Food for thought: How ingrained can a company get in one's life? Have you ever taken a moment out of your life to think on the impact that a company can have? Well, until recently I had never, but then I started to notice the letters ABG shouting at me from everywhere. Right from the walls possibly built using Ultra Tech cement to the Van Heusen coat hanging on my cupboard to the Idea mobile SIM to the possible HINDALCO aluminium railings outside. This triggered me to learn more about Aditya Birla Group.
ABG was established on 1857, by Seth Shiv Narayan Birla. It was the time when we were ruled by the East India Company and starting a business was beyond imaginable due to many obvious constraints. Yet, ABG stood the test of time owing its success to its visionary leadership and promises made to the people and is currently valued at around $50billion. Their success can be attributed to the importance they show to cherish their values, popularly known as the "power of 5" that is the integrity, commitment, passion, seamlessness and speed. Currently ABG group is the 3rd largest private sector conglomerate in the world.
They provide livelihood for more than 1 lakh people. They were the ones that brought the Western Fashion lifestyle into India through their numerous dealerships and various in-house brands like Allen-Solly, Van Heusen, Louis Philippe and Peter England. I am pretty sure every teenager/adult would have one of these brands in their cupboards. Now coming to the most important product that affected my life, it is none other than Idea (now Vodafone Idea). During my school days, Idea sim were the most popular and Vodafone Idea is still India's largest telecom operator. Their ads were so creative and the jingles had a nice ring to it.
Last but never the least, ABG group had a great role to play in shaping India in various industries. Right from 1857 to the present, they have been the flag bearers of India to the outside world.
Accept Challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of Victory #IIMTrichy
After graduation I joined an analytics company and worked there for 3 years. But, pursuing an MBA from a prestigious institute has always been my dream and towards the start of the 3
rd year (around June) I found myself at crossroads.
Throughout my life, I have worked on focusing the worst-case scenario and how to minimise the damage if at all things go south. So, the question was whether to go for the promotion or prepare for CAT. I consulted many but got no clarity on what to do. After a lot of introspection, I decided to go for both, that is prepare for CAT and work extra hard for the early promotion.
I have always believed that one makes his own luck and fortune favours the brave. I had to put in the extra hours, manage late night calls, do business reviews and manage my prep side by side. After a point, it started to take a toll on me. But the key here was to never give up. I wanted to make sure that I had no regrets in the end.
In every challenge, there is that one point which is the deciding point. What you do at the point decides the outcome. If you are able to put in the efforts by being true to yourselves and cross that point, you would come out successful. This is what my life has taught me. Glad to say that I cracked CAT and got admission at IIM Trichy. The icing on the cake was my promotion.