Trusted by consumers: Shibashis Chakraborty

Selected as India’s Most Trusted CEO in the category of Ayurveda and Alternate healthcare, Shibashish Chakraborty of Ayur Indus has earned huge consumer trust and admiration through passionate consumer focused leadership

What makes a strong leader? What are your key leadership strengths are make the strongest attributes of success.

As a leader I believe – “It’s all about them not about me”. My every step/ decision should be based on this principle. And I have seen success every time I have followed this ideology. My core strength as a leader is my understanding power of other’s mind/ expectations/ ambitions/ motivating factors. I am strong in human understanding and relations. So, people management is not a task for me, it’s a hobby- I like to see others are growing day & night with the structure I form for organization. This happens when I align the organizational GOAL with employees personal GOALs. I am very good in this art.

An accomplishment that you consider to be the most significant in your career? What challenges did you face to reach to the success.

I started from very ground level as an employee…..I was a courier boy back in 2002 in Kolkata…So, from there to enter big league of middle / top management of MNCs/ MSMEs was a challenge due to not having a MBA degree in pocket. So, I started volunteering to do management task without payment just to learn what it is…. I saw it’s all about Making right decision on Right time, Placing Right people in right place & selling right product in right market segment with right price tag……… And of course to master the ART of people management- Which was my passion as well. So with volunteering services, I learnt more than what I could have learnt in a MBA college. Since 2002 till 2012 I spent learning while earning & working with MNCs in Mauritius, Europe, Dubai.

What is a role of leader in these challenging times. List 5 in order of priority.

1. Building TRUST & HOPE among team members that dark days will never stay long, so use these dark challenging days to evolve as a much better professional so that when brighter days come then they can conquer the world.
2. A Leader must show how to use dark days as preparation for bright days…So a leader must adopt some actions to let the team follow that.
3. To teach team member, value of time & money. Because proper utilization of one will bring the other one and prosperity in life. If they use time wisely will earn more money, and utilizing money properly will bring good time
4. Leader must foresee the opportunity after challenging day. Accordingly need to make changes in company policies, actions plans, 5 to 10 years strategy etc
5. Leader must stay calm, so that even on the darkest day, no wrong decision is made. 

What is your vision and how do you share that with your shareholders, employees and others?   

My vision is to make the brand stand out on the pillars of authenticity, service standards, and by providing value for money for our customers. For, this I keep developing our service standards & competencies of employee’s day & night. At the same time I want all employees to get the portion of the share which does profitable business.  For Owners I see to it that the vision of the promoter is ahead of everything.

How do you integrate corporate philanthropy or corporate social responsibility as a part of your business strategies? 

I do it very straight with our foundation – IVF. Through Indus valley foundation (IVF), I bring young school dropout boys/ girls from rural areas, then give them free training in Ayurveda, free food accommodation, final Job at IVAC. In this process whole expenditure taken care by mother company IVAC. 

What has been your driving force or philosophy in life?

“Do Different To Get Different”, I have always tried new things in life, always challenged my own ability so within just 14 years from a courier boy I could reach CXO level of an international repute organization.

What are the other philanthropic works you are involved in?

I do volunteer to encourage kids to spend more time on ground rather than home/ mobile/ laptop, So, voluntarily I do football coaching training for kids around.

I am a believer of cleaning around me, so I take up activities in weekend to gather like minded people and run a plastic cleaning activity. 

How do you define success and how do you measure up to your own definition?

Success for me is of two kinds –  short term & long term 

Sometime people are gaining short term success but failing in long term. Hence a great leader is someone, who can draw a balance between long term goals & short-term success. Target can be anything from material to spiritual, but to achieve it within specific time frame and with accuracy is the key factor. And after all any target/success should bring some constructive development among people around us and society made out of those people.

In your opinion what is the most significant aspect of leadership?

Few aspects:

1. Understanding people (Employee, Customer & Promoters), human psychology is the core understanding to become a great leader
2. To be able to see competition 5-7 years ahead of time. And prepare road map accordingly to stay relevant in market for future.
3. Leader must know that without a good team members, he is nothing, so should take personal care of their growth. Once subordinates grow then automatically everything goes forward.
4. Business is all about making sure that the bottom line is safe. So,  along with top line expansion leader must ensure bottom line is safe and showing positive growth.

Your perception of an empowered society. How far your industry has/can contribute for the same?

Our wellness industry is creating more jobs than other traditional industries. We at IVAC are empowering rural youth to learn the treasure of India and earn a good life within a booming industry- Wellness.

Esprit de corps: How do bring fairies and equality to all?

Its only possible when decision making process has a theme. I follow a WIN:WIN solution. For every situation if we try to find win:win solution then we shall be always unbiased and it would go in favor of all.