You have been with GCMMF for over 30 years. What have been your key learning experiences over the past many years?
When I joined Amul on 30th of March in 1982, my first job was to open a depot in Jaipur for sales and distribution. I had just graduated out of IRMA, Anand (with the inaugural batch of 46 students there) and had no commercial experience whatsoever, but was made the Branch Manager on the strength of my MBA. They had already posted a sales officer there, who had previously worked with Bata and had 12-13 years of work experience, who was also aspiring to be the branch manager. I was just 22 years old and the first issue I had to deal with there was an HR issue as I had to meet the expectations and challenges of managing the sales officer who was senior to me in age and experience. Whenever we used to visit offices, godowns and other distribution points, I never used to introduce myself and would let him do it. I learnt so many things from him, including how to make a phone call (in those days, there was no telephone) and talk to a distributor or retailer.
During that time, the concept of cold room took force. What changed his perception of me was the fact that I put together a project report on the technical viability of cold storage versus cold room, with commercial viability and other data. That was the turning point in our working relationship. Gradually, he started accepting me as his boss. That was when I realized that you get recognition or respect not because of your designation or college degree: You will get it only if you perform well. Always remember to respect people older and more experienced than you. It was one of my best working experiences even though I worked 12-15 hours a day and travelled a lot on work. After three or four years, I was moved to Ahmedabad to handle a bigger branch, then to zonal office, head office, Group Product Officer and so on.
My key learning from my experience would be there is no shortcut to hard work. You cannot think that just because you are smart in showing off, you will be able to get ahead in your professional life. Only hard work pays in the end. Second, you need to have tremendous patience. What differentiates you from the rest of the herd which has similar technical abilities is your hard work and patience. Only then can you move up. This applies to everyone irrespective of the generation they belong to. Today’s generation is very impatient. At least six students from IRMA joined Amul apart from me. But, some left after four years and some after seven. I still moved up and through the organization as it evolved since its inception.
How has Amul managed to stave off competition?
We once asked Dr Kurien, who was chairman then, what we need to look for while hiring a person. He said, “We look for three things: Integrity, Integrity and Integrity.” You might be educated and from a good family background, but if you don’t have total integrity, you cannot get ahead in life. Either you have 0 per cent or 100 per cent integrity. There is no grey area here. If someone is not professionally honest, then it will be a big problem. That is how we managed to stave off competition.
As the Managing Director, what do you look for when you hire someone? Would you say the same thing?
The thing about integrity is that you cannot make it out from an individual. Probably you would get an idea about it from his background, family and work. But, I think integrity stems from the culture of the organization and how tolerant we are. People who work in our organization know that we are very tolerant.
If so, how would you define Amul’s culture?
The culture of any organization is like a religion; it cannot be built overnight. The founders build the culture of any organization. In Amul, Dr Kurien laid down the culture. We don’t hire laterally. All of our middle- and high-level managers have joined at the entry level. This is their first job. This is unlike e-commerce companies, where there is a mix of several cultures from top to bottom and where everyone tries to make their culture the most prominent. People feel inspired and connected to the company and feel they are contributing to the organization. If your boss has a different culture and the subordinates have a different one, then you will not work as a team. Very few organizations have expanded overnight by inducting people from different cultures.
You have been closely associated with Dr Verghese Kurien. What sort of influence did he have on you?
Dr Kurien was a remarkable man. He came from a privileged background — his uncle was on the Board of the Tatas and went on to become India’s first finance minister, and his father was a civil surgeon in Kerala. He went to the US for postgraduation and could have done anything he wanted. But he ultimately made his way to Anand in Gujarat. So, in order to achieve something, you must be willing to sacrifice.
When I used to be a branch manager in Ahmedabad, he would call every week for an update. He was a very hard taskmaster, but also encouraged his workers a lot, especially the younger ones. He was also very punctual. If you had an appointment at 10 am, you wouldn’t dare to step into his office at 10:02 am. He always came to every meeting prepared and was very witty.
In order to build a world-class institution, he got together the best people with integrity, the best technology and gave complete freedom to all the workers. Even when we hired an ad agency, we left the job entirely to them. To this date, we see the ads when consumers like you see it.
What is your advice for upcoming HR professionals?
Whichever company, industry or sector they join, they have to make the people more stable-minded. This monkey business of jumping from tree to tree (organization to organization) is not good and that culture is increasing. For this, HR professionals are also responsible. The fundamental job of an HR professional is to inspire people to contribute to the company’s growth. They should be intrinsically devoted to the organization and not because they are getting a salary.
Amul is a great brand. If you had to give pointers to other companies on how to raise one’s brand profile, then what would be your guidelines?
Amul is a tool for earning a livelihood for the millions of farmers. They have reposed their trust in the brand. Second, we give the best quality product for the most reasonable price and it has become a trustworthy brand. A brand will be respected if it gives much more than expected. Faith in a brand is like faith in a religion. The year your brand becomes like a religion, you have achieved your goal. An organization can sustain a brand only if it has goodness embedded in it.
What keeps you awake at night?
How to keep farmers satisfied. Since farmers form the backbone of the operations at Amul, keeping them happy is a major goal for us. The second thing that I am worried about is what to do with the extra milk that is produced.