk. There was
There are different analogies.
and more recently the founder of our
pin drop silence. He had more impact
There's a bullet with your name on it.
company who though not quite a
than Ogilvy. I always believed that
The question is who is going to fire first.
billionaire, has done really well. Each of
karma has brought us up to this point.
Someone is working in a business
them followed their passion and the
Our actions, which we control, will take
context to disrupt us. Our choice is
results were incidental. It is not about
us further. So whether you are fortunate
whether we do it ourselves or allow
the material wealth. It is about putting
to be a multimillionaire or are
someone to disrupt us. We need to
something higher in front of it. You can
struggling, how you wish to respond
reinvent ourselves, find our purpose and
have billions but just remember there's
and whether you have a purpose or not
keep sharpening the saw. Otherwise, we
‘1’ in front of the zeroes – it may be
will take you further. To quote Einstein,
will go through the pain of hubris,
Krishna, Jesus, Allah or your personal
“We cannot solve our problems with the
nemesis and catharsis.
God.
same thinking we used when we created them.”
You are Your Brand Only you can become the purpose driven leader of your personal brand. We are never too young or too old, never too good or too far gone.
cleansing and a rebirth.
From Greed to Great
We need to practice the power of
Though
greed
has
a
negative
silence. I read that the CEO of Kimberly
connotation, we can be greedy for
Clark would, rather than expressing an
success. At some point, we can go from
opinion, take inputs by being silent.
greed to green, green being nature. Nature is greater than human beings,
Hubris, Nemesis and Catharsis
but there's something greater than
Chairman Mr. Narayanan took three of
I lived in Greece and there is a beautiful
nature and which created nature. If we
us to an advertising Congress in Delhi
trilogy of words in Greece, which is can figure out how our purpose links to
that David Ogilvy came to attend. We
Hubris, Nemesis and Catharsis. Hubris
had an opportunity to listen to some
refers to foolish pride, nemesis to agent
phenomenal speakers. Ogilvy had great
of
to
to Great,’ that has become a sort Bible
slides and a great video show. The
purification. Fundamentally, it means
for a lot of people. Ideally, the title
person who came after him had
that people get arrogant, end up with
should have been: From ‘Greed to
nothing. He said that the best audio
their comeuppance and then there is a
Great!’
I was 24 years old when Pond’s
downfall
and
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that, then we can go to great. Jim Collins wrote the book, ‘Good
Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
Insights from Panelists Sheela Balaji, Chairperson, Swami Dayananda Educational Trust
world, they should give up all desires.
capital was a big challenge. He went
But Lord Krishna in the ninth chapter
about fixing it and raised 160B$ in 12
tells Arjuna, “I am in the form of desire,
months! He got all of us involved. I was
but that desire which is not against
It is time for us to
dharma.”
change from being a consumer to a
Jagdish Rago, MD, Citigroup, New
contributor.
The
York
contribution
can
I like the concept
come in the form of
of
servant
sharing one’s experience, wisdom,
leadership.
helping people handson or doing
2008, during the
something for the nature. We have to
financial
leave the world a better place.
the
In crisis, top
People think that to pursue
management got
Bhagavad Gita or come to the spiritual
overhauled in Citi group and we had a new CEO Mr Vikram Pandit. Raising NOVEMBER
2020
44
I learnt the importance of focusing on the actions and not the results. I was happy and relieved that I could sell the companies to TCS and Wipro, who, I was confident, would take care of our employees in those companies.
Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
running technology at that time from New York. He gave me a tough target and a time frame of six months and made me responsible for divesting two of the companies that I built. I was upset and angry and questioned the decision. The CEO listened to me and said, “Right
changes and he immediately accepts it.
In life, how we accept the results –be it pleasant or unpleasant ‐ reflects our attitude. We need to have the equanimity to receive the results.
In life, how we accept the results –be it pleasant or unpleasant reflects our attitude. We need to have the equanimity to receive the results. V Balaraman, Past President, MMA and Former MD, Pond’s India
now, this is important for us to do this.
Assume that you
You are really attached to the results
are in Sales. If you
from the actions of your past. Keep the
dedicate
receiving the prasada. Swamiji used to
attachment aside.” He gave me a twominute counsel and asked me to focus on the job. That was my NKK moment. I learnt the importance of focusing on the actions and not the results. I was happy and
product to the
give an example. When someone is
consumer and you
given a laddu (a sweet ball of calories)
work very hard to
and if he is diabetic, he may return it. But if he is told that the same laddu is from Lord Venkateshwara, his mind
relieved that I could sell the companies to TCS and Wipro, who, I was confident, would take care of our employees in those companies. Suresh Rajagopalan, Founder, CEO of Sigma Consulting, UAE I am a student of Swami Dayananda Saraswati and I closely follow his teachings. We all attach ourselves to the results, but we don’t have control over that. It is a great paradox. This is not to say that we should not be ambitious. We need to follow the universal dharma. Receiving the results is like
NOVEMBER
2020
45
your
keep the consumers truly happy, then that is NKK.
Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
NOVEMBER
2020
46
Understanding Mental Health Prof Pratima Murthi, Professor &
classified into two categories: 1)
Common problems like anxiety and depression.
2)
More serious problems like
Head, Department of Psychiatry,
schizophrenia,
NIMHANS, Bengaluru:
disorder, severe depression and
Unlike physical health problems, mental health issues are subjective and people don’t want to talk about it as they consider it a weakness and also because of the social stigma against mental health issues. People feel that there will be no support even if they disclose their mental health problems. Human mind is
like
a
pressure
cooker:
Communication with it is the best way to ease that pressure from building up.
substance abuse. When should someone seek medical help? If the issues are transient like a bout of panic or a depression from grief, they may disappear when the situation changes. But if they are long lasting—when
motor
movement
disorders or suicidal tendencies crop up —intervention is definitely needed. One has to prevent escalation by reaching out. Treatment
Types of problems Mental health issues can be broadly NOVEMBER
bipolar
2020
47
Depending on the severity of the
Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
A mindful workplace is where employees are able to realise their full potential, use their creativity, learn from mistakes and are treated compassionately.
itself. Is there a relation between work
Job variety makes an employee
and nonwork zones? There are three
satisfied. In general, the quality of work
hypotheses: a) they can be unrelated b)
life in Indian companies is not very
there can be spillover from one to the
good. In many MNCs, it is better,
other and c) people may try to
because western countries have evolved
compensate what they miss out in one
in adopting good work practices and so
zone in the other. For example, when an
MNCs are able to pass it on to their
employee is illtreated by his boss, he
Indian arms too.
may try to illtreat his family members.
A mindful workplace is where
symptoms, issues can be resolved by
Repetitive work can lead to stress
employees are able to realise their full
selfhelp, lifestyle changes, counseling
but if the work is of critical nature, like
potential, use their creativity, learn from
by mental health specialist, medications
manning an air traffic control centre, it
mistakes
and psychological interventions like
will give a purpose to the work. There is
compassionately.
CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy).
a story written by BHU Professor
A psychiatrist is a MBBS qualified
Kashinath Singh. In the story, a fifty
doctor treating any abnormality of the
year old man, walks every day from his
mind while a psychologist is not a MBBS
home to office and back. One day, he
doctor. They treat milder forms of the
sees the setting of the sun and he is
disorders.
enamoured by its beauty. Every day, the
While optimum stress is good for productivity, monotonous work and high work load can harm mental health. Keeping oneself mentally and physically active, being creative, and having ‘me
sun setting takes places as he returns but he saw it only one day. It shows how we miss so many good things in life. It is important to realise who we are and ask if we have done anything useful.
and
are
treated
Fitness & Leadership for the Mindful Workplace Dr Sheela Nambiar, Fitness Consultant, NAFC and President, Indian Society of Lifestyle Medicine ﴾ISLM﴿: “Physical fitness is important to shield us from Covid19 and other infectious diseases. Exercise has many positives and has known to improve resilience to
time’ to reflect and relax the mind are
In psychology, we generally look at
stress. While obesity has a deleterious
some of the ways in which we can
why people are not happy, why people
effect on performance, regular exercise
maintain good mental health.
feel alienated and so on. Martin
improves our mind, positivity and
Seligman, studied people who are happy
optimism, depression, anxiety, mental
and he is called the ‘father of positive
clarity and decision making. Social and
psychology.’
Emotional intelligence are also very
Engendering Behavioural Change in Organisations Prof Vidyanand Jha, Professor of
Does Sabbatical help employees? In
important.”
Organisational Behaviour, IIM
the present context, if an employee is
Does exercising demand so much of
Calcutta:
asked to go on a sabbatical, he / she may
our time? “Not at all. Just 30 minutes a
Organisational Behaviour (OB) deals
feel that they are not wanted. Rich
day and 150 minutes a week is the
with behaviour of individuals and
people can enjoy a break and they can
minimum requirement for exercising as
groups and that of the organisation
explore.
per WHO,” she clarified.
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Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
The six pillars
far outweigh the physical benefits.
psychological benefits of it that are far
stress,
According to 90% of the studies, she
more important,” she emphasized.
relationships and management of
pointed out that exercise has an
substance abuse are the six pillars of
anxiolytic and antidepressant effect. It
The corporate challenge
lifestyle medicine,” explained Dr Sheela
helps in release of endorphins and
“Balancing the interests of different
and stressed on the need to address each
increasing the number of connections
stakeholders is the biggest challenge
of
between the brain cells.
now for the corporate entities in the
“Exercise,
the
diet,
pillars
sleep,
diligently.
Dr
Krishnamoorthy commented that during his medical college days, one of his Professors used to sum up the causes of gastric troubles as ‘hurry, worry and curry!’ and that echoes the six pillars listed out by Dr Sheela. Linking physical and mental health When asked to comment on the links between physical health and mental health, Dr Sheela replied that the psychological benefits of regular exercise
“Also, what people eat has a huge psychological impact. For instance, those who eat fast food and sweets are more likely to get depression,” she said.
postCovid
phase,
when
their
performance is under pressure,” said Prof Rishikesha T Krishna, Director, IIM, Bangalore.
