ALANKAR: Leadership Summit of Avenues’2016 Guest: Mr Saugata Gupta

PROCEEDINGS IN BRIEF:
The leadership summit lecture, Alankar of Avenues 2016 was graced by a prominent figure in
industry, Mr Saugata Gupta, CEO of Marico Limited. Citing analogies from the evolution of game of
cricket, he elaborated the disruption of present day, undertaking entrepreneurial stints and leading
by example. He emphasized upon imbibing the traits of hard work, self-discipline, adaptability and
multiplicity of skillsets.

PROCEEDINGS IN DETAIL:
Avenues is the Annual Business festival of Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay.
With the theme of “Discover the Difference”, the leadership lecture series, Alankar was witness to
an interactive morning with the presence of Mr Saugata Gupta, the Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of
Marico Limited.

Mr Saugata has over 20 years of experience, primarily in the consumer goods industry. He has been
at the helm of Marico Limited since April 2013. He pursued his engineering from IIT Kharagpur with a
subsequent degree in Management from IIM Bangalore. He embarked upon his professional career
with Cadbury across a variety of roles in Sales and Marketing. Mr Gupta led as the Chief of Marketing
and Group Sales at ICICI Prudential where he started amongst core members of the start-up team.
He was on board the business of Marico Limited in January 2004 as head of Marketing and has
steered the India business as CEO since 2007.

Mr Gupta cherry-picked the instance of leading from the front by the Indian captain, MS Dhoni in
2011 World Cup. He emphasized the essential qualities of never letting the hunger die as well as the
drive to take risks to emerge as a leader. Citing the limitations of a functional leader, he urged the
future professionals in the audience to take up entrepreneurial roles while learning the intricacies
of business simultaneously.

The leader of CEO touched upon the adaptability to tackle disruptions in business as well as
technology. He drew analogy to the evolution of the game of cricket since its inception, from test
cricket through fifty overs game to T20 game. The competition in the VUCA world can emerge from
anywhere. He highlighted the significance of raising the bar to keep abreast with the ever-changing
pace of business organizations of the present day.

A two-pronged combination of hard work and self-discipline form the basis to success in any phase
of life, elaborated Mr Gupta as he walked the audience through his tight schedule. He further laid
emphasis on developing multiple skillsets transcending one-dimensional functionality. While taking
on strategy of leaders, the eminent industry figure stressed upon execution as the key differentiator
between success and failure. A leader influences people within teams, departments and
organizations, cited Mr Gupta as he threw light upon individual brilliance.

As the stage was set open for questions, Mr Gupta addressed how Marico has sustained its journey
of innovation and success in the present day of neck-break competition. A blend of knowledge of
innovation and leadership, the session gave insights of the corporate world for the future budding
managers.