From October to March, it felt a lifetime had passed. I was stuck in the eye of a storm, a storm through which I sailed feeling happy with my decisions and the sacrifices I made.
When I had received the interview call, in the midst of all the preparation, I had to purchase a business suit. I had always imagined of the day when I would sit in front of the panel, in a sharp crisp suit, answering the questions while maintaining my composure. That dream, which after CAT I felt was too distant to achieve, could be realized now as I had to purchase one suit for my interview. Going to the mall in Udaipur, I went to different shops trying on multiple suits and finally on wearing a particular suit, I looked at myself in the mirror and I felt I was looking exactly the way I had imagined. The suit was from Van Heusen and I loved the fitting and the quality of the fabric. Fashion is a form of change, and in my opinion, every time a person puts on a different clothe, he/she looks in the mirror and discovers a new side to their personality – and this is how I felt on the day of the interview. Looking back, I believe, the effect that the suit had on my confidence and the way it made me feel in control of my conversations, was a huge contributing factor to the way I handled the two rounds of interviews at SPJIMR.
Further, I recall the topic I had been given in the interview- sustainability and development. I had written in lengths about different companies trying to set themselves goals to achieve sustainable development, but what intrigues me is the sustainability goals that ABFRL has set for itself for 2020 and the responsibility it has taken towards being a sustainable accountable business. By not just focusing on its own operations and trying to plant the seed of sustainability across its up-stream operations, it is leading towards a cascading effect where its suppliers and vendors can have a further impact by creating a standard across their own market. With their Sustainability 2.0 and 2020 Roadmap, ABFRL has set themselves ambitious goals. The entire industry is talking about sustainable development and giving back to the environment, we at B-schools are taught about long term sustainability strategies, and here we have India’s largest fashion network actually working towards and making significant progress in achieving their sustainable goals. With initiatives like waste water recycling, zero waste to landfill measures, zero pollution packaging and being water neutral across own operations, I believe ABFRL has set a benchmark for sustainability across all industries in India.
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