PART A
With its roots set firmly on the pillars of Integrity, Commitment, Passion, Seamlessness & Speed, Aditya Birla Group has achieved heights of success not only in an Indian context but also on a global front. What started as a cotton trading business in a tiny village of Pilani in 1857 has blossomed into a premium global conglomerate today, touching so many spheres of our lives and yet true to its deeply entrenched mission to deliver superior value to the customers, shareholders, employees and society at large. Mr. Aditya Vikram Birla, a visionary, led the company's development from an India-focused industrial group to India's first and largest internationally operating conglomerate- a vision which reverberates even today under the chairmanship of Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla.
Operating across 35 countries with revenues of US$ 48.3 billion, ABG is a leading player in aluminium, cement manufacturing, viscose staple fibre, carbon black, chemicals, copper, financial services, telecom, branded apparels & insulators. Such a presence which is so deeply ingrained in our lives, befits the tagline- BIG in your life.
Under its umbrella of major products, lie India’s largest cement manufacturer, world leader in carbon black additives, number one fashion retail in India, world’s second largest telecom service provider, one of the top five private diversified NBFCs in India & world’s largest aluminium rolling company. The omni-presence of ABG in our lives, as a tangible or intangible end, is hard to ignore. Even holding the ‘can’ of beverage or heading to ‘pantaloons’ for a coveted pair of jeans or looking at an ad of ‘car tyres’ reminds me of ABG.
Through responsible stewardship, strategic stake holder engagement and future proofing, ABG promises to continue creating social value and making a positive difference to the consumers. It is on the pillars of ‘power of 5’ and a philosophy of embedding articulated social vision in business that ABG will take leaps to achieving impactful and sustainable business.
PART B
Stepping into an industry of one of India’s largest private enterprise as a manager post graduation was a big leap in my life. Sitting through the orientation I was overwhelmed by the insights of the leaders. It is at this moment that I heard one of the biggest challenge at work was ‘getting work done seems easy but is not’. Little did I know that the realisation would materialize within a few months.
In the early days I had the freedom of experiencing and learning various activities pertaining to the industry, but as days passed, my deliverables increased. Now, I needed to learn and parallely get jobs done by people, some of whom were quite senior to me and were treasures of knowledge. Assigning and getting the job done within a timeframe became a huge problem for me as the associates were quite reluctant to take orders from such a young and inexperienced person and also from someone who does not speak the local tongue. There were moments when I would feel dejected and disinterested and even thought of quitting. But the fact, that I would leave empty handed in such a scenario bugged me even more.
Slowly I began observing my senior managers and how each one of them tried to tackle the problems differently. Words like empathy and ownership mindset started becoming less foggy for me. With each passing day I tried to be more pragmatic with the aforementioned words while dealing with my associates. The results were gradual but certain. Through interactions and acknowledgement of their problems a bond began to develop, not one of order and submission, but of partnership. This helped me a lot in overcoming my dejection and renewed my interest.
Now when I have parted ways with my organization, I can proclaim that I left not as a manager but as a partner and with a valuable lesson learnt in the process.
