CMO on Sabbatical Post 1: Stepping into the deep

 “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less travelled by “- Robert Frost

 

A couple of months ago, the business I work on, Japan and Korea Focus Markets Grooming delivered a record fiscal 22/23, the best in the Global Business unit, despite voracious external headwinds, a result all of us on the business will remember and be proud of for years to come. A couple of months ago, I also decided to end my fourteen year tenure with the company.

 

Before you spit out your morning coffee (or Kopi or Chai depending on where you are located), let me assure you there is method behind this madness. But first, I want to say thank you.

 

• Thank you to all my managers and mentors for the transformative impact you have had on my life. The contrast between an enthusiastic if tentative 23 year old, who had made the bold choice of leaving the Singapore EDB for P&G, and a notably more self-assured 37 year old is testament to the personal interest each of you have taken in me, the growth mindset you have demanded of me and the reward that lay at the end of every challenge

• Thank you to all my colleagues, too many to count. Procter is an incredible place where you take diversity and a ridiculously high level of general capability for granted. It is not a privilege many companies enjoy and if nothing else, I know I can get along with anyone of any nationality, anywhere in the world, without the irrational fear of the unknown that haunts many who are not lucky enough to have this exposure.

• Thank you at all my reportees and team members, direct or otherwise. A special thanks really to the Japan and Korea team that has been my home for the last 5 years. We have been through times thick and thin and ultimately it is the strength of our relationships and respect for the humanity in each other that matters the most even when the going gets tough.

I wanted to mention some of the work that I am proud of, but it started getting a touch verbose so that will be a seperate post.

What’s next and Why

Mark Twain said “ I didn’t have time to write a short letter so I  wrote a long one”. I do have the time, so let me attempt to keep this succinct.

 

The WHY is simple. As long as I can remember, a creative energy has been an integral part of me, manifesting as Books I need to write (my first novel was at age 11), Music I can’t help composing (I wrote more songs than exams in University), Pictures I need to paint (Most relatives remember me as the child who made uncomfortably truthful portraits). However, I was born in pre-liberalization middle class India where creative pursuits are great as a hobby or amusement but (rightfully) deprioritized over real life considerations like studying hard, getting into a top university, getting a good job, doing well in your career which make all the difference to the quality of your and your family’s life.

 

When I joined P&G, I had student loans, the knowledge of an incredible amount of sacrifice from my parents to get me to a place where I could join a company and function like P&G Marketing, and frankly I was eager for professional and material success. Creative pursuits took a back seat to the excitement and challenge of P&G life even though I did manage to churn out a book which took an incredible seven years to write.

 

Today, 14 years later, through an incredible amount of luck (being in the right place like P&G and Singapore), some hard work and some smart work (investing etc), my circumstances are rather different. I do have the option of putting my ‘artistic’ self first for a change, with the only thing stopping me being the momentum and comfort of my corporate career. And the courage to do something unconventional.

 

It’s not easy to go against the grain, but frankly I owe it to myself. It’s time for me to temporarily shed the corporate suit (not that we really wear suits in the Singapore office) and put on that leather jacket (again, not entirely appropriate attire for sultry Singapore). The list of books to write, music to record and paintings to paint has grown longer and longer, and I need to make some headway before I am ready to enter an office again.

 

I’ll end with some words of Rabindranath Tagore, that I hope to imbibe as I move forward on this career divergence, not usually taken.

 

“When the mind is without fear and the head is held high”

P.S: I couldn't find a photo of day 1 so week 1 will have to do.