by Dr. Cecil Clements (11th September 2012)
I read this eulogy that was delivered, thought that it was a quote from W.H. Auden, but I’ve not been able to verify it, so give me that little bit of freedom. It says this, “There are many streams, but only here and there, a great Mississippi. There are many trees, but only here and there a great sequoia giant. There are many echoes but only now and then an original voice. There are many musicians but only now and then a Mendelsohn or a Mozart. There are many politicians but only now and then a commanding statesman. There are many people but only now and then an outstanding individual.”
In the last couple of days, we have lost an outstanding individual, one who strode both in the last century and this, in giant steps. I am talking of Dr. Varghese Kurien of Amul. I was just reading some of the accolades that have been spoken about him from people in the industry and all across.
Rahul Bajaj, Chairman of Bajaj Auto says, “He was an exemplar. His success underlines the great management acumen that he had. As a nation we need to follow him and his ways and try to become the largest producers of other agricultural products.
Adi Godrej says, “He was a great son of India. He created a milk revolution in the country which helped us become a self reliant nation in the dairy sector.”
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says, “His greatest contribution was to give a position of pre-eminence to the farmer and his/her interests rather than those of the middleman.”
I think Twitter tributes said it all. It showed the moppet, the Amul girl, with tears in her eyes with the caption – Amul, the tears of India. R.I.P. the father of the white revolution: Dr. Varghese Kurien.
If you’ve been reading some of the stuff that’s been written about him, you’ll realize what a phenomenal job he did in the 90 years that he was alive. He left behind such a wonderful legacy; a great work, took a lot of courage and conviction. Yet, the fruit is there for all to see. It’s interesting – from Calicut to Michigan, and then from Michigan to Anand, - that was the way he strode. The papers say that when he finished his engineering degree at the University of Michigan and came back to serve out his bond, the only thing that he could think of during the tenure of his bond at Anand was – ‘Let me just finish this and get out of this place.’ Then he was met by one person, a Mr. Patel, who challenged him and asked him to stay and build some machinery; and he did. The rest is history.
He stayed in a place that he didn’t want to stay. He’s quoted as saying, “I never liked milk. I don’t like the taste.” Strange words to come out of one who changed the face of dairy in India. And yet, what a remarkable work he has done.
I thought to myself – dreams are born in the most unlikely places, birthed by the most unlikely people. It doesn’t matter that you have no love for a particular product as long as you believe in it and what needs to be right or wrong about that product. What he couldn’t stand was the exploitation of the farmer, how the middleman was making the money. And out of that came such a wonderful legacy that he has left for all of us. I think we’ve all enjoyed the Amul moppet, the Amul girl, the ‘Taste of India’ campaign that always brought a smile to our faces.
But as I looked at all the things that have been written about him, one thing caught my attention. It was a speech that he had given in 2001 on ‘Markets in Motion’. He was talking about Amul as a brand. He said, “The thing about having a brand is that it is an unspoken contract. It’s like people saying, ‘I signed this contract’. When we do business with a brand, the people are saying, ‘Here’s what I expect’. We sign on the dotted line and say ‘We’ll deliver.” That’s what a brand does.”
He talks about the 4 things that he believes have been important in the brand of Amul.
I read this eulogy that was delivered, thought that it was a quote from W.H. Auden, but I’ve not been able to verify it, so give me that little bit of freedom. It says this, “There are many streams, but only here and there, a great Mississippi. There are many trees, but only here and there a great sequoia giant. There are many echoes but only now and then an original voice. There are many musicians but only now and then a Mendelsohn or a Mozart. There are many politicians but only now and then a commanding statesman. There are many people but only now and then an outstanding individual.”
In the last couple of days, we have lost an outstanding individual, one who strode both in the last century and this, in giant steps. I am talking of Dr. Varghese Kurien of Amul. I was just reading some of the accolades that have been spoken about him from people in the industry and all across.
Rahul Bajaj, Chairman of Bajaj Auto says, “He was an exemplar. His success underlines the great management acumen that he had. As a nation we need to follow him and his ways and try to become the largest producers of other agricultural products.
