“I was all dressed up in a pair of ‘Louis Philippe’ shoes, a trouser designed by ‘Allen Solly’ teamed up with a ‘Peter England’ shirt and tie. A navy blue ‘Van Heusen’ blazer completed my interview look. Waiting for my interview in the room held together by ‘Ultra tech cement,' I realized that everything had an Aditya Birla Group Tag on it. The only thing that didn’t have the Aditya Birla Tag and I desperately wished it had one was the recruiter!
-An aspiring student
On every Sunday night when my father used to take me to my favorite soda shop, I used to notice a sun drawn on the shutter of the closed shop nearby. After several attempts at controlling my curiosity, I finally asked my father what the sun stood for. I still remember the answer; “Beta, the sun is a symbol of growth, a symbol of hope that a new day will bring better things in life and a symbol that inspires you to shine bright and let your light inspire someone else to shine," he said. That was a bit too heavy for a little soul who was curious as to why someone would draw a sun on the shutter at night!
I grew up. Started to see more of that logo. Now on television and buildings too. I could understand what my father had said and to check on whether that logo was still there on the shutter or not, I went to that soda shop. The soda shop was now a small boutique, but the nearby shop shutter still had the logo but this time even brighter and vibrant looking. It was a mobile shop and beneath the logo was written a tag line; 'An IDEA can change your life.'
‘An IDEA can change your life’ wasn’t merely a tag line derived out of creativity I realized; it's derived out of an experience. An experience that has changed the entire landscape of markets today. An idea that was implemented in 1857 has today become a lifeline for many. The logo that my father said indicates growth, hope, and shining bright is a symbol of integrity, quality, performance, perfection, and above all ‘character.' Today the sun that I thought was restricted just to that shutter has spread its light to 34 countries and has become a guiding light for 120,000 people (the employees). Wow! Now that’s what you call growth! Our association wasn’t one that would end with ABG or me growing up; rather, it became deep. Want to know how? Here's a small success story that I’ve recently penned in my book called ‘Life.'
On the first day of my job when I saw a 660MW generator for the first time, my jaws dropped. I felt like a dwarf who was mesmerized by the sheer size of the machine. "It powers an entire state!" said my manager, who was with me taking me around the plant. You have the power to change the lives of millions out there. All you need to do is to work with a passion for achieving perfection, always deliver quality, and add your creative touch to it. But none at the cost of integrity, he said.
Time flew past as I started understanding the product and the systems. Knowledge grew, and so did my confidence. I found my passion for coming up with ‘Jugaads’ (a lingo used for quick fixes used during problems in our factory) to anyhow execute a given work. And finally, the day arrived. I was given the responsibility of leading a project that was running behind schedule and was supposed to be delivered in 60% of ideal lead time. The words of my manager resonated in my mind. “I have the power to change lives!” I kept on reiterating it to myself.
We as a team worked over it day and night, weekdays and weekends. All we as the team could see was a state getting electrified at the fastest. We aspired, we believed that we could do it and finally after 38 grueling days we conquered — a 60-day task completed in a record time of 38 days. I was awarded one of the best employees of the year award globally as well as my team won the ‘Turnaround Team’ of the year award 2018.
Despite the recognition, the project neither got into record books nor is celebrated as the fastest project ever executed due to confidential reasons. But it left me with a feeling that was far more superior than making it to the record books. It was of immense satisfaction and immeasurable pride. We were given a task to name the project to make it memorable. And while thinking for a proper name, the incidences felt like Deja Vu! A curious child (me), a motivating father (My Manager), a life principle (derived from values indicated by that ‘sun') and growing up to accomplish something that changed lives of millions just like ABG (Me and my Team)!
“Project Sunshine!” I shouted instinctively. ABG had not only written the ABC of markets but also unknowingly chalked out the principles of my life, i.e. to ‘A’spire , ‘B’elieve and ‘C’onquer ! A story too fictional to be true? I leave it up to you. But it’s now a prominent page of my autobiography; a book I call ‘Life.'