I come from a family with business in its veins. I have seen my family business rising and falling and again rising, since my childhood. But what remained constant was its unheard, unsaid and untold partners, the invisible force behind its success. My father is in the business of manufacturing and selling bricks. The brick- making industry is highly fragmented. What makes it grow, is the overall growth in the construction market. And this growth was possible because of the presence of UltraTech, India’s largest cement company, the number one producer of ready mix concrete, grey and white cement in India. The penetration and reach that Aditya Birla Cement has, has not only helped built homes, but also commercial and government offices, the reasons why a town becomes a city!
But for this growth, it’s highly likely that India wouldn’t have progressed with it’s infrastructure, the spillover effect of which would have been that my father’s business would have not grown. And since I am not yet financially independent and he is the sole bread earner for my family, I would not have been what I am today and where I am today, IIM Visakhapatnam. To make the long story short, the “Unsaid Partner” made possible my livelihood. So it is not only BIG, but HUGE in my life!
Coming from Lucknow, I cannot ignore the contribution of UltraTech towards Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation. The metro has invigorated the city with a new force and has solved its major traffic problem. It has provided many with an affordable and convenient travel option, but more importantly, women feel SAFE travelling in Lucknow now, even at odd hours. It has EMPOWERED me, and now I am not frightened to travel places in Lucknow, even alone. Looking 10 years back, I would not have imagined that to be the case. So, in my own little world, UltraTech has been the silent partner that has made me fearless!
My CHALLENGE and how did I overcome it?
During my college years, I was constantly engaged with one or the other project and these projects used to happen in teams of 5-6. One of my team mates was repeating the year. It so happened that she was frustrated about the same and over the time of few weeks, this frustration turned into an aggressive behavior on her part. Although we had grown comfortable with each other and became friends, one could not ignore this behavior of hers. So advising her called for being my duty. But after doing so, I saw that our friendship weakened. However, as she was a part of my team, and I being the team leader, had to be in constant contact with her regarding updates about the work. Slowly, she started envying me and ignoring my calls and texts regarding the work. And when I would confront her one-to-one, she would give me false hopes about adhering to the deadlines of the work.
This was a situation wherein I could not even get the work completed, nor could I help her personally. In turn, I was getting tensed as the deadlines were approaching. So I decided to talk to her personally about the same. And on discussing in detail, I realized that the problem that she was facing was repetition of work. She had done the same work last year and was doing it again, leaving her with neither the enthusiasm nor the incentive to do the work. So, the task was to give her the work that she would find more challenging, and that is what I exactly did. Then, not only did her prior knowledge came in handy, but also the quality of our project improved. The solution to certain problems that seem big can be small and simple. Leaving personal differences aside when tackling professional problems is what is the key to solve these seemingly huge problems.