Veterans Unpacked | Sangeeta Talwar: "Getting to the consumer today is all about embedding experiences"

Note to readers: How ​do corporate leaders surf life after hanging up their boots? What do they do next? What are the lessons they learned in their eventful journeys? What advice do they have for the current crop of leaders? Veterans Unpacked is a new series of interviews aimed to offer readers lessons from retired bosses on life outside the corner office.

Sangeeta Talwar,  hired as the first woman executive by Nestle India, helped launch and establish Maggi 2 Minute Noodles before assuming leadership positions at Tata Global Beverages, Mattel and NDDB Dairy Services.

Talwar attended college at Lady Shri Ram in New Delhi. She is now on various corporate boards across sectors, and has recently authored a book based on her experiences in business building.

What  have  you  been up  to  since  hanging  up  your  boots?

I haven’t really stopped marching but maybe I'm doing it to a different tune.

I’m on multiple boards and committees, and it's diverse and ranges from consumer products to oil and gas, education and fashion to renewable energy.

I also wrote a book called the Two-Minute Revolution, and it’s about the art of growing business from my perspective.

I learned the piano as well for about two or three years sporadically, and reached a reasonable level but some time back my first granddaughter was born and I did get busy looking after (her) when I could as well.

I try to do a little yoga, stretching and also walk regularly. I run the house and do a better job of it, and there’s always something to do in the house.

What  keeps  you  busy  now?

In addition to all of the above, I am involved with a company called CXO Genie that’s setting up a professional marketing platform for CMOs (chief marketing officers). They already have around 1,000 CFOs (chief financial officers) and also several hundred CHROs (chief human resource officers) and CSCOs (chief supply chain officers).

I also spent some time getting certified as a leadership (coach) by Erickson International.

Looking  back ,  can  you  tell  us  about  three  interesting  events  that  have  stayed  with  you  since?

One memory is when we were building an equity-based milk company that was to be owned by the dairy farmers, and there was an outreach exercise to speak to get them involved. This was somewhere in Rajasthan, and many of the women were sitting with their hair covered. I wanted to be sure that they had gotten the concept down, and at the end of the meeting, I asked one of my team members to ask a lady who had her hair covered what she had understood. In just a few minutes, she summarised the hour-long presentation most accurately and that blew us all away. That showed even me that rural women are much smarter than we imagine.

Then, I got saved by the skin of my teeth during the 26/11 terror attacks; I was there for a big meeting with Mr R. Krishna Kumar of Tata and other JV partners and it was in the day and I had come in from Bangalore the previous day because of new launches. It was a long day and I was prepping for my meeting when my daughter called and asked me to come to a wedding for which they were in town, to attend. It was a two-hour drive to Mulund. Because of her, I happened to leave just a few minutes before the shooting happened and when I reached there, everyone was glued to the TV, and I realised that the attacks had begun. The takeaway was thank your blessings whenever you can and be grateful.

As CEOs of Mattel India, we had to go to Los Angeles once in a while and the way toy production went was they were planned a year and a half in advance. There would be strategy meetings and product line-ups. And there was an amazing demonstration, and we were in a roomful of people who were all above 40, most likely, but were all in awe and maybe even become like children, clapping in glee at the wonderment the way it was all coming together. The point is there’s a child in all of us that should be kept alive and engaged.

(As a leader today,) you are contactable and technically reachable by around 7 billion people on the planet at any given time.

What  do  you  miss  most  about  the  C-Suite?

I miss the constant buzz of the corporate world and being able to constantly contribute to something or the other, and the administrative help. Also that anything you needed was just an instruction away.

If  you  were  to  relive  your  corporate  career,  what  would  you  do  differently?

I would probably work a little less and set up strong boundaries and take more time off. I would have spent that time picking up some hobbies and would have been more connected with the professional groups and societies in the work space.

What  are  the  changes  in  the corporate world  that  you  see  now  that  are  vastly  different  from  your  time?

Jobs today, in my view, are far more sliced and diced than in my time. For example, as a senior person in brand management or in IT, in our time, we had a holistic view and responsibilities and everything that surrounded it. By contrast, today, I think it's even more important to have a single point of contact.

The extreme digitisation and advent of social media puts pressure on leadership because everyone can be potentially connected to them. You are contactable and technically reachable by around 7 billion people on the planet at any given time. Things can be highlighted and thrown at you, and you have to respond in minutes. In June 2015, Maggi, a brand that was built over 30 years and came to be an integral part of the FMCG line-up, saw its image being severely tarnished by social media in just two days.

It’s also a very interesting time for any new product. In days past, they would have to jostle for shelf space in stores and warehouses and distributors. Now, with social media investment, you can go DTC (direct to consumer). There is another aspect, which is we would spend a lot of money for one story on TV and now you have a plethora of stories being created every day on products. Getting to the consumer today is all about embedding experiences versus just talking about products.

Which  business  leader  in  the  current  crop  impresses  you?

One is Amazon's Jeff Bezos, who from humble beginnings in a book store has become omnipresent through his group, whether its space or video streaming and selling all kinds of products. He’s just such a strong influence in human life that you can’t live without Amazon, in a sense.

Tim Cook, is another who joined the year that Apple was making its turnaround. From the time he has taken it over, he’s boosted its market cap and grown its revenue as well, and what I admire is the way design is so endemic to their brand.

In India, it's Kiran Majumdar Shaw of Biocon and the way she has conducted herself and built a sound business in a complex area.

How  did  you  plan  for  life  after  retirement ?

I didn’t make definite plans, and in some ways, I don’t think I will ever retire. Reading and travelling is something I will always do.

Is  there  anything  you  would  tell  your  younger  self?

I would tell myself to make real "me time" and step back from work and learn how to chill out. Live life king size because you only have one life. That being said, I totally enjoyed my work life and career.

What  is  your  advice  for  the  next  cadre  of corporate  leaders?

My advice is across four points: which is to always remain connected with the consumer and the front end of your business. I called a CEO a couple years back. His business sold trousers. I told him the anti theft tag was on the front so I couldn’t try it on for size.

Second is the employee focus and to always engage in a two-way dialogue and help to nurture and understand them.

Work should include a focus on climate change and actively engage in sustainable business.

Finally on leadership, my concept which is 'flyvision' is to fly with the birds at 20,000 feet and recontextualise where you are from there, and how to be in touch with consumers and competition and everything you need to take you forward.