The circle of influence is not an isolated one. It is etched by myriads of experiences, relationships and learnings that we amass, helping us address tectonic shifts in life.
Last week, three Indian women—social activist Aruna Roy, funeral rites performer Pooja Sharma and wrestler-turned politician Vinesh Phogat—featured in the BBC’s list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world. I was filled with a sense of pride and ruminated about my circle of influence.
After spending five years in Egypt, Nestlé decided to move me to the Philippines, one of its biggest operations in Asia. I was quite happy about the move—a peaceful country with steady operations.
It had been four months in the Philippines, and my wife and I finalised a house. On a Friday night, in 2015, I was at a friend’s home for dinner in Manila when Wan Ling Martello, Nestlé’s executive vice-president for Asia, Oceania and Africa, tried calling. But I didn’t hear the phone ring, so she messaged me, “Call me back”.
Illustration: Job P.K.
Wan Ling was my first woman boss, and was based in Switzerland. She was tremendously inspiring, with remarkable fortitude and strong sense of perspective, someone who valued people deeply. Conversations with her would begin with questions about my family and only then progress to work; with my other bosses, it was the other way around. That evening, when we finally spoke, Wan Ling came straight to the point, “Let me cut it short. I need you back in India” for the Maggi issue that had just unfolded. And the board had decided that I was the right man to address it.
My maternal grandmother studied only till middle school but was fiercely independent and championed various causes. After returning from the Philippines, I visited Bengaluru to seek her blessings before embarking on my third, but important stint in India. She told me to take care of my people and things will take care of themselves. Her advice to focus on people was the soundest advice I got, wiser than that of any professor in a business school.
My mother was a silver medallist at the University of Mysore. However, her academic journey was cut short; she was married relatively soon after her exams. Of my grandmothers, one had studied till high school, while the other only till class three. I would get amused when my paternal grandmother signed her name ‘E Rukmini’ on cheques—it looked different each time. She was virtually unlettered but was amazingly enlightened, sagacious and progressive. I often reminisce my grandmother’s words, though spoken decades ago. Her advice to me, when my daughter was heading for university, was simple yet profound: “Educate her well and do not get her married too early.”
Women continue to face barriers to education and are bereft of opportunities even though they are bright, accomplished and strive hard. I was lucky that I could give my daughter solid education.
So, meeting Meenakshi, a young girl from Rohira village, was a poignant reminder of the transformative power of education. In the heart of rural India lies a small village named Rohira—one of 14 villages in Nuh district of Haryana adopted by Nestlé and S M Sehgal foundation under Project Vriddhi. Nuh district, incidentally, is at the bottom of the list of aspirational districts in India as classified by NITI Aayog.
Meenakshi’s eyes sparkled with excitement as she described her newly refurbished school, with drinking water, clean toilets for boys and girls, laptops for digital classes, wholesome midday lunch and so much space to play. Her ambition is to be a doctor!
This transported me back to Gloria Steinem’s superpower statement that ‘we are linked not ranked’; implying that humans are all literally connected with each other in a circle and not through hierarchy.
Narayanan is chairman & managing director, Nestle India