My earliest childhood memories are of sitting with my family in front of the television set on a Sunday night. While lying around waiting for our Blockbuster Sunday night movie, we were privy to a variety of advertisements, which we would absorb in our incognizant state. Today, there are a few advertisements that I am able to recall instantly. One of the catchiest slogans that I’ve heard is “is cement mein jaan hai!”, which was preceded by the evergreen dialogue “sapno mein jaan daalde”. Through this expression, Aditya Birla Group (“ABG”) not only conveyed that their cement is the most sturdiest, but they were also successful in making the common man pause and ponder over their dreams.
ABG has been able to leave the imprints of their footprints and their role in our lives is nothing short of “big”. The novelty experience imparted by a store like Louis Philippe or Van Huesen when I marched in along with my father, the massive Worli sea link looming upon me as I witnessed the panoramic view of “the city of dreams” and the overreaching Vodafone Idea network, making distances disappear and enabling me to spend therapeutic moments with my loved ones after a daunting day; these are only a few recollections which illustrate that ABG has been able to achieve the Herculean task of becoming an indispensable part of my life. My journey with ABG has progressed in tandem with any expedition undertaken by me. Be it their contribution at the microscopic level through Birla Tyres making our conveyances safer or at the colossal level by fulfilling the majority copper requirements of Indian Railways, they have been able to override barriers and have a deep-seated impact on the common man. Their chief focus has been to make ABG ubiquitous, figuratively portrayed in their punch line “Taking India to the World”.
The Challenging task of leaving footprints
Being a business management student, the essence of the word “competition” is understood in its truest sense by us. As a part of a culture of ruthless cut-throat competition, it can at times get daunting and relying on survival tactics might be our only fallback. The biggest challenge faced by me is to restrict my engagement to a healthy competition, while leaving my trail of footprints along the way. Aditya Birla in his speech in 1993 at the Rotary Club of Bombay said these golden words “We are not afraid of competition- let the competition be afraid of us!”
Independent India paved the path for dynamic economic reforms and incumbents like ABG found themselves confronted with reforms that had to be compulsorily implemented, regardless of any accompanying challenges. It was a case of Hobson’s choice. The road to liberalization and globalization was strewn with hurdles. ABG was not only successful in facing these challenges head-on but they were also successful in dealing with all the economic and cultural bottlenecks and becoming pioneers at the global level. Tackling demanding situations and extracting the most out of them has been their differentiating factor.
The exemplary manner in which ABG has progressed through all the hurdles faced by them, locally and globally, compels me to become unwavering when it comes to my values and resolute when it comes to my work. The legacy left by this man at the helm of the empire inspires those of us who are at the bottom of the pyramid to leave our own footprints on the sand by becoming stalwarts in the industry.
“A Psalm of Life” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow contained the lines:
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time.