"What’s in a name" – William Shakespeare
This statement was ironical to me. My classmates in class 6 asked me my name, I answered “Aaditaya”.They cheekily replied “Aditya, What? Birla” I being naïve, simply corrected them. This is how I came to know about the brand name of Aditya Birla Group.
I have spent most of my childhood at Varansi which was still developing to the Varanasi we know as of today. Multiple skyscrapers were coming up and Almost all of them, had something common to it. A bag of cement with half risen Sun and sunbeams radiating from it. Yes, you got that right. It was the flagship product of ABG Groups in construction, the “Ultratech cement”. This is reminiscent of my childhood.
Growing up, how can anyone forget the iconic slogan: “What an idea, Sirjee”.Abhishek Bachchan, the pacifist taking on fundamental problems such as rural education, language barrier and solving them pristinely. Ah! It was moving. I was proud to be part of the Idea Family, my father using the same number till recent times.
The idea of setting up a business has always intrigued me. Not just any business- a business that has core values that do not shift with time, a business that actually does make the country develop as it is itself. And in this picture of a dream, one of the biggest inspirations is the Aditya Birla group. It has always been fascinating how irrespective of the professionalism, the concept of family business it has still adhered to. There might be a few other businesses that could be as diversified and as successful as ABG, but I strongly doubt there would be one with more commitment to its integrity as it has proved itself.
Growing up, I genuinely appreciated the brands it owned. Peter England the brand dressing up men royally in suits, Louis Philippe- the go-to men's clothing brand and the affordable brick-and mortar Pantaloons. Honestly, I did not know they were owned by the same parent company. But when I did, I wondered how broad must the vision of this company be to not accomplishing needs of just one sector-but providing the best quality to all. And to top it all, fashion is just one area of it all. This has made me believe what many people still consider a myth, that if you work hard and smart- you CAN have it all!! ABG certainly has.
I have always identified myself as a sportsman and have tried to handle each and every challenge I face on-field and out of it, with a sportsman’s spirit. I have found after all the years that any challenge coming in between a task does not necessarily come as trouble. From surviving grave financial problems to not be in the playing eleven of my cricket team in an event, I have realized mere survival of it is not enough. Every challenge gives an opportunity to learn and is a test on our variety of skills- in professional as well as in personal life.
These challenges are meant to be faced and learnt by, not just gotten over from. One of the weaknesses in my earlier years, I admit, is not taking initiatives on things I could have contributed to make them better. It could be the fear of failure, under-confidence or even plain lethargy. But a few years in corporate sector, I have experienced doing nothing is worse than taking a shot and failing. For instance, I can still recall me and my team not being confident enough working on Splunk, a project that later gained recognition with our collective inputs. I had my doubts, whether I would succeed. At that time, compared to my inhibitions, skipping the project would have been easy. But I had learnt enough to implement my knowledge and I did. I got over the fear, and now I fearlessly give the best I can and the most I can.