Adi Godrej says, “He was a great son of India. He created a milk revolution in the country which helped us become a self reliant nation in the dairy sector.”
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says, “His greatest contribution was to give a position of pre-eminence to the farmer and his/her interests rather than those of the middleman.”
I think Twitter tributes said it all. It showed the moppet, the Amul girl, with tears in her eyes with the caption – Amul, the tears of India. R.I.P. the father of the white revolution: Dr. Varghese Kurien.
If you’ve been reading some of the stuff that’s been written about him, you’ll realize what a phenomenal job he did in the 90 years that he was alive. He left behind such a wonderful legacy; a great work, took a lot of courage and conviction. Yet, the fruit is there for all to see. It’s interesting – from Calicut to Michigan, and then from Michigan to Anand, - that was the way he strode. The papers say that when he finished his engineering degree at the University of Michigan and came back to serve out his bond, the only thing that he could think of during the tenure of his bond at Anand was – ‘Let me just finish this and get out of this place.’ Then he was met by one person, a Mr. Patel, who challenged him and asked him to stay and build some machinery; and he did. The rest is history.
He stayed in a place that he didn’t want to stay. He’s quoted as saying, “I never liked milk. I don’t like the taste.” Strange words to come out of one who changed the face of dairy in India. And yet, what a remarkable work he has done.
I thought to myself – dreams are born in the most unlikely places, birthed by the most unlikely people. It doesn’t matter that you have no love for a particular product as long as you believe in it and what needs to be right or wrong about that product. What he couldn’t stand was the exploitation of the farmer, how the middleman was making the money. And out of that came such a wonderful legacy that he has left for all of us. I think we’ve all enjoyed the Amul moppet, the Amul girl, the ‘Taste of India’ campaign that always brought a smile to our faces.
But as I looked at all the things that have been written about him, one thing caught my attention. It was a speech that he had given in 2001 on ‘Markets in Motion’. He was talking about Amul as a brand. He said, “The thing about having a brand is that it is an unspoken contract. It’s like people saying, ‘I signed this contract’. When we do business with a brand, the people are saying, ‘Here’s what I expect’. We sign on the dotted line and say ‘We’ll deliver.” That’s what a brand does.”
He talks about the 4 things that he believes have been important in the brand of Amul.
- Quality: the expectations of people need to be met or exceeded by the buyers.
- Value: you’ve got to get what you pay for and more. There must be value for money.
- Availability: there’s no benefit in achieving a positive brand image and then not being able to supply it.
- Service: there must be a commitment to quality to the customer; to be able to hear what the customer says, not just listen. The customer is always right. So the customer is not just listened to, but the customer is also heard.
If it fails to delight the customer, then the contract loses its value. We don’t hear that word ‘delight’ being used very often in corporate language. I know that all of us have been blessed by Amul. We’ve enjoyed the taste and continue to do so with its many products as it continues to share 23% of the market in India. Still striding forward with wonderful vision that a man had.
I thought about how we could get inspired by him. We think about a contract, how he said that it should be like a handshake – when somebody says, “I’m buying your product because of the brand that you have”, inherent in it must be these value systems that are almost inked in every handshake, in every transaction. There must be quality, value, availability and service. The customer needs to be delighted in our products.
That’s at a macro level and sometimes we can look at it and get inspired and then think – I’m not in a place where I have the ability to do that or there could be other extraneous reasons why we can’t proceed in that way. But I thought, at a micro level, each one of us is a brand name. I look at my name – Cecil Clements. When I deal with people, it’s like a brand. Every interaction I have with people must assume certain things for people and I need to be able to make sure that the underlying assumption is a good assumption.
That goes for each one of us on this call. Our names are our brands. When we give our name, when people interact with us, when we hand out our business card and people look at it, what do they expect from us? I thought – all 4 of these values that Dr. Kurien talked about, can be part of who we are. When we give our name, do we exceed the expectations of the people who we interact with? When we give our name, do people get what they thought they would get and more? When we give out our name, do we deliver on our word, on our promises, on a deadline? When people think of our name, do they think of us as people of service, people who are willing to go the extra mile to make sure that we do what we said we would do and do it with humility? Do we listen to the people, to the things that need to be heard?
