Not
everyone gets the opportunity to explore all the niceties of the world;
do what one likes to do and, yet, be very truly successful in life -
both family and business. And, of those who are blessed - born with the
so-called silver spoon in their mouth - the number of people who make
the most of it is infinitesimal. But then, opportunity has in it nested
challenges of myriad shades. Seemingly non-existent challenges show
themselves up and test one to the core. That is where the good heirs
are called upon to bring forth their strength of character and show
their mettle to come good in this stern test of life.
Mr. Adi Godrej,
the Chairman of Godrej Industries, is one such beacon of the Godrej
family who has lead this century-old consumer goods conglomerate into
becoming one of the most trusted and successful brands in the country.
Early Days
Born
into a highly successful industrialist family, on April 3, 1942, in
Mumbai, meant that Mr. Godrej had best that life could offer, and could,
therefore, get a first-hand taste of what success, discipline and hard
work signified at a very early age. Even as his father, Burjorji Godrej,
went chipping away on the path of the company's success, his mother,
Jai Godrej - a school teacher by profession- did not let her son get
carried away by all this and ensured that his feet were firmly rooted to
the ground, imbibing in him the virtues of hard work, discipline, and
humility. So, beginning with such firm footings amidst fertile
surroundings did young Adi Godrej aspire to add wings to his future by
going abroad to pursue higher studies at the very tender age of 17
years. So far as is known, although he had contemplated on enrolling for
mechanical engineering at Cambridge, he eventually completed both his
Bachelors (MIT) and Masters (Sloan School of Management) in management
from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA). Having
brushed shoulders with the best of talents from around the world, and
gained precious insights into business management from people of diverse
perspectives, he returned to India and joined the family business.
Birth of the Spark
Up
until Adi Godrej joined the family business, it comprised only the
manufacturing of locks, safes, and soaps. This presented the freshly
inducted Adi Godrej with the opportunity to put to use all the knowledge
he had acquired and, all the insights he had had from his association
with MIT and the interaction therein. Bringing in a fresh approach to
the way the business was run while preserving the basic fiber of the
group, had long been fomenting in his mind, almost since the time he was
at MIT. He began with all the energy and enthusiasm of youth to foster
these changes in a subtle but effective way. He made the management
structure more systematic and modernized and initiated the process of
improving the standards of the group's offerings. One of other chief
drivers of this change brought about by Adi Godrej was inducting CEOs
from outside the family to head the various business arms of the family,
while always ensuring that the incumbents appreciated and put into
practice the basic hallmarks of quality and value of Godrej family
business. Consequently, by the turn of millennium, the Group completed a
10-year restructuring process through which each business became a
stand-alone company with a CEO/COO from outside the Godrej family.
Subsequently, the non-family workers in the various group firms are
governed by an exhaustive succession planning exercise put in place to
meet the both planned as well as contingent succession.
It
was with his vision and leadership that the group was able to improve
efficiency, sustain very high quality standards and also create a niche
for itself, on way to scaling unprecedented heights of success, even
when faced with many hurdles and constraints - mostly owing to the
controlled economy that India was. The change in guard, fresh approach,
and the new methods adopted by the company stood it in good stead when
the country, eventually, broke the shackles of being a closed /
controlled economy and entered the era of a globalization - presenting
businesses with opportunities and challenges anew.
Mr.
Godrej initiated new processes and practices at a time when businesses
were averse to change - perceiving them to be disruptive and threatening
even. But he opted to move away from this so-called conventional wisdom
and dared to bring about the changes, ever-so-subtly. His fresh outlook
coupled with a shrewd sense of business also enabled him to create an
emotional connect of both his as well as the group's brand persona with
the people by maintaining the traditional middle-class core values that
had helped catapult the company to the peak in the first place. It is
not surprising then that he has been chiefly responsible for the shaping
and successful implementation of scores of a long-term strategy of many
entities both within the group and without, by laying great emphasis on
value creation.
The Journey
Under
his astute leadership and guidance the group went from strength to
strength over the last five decades, and touching the lives of about 400
million Indians every day while also spreading its operations to 60
countries along the way. The net worth of conglomerate has risen to
Rs.7,500 Crore, encompassing diversified businesses such as consumer
products, durables, chemicals, agri products, retailing, real estate,
locks and safes, office furniture, precision equipment, machine tools,
healthcare, interior solutions, office equipment, food-processing,
security, materials handling and industrial storage solutions,
construction and information technology, etc. No wonder then, that he
heads many companies and organizations, in one capacity or the other,
that include Indian companies like Godrej Industries, Godrej Consumer
Products, Godrej Properties as well as international companies such as
Keyline Brands U.K and Rapidol South Africa. In his capacity as Chairman
of Godrej Industries, he also presides over the Group's joint venture
company Godrej Hershey. He is also the Chairman of The Board of Trustees
of the Dadabhai Naoroji Memorial Prize Fund.
