Sameer Kaul - If You Can't Show The Green Shoots In 100 Days, It Is Unlikely That You Will Really Move The Needle In A Years Time As Well (COO & Entrepreneur, India)

 

Leadership is a muscle - that develops when you work with water over your head. You also learn to swim in that way. I like building, turning around things, bringing something new to an industry or a company, producing historic growth.

1. Tell us more about your company and your journey.

I have had the opportunity to study and work across 3 continents over the years -namely Australia, India and USA.

I got an early professional break in my career at the age of 20 to work at a newly launched property of the The Oberoi Group of Hotels in Bangalore, this was a new flagship and magnificent property that was setup on MG Road in Bangalore - and I was fortunate to have been selected from the hotels inception.

I was perhaps that time in fact the youngest senior captains ( incharge ) of the hotel’s room service operations in those days (1992-1996).

This hotel received the coveted accreditation and distinction globally as a Leading Hotel of the World in a few years time. I also had the pleasure and opportunity of being adjudged as a Best Employee here in a short-span of around a years time since my joining here.

During my 4 year stint, at the Oberois - I moved across many departments and gained width and depth of managing operations in the backdrop of the best in class customer excellence and customer service. This was the start of a great foundation at a young age - to always think and see things from the eyes of the customer.

Simultaneously whilst at Oberois, I appeared for GMAT, TOEFL - got selected at Australia for an MBA program (1996-1998) at one of the leading Business Schools - Bond University. This was a full time MBA Program at the Campus in Australia.

Did well in Business Strategy and Marketing subjects. Received 3 awards from the Dean in Marketing and Innovation in topping the University in these subjects/electives.

My project on Strategic Management was retained by the Business School as a Reference copy / as a Model Copy for future students at Bond University.

In a few months after passing out of Bond MBA Program - I got opportunity to work in New York ( USA ) for a Tech Company VJT at Long Island, also hustled, managed and supervised side by side - around 6 outlets of Domino Pizza's at Long Island for a Master Franchisee at Long Island.

Then 9/11 Terrorist Strike happened in New York that shook America and the world as well -came back to India and got opportunity to work with World’s also India’s leading and largest company in Glass Business - Asahi Glass.

Launched and Built the Retail Brand and Startup Windshield Experts from scratch to around India’s top 25 cities - in a short span of 4 years. This became a market leader brand in India, story came in BBC India and Star News, and all mainline financial papers like Economic Times.

Pioneered the concept of building a new category in India, making glass replacement for cars - a cashless business for the first time in India. I signed MOUs with mostly all Insurance companies in India as a strategic partner.

Business grew around 10 X in a few years. I was here at this company for around 8 years.

In 2008, I got a call from an Executive Search company - with a mandate to join India’s leading healthcare company Dr Lal PathLabs as a CMO.

In around 6 years of my tenure - this business here grew around 6 X and transformed from a small Lab business to a National consumer brand in around 6 years.

Brought many new initiatives and strategies to Pathology Industry as pioneering ideas from other sectors that were well accepted by the market and the industry.

My work in healthcare got me many awards in the professional capacity and got opportunity to present the marketing and business success story at India’s top business schools and at many events.

I won many awards during my tenure of around 6 years noth professionally and personal recognition as well - some landmark felicitations were from Global Business Gurus and Thought leaders like Marshal Goldsmith for Retail Leadership Award.

I was also hosted by All India Management Association many times to speak at flagship events at Mumbai and Delhi and as a Jury for World Marketing Congress.

Mr. Kamal Singh was those days the Director at AIMA and he and his team worked with me on many events and some of my speaking sessions there.

Then from 2014 onwards I got opportunity in various CXO / COO positions in other healthcare companies - to turn around businesses and as a Change Agent.

My stint at Metropolis healthcare was to improve the business quickly and along with my team - we did this in a span of few years and this was historic growth especially in North India. This story came in Business magazines as well. Me and my team and my region was also awarded the Market Movers award by the company.

Then later on worked with some Private Equity players for some of their portfolio ventures to turn around those weak businesses and bring them to growth and profitability.

Today armed with all these learnings, wisdom, experiences and expertise - , I am often approached by business schools, institutes, many platforms to speak, meet and engage with students, youth and faculty about entrepreneurship as I have had first hand practical experiences and also strong academic business school credentials to do this.

I am now bringing all this scenario together and planning to launching a venture in the edutech space soon to providing society these solutions as I have seen some need exists here at to do this at a good scale. I have been meeting many people / Founders / Co Founders to give shape to this idea. We will prototype this soon.

Meanwhile, I am also currently on the Advisory Board of CMO Council.

I also advise clients of many leading Knowledge Advisory companies in India and overseas across the world on a range of business ideas and insights.