That’s something that can change our lives – to be able to take that whole brand image and say, “I am a brand and these are the things that people can expect from me when they do business with me. When I shake a person’s hand, this is what I’m communicating to them, that there will be quality, value, availability and service.
When I was returning to India in 1996, after 7 years in the US, I still remember very vividly an image that I believe God placed on my mind. It was the image of Mumbai and I saw lights shining all across Mumbai. I remember asking God, “What is this?” I felt that God was saying, “That is corporate India. Those are offices all across Mumbai.” The image was shining stars, lights blinking like stars.
In our Holy Scriptures there’s a verse that says, “We ought to be like shining stars in a corrupt and perverse generation.” (Philippians 2:15)
The truth is that there is so much wrong all around us, but we have the ability to shine like stars, to be a wonderful brand to people all around us. That I believe is the challenge for us today. In our spheres of work, all across Mumbai, wherever we are in India, can we shine like stars and send forth a positive brand image that bears our name? My hope and prayer is that we will.
Let me pray with you. Almighty God, bless every precious person, every brand name on this call. Help us to go forth with wonderful qualities that come from you; that people would love to interact with us, that they would be delighted with the things that we bring to the table because we are conscious of the fact that we ought to be like shining stars in a world that seems to be going so wrong. I pray that as a blessing on each one on this call. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.
I thought about how we could get inspired by him. We think about a contract, how he said that it should be like a handshake – when somebody says, “I’m buying your product because of the brand that you have”, inherent in it must be these value systems that are almost inked in every handshake, in every transaction. There must be quality, value, availability and service. The customer needs to be delighted in our products.
That’s at a macro level and sometimes we can look at it and get inspired and then think – I’m not in a place where I have the ability to do that or there could be other extraneous reasons why we can’t proceed in that way. But I thought, at a micro level, each one of us is a brand name. I look at my name – Cecil Clements. When I deal with people, it’s like a brand. Every interaction I have with people must assume certain things for people and I need to be able to make sure that the underlying assumption is a good assumption.
That goes for each one of us on this call. Our names are our brands. When we give our name, when people interact with us, when we hand out our business card and people look at it, what do they expect from us? I thought – all 4 of these values that Dr. Kurien talked about, can be part of who we are. When we give our name, do we exceed the expectations of the people who we interact with? When we give our name, do people get what they thought they would get and more? When we give out our name, do we deliver on our word, on our promises, on a deadline? When people think of our name, do they think of us as people of service, people who are willing to go the extra mile to make sure that we do what we said we would do and do it with humility? Do we listen to the people, to the things that need to be heard?
That’s something that can change our lives – to be able to take that whole brand image and say, “I am a brand and these are the things that people can expect from me when they do business with me. When I shake a person’s hand, this is what I’m communicating to them, that there will be quality, value, availability and service.
When I was returning to India in 1996, after 7 years in the US, I still remember very vividly an image that I believe God placed on my mind. It was the image of Mumbai and I saw lights shining all across Mumbai. I remember asking God, “What is this?” I felt that God was saying, “That is corporate India. Those are offices all across Mumbai.” The image was shining stars, lights blinking like stars.
In our Holy Scriptures there’s a verse that says, “We ought to be like shining stars in a corrupt and perverse generation.” (Philippians 2:15)
The truth is that there is so much wrong all around us, but we have the ability to shine like stars, to be a wonderful brand to people all around us. That I believe is the challenge for us today. In our spheres of work, all across Mumbai, wherever we are in India, can we shine like stars and send forth a positive brand image that bears our name? My hope and prayer is that we will.
Let me pray with you. Almighty God, bless every precious person, every brand name on this call. Help us to go forth with wonderful qualities that come from you; that people would love to interact with us, that they would be delighted with the things that we bring to the table because we are conscious of the fact that we ought to be like shining stars in a world that seems to be going so wrong. I pray that as a blessing on each one on this call. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.
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