I may be calm at home, but I'm aggressive at work: Schauna Chauhan Saluja

Ever since she joined her family business, she's been a major catalyst in morphing the scale and growth of the company. Today the inspiring Schauna Chauhan Saluja is a metaphor for young India - confident, progressive and a visionary. Parle Agro's aggressive international market capture strategy can easily be attributed to her sharp sighted approach and acumen.

It was 1999 when she joined the company's board as a director and later became the CEO in 2006 and the rest they say is history. Under her powerful aegis, the group has diversified from being only a beverage major to being a leader in both food and beverage. She's evolved the face and the reach of her brands by exponentially expanding the company's global presence, with exports to over 50 countries.

The eldest daughter of Prakash Chauhan has become a sort of an entrepreneurial icon thanks to her unstinted hard-work, an innovative approach to creating a unique work environment within the company and honing a holistic work culture. She did her Bachelors in International Management, Franklin College, Lugano, Switzerland and focused on attracting and retaining enough employees and creating a sturdy leadership pipeline.

After schooling in Kodaikanal International School and clinching a Bachelor's degree from business school in Lausanne, she got back into the rough-and-tumble of the business in Parle Agro.

She's warm, approachable and speaks with a lot of passion which clearly shows how much she enjoys what she does. Striking a perfect work-life balance, being a wife and a mother to a kid - the workaholic makes it all so easy. She talks about the unique organisational culture she inculcated within the company, being a working wife and mother and what keeps her thoroughly motivated, no matter what! Over to the dynamic lady who remains unfazed...

You are into the thick of a very aggressive market in the remotest corners of India. How do you handle the challenges as a woman?
People have misleading preconceived notions about women. When you talk about an entrepreneur most people think of a man. You don't hear about it much, but there are so many women today running either their own businesses or their family businesses. Thus creating a plethora of jobs and opportunities for others which is eventually contributing to the overall economic growth of the country.

There are so many women entrepreneurs or working woman who have a good job and are earning an income, and utmost respect for themselves. It's not about whether a woman joins the family business or not... it's about investing in women and not underestimating their potential. It is infact about changing the way we see a woman so that we set an example for others to follow. Never underestimate the power of a woman. I heard this somewhere -"women are the emerging market of the emerging market" I strongly agree with that. I may come across as calm to my friends or when I am outside but I am quite an aggressive person when it comes to my workplace.

RULE1- Being a woman does not imply that there are certain things that you can/not do as other men are doing in business set-up. It is totally is a role play of your business requirement. I have been involved in the family business since a very young age; whether it was going with my father for exhibitions or coming to office during the summer holidays, the involvement was always there so this place has always been my comfort zone. You know it is a place I actually call home. There are times where I have said, "I have to go home" but when I say that Iam referring to my office and not my house. Many a times, I have done this because we spend so much of our time in office; working six days a week, 12 hours a day at a stretch. This is the place I feel most comfortable in and spend a lot of time with my colleagues so you're bound to develop a strong bond. It is a family-run organisation, everybody is like family to me at Parle Agro.

How do you handle Channel Partners in the remotest places?
The logistics part of it. What happens is from the plant, the stock goes to the warehouse and then to the Channel Partners. I do not have much interaction with the Channel Partners, but yes we do have annual Channel Partner meets at different locations pan-India where everybody comes together for a product launch or some training or a motivational session.

I walk in a room full of men with the same confidence as I would do when addressing my women counterparts. I walk in there not seeing that I am the only woman in the room, I see it as a privilege actually. I know what I am getting into. I know what is the subject we are going to be discussing and I know what is the end objective that we need to achieve after leaving the room so that's the only thing you are thinking and focusing on. You have to learn how to blend in. if I go into the rural areas in a business suit, I am not going to blend in. You have to understand the culture, the audience type, behave in a different manner, act differently as opposed to what you would do in your office. You speak in Hindi, you know how to greet them, you listen to them, you wear an Indian outfit. If I go to any of my manufacturing locations, you will see me in a Parle Agro t-shirt and a pair of jeans and sneakers. Primarily because I am going to be in the production hall and I am not going to walk in my suit, even I know I am going to be uncomfortable.

You have to be the chameleon that keeps adapting to its environment. You have to walk that extra mile, let others feel comfortable with you. I need them to feel comfortable with me so that we can work together - that's how we have been able to tackle such an aggressive market.

