My learning from professional life

It all started in April 1984. There was an advertisement in The Statesman from Food Specialities Limited for recruitment in Sales. In those days Nestle was listed in India as FSL (Food Specialities Limited). If I remember correctly at that time FSL turnover was around INR 150 Crore (2017 Nestle India is 10000 Crore + company!). But even in those days, Nestle in India was a very highly respected company. So, when I saw the advertisement, I just applied. I must be honest here. I was not at all serious about the job when I applied. I had no understanding or idea about the job being offered. I just applied, keeping Nestle in mind. (This was the Passport photo that I had submitted along with my application form to Nestle😄) I had quite a simple and humble background. I had no idea about corporate life before I joined Nestle. Everything was new to me. This gave me an opportunity to learn every day and every moment. Saying it now is easy. But at that point in time, it was a huge cha...

(This was written just a few days before I retired from Nestle) Before I go back to the days when I joined this great organization called Nestle, let me share what I had planned to do post-retirement. It was an important part of my future planning. It's never easy to make a transition from corporate life to a phase when you have to identify yourself as a retired person. The word Retirement itself is quite scary. But I decided to think positively about it and asked myself what I want to do after I retire from Nestle. Can I keep myself busy with things I enjoy doing? I spent some time on this and realized that my life could be exciting. So, I brought out my notepad and started scribbling my plans. The outcome was very exciting. I knew that I was going to have an exciting time ahead. The most critical point of retirement planning is your financial stability. Before you start thinking about your retirement, you must estimate how much you need as a corpus to support your lifestyle. O...

"As I prepare to make the transition to the next phase of my life, please allow me to reflect on the past 34 eventful years that I spent in our great Nestle organization. This has been an amazing journey for me. Coming from a very humble background I was able to learn many aspects of business and leadership. What I could achieve or what I could contribute to the businesses I worked for, was because of the good mentoring and support from my bosses, mentors, and colleagues. I realize how fortunate I have been to get the opportunity to work in different roles and in different countries. I want to thank you for the support and advice that I got from you as a mentor during my sales tenure and when I began my international career in Bangladesh. Your Leadership has always inspired me. I am a firm believer in ‘Once a Nestle, always a Nestle’ and as such will remain a staunch supporter and ambassador of Nestle brands and values. Though I will take a break for a few days I will rema...