According to her, doing exercises as a
“The first temptation is to downsize
habit, increases selfdiscipline of
and cut costs to keep the performance at
individuals and that will reflect in their
some reasonable level. It is better to
work too. Playing a team sport
resist the temptation to downsize as
inculcates team spirit and the maturity
people face the challenge of retaining
to handle victory and defeat. “It is great
their livelihood. They can resort to
to see our weight and waistline coming
creative ways of managing the challenge.
down with exercise but it is the
They can even reduce the compensation
NOVEMBER
2020
49
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for the high salaried and retain all
on board for discussions and decisions.
the fact is that corporate leaders
people,” he advised. The second
He said, “The Indian style of leadership
showing empathy perform well across
challenge, he said, lies in managing the
is more participatory and it is not often,
nations.
workfromhome scenario in a safe way.
top down.”
He added, “I read a book ‘Mean
Good leadership must refrain from exploiting the situation.
Is empathy a weakness or strength? Do effective leaders lack empathy and
Leadership: The Indian style
because of which, they are able to take
“What kind of a corporate leader are we
tough decisions? With more women
looking at today, strategically—a
leaders occupying leadership position,
strongman or a different kind of
how does the empathy quotient evolve?
person?” asked Dr Krishnamoorthy. Prof Rishikesha pointed out the transition in today’s leadership style. He said that Satya Nadella’s leadership in Microsoft reflects a soft and humane approach, yet delivering on the results. Even Google and IBM which have leaders of Indian origin, believe in
Dr Rishikesa opined that more women
leaders
coming
up
in
organisations does not necessarily mean more empathy in workplace because women who ascend the corporate ladder to top positions think that they too have to be tough like men and suppress their inherent empathy. But
consensus approach and taking people NOVEMBER
2020
50
Men’ written by Mark Lipton. He says that many of the harddriving leaders are mean and he even uses adjectives like toxic, raging and manipulative to describe such people. There are many such mean leaders today.” The panel also discussed many other issues such as: How does quality of sleep affect our health? What should work places do to improve our lifestyle? How important is it for leaders to have and follow a personal schedule? Do ethical concerns in workplace trigger mental health issues? And a lot more about work itself.
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NOVEMBER
2020
54
KANNAN SITARAM
Twenty years ago, I was in the Unilever
going on from 1990 till the first decade
Strategy group in London. I met this
of 21st Century, though it had been
gentleman, Fritz Kroeger, in 2002. He
happening
ireside Ventures is threeyears
had written an article titled, ‘The
acquired Pond’s, Brooke Bond, Lipton,
old and I have been there all
Consolidation Curve,’ in Harvard
Ben & Jerry’s and so on. In 2000,
these three years. It is a
Business Review along with others.
Unilever acquired Bestfoods for a
venture capital fund. We invest in very
They believed that every single industry
staggering $24B. P&G was also busy in
early stage consumer companies. We
would go through a phase of
acquiring Wella, MaxFactor and
enter when they are doing business in
consolidation and there would be fewer
Gillette. They bought Gillette at $57B in
INR 20 to 30 lakhs range of monthly
and fewer players in each industry. This
2005. Between 2001 and 2005, they
turnover and help them to scale up. We
was an important theory for Unilever
bought Duracell at $7B and Clairol, the
focus entirely on consumer brands with
too! They had to decide if they are going
hair colour brand at around $5B.
tangible products. We have deep dived
to be the leader in FMCG industry or
L’Oreal bought Lancome and Shu
in these years and built an amazing
they are going to be consolidated by
uemera. So, there was a wave of
portfolio of brands. We are excited at
somebody else. Unilever wanted to lead
consolidation.
building some of India’s iconic next
the consolidation.
F
generation brands.
In many of the consumer goods industries around the world, the
To consolidate or be consolidated
consolidation phase was predominantly NOVEMBER
2020
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earlier
too.
Unilever
A different story now In the past three years, Unilever’s story was completely different. There have
Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
The same is the story with P&G and L’Oreal. They no longer buy big brands. They buy small brands which are not mainstream. Why do they do this?
been no big bang acquisitions, save for Horlicks at $3.8B. They have acquired a whole lot of small brands like Olly Nutrition, which did annual sales of $100M. They bought Tatcha, a Japanese beauty and skincare brand at $500M, Laundress at $100M and The Vegetable Butcher, a Dutch producer of plant based meat with an annual sales of $12M. These were not the kind of brands
Tatcha was about Japanese beauty
shape. CK Prahald wrote about the
secrets passed down by generations that
‘fortune at the bottom of the pyramid.’
took a different approach to skincare:
In 2018, the low income group shrunk
Less is more. These were brands with
to 43%, lower middle increased to 33%,
stories and purpose; they claimed to be
upper middle increased to 21% and high
good for the environment. These were
income increased to 3%. In 2030, it is
not the kind of mainstream brands that
forecasted that the low income group
Unilever used to acquire earlier on.
will shrink to 15%, lower middle will
The same is the story with P&G and
increase to 34%, upper middle will
L’Oreal. They no longer buy big brands.
increase to 44% and high income will
They buy small brands which are not
increase to 7% of the population. The
mainstream. Why do they do this? Why
shape is no more a pyramid. The poorest
is the capital now being deployed in a
population is continuously shrinking.
way, quite different from the past?