What was your experience when you first took charge of Parle Agro?
I actually started from scratch at the time when my father was separating from his brother. We sold Thumps Up at that time so it was a completely new and challenging environment. The organisation at that time was focusing on its new business - the (PET) plastic business which we were venturing into for the first time. On the first day I did not have a cabin. 'Schauna this is your cabin this is your secretary and this is your computer, now do whatever' - it was not like that! I sat with the team outside. At that time our office was all closed room doors, if you see our offices today including cabins, we leave our doors open. I insist that everybody should leave their doors open because you should be accessible. My doors are never closed. Sometimes I tell my people let's remove all the doors. I do know why we have doors. So I would work with the team, I would understand the company and I went through different functions of the organisation like spending two to three months in each department - be it accounts, legal or HR. At that time there was no HR, there was an administration department. I took up the challenge of setting up and structuring a fully functional Human Resource department. Gradually, as I got more and more involved and sat through a lot more meetings with my dad, I made up my mind and finally decided to take on bigger roles. Marketing and branding is not my forte, operations is something that I excel at. While I take care of the operations which is the backbone of the whole organisation, my sister Nadia handles the creative strategy and innovation part of the business. Operations is to do with people, it is to do with money, it is to do with compliance, these are the things I enjoy working on. Nadia says, 'I do not know how you do it' and I say, 'I do not know how you do it, what you do' because we complement each other. We work very good as a team - me in this role, she in that role where we do not interfere in each other's space. We definitely give our opinions, advice and suggestions but the decision is yours that's your function you do how you would handle it.

What inspires you?
There are multiple people who inspire me. People who have failed at several attempts of trying to do something and yet gotten back on their feet and tried again. Taking huge risks knowing that there are chances of even failing at them. And because of these failures they have worked harder and shown more determination than others and have then succeeded to become inspirations for so many people. All these stories that you hear either about athletes, business persons, scientist, inventors, artists etc where people have tried so hard till they got it right. This is inspiration for me. So Whether it be Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, Thomas Edison, my grandmother, my sisters, my colleagues...or friends that are around you who have worked from scratch and made something they believed in come true are the people who inspire me.

I enjoy what I do, when I wake up in the morning I do not say to myself, 'Oh God, I have to go to work'. On Sundays, I tell Saluja I am so happy tomorrow is Monday because already my mind starts working on what all I have to do and I want to get there soon so I can start finishing it and doing it and my mind does not stop. I love what I do, I could be here for 20 hours. Also, sometimes I wish there were more hours because there is so much to do.

It is from within nobody is there who is pushing me, driving me because I am having fun enjoying it. I love the work pressure. I feel a little nervous when it is too quiet because I am sitting in anticipation for this one thing that you know one fine day, is going to arise when things are too quiet, I do not relax. In fact, I am more edgy when things are too quiet because I do not know when the storm or one little thing we forgot pops up and shocks us.

Always something or the other is going on, the activity does not stop even when it is off-season for us. Season time is the peak time for us, we utilise the off-season to work on training our people because during the season time, the plant does not stop. So during off-season we start focusing on our maintenance work on everything to get us prepared and ready for the season. There is always 24 X 7 activity going on, I am just inspired by the people around me and also seeing them involved in the company. All of us want to achieve something for the company for us, the company comes first and when people say, 'this is my company', I feel happy that is when I feel 'Wow, I have achieved something today' because for some people, it is just a job that's not what we want here, it is not a job this is your company, you belong to the family and we are all responsible for what we do for us to be able to cater to the market nationally, doing our exports and keep growing year on year. Frooti as our no 1 brand is very very important.

Every employee is a family member to me and that is an important driving force within. There have been instances wherein people come and say, 'I do not feel motivated' and I simply tell them you are supposed to motivate yourself. Nobody motivates me, I motivate myself because I enjoy what I do.

I always say my father inspires me, we are the fourth generation that itself is a number one inspiration but there has to be more than that. You cannot say it is your family business and that inspires me, also puts a lot of more responsibility onto the shoulder, but the main inspiration I feel should come from within. I never looked left or right, it was always coming to Andheri, it was from the college itself I chose my courses in that manner. I never chose anything else like Liberal Arts or anything else. My courses were all business management courses because I was getting myself ready to come here without any pressure from family. My sister Alisha is following her passion. She does what she likes.

Our brands have grown so much over the years, the company has grown so much over the years, everything has multiplied. We have seen the dark times, the good times so all these are just inspirations to keep going forward and when things do not work out, we are not going to give up. Last year, I do not think any of the FMCG companies did as well as expected because of the weather and it rained so early and this year we all did well so you have your lows and highs, you just keep moving forward.

What is the culture that you have set for your company?
We start as early as 8.30 and get done at 5pm which give our employees a lot of time to strike that perfect work-life balance. You must not work more than the closing hours of the office which we encourage. We encourage people not to work longer. To prove you work long hours, you are not proving anything, in fact, you are less productive.

