THE CRISIS MANAGER: WHEN THE GOING IS TOUGH, A LEADER DOESN'T NEED TO RUN A COMPANY BUT SERVE A FAMILY, SAYS NESTLÉ INDIA CHAIRMAN AND MD SURESH NARAYANAN.

NESTLÉ INDIA chairman and managing director, Suresh Narayanan, compares himself with an albatross which always attracts trouble.

- AJITA SHASHIDHAR

For the man who saved Nestlé India from an existential crisis in 2015 (the Maggi Noodles controversy), battling challenges has become a way of life. His first brush with crisis was when he was asked to run the cattle feed business of Hindustan Unilever (then known as Hindustan Lever) way back in 1981. Narayanan, barely 22, was over the moon when he was asked to head a business soon after he completed his stint as a management trainee. He took over a team of 35 members at the cattle feed factory (which was eventually sold to Godrej Industries) in Ahmedabad. However, within months he was asked to shut down the factory and set up a new one in Vadodara.

“I had to close down a factory with 35 people all of whom were as old as my dad. I had to deal with union leaders and government officials. At that time there was also the Gujarat agitation and parts of the state were shut down for a couple of months. I had a factory crisis, a business crisis and an environmental crisis to deal with. That was also the time when Unilever was divesting the animal feed business to Lipton, a sister company. So, all the licenses had to be shifted from HLL to Lipton, and that meant a whole lot of procedures. It taught me how to cope with crisis, how to remain calm and steadfast and not lose hope. It also taught me the power of engaging with people and being fair with them,” Narayanan reminisces. Instead of him bidding farewell to his team, it was the team which gave him a send-off. “They told me I dealt with them fairly.”

Though Narayanan joined Nestlé in India, he was soon moved to head operations in Singapore. “That’s when Lehman Brothers collapsed (in 2008) and the first country to announce official recession was Singapore. Yours truly was put there to head that business. We still managed to grow and hold our share and deliver a decent profit.”