Play It 'Big' With The Aditya Birla Group - Srimanti Basak, NMIMS Mumbai

As mentioned by Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, “Our values provide us with our roots and they provide us with our wings”. This is true not only for Aditya Birla Group but to each and every individual like me. Over the years it is the five core values of Integrity, Commitment, Passion, Seamlessness and Speed that helped the corporation to steer through the ups and downs of the corporate world. It is the ‘Power of five’ that helped them to deliver superior quality to the stakeholders and strive towards the vision of becoming a premium global conglomerate. I have been a hard working individual all my life but over the years I realized that work is not about ‘Me’ but ‘We’. It is very important to work in teams. Being fair to yourself and the team members is essential for successful project delivery. This is where integrity comes into the picture. We often have to take tough decisions in life and at the same time be honest to oneself and fair to others. When encountered with such a situation in life I often ask myself “Is this correct? Am I being fair?” If I get an affirmative answer I proceed else I don’t even if it is at the cost of earning fewer brownie points than others. At the foundation of integrity is commitment. Being responsible and accountable for what I have done helps me to stay true to my work and gain the trust of my team members. The transparency motivates others to work with me and helps us to deliver the best. I often get emotionally attached to my work which gives me tremendous joy and brings out the highest level of enthusiasm and energy in me. Understanding the requirement of the opposite party and trying to deliver beyond their expectation is what I strive for continuously. I do not succeed every single time but then learning from the failures and improving myself is what keeps me going. Last but not least, I firmly believe in collaboration and knowledge sharing. Sharing my best practices with others and learning theirs help me to develop myself every single day. Just like Aditya Birla Group, one should keep developing oneself. Being stagnant and complacent is never the solution. Moving ahead and giving our best shot is what makes an individual ‘big’ and significant.

Why Aditya Birla Group is big in my life? 

Anything that is huge, mammoth, significant, great or important can be termed as ‘big’. Aditya Birla Group, a US $44.3 billion conglomerate established in 1857, have proved itself to be ‘big’ and significant over all these years through sheer determination, integrity, responsible and ethical business practices. Today, we have been touched by ABG in almost every sphere of life and time and again the corporation has made its massive presence felt. Today ABG is everywhere, be it in fashion, innovation, manufacturing, infrastructure, community or finance and just like in millions out there it plays a significant role in my life too. A typical Sunday evening for me is all about spending quality time with family and friends. On one such weekend, we planned to go out for shopping as we were about to have a family get together the very next week. Once the plan was made the first question asked by my father, a non-enthusiastic shopper, was “Where are we going? Is it necessary for me to accompany you all? I get bored and tired.” To this, my mom responded, “Yes, we are going to Pantaloons.” The idea of having multiple branded apparels under one roof calmed him down and he finally he agreed to join us. On our way to the store we passed by the mammoth and the mesmerizing engineering marvel “The Bandra Worli Sea Link”. The sea link builds over the vast expanse of water coupled with the golden hues of the setting sun created a surrealistic effect. Out of curiosity, I was led to Google a bit on this beauty. I asked my father “Dad do you know 0.1 million mt of Ultra Tech cement went into the construction of the sea link?” Already awe struck dad said “Ultra Tech cement? Do you mean the Aditya Birla Group? They own Pantaloons too right? And we are going there?” To this, I responded “Yes!!” We reached the store and my once apprehensive father proved to be the most enthusiastic shopper. He left the store with the biggest and the heaviest shopping bag among the three of us: two shirts from Van Heusen and Louis Philippe each and trousers from Allen Solly made his day. It was already late and we needed to book a cab. For some reason, both mom and I were facing network issues and had no internet connectivity. Dad came to the rescue and booked a cab. On the way back home he said: “Vodafone Idea network saved us today!” This brought a ‘big’ smile on our already tired faces. Right from the moment we left home that evening till we came back, it was ABG everywhere. Just like the way it managed to put smiles on our faces I am sure it does so every single day for millions of families out there. Aditya Birla Group was and will continue to play an inherent role in nourishing the lives of each and every individual and the nation as a whole.