Reminiscences of my first Product Management role

In my previous LinkedIn posts, I touched upon my first two roles after completing my MBA Program (click here for the first post and click here for the second one). In this post, I would reflect upon the transition to Product Management in Banking and learnings along the way.?

The ‘how’ and ‘why’ of Product Management: I had just got a promotion to Manager grade at Axis Bank. Moreover, I shared a good rapport with my Line Manager who was heading Institutional Business for East Zone. However, I was keen on moving to Pune/ Mumbai, as I had strong reasons for being close to my family members who had moved to Pune at that time. While my Boss tried his best to figure out a role for me internally, an opportunity came up at ICICI Bank (India’s largest private sector bank) where my friend Sonal Matai had shared my CV with the hiring team. This was his second successive intervention in helping me shift jobs…grateful to him. Also, it was only serendipity that I was to stay in the same flat he used to live in as he was moving on…the flat was close to the abode of a leading political figure of the time. ??

The role: The role was of Product Manager under Small Enterprise Group (SEG) with ICICI Bank, based out of their Head Office at BKC, Mumbai. It required me to transition from a Business Development role to a Product Management role. I decided to give the interview my best shot…the opportunity to work in India’s Commercial capital, a National role and perhaps more importantly, scenario of being close to my family (in Pune) fuelled my interest.?

The interview: I was interviewed by the Functional Head and the HR Business Partner. While memories of the interview questions are bit nebulous, I recollect one particular question from the HR Manager, on the lines of the standard ‘Why do you want to change?’. I was explaining to the hiring team that I had just been promoted in my existing role and that I had a great professional relationship with my Boss. The HR Manager asked me, ‘Did you get a promotion based on your performance OR relationship with your Boss?’ My repartee was: ‘Relationship based on my performance’. I think that was the last question asked.?

The fag end of previous stint and farewell: Towards the fag end of the Axis Bank stint, some of the businesses I had worked on were starting to materialise…a junior asked me why I was working that hard when I was moving to another organisation in another city (no boasting this), while another asked me if I would be working from the same Office that was mentioned on the ICICI Bank chequebook of those days (??). During my farewell speech at Ranchi branch, I had given an innovative powerpoint presentation covering some of my recollections from the 2 yrs…with special reference to my colleagues working there. The love/ passion for powerpoint had started to flourish by then ??.?

What I learnt/ contributed in the role (the ‘hits’): The role required adapting to working in a Middle Office function from a Front Office one. Also, the organisation was large and making an impact necessitated ‘heavy lifting’. Some of my recollections from the role are:

• Customised Business Solutions: The bank had a proprietary innovative Product called Made2Order (M2O), through which it offered pricing schemes in ‘sizes of one’ to Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) i.e., each Business Account could have its own tariff as per business/ transactional requirements of the customer. In a largely commoditised banking landscape, this was a market – leading solution. I remember having structured some business – specific M2O Solutions after meeting key Office - bearers across some Business Associations (bullion, pharma, etc). The key was to strike a fine balance between acquiring customers and ensuring product profitability. I also got several checks and balances incorporated in the M2O calculator to ensure profitability, by defining in – built validations in assumptions of both Collections and Payments (cheque/ cash/ electronic) for concerned Business Account. The customer pricing/ tariff structure was derived using these details
• Roaming Current Account (RCA): Akin to ‘roaming’ in Telecom where a mobile number is available even when one is travelling from the home location, came the concept of Roaming Current Account (RCA) – another leading offering from the bank (based on ‘Anywhere Banking’ theme), where customers could use their Business Account across the length & breadth of India and not just in their home location. I got a chance to work on couple of new variants: Local Current Account (for businesses having single - city needs) and Pre – Paid Current Account (similar to a Pre – Paid SIM Card in which case a customer pays upfront for services; difference being that instead of Calls & SMSes, certain banking services were being given free here against an upfront Fee)
• Cross – functional engagement: Most Product Management roles involve ‘accountability without authority’ where one has to deliver outcomes working with different teams, without enjoying a formal reporting line from any team. This requires an enhanced level of inter – personal skills, beyond mere technical know – how. I got introduced to this during the course of my stint
• The ‘big picture’: Working in India’s largest private sector bank introduced me to looking at the proverbial 'big picture'…the organisation dreamt big and achieved several milestones across different business lines.

What else was possible (the ‘misses’): As luck would have it, before I could complete 2 yrs with the bank, a leading MNC Bank was setting up its operations in India from scratch. I was destined to join them and help set up their India business. This meant that my stint with ICICI Bank was a limited one…. would reserve comments on what else was possible to contribute, as the stint was brief.

Parting memories: On the lighter side, besides the iconic Head Office of the bank, the Top of the Mind recall is of: a) the Office mess which was a ‘manna from heaven’ for bachelors like us, serving sumptuous food almost free of cost, b) a nice gymn for the fitness conscious (though I used it only few times) and c) a Business Review held as we travelled from Mumbai to Goa and back aboard ‘Star Cruises’, a top cruise line.?The Business Review was one of the facilitators towards understanding the 'big picture' theme mentioned earlier.

Summary: My first Product Management role laid the building blocks of a career in that space. ICICI Bank is widely regarded as one of the best learning grounds for a Banking career in India. I am grateful to the organisation and my Seniors there for making me steer the course of my career and pivot to Product Management, which would turn out to be my calling in times to come.

I would look at the next phase of my career journey in my subsequent post, where I would cover the roller coaster ride of working in a start-up.

Comments?

#nostalgia #icicibank #productmanagement #gratitude #learningcontinues #careerjourney #onwardsandupwards

Jaideep Bhattacharya Dhavan Shah Saif Khan Kishor Kothari Sushant Parakh Alok Taparia Prateek Gupta Vikram Vig Hutaib Bandukwala