In the high income group, we are referring to people with a household
The march of the ants—Brand 2.0
annual income of $40,000 which is the
We call them ‘ants’ because these are
typical American middleclass income
small players. Since they are a new
on a PPP basis. The emergence of a
generation of brands, let us refer to
proper middleclass, upper middleclass
them as ‘Brand 2.0.’ In India, we are
and high income segments is what we
seeing the emergence of a new
can discern. The big brands now focus
consumer segment—ecommerce and
on the rural areas, marketing branded
content,
Indian
products to people who buy unbranded
that Unilever used to buy earlier.
with
newage
entrepreneurs and risk capital flowing
products. The consumption by high
Laundress had laundry detergents and
into this space.
income groups is significantly higher
home cleaning products which were
than people in the other segments.
advertised as having no ammonia, no
The emerging consumer landscape in
synthetic dyes, no fillers and offering
India
Meet Aanya and Aarav
solutions that were gentle on the family,
Bain Consulting presented a report at
Aanya and Aarav typify the new
pets and the planet. The language was
the World Economic Forum recently
generation consumers. They live in the
completely different compared with that
about
population
top 20 cities. They are affluent and part
of Surf or Lifebuoy. It was about why
demographics in India. In 2005, the low
of the consuming population of India.
they are good for the environment.
income household was 69% of the
They are digital natives and consumers
Olly was about supplements. It is a
population (151M), the lower middle
of content on mobile. They spend 28
small brand selling something called
income at 23% (51M), upper middle
hours on mobile and 4 hours on TV per
‘Gummies’ offering solutions for
income at 7% (16M) and high income at
week.
complexion and sleep. The narrative of
1% (1M), following a perfect pyramid
the
moving
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2020
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Statistics says that between 2014
Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
and 2017, online buyers have increased
study the ingredients and if it says
previous generations. They want to
by 7x and by 2030, there will be around
something adverse about it, they don’t
invest in their kids. They are very
180M online buyers.
purchase that brand.
ambitious for their kids. They think of
Aanya and Aarav live in a nuclear
They want to live life to the fullest.
building their kids’ CV even before they
family, make their own decisions and the
They love to indulge and pamper
turn three and the activities they should
amount of money they spend per person
themselves. They like to go on holidays
take up!
is much higher. They are mobile. (Covid
and spend money. They live an active
Time is very precious for them.
has put a brake on that, though). They
lifestyle and need healthy products. This
They look for products that suit their
work harder, and their consumption on
has become more important after the
lifestyle and help them save time. They
the go is a lot higher.
Covid lockdown.
go well beyond purely functional
Their needs are different. They are
We know that the high end bicycle
products. There is a higher order need
concerned about the environment they
industry postCovid is just not able to
for better experience and meeting the
live in. They are worried about pollution,
meet the demand. Dealers say that they
consumer aspirations. The amount of
what they and their family members eat;
are able to meet the need of just 1 in 2 or
money such consumers spend will
they desire natural and ‘clean label’
1 in 3 customers. If you go to Decathlon
disproportionately increase in India.
products. In my 40 years of experience,
to buy weights for your gym, you can’t
for the first time I see people reading the
get them now.
back of the packs looking into the
A rapidly evolving digital ecosystem is
They have fewer children than the
ingredients of a product. They Google to NOVEMBER
Digital eco‐system
2020
57
changing shopping behaviour. Thanks
Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
to the entry of Jio in 2016, the cost of
in hardware and ease of access to
data in India has become very low.
internet.
Though it is bad news for other telecom
The
ran into security related issues. With all these, the marketers have
social
media
platforms
the power to create demand at scale. No
WhatsApp,
longer do they need to go after SUN or
operators, for the world of ecommerce,
—Google,
it is the best thing that could have
Instagram—have all scaled up big time.
happened.
Digital videos have come of age, thanks
The ability to supply products has
We have seen the onslaught of
to which YouTube users have increased.
also increased. All of us would have
cheaper smart phones. It is estimated
The search for ‘Howto’ videos has
done online shopping. We are used to
that 400M use smart phones in India.
dramatically increased. We have
buying on Amazon, Flipkart, Big Basket
The internet users are exploding. One
Hotstar, Netflix, Amazon Prime and
and so on. To think that ten years ago,
estimate says that there are 550M
other such platforms. Vernacular social
there was no Amazon in India and
internet users in India today. This has
media is a more recent development.
Flipkart was selling only books will be
been possible due to the developments
TikTok had around 200M users till it
so odd now!
Facebook,
Star TV for commercials.
