By Maxine Nicole Mamba
FOR those of you who want to leave your jobs and be entrepreneurs, and even for those who are working on brands and want to build a future for yourself in the company, I got some sage advice from a tried-and-tested entrepreneur.
Ishwar Chugani is the managing director of Giordano Middle East, and heads the groups business in India, Africa, Central Asia and Eastern Europe. He was also executive director of Giordano International, Hong Kong.
How did he do it? Let’s run it down simply:
- Keep it simple. Eliminate all complication and barriers and simplify your processes to streamline operations in order to create more value. Whether you are talking about simplifying your supply chain or even opening communication within the organization, simple is always better.
- Empower people. Don’t limit people. Make sure to know what matters to them and listen to how they think they can make the company better. See the value of an employee who cares about the company and views it as his or her own. People with the right attitude are the key to survival and success.
- Balance the 3H: head, heart and hand. Use common sense, love what you do and work hard. When used altogether, nothing can stop you from moving forward. We aren’t born millionaires, so we really have to treasure what we have on hand and grow it. Sometimes your heart and head may clash, but if you strike a balance coupled with hard work, you will be unstoppable.
- Motivate from within. The Walt Disney company says, “Aim for perfection, settle for excellence.” If you set your goals high, you succeed even when you fail to reach your target. When your goal is mediocre, you fail even if you achieve your aim. All this has to come from a desire inside you. You are your own best motivator.
- Don’t be scared of competition. If you find that your competitor is as big as an elephant, act like a monkey. Be quicker than him, be flexible, and outsmart him. Our competitors are not just other similar brands, but social media, lifestyle, economic changes and the like. You must always be aware and always react creatively to the changing tides.
- Keep learning. Knowledge is power—always. Everything around us can inform us of relevant situational responses we have to make. One must always be alert and open to enrich yourself by social media, your environment, other industries and such. This will keep you at the head of the pack.
- Create a great company culture.
This is the ultimate competitive advantage. When a culture is strong, any individual’s flaws can be nullified by the group effort. It will create a vibe of flexibility, transparency, learning and excellent service that will almost seamlessly be inculcated into everyone. This is powerful.
- Define your success. Do not let other people do this for you. In the beginning, I told myself that I would make it on my own in Dubai, and I did. Decide then what success will be for your company. What matters to you? What do you want your company to be known as? How will you know when you’ve “made it”? With finality, Chugani emphasizes: “Most important, and I personally discovered the following statement to be true: Good things come to those who believe, better things come to those who are patient and the best things happen to those who do not give up. So never give up.”
You heard it. Never give up! Never surrender! Here’s to your dreams, millennial!
1 comment
Thank you to Giordano SG coz my sister gave us shirts upon her visit in Manila last year. My sister works at Cotton On Singapore, a sister Company of Giordano. A God’ s blessing 🙂