Abhinav Mishra - You Need to Have Confidence & Transparency in Whatever You Do (AVP - Xpressbees)

 

I don’t consider myself to give such an advice as I don’t consider myself grown to the level I would have wanted at this age, but still for an advice sake – I would say one need to have Confidence & transparency in whatever you do and one has to be very Loyal towards the Organization who is giving Bread & Butter.

Tell us about your background, Journey and upbringing.

I belong to middle class family, born in Chandigarh and brought up in Jabalpur & Bhopal. In family I have a Wife, Daughter, Twin brother & his family, Father & Mother.

I did my schooling up-to 10^th from a convent School in Jabalpur (Johnson English Medium School) followed by 11^th & 12^th Central School Jabalpur, Bhopal & Graduation BSc Electronics from Science College Bhopal. I have been an Above average student in academics throughout my schooling with active participation in Sports like Cricket, badminton,Volleyball & NCC both at School & College level.

I have attended National Camp in NCC, Done Power Flying being in Air-Wing NCC and represented School & College in Volleyball up-to Zonal Level and Cricket, Badminton at Inter-College level I was very much Interested in Joining the Defense Forces & cleared NDA and CDS but could not get through the Final Interviews and that time I had no back-up plan as I never thought of non-clearing the NDA/CDS as that was my One & Only aim and for that reason I never ever thought of getting into Engineering/Medical even when I was capable to crack the Exams.

In the Year 2002, Life took a turn and I appeared for an All India Entrance for Master’s in E-Commerce course and unexpectedly got 17^th Rank PAN India. Further completed my MBA in E-Commerce & IT from IMS DAVV Indore & landed in Reliance Industry as my First Job but not in E-Commerce/Sales/Marketing/Operations Or HR, but in Security and Loss Prevention which was actually never Planned but happened.

How did you rise to the highest echelons in your career?

In 2002, I Joined Reliance, Got the Best Cadet Award Academics during the Training & Started my Journey as a Security Executive. While In Reliance, I gained Basic Knowledge of the Security domain w.r.t Manufacturing, Petrochemicals, Telecommunication and continued till 2011 with Reliance Industries and Reliance Communications. In between I did my MBA in HR to upgrade my Skills. 

Then I Joined Viom Networks Limited ( A Tata Backed Company) as a State Head for Security MP-CG States and very soon enhanced role to Site Acquisitions, Estate Management along with Security. I gained In-depth knowledge on how Telecom Industry actually works and all the rules of the Game. Along with Job, I did a management Course from Harvard Business School. Here in this Company, I was selected to be a member of CEO Club selected from top 25 Performers PAN India Middle Management level.

After approx 4 Years with Viom, I Joined Reliance Jio in Mumbai as GM-Operations in the Security & Loss Prevention Vertical. This was my first time when I had an opportunity to work at Corporate level rather than State level and the Challenges were different.

Further, in the year 2019 I got an opportunity to enter a New Segment of E-Commerce be a Country Head Security & Loss Prevention with one of the Leading E-Commerce Logistics Solution Start-up Xpressbees. So after approx 4 Years in Manufacturing/Petro-chemicals and 13 years with telecom, I decided to change the domain. I would Still say there is Way to Go, this is Just the Beginning.

What does your typical work day look like?

A Typical Work day Starts with Situational Updates, followed by VCs and Reviews, Updates on projects, Interaction with Vendors, Supporting the team wherever they need my Push. Being a Leader, I clear Operational hurdles in the path of my Team members and even support them at Personal level wherever they seek support. I am not very authoritative & I believe in Mentoring the team and training them in a manner so as to enable them achieving their Professional Goals.

It seems onboarding, even in 2021 is a long drawn out process behind the scenes. How do you envision this changing in the future?

I believe looking at the present scenario, some domains will grow and some have to find ways to survive or indulge in other businesses looking at the Pandemic situation.

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Several global companies have come out and thrown their support behind not needing a formal education. What is your opinion about this?

I believe formal education is a must as there has to be some basics clear before getting into Jobs. There is a need to change some of the portions of Educational System thereby inducing some Professional Courses at School level but certainly as an additional learning from career perspective. Also, it depends on Country to Country what level of Standardization they want. I believe that sometime during the Professional Journey we realize that whatever we have studied, at least 25% of it is applied during Decision makings and so I back Formal education.

What is the best piece of advice you would like to give to those who want to rise in their careers in the corporate world?

Although I don’t consider myself to give such an advice as I don’t consider myself grown to the level I would have wanted at this age, but still for an advice sake – I would say one need to have Confidence & transparency in whatever you do and one has to be very Loyal towards the Organization who is giving Bread & Butter.

How are things changing in your domain, what role will data and information play in the future?

In the Security Sector, it will always be a mix of Man & Machine. Artificial Intelligence based Platforms , Machine Learning do a value add but cannot replace manpower in Security Domain.

Which is your favourite book and why?

This is one thing where I would like to improve upon , I am not fond of reading Books and prefer watching Web-Series etc over Book Reading.

- Abhinav Mishra

Interviewed by- Rahul Kumar Gupta