Bain report says that there will be 350M online shoppers by 2025. Covid has accelerated the development of e commerce. The big online shops are gearing up for the sharp increase in demand.
Bain report says that there will be 350M online shoppers by 2025. Covid has accelerated the development of e‐commerce. The big online shops are gearing up for the sharp increase in demand.
NOVEMBER
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Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
Companies are investing heavily in
promotions by Amazon and Flipkart.
how this whole piece is going to shape
omnichannels to deliver products. Wal
They say that purchases are not only
up in the next few years.
Mart and Flipkart have merged as
made from top cities anymore but from
To sum up, challenger brands are
Flipkart Wholesale in India. Reliance
towns down the line. Vertical market
very good as they are able create
has launched Jio Mart and they are
places are also making a comeback.
demand on the new age content as well
acquiring Future Retail with which they
Softbank is funding Firstcry and Nyka
as ecommerce platforms. For them, it
will have access to another 1500 retail
is in talks with investors to raise large
is life or death. For many of the large
outlets. They have realised that if they
capital.
brands, the offline piece is optional.
want to ensure faster fulfillment, then they need a wider physical presence. In this bargain, physical retail is also becoming more profitable. In India, physical retailing has not been profitable and that is the reason, why Future Retail is selling to Reliance. But at this conjunction of online and offline, the demand for all the players will increase. This will help big players go deeper into rural markets. The profitability of individual players will get reshaped. Our brands participate in
Online is their default option and that is
Focus on B2B All of us who are accustomed to the traditional FMCG industry think in terms of the wholesalerdistributor network. This is getting disrupted by B2B portals. ‘Udan’ is a good example. There is an alternate access to market over bricknmortar. Players like Metro and WalMart are launching their own B2B ecommerce sites. The B2B model which was earlier disorganized is now getting organised. A lot of capital is involved in this and I am curious to see
NOVEMBER
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where they thrive. There are brands which are 100% online and a majority of the brands we manage in Fireside are 85 to 90% online. Very few are pure offline. This is how the challenger brands are overcoming the traditional advantages enjoyed by big players. When we were in HUL, we prided on its enormous distribution capability. I led a field sales team which supplied a million Indian retailers, every single week, with Hindustan Lever products.
Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
Over the last few years, with digital transformation, brands are getting built faster and more efficiently with less capital. Consumer brands make for rewarding investments. There is lot of Private Equity activity taking place in this space.
That was our big advantage. They could
New entrepreneurs
invest heavily in TV advertising to make
We see a new world of entrepreneurs
scaling
their brands work.
today. A typical entrepreneur is in the
innovation funnels help in
•
Rapid prototyping enables efficiently.
Digital
rapidly focusing on well
age group of 25 to 35. There is no gender
performing SKUs.
Advantage Brand 2.0
quota but half of our entrepreneurs are
Both these factors are no longer
women. They come with wonderful
necessary with today’s digital eco
professional qualifications and could
system taking shape and growing in
leverage it. People who have
have led a very comfortable corporate
many social media followers
scale. You don’t need to do a 20 or 30
life. They are graduates of Wharton, ISB,
can influence your brands.
crore ad campaign to be on Google or
IIMC, IITs and so on. They have
Facebook. A few thousands or lakhs
worked with companies like Unilever,
would suffice. You can sharply target
McKinsey and such other best corporate
consumers. If I want to target IT
names. They have decided to give up all
professionals who watch football, are
that and go through all the pain of
married and live in Whitefield,
entrepreneurship.
•
influencer
•
amount of advertising money. The ants have become powerful. Over the last few years, with digital
leaders
of
•
ECommerce is penetrating deeper into India. Global markets are opening up for Indian brands.
Lessons from Brand 2.0: •
•
Know about consumer issues.
Omnichannel is energizing as a big opportunity.
Do ‘insight mining’ at scale. •
Technology is helping to
‘Boat,’ a successful brand in
create interesting business
consumer
models, perhaps bringing in
electronics
religiously mines customer
faster and more efficiently with less
reviews and complaints which
capital. Consumer brands make for
are a goldmine to them.
rewarding investments. There is lot of
‘Mamaearth’ has an online
this space.
brand
and
Opportunity set for Brand 2.0 & 3.0
•
transformation, brands are getting built
Private Equity activity taking place in
Create
marketing
tomorrow.
Bengaluru, I can do that now on Facebook. I am able to save a huge
Be aware of the power of
community of mothers and hears about their needs and issues. NOVEMBER
2020
60
Brand 3.0.
Kannan Sitaram, Venture Partner, Fireside Ventures
NOVEMBER
2020
61
RAMYAA RAMESH
A
s a chartered accountant, she had an established career in India but a change in
circumstances saw her move to a new country and start afresh. It was here that Geetha Ramamoorthi finally found her niche—engineering services. She returned to India and continued to build her career in engineering services. Initially, she held the position of finance director in an engineering services company and soon moved to an operations role as the head of transportation business. She views all her career moves as a way of challenging her abilities.
