Coimbatore: As the Covid-19 pandemic has posed immense challenges to doughty dreamers all over the globe, Varun Berry, Managing Director of Britannia Industries, has called on business leaders to communicate more effectively with their employees and share their company visions and goals.
Speaking to over 300 business leaders at the second day of the virtually-held 'Isha INSIGHT: The DNA of Success', Berry said that his organisation had to re-think its way of communicating with their employees and prioritize key brands.
“The first thing was to set up a communication channel among my leadership team and focus on scenario planning , which formed the core of what we did. Prioritizing the brands to focus on was key for our business. By structuring business continuity calls, we connected with everyone in the organization and provided each other with support and direction, he said.
Ajay Kaul, Former CEO, Jubilant FoodWorks |
In times of crisis, Berry called upon business leaders to hold fort and navigate a path through setbacks. It is critical for leaders to lead their people as much they need to manage their business during these uncertain times, he says. “If a bump in the road comes along, it is up to the leader to hold the fort. Not to be soft, but to demand clearly what is needed and march in the same direction,” Berry said.
"Navigate the boat well and understand where the wind and waves are coming from, and pre-empt how to manage them better. After all, the winds and the waves favour the strongest navigator.”
Also speaking as a panel guest was Sharad Sharma, one of the founders of think tank Indian Software Products Industry Round Table (iSPIRT). He enthralled the participants with his passionate insights: “We’re the oldest living civilisation in the world, we have to do it for our own people and the rest of the world, we have to do it for our own future,” he said.
Sharad Sharma, Founder, iSpirt Foundation |
"When you do things out of "No Greed-No Glory" and you pursue your passion, it allows you to bring all of yourself to what you do," Sharma said. “When you pursue your passion there is no work and leisure mindset - that is the source of happiness. This leads to becoming more competent.”
Sadhguru launched the first day of the business leadership intensive programme on Friday, inspiring the participants LIVE from the Isha Institute of Inner Sciences in Tennessee. The first day also featured an honest interaction between BS Nagesh, Founder, TRRAIN, and the CEO of BigBasket, Hari Menon, where he shared how they lost 80 per cent of their workforce within two days of the lockdown and that was the time, he went “blank”. With the sheer resilience of the team to bounce back; within 16 days, they hired 12,300 people to turn the fortunes of the company around.
BS Nagesh, Non Executive Chairman, Shoppers Stop |
On the third and final day of this programme, Sadhguru will once again address the audience in a Q&A session, following which there will be a live session with Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Founder and Executive Vice Chairman of Info Edge.
Isha Leadership Academy, part of the Isha Foundation set up by Sadhguru, has been established with the intention of providing the highest quality of leadership education in India. The Academy has been conducting leadership forums focused on scaling up, leadership, talent management and innovation with C-level attendees.
Isha INSIGHT has been running unique leadership intensive programmes for the past eight years. During these sessions, leaders, including CEOs/CXOs, get the opportunity to explore the science of scaling up one’s business and one’s own self as a leader.
In recent years, this programme has also featured prominent business leaders and industry experts including Padma Bhushan recipient Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, industrialist Ratan Tata, Infosys founder Narayana Murthy and KV Kamath, the former chief of the New Development Bank of BRICS countries.
