Goal-setting: When Aditya Birla made son Kumar Mangalam take CA and BCom exams simultaneously

Dads, like football coaches, have a thing about goals, and scoring them. Like, for instance, the late Aditya Birla. Son Kumar Mangalam Birla describes his father as “my greatest coach, the best guru one could ever learn from”.

Penning one particular episode, the chairman of the Aditya Birla Group writes, “I remember when I finished my ICSE, he phoned me and said that I should do my CA simultaneously with my B.Com. The exam was just two weeks away. All my friends thought I was crazy. It was studies, studies and more studies.

I wasn’t very happy about it. At that point in time, I did not have the courage to say so. However, I trusted my father’s judgement. I even remember my father dropping me on the first day of the CA exam.” In hindsight, Birla is grateful for the direction provided by his dad and is still counting his blessings for doing chartered accountancy.


In his words: “When I look back, CA was among the best things he made me do. It sharpens your mind on numbers, and that is an integral part of business. You have to have the math right.”