NOVEMBER
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Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
Geetha is now in charge of leading
firm let me focus on completing my CA
company and industry stalwarts,
the India operations of WS Atkins on a
and I did just that! Surprisingly, this is
including Mr. T. Ananthanarayanan and
transformative journey as its Director
where I also met my future husband!
Mr. R. Seshasayee. They taught me one
(Operations & Digital Services).
After my CA I got a job in a well
of the most important lessons of my life,
established company, United India
to focus on the big picture and never
Insurance, and I moved to Bangalore
lose sight of your goal.
Geetha Ramamoorthi is a person focused on her career with an ability to set out her own path to achieve her goals. This was not a difficult proposition for a bright and successful student
who
always
excelled
academically.
from Chennai. This was a great opportunity for a young graduate like me with stars in her eyes! Why did you move back to Chennai? Six months after I moved to Bangalore,
How did your early education shape
Ashok Leyland, a very wellknown
you?
Chennai based automobile giant,
Starting in a small school like Satya Sai Matriculation in Mandaveli, Chennai, which was almost like play school and had a family atmosphere, I joined a bigger school, Rosary Matriculation, from 3rd grade onwards. I was very diffident, extremely shy, and it was not easy for me to mingle with my classmates but my academic excellence
Ashok Leyland was a great learning opportunity for me—I learnt a lot about finance during the six years I worked there.
offered me a job, which I accepted. I married around the same time which led me back to Chennai, my hometown! Was it a good career move? Ashok Leyland was a great learning opportunity for me—I learnt a lot about finance during the six years I worked there.
The next few years saw you changing
bought me recognition with my peers.
Initially, I was part of the Sales and
jobs. What was your reasoning
My interest in singing pushed me to
Institutional Finance where I had to
behind so many career moves?
perform on stage and made me join
coordinate with the very senior
These were the years of my career,
various school competitions and I
executives
financial
where I learnt to understand and
slowly started coming out of my shell. I
institutions such as IDBI, SIDBI and
appreciate the key areas of finance. In
secured the 10th rank in the state of
ICICI. Working with such senior
1995, the world around me was
Tamilnadu
secondary
executives was a great experience and
changing, market was buzzing with this
examination; it marked a significant
my first glimpse into qualities that
concept called Investment Banking. I
milestone in my educational journey.
make senior leaders successful.
wanted to be a part of the changing
in
higher
of
various
After school, I went on to do my
Later, I moved to Corporate
B.Com in Ethiraj College. A Chartered
Finance and then to the Treasury
Accountancy along with an ICMA
Accounting department where I had the
seemed like a natural progression in my
extraordinary opportunity to interact
educational map. Articleship in a small
with the senior leadership of the NOVEMBER
2020
63
environment; I was bitten by the bug! This is when I moved on to Empire Finance Company which was a part of the Ranbaxy Group. The focus was on mergers and acquisitions and Initial
Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
Public Offerings which gave me a lot of
with professionals in similar field as I
specific industry. I was completely
exposure on activities of SEBI and
was and started interacting with them.
unfamiliar with the culture, the
growth plans of companies in various industries. Then I moved to Synergy Credit Corporation, where I handled hire
purchase
and
leasing.
Dematerialisation and shares was transforming the market, so I also did a stint in Stock Holding Corporation of India
which
pioneered
dematerialisation of shares in India.
I got my break with the help of a
accounting standards and some aspects
friend and joined an engineering
of the business but fortunately people
services company called CH2M Hill
were open to sharing knowledge and
which focused on infrastructure
provide guidance once I become part of
building and had a global presence. I
the system. I learnt another valuable
was asked to handle the Regional
lesson during this period—people are
Finance for the Asia Pacific region. It
always very open, but there is a need to
was an opportunity to learn and
speak out and let your thoughts be
understand the regulatory aspects of
heard.
I was trying to find my niche even
different countries in the region,
I soon excelled in this field. In one
while enjoying my work in the world of
cultural nuances and collaborate with
instance, we were dealing with treasury
finance!
diverse people around me. Here, I was
related aspects of intercompany
My husband had the opportunity to
given the task to spearhead the JD
transactions across countries and my
move to Singapore for work and my
Edwards implementation along with
efforts saved the company considerable
young son and I moved along with him.
financial reporting, treasury and
expenses through taxes – I learnt the
regional taxation.
concept of Debt Forgiveness here!
How did being a ‘trailing spouse’ affect your career?