I also speak at all leading institutes of India and am also currently authoring a book on business and leadership - that aims to Ignite the Youth of this country.

I am an avid reader, read around a book a week - especially on entrepreneurship, business, leadership, and new age mental models.

2. What do you think are the most important qualities of a successful entrepreneur?

The main difference between a professional and an entrepreneur is also what makes an entrepreneur successful - as both these things require different skill sets at most places. Many people discover later in life as well about their entrepreneurial talents. Some important qualities of a successful entrepreneur are:

1. Professionals dream with eyes closed in their sleep, entrepreneurs dream with eyes wide open and when they area wake.
2. Entrepreneurs are People who Do.
3. High Risk taking Quotient
4. Opportunity Mindset - Skill to spot Opportunities - a skill termed as Perceptual Acuity.
5. They need to be in Control - High autonomy mode. They want to be the drivers of the business
6. They have become entrepreneurs for the Right Reasons -they have a strong WHY (a belief, cause, purpose) that is not monetary but rather to help solve a problem, or to find a solution to a need that exists, or to help resolve an emotional disconnect that exists in society.
7. They value their time to a minute - they consider time as most important resource.
8. They focus first on customers and are not too obsessed by competition.
9. They understand and apply leverage to an idea - to scale up for society
10. High energy levels and Passion
11. They have figured out what they are really passionate about, they know their true north star and they use this discovery to shape their venture or idea.
12. They are flexible, adaptive, great to start things from zero, have great people skills,and are inspiring leaders. They believe in Execution
13. They have great Persuasion skills
14. They read, life long learners, are continually improving themselves and their ventures.

3. What are some of the challenges you faced and how did you overcome those?

Challenges are the best mentors. While they are important to bring the best in you - one needs to keep becoming better and better in his or her craft and learn from the challenge of even a failure.

I have worked across counties and geographies, cultures, different sectors, different stages of businesses - startups, small companies scaling up, already MNC companies, its been a mix of all type of situations and business scenarios.

Also I have worked across both deep functional expert roles like a CMO ( depth ) and as a CEO/COO ( width). The former is a functional role, while the latter is a general management PNL role - leading all functions and in some stints in managing an SBU or even leading a company.

The challenge has been to be adaptive, learn fast, hit the ground quickly, show results in quick time as these days it is so important to deliver in around 100 days.

If you cant show the green shoots in 100 days, it is unlikely that you will really move the needle in a years time as well. You need to get accepted by a new company, new teams, new situations, new management styles - and yet deliver and be a winner and to show historic growths.

The challenge for me has been to be effective in all companies despite so many variations - its like digging new wells effectively every time.

The other challenge for me has been to take some companies where I worked from scratch to mid sized companies, or to turn around businesses to a level of growth.

This calls for a different style of leadership. The challenge to bring growth by turning around things, changing status quo, has been very challenging and I am happy I could do this effectively in almost all of my companies in various CXO roles.

My bosses have been great support system - my bosses have always given me the professional freedom to always manage my own ship. As I say, Professionals are those who don’t need monitoring.

That’s the way to describe professionals and even budding aspiring entrepreneurs. But with autonomy, freedom and empowerment - comes a huge responsibility.

The challenge for me also has been to deliver consistently and show historic results.

Its been a marathon and not a 100 meters for me in the last around 24 years. You have to perform really historically at the peak t level or ‘’flow’’ of what is termed as the Goldilocks zone for minimum 10 quarters back to back at and show quarter to quarter improvement to get bigger roles and responsibilities. I am glad I could do this fairly well.

One more challenge has been to work across sectors and bring something new to a new sector by way of cross - pollination. I believe the rudiments and concepts of business at a foundation level is the same. Businesses grow by way of innovation and bringing new perspectives and not by being too rigid about only rigid and outdated industry practices. The challenge has also been for me to bring something new to a new sector or industry, then build consensus with all stake holders at the CXO and Board level and teams below as well - of the new company that you join and prove this quickly that it works.

Many of my initiatives in all my companies have been first time in those organizations - the challenge has to get it accepted, get a buy-in and get all the organization to be reading from the same page.

As I say ideas are pawns, they are these days worth a dime - what is really the challenge is in taking that idea and executing it - and execution is all about working with People, Strategy and Operations.

The tough part is not the idea but its execution and it making a very strong positive impact on your company’s PNL and cash-flow.

4. What impact do you want to create with your work?

The best work stays back even when you are not there. A professionals journey is like that these days especially.

Your work continues even in your absence. In the last around 24 years I have worked across many companies - most of them market leader brands today - while as a Professional I moved on for good reasons - its been good to know from my ex - colleagues, team members who still are in touch telling me - Sameer, we are still following your mental models, and still adhering to your strategies as they still to be relevant and are still producing results.

