A BIG moment in my life was my farewell when I was selected for a competition and was on the way to be crowned as one of the best students. Now I had to dress to impress. Struggling to find a good set of formals, I walked in to the nearest store of Van Heusen and purchased my first set of business formals. Dressed up in a formal suit for the first time in my life I understood why it is called as power dressing. Naively I asked my dad, “why is it that these foreign companies are so good at making such high standards clothing”. He looked at me, smiled and said that the suit I am wearing is manufactured by an Indian company – the Aditya Birla Group. I was dumbfounded thinking that how a cement manufacturing company forayed into fashion.
After my farewell, I Googled ABG and realised what a BIG part it plays in our lives. From providing the raw materials to build Mumbai’s pride – the Sea Link to providing the raw materials to the Indian Railways, in a subtle manner, they have become indispensable in our lives. We walk on their roads, travel in their trains, wear their clothes and also they connect us with each other over long distances. They are also ancillary to many other companies manufacture mobile phones, tyres and generate electricity. They form the backbone of the Indian economy and without the support of such a large enterprise, the economy is sure to collapse.
A company with humble beginnings right after independence is now a market leader not only in India but also worldwide and we often overlook their contribution to our lives. With sheer hard work and dedication they have put themselves in the league of the Fortune 500 and generate a major part of their revenues from international market thus carrying the brand of India to foreign cities. I am not only a loyal customer for its fashion brands at a personal level but also aspire to be a part this seven decade long legacy or at least learn from their mottos and imbibe some of their teachings into myself so as to be as successful as them. ABG is not just a company but a nation’s pride.
Goal setting is the most important part in a company’s life and also an individual’s life. The biggest challenge I have faced is pursuing a career without a direction. Driving without a steering wheel will surely get you injured if not killed. After my 10+2 education, I started pursuing a career which wasn’t a good fit for me and ended up dedicating four years to it. Like a company undertakes various projects, my career path is a project and when I dedicated four years to the wrong project I was surely to land in trouble. It affected my confidence, self esteem and also sent a knock-out blow to my career goals.
At the end of these four fruitless years I stood at a crossroads with varied option to pursue and now was the time to undertake some serious goal setting based on where I saw myself after five, ten and fifteen years. The questions I asked myself was whether I wanted to be a business man or an employee climbing the corporate ladder. Another question was to whether pursue my passions for a career or receive vocational education and go the academic way. The choices were plenty and time constrained. The biggest challenge in this short span of time was to look at the option of a drastic change in my unplanned career. Finally I decided to go with the flow and set basic long term goals of pursuing a vocational training through academics, starting with an employment and exploring prospects of a business later and keeping my passion as a side vertical to de-stress from time to time.
Based on these long term objectives the short term steps came easy. Starting with MBA entrance exams I took admission into MBA HR at NMIMS and have made a career switch from finance to Human Resources based on where my real interests and competencies lie.
#NMIMSMumbai #ABGLPWooMe