Thread by @Sunil_Sawhney

#wccstory
I was born and brought up in an average middle class family and come from an extremely humble background.

My family background caused me to learn a few lessons even when I was growing up and have stood the test of time as I moved in my life

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By virtue of my late father’s job we were moving frequently to new cities. Each new place meant new environment, new friends & new school & over a period of time I was able to adapt myself quickly to the change.This adaptability stood In Good stead for me

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I saw my father work his way up in his Organisation (Indian Railways) and that taught me that nothing ever comes easy in life. You have to work hard and slog it out, particularly when you have no God Father.

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He had his set of disappointments in his work area but he never gave up. This taught me that one should never allow failure to deter from ones goals. As a matter of fact, treat failure as the first stepping stone to success.

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He would often tell me that if ever I lose money I can always earn it again by working harder but if lose my values and self respect, I will never be able to earn them again.

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I was told that no work is big or small... it is the manner in which it is executed that makes it big or small..
This taught me the dignity of labor and the value of execution

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Armed with these values, with dreams in my eyes and with a view to support the family earnings, I embarked upon my professional journey around 44 years ago...

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Yes, 44 years ago and it has been a long haul from an accounts clerk to a salesman selling animal feed to climbing the steps of the corporate ladder and becoming a CEO of multi million dollar company.

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I was slightly over 18 and I took my first job as an accounts clerk in India’s leading insurance Company in a town around 200 kilometers away from home. This was the first time I had stepped out of the protected confines of my house.

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I took sick within three days of joining my new job and rushed home by the first train after work.The doctor diagnosed it as homesickness.Surprisingly the fever vanished after an hour of me reaching home.i was surely embarrassed.

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My father sat me down at around midnight and explained to me that these things happen but I need to face life headlong. inspired by his talk, I was back at work the next day..
At times I think... where would I be if he had not talked to me that night..

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It took me two years to learn that I was not cut for a desk job and it was not giving me the required fire in my belly. I was earning money but was not happy at what I was doing. Life had become boring and mundane and I was not enjoying it anymore.

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I started looking for another job and after three months of concerted efforts landed on in a Multibational Company.
My new job took me further away from my home, now over 1000 kilometers but this time i was more mature and perhaps more wise

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this was a sales job selling animal feeds. It taught me how to convince and win over customers and do that within the realm of corporate code and strict discipline — both personal and professsional..

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I still remember ... it was day ten in my job and I had a road side appointment with my trainer. I was late by 1 minute(60 seconds) and it was the time it took me to cross the busy road to meet him.
I saw him and also waived at him

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He waited for me to cross the road, told me where the next appointment was and without me because I was late by a minute. I was marked leave without pay though it was reimbursed much later on my confirmation...

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This taught me a crucial lesson ... value your time and also that of others..
After this first job it has been a long story of long work hours and hard work and more work...

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Due to my passion for hard work, and practicing all the values I had learnt in my early years, I was able to attain the position of a CEO of a large Company after 16 years of working at different positions across the length and width of India

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Turn of the century brought me to Nigeria as the COO of a large beverage Company and later got promoted as the CEO and the Vice Chairman from which position I have retired recently

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My Learnings as a CEO:
1 Create a vision for yourself and your team
2 Seek your team buy-in. Do not thrust it down their throats
3 Operate with the basic principle of mutual trust and respect
4 Remember that people work for people

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My Learnings as a CEO:
5 People leave a boss & not a Company
6 Have empathy
7 Treat others the way you will like to be treated
8 Engage your people
9 Appreciate your people when they deserve it and do it publicly
10 Admonish them,if u MUST, in private

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My Learnings as a CEO:
11 Set clear goals and expectations
12 Evaluate as per agreed KPI’s and coach your people where needed
13 Delegate but do not abdicate. The buck stops at your desk

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My Learnings as a CEO:
And the last two that I learnt In NIGERIA and they worked well for me:
14 Inspect what you expect and expect what you have inspected. Nothing more and nothing less.
15 Follow Up, follow up and more follow up

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Factors responsible for my success ..

✅The values I grew up with and Me having put them In Practice
✅ Dedicated Hard work
✅ My Team
✅ Enabling environment and trust provided by the business stakeholders
✅ Support of my wife and of my family

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My regrets at a professional level :
NONE

My regrets at a personal level...
I surely do regret not having devoted as much time as I should have and seen my children grow up from babies to teens to adults.
Guess that’s life...
You lose some to gain some

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Moral of the story..
You do NOT need a God Father to succeed.
What you surely do need is good values that you practice, commitment, self belief and hard work and more hard work
Thanks for having read my brief story.
Please DM if you want to learn more
🙏