First year at work: Widen your circle of influence, says Sanjay Kumar, CEO & MD, Altran India

The brief and what I did in the first 100 days

At my first job in Marico, I was assigned to study the procurement of copra in Kerala and identify cost-saving opportunities. It was an interesting assignment, as I neither knew the language nor had any idea about commodities trading.

The best leadership lesson I learnt

One the most valuable lessons I learnt at Marico was humility. We were the first bunch of management trainees in Marico, so the then MD, Harsh Mariwala, took a lot of interest in us. In his interactions with us he never called us to his room; instead he would just walk up to the employees to talk. This humility really endeared him to his employees. It was one quality that left an indelible mark on me.

The worst mistake I made

When I discovered I had indeed found a way to save on commodity procurement costs, I was too taken in by my findings. Rather than focusing on understanding the complexities of human relationships in commodity procurement and the challenges of implementing far-reaching changes in logistics, I was keener to highlight my personal success. I failed to realise a great idea remains just a wonderful intent unless it is implemented. Implementation requires that you are able to influence beyond your circle of control.

The biggest innovation I did

Understanding the supply chain was a critical pre-determinant to building insights on what was driving pricing in the terminal commodity markets. I learnt that the terminal markets pricing for copra was determined basis the traded price of coconut oil. Here, I realised that there could be significant savings if Marico, instead of placing trades in the terminal markets, could set up a sourcing system that aggregated the produce from secondary markets like Alleppey and Thrissur. This could give it the advantage of reducing supply spread as also benefitting from higher extraction efficiency since its plants were more modern.

The best friend I made on the job

There was another management trainee from Symbiosis who currently runs a pharmaceutical company. We became great friends, including doing mountain treks together, years after I left Marico. A few months ago he flew down with his wife for my 50th birthday. We share a 27-year-long friendship.

How I managed my work-life balance

For me work-life balance is about priorities, not about time.