You moved from the BFSI sector and
I look at my move to Singapore as a
India to the engineering sector and
game changer for my career. Initially, I
Singapore! How did you adapt to this
took a break as it took some time for me
change?
to settle down, but I started laying down
I never looked at it as a change. I
the foundation for my career there. I
concentrated on the role, my own
realized networking was the key. I had
delivery and the value I could add to the
good friends who helped me connect
organisation rather than the move to a
NOVEMBER
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64
These were the best three years of my life, where I became more assured, selfconfident with a more international perspective to corporate culture. Though this was for a very brief period indeed, as I had to move back to India soon after. After you moved back to India, was
Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
it difficult to pick up your career
enjoying the allure of a smaller
husband and other leaders in the
again?
organization and I was ready to take on
industry and understood that you don’t
Though we came back to India, we did
a job in a larger company. This was
need to be technically aware in order to
not move to Chennai but to Bangalore,
when I got a call from WS Atkins, an
run a business, but, you need to
a city we were not so familiar with. My
engineering
services
understand the overall business, what
first priority at that time was to ensure
company, who were looking for
ticks and what the client expects. Of
that my son settled down both in school
someone
course, a great team is the key.
and outside activities, which took me 7
exposure with a working knowledge of
I took the effort to read – read
– 8 months. Once that was done, my
JD Edwards ERP, I happened to be the
about the technical aspects of the
next move was to pick up my career
right fit! I soon realized that this was the
industry, technical terminology. I learnt
again. Honestly, I really did not look
place I wanted to work for – I had found
to appreciate the finer aspects of
forward to spending most of my time in
my niche.
engineering and understand the
the kitchen!
design
who
and
had
international
I grew along with the company and
business inside out! I believe that as a
I was very careful and specific while
I headed the finance team in India. My
woman, my confidence in my ability to
searching for my next role. The role that
previous experience with CH2M Hill
learn, adapt and deliver was very high.
I finally ended up taking was completely
Singapore helped me – at the end of the
I rose to the occasion and delivered.
outside my comfort zone, a role that
day, it was all about finance and making
challenged me. I joined Systems Advisor
money! In 2017, I had the opportunity
Group, a Software services company, where I had to set up channel partner
In July 2017, WS Atkins was acquired to take up a business leadership role – by the SNCLavalin Group. We were a to head the transportation business. smaller company compared to the
relationship with Microsoft. I had to work with Microsoft to enable the sales
The shift from a finance domain to a
of the product as well. As the company
business domain is a major one, how
started to grow, my seniors realized that
did you equip yourself?
I would add more value in finance and
Of course, this was a major change; I
I accepted the challenge.
did ask myself if I could do justice to the
After a point of time, I stopped
Slowly, I started taking initiatives.
role. I talked to my colleagues, my NOVEMBER
2020
65
conglomerate which was in the process of acquiring us, which meant, there were major changes taking place in the operational
direction
and
the
management. In early 2018, our local leadership
Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
also underwent a change. During the days that followed, my colleagues would come to me and express their apprehension; I sensed a feeling of nervousness that prevailed as people were apprehensive about their future in the company. I was able to support them emotionally and bring stability through constant communication. This was taken
very
positively
by
the
management and I was given an additional responsibility of managing the day to day operations of the India
Artificial intelligence, Data Science and
because of family commitments and a
unit. Following this in November 2018,
Blockchain.
general stereotyping around what they
I was officially appointed Operations
can or can’t do after marriage and Finance is where you have excelled at,
Director of India. In April 2019, I was asked to take
till you made Engineering and
up a Business Change lead role where I
Technology your forte. What has
had the opportunity to work with a
been your experience as a woman in
group of talented individuals in driving
a field such as engineering?
change in the way we deliver work. In
I believe there is still stereotyping and
May this year, I was given the
gender bias in what is a predominantly
responsibility of delivery of Digital
male dominated industry such as mine, but there are strong signs of change.
When I look around me, I see women comprise of 50% of the work force in the junior executive level, but this percentage shrinks...
There was a time when we believed that only an engineer can run an engineering company, but I have seen a physicist run
motherhood. Unconscious biases and questions pop up on the manager’s mind—Will she be able to travel, will she be able to take up a project of such scale... People tend to look at a person for what she has done, rather than look at her potential. I believe that a conscious effort has to be taken and a woman has to be pushed to help her grow in her career and go against her comfort zone.
an engineering services company and
What do you, as a leader in an
build it to the next level. A person who
organisation, believe can be done to
runs the business is not necessarily a
change the status quo of women in
subjectexpert!
an executive role?
Services. I proactively engaged with the
Yes, when I look around me, I see
I am part of the leadership team,
digital teams to help them stay focused
women comprise of 50% of the work
especially when any activity or project
on their goals and instilled a sense of
force in the junior executive level, but
is taken up. Though I see a lot of change
purpose and positivity. I started to
this percentage shrinks as you look up
in considering women for different types
acquaint
emerging
the ladder; this is mostly because of
of projects, and the degree of gender
technologies and techniques such as
relocation after marriage and also
bias is decreasing, I never fail to call out
myself
with
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2020
66
Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
when there is any.
which would have certainly enhanced
recognize the need to adopt a curious
I believe conscious effort has to be
my resume. Yes, I am now the Director
mindset and embrace a culture of
taken by all – both men and women – in
Operations & Digital Services of WS
continuous learning; I am cognizant of
higher positions to push women outside
Atkins and in the last 4 years I am
the need to build my brand in the
their comfort zone.
coming into my own, taking up
corporate world and network with like
initiatives which have led me to where I
minded professionals through various
am today.
