Thank You Sanjiv

A day to celebrate Sanjiv’s stellar career with Unilever and as CEO and MD, HUL for the last decade. But, even more, a day to celebrate Sanjiv, the exceptional leader and human being. Over the time we have worked together, your leadership has had deep impact on me and today I share a few lessons which I will forever carry with me.

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1.?????Primacy of Growth - all the members of a top team must come together for one purpose alone and that is to drive business performance. Functional silos and agendas are irrelevant. Thank you for encouraging me to always think of how the People agenda can drive business outcomes.?

2.?????Flying High and Flying Low- driving brilliant basics and operational rigour are as important as crafting strategies to win in the future and an effective leader is one who can straddle both lanes.

3.?????To drive a culture of high performance and accountability you must first invest in building deep relationships and trust and the latter gives your license to do the former.?

4.?????Spend disproportionate time on choosing the right people on your team and then empower them and get out of the way.

5.?????Knowing when to act with speed and equally when to do nothing - considering multiple alternatives always makes for better decisions.

6.?????Doing Well and Doing Good- The more successful a business, the more it has the capacity to do good for the country. Thanks to this philosophy we have been able to make deep impact to our communities and lend voice for issues key to our nation like support to survivors of gender-based violence, mental well-being and broad-based inclusion.?

7.?????Look after your people and they will look after the business and that it is possible to be successful without sacrificing your well-being - you role modelled this through the pandemic and on more than one occasion I experienced your care and kindness personally towards me and my family.

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Sanjiv, I have enjoyed every moment of the four years, I had the privilege to be your CHRO. And your legacy will be carried through to future generations who will be inspired by your leadership. Thank you and Godspeed.