THE INTERNATIONAL - International Indian

[ COVER STORY ]
talking about? Maybe it is relevant to look
at the personal history of the man, and peek
into his upbringing? “My dad, Soshil Prakash
Mehta, who is a wonderful man, had a major
influence in my life,” he says. “From him I
learnt the values of hard work, education,
treating people in a way that kept their esteem
intact, basic respect for the individual.”
“You know, we didn’t have a pocket money
system. We knew exactly what our dad
earned, and in our home we knew exactly
where the money was kept. We would be
told that whenever you need money you go
and take it. This instilled in us trust and
freedom with responsibility. When you
know what your dad earns and what bills
need to be paid, you know his savings… it
has an impact. Even as children, we never
abused that freedom. Also, we knew him to
be an extremely honest and hard working
civil servant. I remember those days when
people would bring sweets to our house
for some occasion; he would very politely
but firmly return them. He was a middle
class working man with a modest income
and strong values. We enjoyed the small
things in life, not foreign holidays or five
star restaurants, but maybe a new stereo
or when dad bought the new Fiat car. He
moved up amongst the top functional
positions in the Reserve Bank, from Joint
Controller to Chief of Inspections.
“Mom was a great homemaker. While dad
was looking after the interests of the Reserve
Bank, she was looking after ours, always around
when we came back from school. I have very
happy memories of my childhood. I remember
our mealtimes together when daddy would
tell us stories about what happened during the
day, we’d discuss and debate on many things.
Education was very important to us. We may
not have spent much on holidays but when
it came to books, there was never a question
asked,” Sanjiv reminisces.
“After Bhopal, I was moved to Commercial
Head of the chemicals and plastics business.
Union Carbide decided to divest. My vice
president and I were involved in one of the
largest divestitures of corporate India.”
Soft spoken and articulate, Mehta ever the
uncharacteristic corporate bigwig, diverts
from his Carbide anecdotes to animatedly talk
about the love of his life, “I have to tell you
about meeting this wonderful woman, Mona
through an aunt of mine. She’s a Delhite but
Sanjiv Mehta as Chairman and CEO of Unilever Philippines, receiving the most prestigious award -
‘Serve Grow Deliver’ from Harish Manwani President of Unilever Asia & Africa, for the best overall
country performance in 2007 (Below): Tête-à-tête over a game of golf
was working with HSBC in Calcutta. When we
started courting, half our salaries were spent on
trunk calls and courier costs. We would speak
to each other for hours and then sit down and
write a letter and call a courier to take it across
quickly. I always wanted someone who was well
educated, professional and more importantly
someone on the same wavelength, and I was
very clear that she should have her own career.
We had a wonderful wedding in Bombay,” he
recollects with a nostalgia that is refreshing to
see in a man with his responsibilities.
“Around that time, Carbide decided to leave
India,” Mehta continues, “and Hindustan Lever
(HL) again approached me. We had a couple
of meetings and were still debating, when the
Unilever Arabia job also came my way.
“I wasn’t excited to come to Dubai, nor
did I want to leave Bombay, but like I often
tell the people here, I was floored by the
way the company treated me, the way the
board members received me, my schedule
for the two day visit, the sense of importance
and professionalism… there was an energy
that I saw in the company, the dreams that
people shared with me… Gopalakrishnan
is very proud today because he was the
chairman when I was recruited.”
So, an uncertain Mehta left India
reluctantly and began his foreign stint as
Commercial Manager with Unilever Arabia,
in Dubai. He then moved on to become
Commercial Head of home and personal
care (HPC), UA’s biggest business activity,
moving on to become Commercial Director.
Six years whizzed by, under two chairmen,
Gopalakrishnan and Tom Stevens.
“I had a fantastic time here. As head
of HPC at that time, this was a business
breaking even, and three years later we’d
made it a profitable business – 27 million
dollars of profit. This is something you can
never do alone. Leadership of a great man is
a myth,” reveals Sanjiv, “it’s all about a great
team. It’s about growing, reducing the cost
base, channeling money in the right places,
getting the top line growing...,” he identifies
the corporate nuts and bolts.
“There are many ingredients to building a
great team. Once you have the basic education
and capabilities in place, the challenge is in
pulling it all together. You need to have
a clear strategic intent. For example, in
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