People Won't Follow You Because You're The Boss | BP Biddappa VP - HR, Hindustan Unilever

Revered as the dream company on many campuses, Hindustan Unilever is also called the school of CEOs. It also boasts of leaders who stay with the company for decades, making a solid impact on not only their brands but also the value it creates in society. Here's someone who has been there for over 27 years telling you why he stuck around and what makes HUL the finest company in the world. BP Biddappa, who is the Executive Director, HR for Hindustan Unilever Ltd and also the Vice President HR at Unilever South Asia has a heart to heart with HUL's leaders of tomorrow during the ULIP Summer Summit 2019.   *This is a promoted feature You can't miss this one, click play to dive in. Key Takeaways:

1. 27 years in a career you love passes in a jiffy.
2. Don't think of your work as just work-work-work. One of the first lessons I learned was that work and life go hand in hand together.
3. You must have hobbies or things you do outside of work because that brings a lot into your work and life.
4. The world we live in is incredibly VUCA - Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous.
5. The world is always connected. You take action today and the consequences of it can be felt around the world. This means the way you manage, lead, handle people and teams has got to evolve.
6. Always remember what Spiderman's uncle says - "With great power comes great responsibility."
7. As large corporations, you have the economic power to make a change and the trust of the people that you will make the change.
8. In the world outside, there is nothing that is out of syllabus.
9. When you go into your summer internship (or even a new job) keep in mind that there is no defined syllabus. Don't start by saying that this was not in your project charter (or job description). Your project charter (or job description) is an indication and direction, it is not meant to limit you.
10. Data is available everywhere and is accessible to everyone, so make good use of it.
11. Take charge of the projects and take full ownership of the impact you want to create. You don't want to lose time because time passes in a snap.
12. Create a sense of purpose for yourself for the time it works for you, and feel free to change it when you need to.
13. HUL is a company of purpose and that is what all our leaders are chasing.
14. Remember, people don't follow you because you are a boss. They follow you because they believe in where you're taking them.
15. Value your roots. Don't forget where you come from and your learnings from all the experiences you've had.
16. HUL has a very solid sense of middle-class values which is a sense of fairness, a sense of justice, a sense of professionalism and ethics and hard work.
17. Always be curious about the new things happening around the world and how can you leverage that to adding value to your consumers and the business.