Crisis does not come with a calling card: Nestle's crisis man Suresh Narayanan

New Delhi, Jul 27 (PTI) An aspiring civil servant who became an accidental corporate executive and eventually Nestle's 'crisis man', Nestle India's outgoing Chairman and Managing Director Suresh Narayanan believes crisis does not come with a calling card and wants his successor to keep the organisation vigilant.

In an interview with PTI before he hangs up his boots at the end of this month, Narayanan, who brought back Nestle India from an 'existential crisis' in 2015 after the Maggi fiasco to a thriving organisation, said there is opportunity even in crisis, and engaging with community, people and focusing on the goal of satisfying the consumer is a leadership he learnt from his varied experiences, including in Egypt.

Having gone through crises, including leading Nestle Singapore during Lehman Brothers collapse, and Nestle Egypt during the Arab Spring, Narayanan quipped that once his "boss" asked him to consult his astrologer and check his horoscope.

"The next crisis is always round the corner. So you cannot rest on your laurels and wish that nothing is going to happen. Something will happen -- it doesn't come with a calling card. The next crisis is always around the corner and (it is important) to keep the organisation vigilant for such moments," he said on what would be his leadership advise to his successor.

Manish Tiwary will take over as Nestle India Chairman and Managing Director from August 1.

Recollecting his 26 years in Nestle in various roles globally, Narayanan said, "I have had a whole series of different crises." He termed his stints as Managing Director of Nestle Singapore, Nestle Egypt Chairman and CEO Head of NEAR along with Nestle India Chairman and Managing Director as "the defining movements" in his journey with the company.

"When I was posted as the Managing Director of Nestle Singapore, it coincided with the Lehman Brothers collapse. Singapore was the first country to go through a recession. I had a difficult and challenging task. They were holding the water for the company, in terms of the growth and profitability. That was a big challenge. We did well, but it was a challenge," he recollected.

Then he went to North Africa, Egypt, and everything was peaceful. But not for long.

"Within a few months, the Arab Spring struck. So the whole region, which I was responsible for -- Egypt, Libya, and Sudan, went into turmoil. But again, I think one of the lessons I learned in leadership was that you really engage the community, engage with the people and you focus on the goal of satisfying the consumer, there is opportunity even in a crisis," Narayanan said.

He further said, "We grew double-digit for five years in a row and we invested more in those five years than we invested in the previous 15. We were a company of choice for Egyptians. I think I had one of the best years of my career during that period." After four months of leading Nestle in the Philippines, which was "a peaceful and calm posting", Narayanan was called to India to bail out Nestle India from the Maggi crisis.

"We don't like to invite a crisis. But when they happen, they become times when you can do a lot of revolution and a lot of reforms in the organisation. I think that has been the satisfaction," he noted.

Terming the Maggi crisis as a "difficult time", Narayanan gave credit to the "help and support of numerous colleagues, partners, and well-wishers, and the consumers" for helping the company stage a comeback.

"The only example of a brand that went from market leadership to death and back to leadership in three months' time and from then on, it has been a journey that has been upwards despite the crisis that we have faced," he said.

On how he entered the corporate world, Narayanan said, "It was more of an accident." "I was studying at the Delhi School of Economics pursuing master's in economics with every intention of being a bureaucrat after I completed my honours in economics from Delhi University. I had never given the CAT exam. So I was very clear that I wanted to be a bureaucrat because in the family, there were government servants. My father was one, my grandfather was one," he said, adding, "I always thought a career in the bureaucracy is what I should be pursuing." However, things started changing after FMCG major Hindustan Lever (now HUL) came for campus placements.

"And that was the first time they came and I think it's also the last time they came because they realised what a mistake they had made in making a selection," Narayanan said in a lighter vein.

The head of the placement committee cajoled him to apply for this, though he was not interested.

"But he said, no, just apply for it and I went for it. And lo and behold, as fate was to beckon me, I got selected as a management trainee in the company," which was considered to be a very "coveted job" at that time.

His father persuaded him to join HUL as he was getting a decent salary in a decent company. One of his uncles, who was an IAS officer, also convinced him.

He was 24 years old then, when he decided to go for the corporate world Narayanan said, adding "I have no regrets".

"I tell young people that sometimes accidents happen in life and you have to learn to live with the circumstances and live with what fate holds for you rather than always trying to mould it," said Narayanan. PTI RKL KRH ANZ TRB