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Dec, 03 2014

Leaders who have inspired & made a difference

Few years ago, a business could measure its success by its bottom line. Today, a successful brand is one that balances human values along with economic ones, and for the same, credit goes to the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the respective brands. Th

We have picked best performing leaders whom we believe have made a difference in 2014 as franchise professionals. A few of them have made gutsy moves to change the business strategies in the marketplace, and, others had changed the culture within their own companies for achieving business growth.

Shailesh Chaturvedi, CEO, Tommy Hilfiger Apparels India

Five strategies from your work bible to become successful.

Execution focus, care for team, learn from more developed markets, respect for financial returns for shareholders and never compromise on anything.

One most important ability a leader should have.

Ability to simplify business dynamics into easy to understand parameters. Write back of envelope ‎strategies.

How important is franchising as a business tool to grow?

Extremely important, as part of an omni-channel game plan. India is all about SME energy and innovations and franchising is at heart of it.

What are the first few steps you gonna take if were appointed as CEO at the time of recession to turn around the company?

Modeling business is important. To test out assumptions in a controlled manner before going for aggressive build up. It's like having a bound script ‎before you go onto make a successful movie.

If you were granted one wish for your industry, what it would be?

Two wishes. Higher consumption and lower Government duties.

TFW HAS HANDPICKED THE FRANCHISE LEADERS WHO HAVE BALANCED THE PEOPLE AND PROFITS EQUATION VERY WELL.

Pushkaraj Shenai, CEO, Lakme Lever India

Five strategies from your work bible to become successful.

= Think big, act fast

= Be rigid about outcomes flexible about details

= Work with people who share the same values

= Be fair (not kind)

= There is no substitute for hard work

One most important ability a leader should have.

Humility to spend time with customer facing teams and customers, learn from them and solve their problems.

How important is franchising as a business tool to grow?

Franchising is an important growth channel especially for geographically distributed and people driven business. It allows brand owners to leverage a successful business model, capabilities and a strong and distinctive brand over a large number of outlets.

The brand you admire the most.

It is difficult to single out one brand. Apple, Google, Starbucks and closer home at Unilever - Lifebuoy, Dove and Lakme are all very inspiring stories. If I have to mention one different brand I admire it will be the IPL which has fused the magic of cricket and entertainment and built a compelling property in such a short time.

If you were granted one wish for your industry, what it would be?

= The beauty services industry needs to attract high quality talent and invest in building skills. It is a high growth industry which offers tremendous learning and growth opportunities and a good lifestyle.

Prajodh Rajan, CEO & ED, EuroKids International Pvt Ltd

Five strategies from your work bible to become successful.

 Always Walk the talk.

 Tell people not just what to do but tell them why and how to do the job.

 Topline is vanity and cash flow is reality. Have a lazor focus on cash flow at all times.

 Big picture & strategic thinking is important but the emphasis should be on execution.

One  most important ability a leader should have.

A leader must be able to walk his talk at all times. 

How important is franchising as a business tool to grow?

At EuroKids we’ve successfully deployed franchising as the effective medium for distributing our service offering. Our ambitions of reaching out to all parts of this vast country to spread the joy of learning to Pre- schoolers have been made possible because we adopted the route of franchising. 

The brand you admire the most.

Starbucks, McDonald’s are some of the brands that I admire.

If you were granted one wish for your industry, what it would be?

I have two wishes, one for the franchising as an industry which to my mind requires an immediate transparent legislative framework with adequate and specific rules to address the functioning of franchisors and franchisees. The second for the Pre-school segment, I think we need to grant early childhood education and care it’s due importance in nation building.

Kavindra Mishra, CEO, Pepe Jeans India

Five strategies from your work bible to become successful

= As Confucius said: 'Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life. '

= If you go into business believing you have nothing more to learn, you will restrict your ability to grow and adapt to change. The ability to learn new skills is crucial for any leader

= Goal-setting is key. Decide what you really want: to be the best, the fastest, the most creative, the biggest, whatever. Aim for the ultimate. Decide where you want to end up and have a timeline for it. Now work towards achieving it.

= You can establish excellent working relationships just by listening to staff and top management alike.

= Pay attention to detail and know your numbers at the back of your hand.

How important is franchising as a business tool to grow?

Franchising is a great business tool to grow the business at a rapid pace. It gives the brand an opportunity to increase its geographical footprint and reach in a short span of time with effective and strong franchisee partners.

The brand you admire the most.

Brand which I admire most - Polo Ralph Lauren

If you were granted one wish for your industry, what it would be?

I would wish that a lot elite talent from top schools/colleges would consider getting into the apparel industry. This is a great dynamic industry which is constantly evolving and it would be great to see this talent come on board.

Abhishek Chakraborty, ED, DTDC COURIER & CARGO

Five strategies from your work bible to become successful.

= Commitment to work

= Honesty and integrity in whatever one does

= Carry everyone along

= Dynamism

= Empathise

A leader must be equipped with a set of competences necessary to perform his/her role. Which one would you say is the most important ability a leader should have?

Ability to think big and implement.

How important is franchising as a business tool to grow?

Very important, we have 100 per cent franchise stores and franchising is key to expanding rapidly. Franchisee is key to rapid expansion of our exclusive store network.

What are the first few steps you gonna take if were appointed as CEO at the time of recession to turn around the company (assuming that the company is under loss for the last two quarters)?

= Cut costs

= Aggressively grow the business

The brand you admire the most.

Apple

If you were granted one wish for your industry, what it would be?

Access to low cost of funds.

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