forums to know what is happening
Your career has been so varied; would you have done anything differently? Changed anything?
around me in the industry. Where do you see yourself five years
I am personally working on some of
Looking back, I can say that there are a
down the line?
few things that I could have done. One,
My role model for a very long time has
I wish I had been more bold and more
been Ms. Kalpana Morparia, an Indian
open earlier in my career rather than
banker and the current CEO of J P
Taking to Geetha, one cannot but
later. As a woman, I always keep
Morgan India. She is 71 and still scaling
realize that this dynamic woman is not
questioning myself, there is constant
new heights in the corporate world.
only clear about what she wants to end
selfdoubt. When there is a list of 10
I want to be an influencer in the
boxes that has to be ticked, I find
corporate world and be a mentor and
woman, including myself, think they
coach, to motivate woman who want to
need to tick all 10 of them. I have learnt
build their career. I want to be seen as a
that that is not necessary; ticking 6 or 7
“thoughtleader” providing strategic
out of 10 can also be just as good! I wish
insights on the possibilities that the
I had had the courage and faith in my
intersection of technology and business
ability that I have now, then. Also, I
can offer.
should have taken up an International
I want to prepare myself for the
MBA right after I came back to India
higher position in the company. I
NOVEMBER
2020
67
these aspects in addition to taking up new challenges and assignments.
up as, but is willing to go an extra mile to hone her abilities for the role she envisages. One can more than see her as a CEO of a global company!
Ramyaa Ramesh, author, had interviewed Lakshmi Venkatachalam for this series.
T
he 9th edition of CavinKare serial lockdowns and restrictions, how
And, that’s exactly how all great
Chinnikrishnan
do we get the selection and award
Innovation Award Ceremony
process going? MMA decided to take up
Mr C K Ranganathan, CMD,
2020 was held, for the first time in
the challenge head on and we
CavinKare in his address said, “My
virtual mode and was telecast by
innovatively switched our gears to a
father Chinnikrishnan was a dreamer.
Republic TV on 17 October. Group
100% online process – right from
MMA
innovations have happened.”
Executive Director of MMA welcomed
He firmly believed that whatever a rich nomination to the award ceremony,” man enjoys, a common man should be said Group Captain Vijayakumar in his able to afford.” He highlighted the
the guests, award winners and all the
opening remarks. He added, “Such an
struggles his father faced in launching
viewers.
online award process would have
the sachet and his lack of knowledge
sounded sheer crazy six months ago.
about patenting his innovation. “It was
Captain R Vijayakumar (Retd) VSM and
“In the midst of a pandemic and
NOVEMBER
2020
68
Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
good that everybody followed suit and sachet became popular not only in shampoos and hair oil but across categories. It has created millions of jobs,” he added. Mr Ranganathan said that the purpose of the innovation award is to encourage small and tiny enterprises that have great ideas and help them to scale up. From CavinKare, he offered to mentor and handhold them. He also appealed to corporates to coach and guide such small ventures to convert their innovations to profitable models. Mr B Santhanam, CMD, Saint Gobain India Pvt Ltd and Jury Chief stated that it was a riveting process for the jury team. “More than 10 of us debated each and every idea and invested considerable amount of time. MMA–CavinKare team helped us to
More than 10 of us debated each and every idea and invested considerable amount of time. MMA–CavinKare team helped us to instantly connect with the innovators online, so that we could see them, talk to them and understand the next steps in the innovation process. ~ B Santhanam, CMD, Saint Gobain India, and Jury chief
instantly connect with the innovators
product or service is where the real
in one’s idea and the tenacity to
online, so that we could see them, talk
challenge is,” he said.
overcome initial obstacles, success will
to them and understand the next steps in the innovation process,” he said. According to him, the online process was much better than the offline process. He was delighted that a lot of youngsters participated in the award process. Mr
Recalling the humble beginning of KBL, he said, “Great success always starts with a small beginning. KBL was started as a bicycle repair shop by my great grandfather Lakshman Rao Kirloskar. He believed that an idea, small or big, had the potential to be
Sanjay
CMD,
successful. It was his belief that led to
Kirloskar Brothers Limited in his
the launch of India’s first iron plough in
address
the year 1903 that replaced the
as
Kirloksar,
the
Chief
Guest
congratulated all the winners. “Having
traditional
an idea is fine. Understanding if it is
revolutionalised Indian agriculture.” He
practical and shaping it into a profitable
remarked that if one has the conviction
wooden
NOVEMBER
2020
plough
69
and
follow. Three awards were presented in the Innovations category and two awards in the Great Idea category. Er Manickam A Gounder & Dr Raman Sivakumar, ChairmanMAC Group of Companies and Chief Scientist, MAC India Ltd; Lt Dr K.P.Sridhar, Founder S&G Innovators and Mr Sriram Gopal, Founder & CEO, Future Farms won the Innovation awards. Mr Amirtha Ganesh won in the Great Idea category. Ms Sruthi Babu won the Special Jury award for Great Idea.
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NOVEMBER
2020
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