I am always inspired and ignited by challenges - that is why I took many assignments in many companies who were not doing well and then turning them around. I always took a job that would challenge me more, stimulate me more mentally and bring me outside my comfort zone. I like to work outside the comfort zone - as I believe real leaders are built is discomfiture and not in a cozy comfortable environment.

Leadership is a muscle - that develops when you work with water over your head. You also learn to swim in that way. I like building, turning around things, bringing something new to an industry or a company, producing historic growth.

I like building teams and people. I believe leaders create leaders and not disciples. In my new avatar as an entrepreneur - I want to give to society something that the society needs, solving a problem and giving it to the society at a massive scale. This is going on.

5. What skills would you consider to be the most important for this position?

In the professional context - I think Execution is the biggest skill. Execution is the discipline to get things done.

However, in the entrepreneurial side that I am currently planning - it will be to start things from Zero to One. That is an altogether new skill to learn and this is my new challenge to myself. This is my new innings as well.

6. What makes you successful?

I have picked up heavy trays at my first job at Oberoi Hotels - served guests in the most exquisite ways - and was always passionate that someday I would like to stay in such splendid hotels and get served too.

In around 7 years time - I was staying in such hotels and as a guest. I also stayed in the hotel I was working once. This was nostalgic the first time it happened.

Is it law of attraction ? Or hard work ? Or Right Opportunity? Or good educational background ? Hard to say - but yes that dream or statement did come true.

As they say Thoughts Become Things. You are Only Your Mindset.

I think the following may have worked for me:

1. Serious about my job - to get things done on time
2. Doing it better than before
3. High Energy
4. To take that Energy and further Energize others
5. Lead by Example
6. To get the team on a common agenda or goal
7. To create a plan and review it thoroughly
8. To get right people in the bus and put the right people on the right seats
9. Goal Focus
10. Execution - getting things done
11. Generosity - to bring up people, getting the best out of them and promoting them for the growth they brought with me - helping them not through only words only but actually in their purse as well.

Also - when you are a leader its not about you - its about them.

Also one needs to manage in all directions in the new age corporate structures - you need alignment with your boss (upwards), your colleagues (laterally), your teams below you) - its a 360 degree managing one needs to do - and let me say all the sides are important. Its not this or that.

7. Which is your favourite talk ever and how did it change your life?

One of my favourite talks that I have heard - that stands out and that changed my mindset to a new level is the Steve Jobs commencement Speech - Stay Hungry

Stay Foolish Speech of Steve Jobs at Stanford University in 2005.

His words - Your Time is Limited - Don’t waste it Living someone else’ s life was mind bending for me. And the most important part - that to have the courage to follow your heart and intuition is so profound. Stay Hungry Stay Foolish.

Steve had some spark in him, he was even spiritually inclined and was definitely a cut above the rest. I think he has been the most inspirational business leader / entrepreneur of the century.

This speech has been very transformational for me for the thoughts it ignited in me.

In my career - I have the opportunity myself to be invited regularly and speak at many forums, events, also with youth / students of many top Business Schools.

My own favourite talks / speaking sessions that shaped my thinking, personality and poise was some years back at hotel Leela Palace Bangalore for being invited to a high profile get together of an international Marketing Event with a line up of International speakers in Bangalore by Academy of Indian Marketing - we had legendary speakers here with whom I had the opportunity to share the stage and speak about my own brand building success stories.

It was great to share the speakers list and stage with Ms. Vinita Bali ( MD Brittania), Bhaskar Bhat ( MD Titan ), Adi Godrej ( Chairman Godrej) and some more. It was great to share the stage and speakers list with these topmost industrialists and corporate leaders for me. This shaped my personality, confidence and poise early on.

Subsequently, I was a regularly invited and hosted as speaker at many forums and this continues to this day.

I think speaking, having an opinion and point of view is so important. I think all entrepreneurs and professionals should have a passion for reading and speaking.

I am happy that I pursued these passions / self development initiatives from an early age.

8. What are the best public speaking tips that have worked for you?

As I said earlier - speaking, expressing oneself, having a point of view is so crucial especially in today’s socially connected world.

Whether you are a professional making a presentation to the Board, or an entrepreneur raising funds with a Venture Capital firm - your speaking skills and presentation can make of break your chances to success.

I think the best public speaking tips that have worked for me are:

1. Be Original. Have your unique style. Be clear, prepare well, have great eye contact, have the correct poise - be a great story teller.

2. Public speaking is a skill that can be learnt.

Use the 10/20/30 formula - Be concise, specific - build a story 

Its best to be brief and to the point to keep the attention of the audience.

Use 10 slides - 20 Main Points - Use 30 size font.