I do not believe in emails - something I totally discourage at all levels. I strongly believe in using emails for documenting the conversations so that it is placed on records like when you have decided something with someone so that you can always refer back to that email. However, do not use to strategise or chat so you see half of the time people are on their computers going through 500 emails. I feel it is a waste of time and people forget you have to meet people, you have to interact. Unless you interact you do not get good ideas, you do not understand the body language, you decided the tone of the email when actually the tone is not even that which creates conflict between people. I feel people are forgetting this human touch where you have to personally meet sometimes to discuss things, you cannot send email and say my work is done. The open door policy that we follow in our office makes me very approachable and the employees more comfortable.

We have an ethics officer, we have a good value system. If anything goes wrong, or you come across a malpractice or any other issue that is morally wrong and inappropriate you can approach the ethics officer with your email and narrate everything and that officer will only keep it to himself and will discuss only with me and nobody else in the company unless I seem it's okay to discuss it with the person.

While we are a family-oriented company, we are also very professionally driven. We are a young, dynamic and progressive company that believes in keeping up with the changing times and consumer demands.

Your husband is a tennis player, are you inclined to some sport? What keeps you fit?
When I was in school and college I used to play a lot of sports, I was the captain of the hockey team, we owned horses, we used to ride a lot, go to Amateurs Riders' Club at 6 o'clock every morning. So sports we have always done as a family as an individual with my sisters with friends -- hockey, volleyball, tennis, I won so many tennis tournaments. I like football, played a lot of football, baseball, also badminton. When I started working, after two to three years, I started getting more engrossed in the business. I was not having time then to indulge in my passion. Here there is no way you can go and play hockey or football. I remember I called up some hockey club and I told them if I can just came and play but they said no to me, I do not know why. To go all the way to pursue horse riding is difficult so eventually it started boiling down to gymming. I did that for three to four years and then stopped. Now the only sport I do is run after my son Jahaan but I am still running but in a different way. I would love to play a sport now. I did cheer-leading also in school.

Now it is just home, son and work for another six months till he starts play school then maybe I will start once he grows.

If there are movies which both of us will enjoy we will watch it together otherwise he enjoys movies which are totally different like serious types of movies because he sees from a very different perspective, not from the way I see. I like to go and laugh and enjoy or feel romantic, see a romantic movie or a funny movie but he is more technical so if there is a serious movie then I do not go with him. He goes with his friends so they can discuss. We are both so passionate about our work and understand we are going to give our work more time. I have concluded that now you know with all the documentaries that he has done and the amount of time he takes off shooting for the documentary if I did not understand that I think we would be squabbling a lot today and he understands if I cannot do something then I have to just take off and go to work for say – three to four days or late hours at work. Maybe sometimes dinner is not organised at home because I have forgotten I am in a meeting and forgot to tell my assistant. He is not going to come down my throat and ask where's the dinner, we are very chilled out. We will call in for food – we understand that these are the years we want to give our work priority, even if we are priority but work is the main focus for us and that's how the understanding helps us strike that balance. So if I have forgotten to do something or he has forgotten because we were occupied at work we understand and sort it out like mature and understanding adults.

You are so young, you have a lot more to go for, but yet you are on the peak having said this, where do you see yourself in 2025?
Work-wise we are focused on the beverage industry. We have got very strong brands which have grown over time. If you think Mango you think Frooti. I think to be able to sustain is a challenge today because you have a lot of these small players who come and copy you, ruin the market that you have worked so hard for.

Whether I went to UCLA or school – I was the naughtiest person or broke every rule. My mum was called every time by the Principal and she was on the Board I remember her yelling at me saying that 'I am on the Board you cannot do this. I cannot be called to the Principals' office (this was in Kodi). KODAI' I never studied that much in Kodi. Also, I remember a year where I had the lowest GPA in my class. When a couple of years ago they actually called me for the graduation ceremony to come and address the graduating class. That was a very proud moment for me.

From all the universities I had applied to one of them was the one that my father had attended. I went for the interview and because of my grades in high school, which were not very good, I got a rejection letter. But I wanted to go because my father had gone. Something happened inside me that time. Seeing this rejection letter pushed me harder to prove myself. The rejection letter really hit me hard. These are small instances which actually inspired me to achieve. Criticism only helps you improve - you have to take it positively.

In the company you are always dealing with people's issues. I think at the end of the day, it is the people who make the company anyway and without them you cannot do anything. Egos, insecurities, politics, these are also some of the challenges you deal with everyday. I am hands-on and it is important to be aware of it and feel the pulse.