Never panic in an emergency, says Navneet Singh, CEO, PepperTap

What I did in the first 100 days at work

I started my career in the merchant navy. My first job was as a deck cadet on board an oil tanker of ExxonMobil. The brief was to shadow the chief officer and learn various aspects of the role I was being groomed for — culminating in becoming the captain of the ship after gaining enough years of experience. Since I was on board an oil tanker, the work environment was completely different from that of a corporate job. There were about 25 people on the ship, and I was supposed to spend the first six months as a part of this team. The chief officer involved me in all sorts of operations like learning the nuances of navigation, deck operations, helping the crew in loading and discharging operations; berthing/unberthing — supporting the crew in mooring operations and paperwork — and helping the third officer with immigration formalities.

The best leadership lesson I learnt

The best leadership lesson I learnt was to never panic, especially in an emer gency situation. I once learnt this af ter seeing one of my chief officers calmly handling a potentially, and literally explosive, situation on the ship at 2 am in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

How I managed my work-life balance

Oon the ship, work and life were well bal anced as there were fixed timings for work and free time. I used to play table tennis, go to the gym, swim and play cricket on the ship.

My biggest innovation

I automated the cargo calculations on the ship that were earlier being done manually.

The worst mistake I made

About two months into my first job, I thought I had learnt helmsmanship.

However, I had not realised that steering an empty ship was very different from handling a ship full of 120,000 metric tonnes of crude oil. There was a manual turn to be made as per the voyage plan. The ship made an about turn rather than a minor turn. Luckily, I was able to turn it around without damage.

How I had fun at work

The small community on the ship was more like family. We had weekly parties to relax. Additionally, I developed a keen interest in watching movies in my free time -I used to watch at least one movie every night.

The best friend I made

My first chief officer became a good friend; and we continue to be in touch after 15 years.

As told to Varun Khosla