Aditya Birla Group with its presence in 35 countries and over 1,20,000 employees is a huge conglomerate, one that has established its presence in the Indian market as omnipresent.
I, too, am influenced by the brand in various aspects of my daily life. For instance, I can remember shopping from Pantaloons and Van Heusen since the day I moved out of the kids’ section and started fitting into the women’s section. In fact, I have a lucky Van Heusen shirt which I wore to my first intercollegiate competition & bagged my first prize. Apart from this, being a part of Gen Z in the 21st century, I must admit to being addicted to my phone. I often find myself in situations where I have to turn to my phone for quick answers or even fast streaming of a show before the internet gets flooded with spoilers. Luckily, Vodafone has me covered on that. The Vodafone – Idea merger has created the largest Indian telecom company, making millions of other consumers satisfied with high quality streaming and instant connectivity. Similarly, UltraTech cement, with it's superior quality is a trusted product not only for engineers but also the common man. I have seen sacks of UltraTech cement piled around the structure as my building was being constructed - which still stands tall to this day, even amidst the Mumbai rains and floods.
Campaigns like #LetsBePeopleFirst by Aditya Birla Retail and #DearMoney by Aditya Birla Capital are addressing the need of the society today. By tackling gender stereotypes and making it easier to talk about money, Aditya Birla Group is taking a conscious effort to change the preconceived notions of how society works.
Just like organizations, people, too require to be rebranded sometimes. We change with exposure and the company around us. And just like organizations, people, too resist change. Like most people, I have felt the happiest in my comfort zone. It didn’t let me evolve but it gave me the cushioning to accept every blow I got from life. There was no room for rejection or failures as I was thriving in my zone, the area I was sure about. The biggest blow I received was when I joined Masters in Psychology after topping my class in under graduation, a decision that made me confront my reality. Unlike my classmates, I did not see myself working in a hospital or clinical facility. In fact, I always imagined myself to be in a corporate setup. It created an internal conflict inside me, a battle that led to sleepless nights and a lot of questioning. I did what every student would do, I took multiple career & aptitude tests and even tried to manipulate them to get a career in psychology but it was obvious, I wasn’t convincing anyone, least of all myself. In November, two days before my birthday, I decided to drop out of the program and took up an internship with a company which I later converted as a full – time job.
I realized that resistance can never lead to growth and sometimes you have to look beyond the obvious to identify the best step forward. Change begins at the end of your comfort zone!