Virtual Leaders | I walk 15 km every day, pacing around in my home and garden, says 1mg CEO Prashant Tandon

Prashant Tandon, CEO, 1mg

The lockdown triggered by the novel coronavirus is into its 40th day and entrepreneurs, the original hustlers, have had to make plenty of changes to their daily routine to adapt to working from home (WFH). Their daily schedules have been disrupted and their long drawn out meetings have been replaced by video calls. Not to mention the stress of a looming economic slowdown and pressure from investors.

Moneycontrol looks at how a scrum of business leaders is dealing with these fast-changing times. In today’s edition of Virtual Leaders, M Sriram speaks to Prashant Tandon, co-founder and CEO of online pharmacy 1mg.

You can read other editions of Virtual Leaders here.

Edited excerpts from the interview:

Q: What does your average day look like now, given your normal routine has been disrupted?

A: My normal day looks much busier now for sure. Being a part of essential services, and 1mg being at the forefront of several health-related initiatives during COVID-19, my usual days begin as early as 8 am with phone calls and virtual meetings. Whenever I am on calls and virtual meetings through my phone, I have a habit of walking and so these days, in spite of the lockdown, my average steps lead to over a 15-km walk every single day, which is mostly pacing here and there in my home and garden.

Q: How do you manage your office teams and how are you keeping them motivated? Can you share some unique experiences you have had during this time?

A: I try my best to have virtual meetings with my teams and online town halls once a week. This gives me an opportunity to connect with them, see them and interact with them.

Q: Do you e-socialise with your teams outside work, given all of your colleagues might be remote?

A: Not much, given we have been working 24x7 in this phase.

Q: Now that you are working from home, how much time do you spend with family? Any activity that you take up regularly with your family and enjoy it?

A: I am spending a lot more time around the kids, though I have been mostly busy. What is particularly enjoyable is watching the kids play every evening and learn to skate and cycle in the veranda.

Q: Did you have a separate workstation at home or you had to set one because of the lockdown? 

A: Still don't have a workstation and work on the bed, sofa, dining table and garden chairs...

Q: Is there a hobby that you gave up because of work but have picked up again over the last few weeks?

A: Work has only increased but glad I get to be around family all day.

Q: Did you manage to catch up with an old friend or a relative, someone who has not been in touch with you?

A: Family WhatsApp groups are hyperactive and also my Stanford class group has gotten very active and managed to reconnect with them after ages. It was great to see how everyone was doing. 

Other than this, many are reaching out to help and for help. I have had several friends and acquaintances reach out and offer their help in whatever capacity they can to help 1mg deliver essential services with minimal disruption. That has been extremely encouraging.

Q: What is that one big management learning you have gained during the lockdown?

A: We can work at 100 percent efficiency once we have set the right cadence and infra to work remotely. Also, when the crisis comes, all people rise up to meet the challenge and this is the phase when we can clearly see the stars in the team emerge.