Mr.
Godrej has played an important role in the development of a variety of
industries since the time of his inception into the family business, by
leading key organizations of trade and commerce in various capacities
such as the (former) Chairman and President of the Indian Soap &
Toiletries Makers' Association, the Central Organization for Oil
Industry and Trade, the Solvent Extractors' Association of India, the
Compound Livestock Feeds Manufacturers' Association, the Indo-American
Society and as member of the Governing Board of the National Council of
the Confederation of Indian Industry.
Mr.
Godrej is considered to be one of the icons of the Indian Industry and,
his vision and wisdom are much acknowledged by both the business
fraternity as well as the group's consumer base. Therefore, it came as
no surprise when he was elected as the President of Confederation of
Indian Industry (CII) for the year 2012-13.
In other spheres of life
Management Education
He
has actively participated in imparting management education through his
various associations such as (former) Chairman of the Governing Council
of the Narsee Monjee institute of Management Education, (former) Member
of the Dean's Advisory Council of the MIT Sloan School of Management,
and the Wharton Asian Executive Board. That besides, he has also been a
member of the "Tau Beta Pi" as well as the Governing Board of the Indian
School of Business (ISB).
Open Forum
He
may be amongst one of the richest Indians with a personal net worth of
$5.2 billion, born into a highly respected and successful business
family, but Mr. Adi Godrej does not fail to drive the point home that by
being born rich does not automatically bring professionalism, and
stresses the significant role of professionals in family-owned business.
Not only that, he also firmly believes in the power, as indeed the
vision, of youth that is built upon good education, and is always open
to ideas put forth by youth. That is perhaps the reason why he has
institutionalized in the company an event called the Chairman's Tea
where bright young managers are called to discuss with him the issues
before the company, and find ways to address them.
Personal Life
Mr.
Adi Godrej is married to Parmeshwar Godrej; the couple has three
children, and two grand children. As per the practice followed, the
heirs-apparent were inducted into the family business after having met
the necessary and sufficient conditions for succession - proper
education, grooming, and rigorous training with other managers at the
work place. While the eldest daughter, Tanya, is the Executive President
(Marketing) of Godrej Industries Ltd, their second daughter, Nisa, and
son, Pirojsha, have also joined the family business after having
completed their management education abroad.
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More about Adi Godrej
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For
his contribution to Indian industry, Mr. Adi Godrej has been the
recipient of several awards and recognitions including the Rajiv Gandhi
Award (2002). The group itself is a pioneer in many aspects of their
business - it being the first to introduce in India lock with lever
technology as also India's first indigenous typewriter, making the first
Indian safe, made soap using vegetable oil, etc., and has, under his
able leadership and guidance, been the recipient of scores of industry
acknowledged awards and honors such as
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Philanthropy
Under
Mr. Adi Godrej's leadership, the group is also involved in
philanthropic activities. Godrej Industries is a major supporter of the
World Wildlife Fund in India. It has developed a green business campus
in the Vikhroli township of Mumbai, which includes a 150-acre (0.61 km2)
mangrove forest and a school for the children of employees of the
company. In addition to this and several other green initiatives, the
group has also established many Trusts and Foundations through which it
invests in education, health-care and the upliftment of the
under-privileged of the country.
The
group also built a self-contained township called the Phirozshah Nagar
for its employees, thus paving way for basic but comfortable, safe and
hygienic accommodation for hundreds of employees, who get access to the
homes in lieu of the home rent allowance. This was its way of realizing
the dream Phirozshah Godrej, as also to take forward the trusteeship
legacy of its founding fathers by striving to achieve, in its own little
way, what Gandhiji had said, in reference to trusteeship, a just
equitable society.
A
value-based upbringing and an unflinching adherence to the time-tested
virtues of successful businessmen – quality, value for money,
discipline, enterprising nature, acute business acumen with a flair for
the best that life has to offer: be it physical fitness, education,
living, luxury, travel, holidaying, adventure (jet skiing and
speed-boating with his grandsons, and trekking), etc., as well as
appreciating the benefits of being frugal when required, and a worthy
and well-oriented succession waiting to take over the reins of the
group, and top it with whole-hearted philanthropy – Mr. Adi Godrej is
certainly up there with the best of the spark of the corporates.
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