3. Weave a story around this. Be a story teller, ignite and empower people

Over the years - especially now after many years of speaking experience - especially during the current pandemic when I am invited to speak at a forum - its now a days mostly extempore or I use a few slides to build my case and present / speak.

I think some prior preparation, knowing your subject well, knowing who the audience is, what is that they are looking for, and knowing the objective of the panel discussion or a talk or a key note - all elements play a vital role in the speaker building a great story around that - and to be an inspiring speaker.

I think one really needs to have great persuasion skills to be a good speaker.

Be a story teller, this is what will finally ignite, inspire people and make your talk stand out and become a memorable one.

9. Which is your favourite book and why?

I am an an avid reader. I read around a book a week / or a book a fortnight. I believe everyone needs to read. Reading is a meta skill - a great skill that leads to forming other good skills and habits. Leaders are Readers is a famous saying. In today’s world reading helps you to stay on top of the curve in your craft.

I read around business, leadership and Growth ( my favourite here is : Execution - by Ram Charan, Good To Great by Jim Collins, Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss.

I also like reading around Entrepreneurship - here my all time favorite has been Zero to One by Peter Thiel, Art of Start by Guy Kawasaki, The Almanack of Naval Ravikant. I also read around Spirituality and Philosophy/Psychology - here my favorites have been the timeless book - The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran and Man’s Search For Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl. I like to read a blend of business, entrepreneurship, leadership and spirituality. This works best for me.

My all time favourite till date is ‘Start with Why’ by Simon Sinek.

- Sameer Kaul

Sameer Kaul is a well-known business leader in the Indian corporate and marketing space.

An award-winning top management professional who has been acknowledged for launching, building, scaling and transforming many market leader brands in India - across sectors like retail, FMCG, hospitality and healthcare. He was instrumental in launching the brand Windshield Experts in India from scratch to around 25 cities, transforming a small lab business - Dr Lal PathLabs into a national consumer brand in around 6 years, sales grew around 6 times in his role as the company’s first CMO. As a COO later, he has turned around other businesses like the healthcare (diagnostics) business at Metropolis, later on as a Board Member at some other ventures along with Board of Private Equity companies.

He has worked across Australia, India, USA with Boards of topmost companies and has gained substantial range - deep and wide business and entrepreneurial skills, expertise, insights in starting businesses, scaling up, transforming and even turning around the weak companies to market leader level. His corporate expertise is versatile and ranges across many sectors and across businesses in different periods of their life cycle.

His tenure is marked by historic growths for those companies in mostly all all companies he has worked for back to back for around 23 years in his many CXO roles. He has worked in companies like Oberoi Group of Hotels, VJT ( New York), Asahi Glass, Windshield Experts, Dr Lal PathLabs, Metropolis, Private Equity (PE) investee companies.

He brings to the table around 23 years of experience and expertise and is now lately bringing all this experience and expertise together to launch a few new ventures in India soon - his foray as a Co-Founder, Entrepreneur. He is currently busy with some PE partners for launching these ventures soon - both in Edutech (Upskilling ) and Healthcare space.

He has a very high passion for mentoring youth, students and entrepreneurs on topics like entrepreneurship, business, leadership, innovation, disruption, marketing, etc,.

Over the years - he has received around a dozen plus awards both in professional and individual capacity. He has received coveted Asia’s 100 most influential marketing leaders recognition by World Marketing Congress, he was also recognized some years back by IBM as one of the top 50 CMOs in India. He has also received Retail Leadership award by legendary Management and Marketing Guru Marshall Goldsmith, he has also received the coveted Brand Innovator award in healthcare as well as receiving the Bharat Jyoti Award.

In 2019, he was invited on the Advisory Board of CMO Council of India for fostering the growth of marketing and as a thought leader. He shares this recognition and high table with India’s best brand builders. He was also earlier on the Jury of All India Management Association (AIMA) for the World Marketing Congress event.

Mr. Kaul is an MBA from Australia’s premier business school – Bond University and was a Dean’s list student for achieving academic excellence in the university. He is also an alumni from India’s top business schools like IIM-A ( IIM - Ahmedabad) and ISB, Hyderabad.

Mr. Kaul is regularly invited as a guest speaker at various conferences and top business schools like - IIMs, IMT, IMI, Delhi School of Economics, Symbiosis, Jammu University, Punjab University, TAPMI, XED global, Blue Circle Industry Group, Online Mentoring platforms, etc.

He also speaks at industry conferences like Franchise India events, Paul Writers, DMAI, TFMA, MILT, NHRD, All India Management Association ( AIMA) and many more.

He is based out of Gurgaon and can be reached at ksameer11@ gmail.com.

- Interviewed By Pratibha Sahani