Article: The man who never takes no for an answer

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The man who never takes no for an answer

Mittu Chandilya, CEO of AirAsia India, talks about his intellectual curiosity and why he doesn't take no for an answer
The man who never takes no for an answer
 

I’m driven by intellectual curiosity. The moment that dries up, I’ll probably get very bored. So, if there is an impossible task or someone says it can’t be done, I’m really motivated by that

 

Social media is something you can’t ignore and I would urge most companies and leaders to adopt it. It is a very tricky tool because it is like a double-edged sword. When things go bad, it can go really bad and it spreads like wildfire

 
You did not have any experience in the airline industry when you were roped in by Tony Fernandes to run AirAsia India. How did you make up for the lack of experience? I started my career by starting my own company in the US in the FMCG space. It did well and we ended up selling it. After that, I was in charge of global M&As for Ingersoll Rand and ultimately ran the US market for one of their divisions by managing the P&L and mature businesses that we managed to turnaround. Then, I moved to China where I managed Asia Pacific for the business unit. I lived in China, Malaysia and Singapore and was working with teams in 17 different countries, with a (direct and indirect) workforce of 6,000 and 12 factories in the region. When I joined Egon Zhender, I went from being a people leader to a being a consultant. These roles needed a lot of agility and a lot of different skill sets. I think I have learnt something in each one my career and life experiences that can even be used here at A...
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Topics: Leadership, Strategic HR, #ExpertViews

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