“It takes toll on your time & efforts to become a successful leader. In this constant pursuit of becoming a leader, one needs to lead by example, not necessarily all your tasks will be super hit. There will be some failures as well. Whatever be the reason, a true leader will never get impacted by failures, rather he will prepare in much better way / work on the shortcomings / learnings to make sure that failure is turned into grand success,” shares Mayur Chhabra, Head – Supply Chain, White Cement and Paints Division, JK Cement.
Mayur Chhabra
What are the leadership inflection points and personal growth you had in your career?
While I look back & deep dive into my professional journey of almost 22 years, there had been several incidences wherein self-confidence, critical thinking, resilience & agility played a pivotal role not only in managing the situation but also in succeeding & overcoming the situation. As we all know that we live in VUCA world, when it comes to supply chain as a function, it is evolving each passing day and therefore managing CHANGE, be it in demand pattern, customer expectations, speed to market have been the key to success. I cherish my memories of working with different companies starting from Beverages to FMCG, Health Care & Nutrition, Fresh Dairy, Perishables, canned fruits & vegetables and finally White Cement & decorative paints. By the god’s grace, I have had a successful career path with all these leading organizations because of the five traits I mentioned above.
As they say, ‘Change is the only constant’, I had been an admirer of this quote and hence have adopted this in my day-to-day work life as well. No matter how old any organization would be, with the changing business dynamics, wherein factors such as the customers’ ever-evolving demands, e-commerce disrupting the value chain, geopolitical situation at the global level & the growing economy are making it almost next to impossible to think of working with the same old school of thought.
Our recent encounter with the pandemic such as the Covid 19 had made this crystal clear that one can’t even think of succeeding without embracing change & hence any seasoned supply chain professional always needs to have a plan B ready in case of any eventualities. Moreover, on the job training to the new joiners and exposure to different verticals of supply chain has today become a new normal. Just to mention a person managing DRP (Distribution requirement planning) in my value chain will also undergo hands-on exposure to production scheduling and MRP (Material resource planning) & vice versa.
What are the principles of success you’ve seen across different industries?
Self-Belief & confidence are one of the key ingredients for success, however there is a very thin line of difference between Confidence & Over confidence. A confident person will try to learn new things but will be open to suggestions & inputs from his fellow colleagues, however in case someone is overconfident, the doors for improvement / inputs become minimal. While everyone is talking about Supply Chain 4.0, success rests on these key pillars – Resilience, Perseverance, Agility, Reflexiveness & most importantly keep updating as per the market demand /expectations.
Do you have any advice for young professionals who are aiming to reach the C-Suite level?
‘GOD lies in detailing’, my advice to the young professionals is to enrich the subject knowledge as much as one can imbibe, getting into thick of the things will not only help you understand the nitty-gritties of the task, but will also ensure that you will have complete control / confidence to handle any situation.
In my recent interactions with young professionals, the restlessness to grow at a fast pace in their career is something which comes out crystal clear but at the same time the acumen to master value chain and working on the shop floor seems to be diminishing. My advice is to deep dive into operations, go to Gemba, master the vertical & thereafter aspire to move ahead. This will lead to SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS.
From your perspective, what are some of the toughest challenges that you see in operations and supply chain?
Customer Service & Demand management are the most daunting tasks in operations & supply chain, which happen to be the backbone of any value chain & hence hold utmost importance.
Customer service: This includes the customer experience in terms of Order to delivery (T.A.T), Quality & Packaging of the material when it gets delivered to the customer, availability of the stuff on the shelf, etc. We have witnessed a sea change in this aspect over the last decade wherein delivery times have been reducing every day & now there are some organizations who brag about 10 minutes delivery. We have also seen innovative packaging to deliver stuff in good quality irrespective of the distance being travelled. In a nutshell, we have been a witness to new initiatives by different organizations, which is actually a classic example of adapting to new ways of working.
Demand Management: As we know that we are in VUCA world & COVID-19 had actually tested nerves of the entire supply chain fraternity as almost all Algorithms, Logics, Demand / Supply planning tools actually FAILED Big time. While there was complete ambiguity on lead times / production/ demand, it was actually a situation wherein everything was out of syllabus, but as they say, ‘Requirement is the mother of all Inventions’, many organizations adapted DDMRP – Demand Driven Material Planning, which actually took cognizance of the open orders in system and used to trigger demand aggregation accordingly. Ever since the aftermath of Covid-19, the planning fraternity has evolved at a great pace and adapted themselves to be ready to any such disruptions wherein S&OP had now evolved to IBP & the use of AI & ML also started to cater to the uninterrupted supplies across the value chain with the minimum SLOB inventory (Slow-moving and obsolete inventory).
What are some of the principles and skills that no matter what happens will still be useful?
While I had mentioned five important traits in my inputs earlier, if we need to follow / implement them in their entirety, the biggest behavioural trait is ‘Keeping Calm’. One should understand that whatever the situation may be, pressing the PANIC BUTTON is not the solution at all. While you press the PANIC BUTTON, the situation starts getting worse and the ability to think about the situation & chances to resolve the same keep decreasing. Therefore, it is advisable to keep a calm head, thoroughly understand the problem statement and thereafter adapt to DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control) and 5W1H (A questioning technique used to gather information and understand a situation comprehensively) methods to get into thick of the things and find the most appropriate solution.
What are the biggest learnings you have as a leader? Is there a secret sauce to becoming a successful leader?
‘Success doesn’t come overnight’, it takes toll on your time & efforts to become a successful leader. No wonder how many sleepless nights had gone behind the success of an individual, but I see them as an investment for a bright future / career. In this constant pursuit of becoming a leader, one needs to lead by example, not necessarily all your tasks will be super hit. There will be some failures as well. Whatever be the reason, a true leader will never get impacted by failures, rather he will prepare in much better way / work on the shortcomings / learnings to make sure that failure is turned into grand success. Remember not everyone will like you, but one needs to understand that conflict is part of job & try to take everyone along. If any individual is able to follow the same, the transformation from an Individual to a successful leader will be seamless.
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