MD of Eveready addresses students

Front from left to right: Angela Rogers, Rebecca Nyangaresi-Gatang'I, Mr Das, and Prof Paul Poisat.
Back from left to right: Lee-Anne Vasi, Dean Hastie, and Bruce Vervliet.

Second-year MBA part-time students were privileged to recently welcome Mr Avijit Das, Managing Director of Eveready, to its Leadership class.

Mr Das has an Engineering qualification and has held senior executive roles as Consult for AT Kearney – where he consulted across the globe in the management of change; after which he joined Duracell and Gillette also in senior executive positions. His last appointment at Gillette was as the Head of International Manufacturing, before taking up the MD position at Eveready. He has worked abroad in many different countries in the Americas, Europa, and Asia including China, Korea, and Japan.

During his address at the NMMU Business School he pointed out that leadership is the same all over the world, but that you had to be aware of the cultural nuances of society. As such, Mr Das pointed out that the most important aspect for the leader going international is to understand the culture. Based on experience, he provided the following guidelines:

• Do not expect them to behave – it is the leader that has to “recalibrate” his/her expectations.
• Understand the culture and especially customs surrounding food.
• Do not judge what they eat, wear, speak, etc.
• Understand the context in which business in their country operates.
• Respect the local culture – “When you go beyond your borders then you recalibrate yourself”.

Mr Das further provided the following guidelines to assist a leader to recalibrate him-/herself:

• Spend time to first understand the local culture and issues. Do not try to stamp your own culture/style on locals.
• Even though the temptation is there to shake up things, spend time with people before you do so.
• We all have our own unique styles of leadership, it is important to change/adapt one’s style to fit the local culture. In this context one should be sensitive to the environment and the business context. In this context one will be well advised to “let your actions/deeds speak many words”.

It was an honour having Mr Das at the NMMU Business School.