When your hobby becomes a part of your job, even if it?s for a few days, it adds a spring to your step. Or, at least that is what it feels like when you meet Ravinder Zutshi, deputy managing director, Samsung India. Thanks to Samsung being the worldwide Olympic partner and sponsor of the Indian team to the Beijing Olympic Games 2008, Zutshi has an extra reason to be proud of India?s performance at the games.
After all, it?s not everyday that India wins three medals at an international sports event. ?Of course, I watched shooting, boxing and wrestling. I also managed to watch events like swimming, soccer and hockey.? Though Zutshi confesses he was expecting four to five medals, he is still pretty pleased with the three medals India bagged.
?The fact that our sportspeople are ambitious and personally motivated is pretty evident. When you think of Sushil Kumar training in a dingy akhada in west Delhi and compare him to his Russian counterpart, who probably stays in an AC environment and practices in a jazzy place, it?s a huge contrast. Our training facilities are very poor. Indians by the virtue of their strength are a motivated lot. Where we lose out is in having training facilities. But hopefully with these three wins, we as a country will look at sports differently. The kind of excitement Olympics generated in India this time is heart warming.?
Since Samsung as a company has been associated with the games for the past 20 years, it was but natural that Samsung India carried on the association. And given Zutshi?s love for sports, the association has a special place in his heart.
A day after the company felicitated the Olympic shooter Abhinav Bindra with a cash prize of Rs 20 lakh, wrestler Sushil Kumar and boxer Vijender Singh, with Rs 10 lakh each, Zutshi is back to work. For, he is not the one to rest on the company?s laurels. ?My single point agenda is to make this company number one. I?m 100% sure that we’ll get there,? he says with a warm and confident smile.
The confidence, you realise, is something that?s been a part of Zutshi?s life for a quite a few years. It?s another thing that he had to work hard on it. ?You see, I stammered a lot,? he admits candidly. Looking at him today, it?s difficult to believe he could ever have had a problem with his speech. But it was a big enough problem for Zutshi to have stayed at home for a complete year after he had graduated in science from Desh Bandhu College in Delhi. His problem was interfering with how he saw his life. ?It was killing me. I always liked meeting people and interacting with them. But somehow I ended up being alone because I couldn?t talk confidently. Nobody would talk to me. Girls would never come near me.?
What is worse is that Zutshi had a huge responsibility at hand. His father, who worked with the New Delhi Municipal Corporation, passed away at the age of 36. Zutshi, then the eldest son in the family, was still in school and all of eight and a half years old. While his two younger sisters continued studying in Delhi, Zutshi was sent to Ajmer to stay with an uncle. ?I had quite a temper and mother thought I?d need a man around me. So, I was in Ajmer from class six till I finished school.?
After graduation, Zutshi realised he had to get over his stammering if he had to support his family. ?It needed a lot of determination and hard work. I would read newspapers loudly and practice talking. It was tough, but I got over it,? he says with a winner?s smile. Soon he got himself a job with the Usha group as a trainee executive in sales and marketing. It was a basic job that helped him run the family for little more than a year. And then a newspaper ad gave Zutshi, what he calls a great beginning. Philips India was looking for a sales officer. Before he knew, he was in an assignment that Zutshi gives a lot of credit for making him what he is today. He is a good communicator who understands sales like the back of his hand. ? I would travel 26 days in a month with a huge bag. From Etawah to Devariya, there wasn?t one place in North India I didn?t travel to.?
Philips was very strict. ?Every person in sales had to carry postal inlands with him. So, he had to write down the report about the place he was travelling to, look for a letterbox and mail it. People back in Delhi would check the stamp of the place you sent it from. And if you only claimed that you?d been to a place and the inland didn?t bear a stamp of the place, you wouldn?t be paid for the travel. Those were tough days. It was like going through a fire trial. But today I can easily say that I understand the nuances of sales. Nobody can fool me. I know every little bylane and shop in north India.”
After 11 fruitful years in Phillips, he left it in 1987 to join Videocon as a regional manager. Those days Videocon was just about finding its feet while Phillips was already an established brand. ?I could have joined Sony or Panasonic , but I?ve never wanted to ride a running horse. I love challenges. So, I decided to take up the job that Pradeep Dhoot offered me. He was younger than I was, but his enthusiasm and confidence inspired me to take the plunge.? Videocon was a different challenge of sorts but the adventurer in Zutshi enjoyed his job to the hilt. ?It was very flexible and helped me acquire different kind of skills.?
After eight years at Videocon, Zutshi joined Samsung. It was a joint venture with Videocon and Zutshi thought it would be nice to move on. Of course, he faced the same set of problems with Videocon. Nobody knew the brand. ?Some people thought we manufactured women?s undergarments and others thought we were a cheap Korean company. We had to deal with it all.?
But what helped is Zutshi?s knack of people skills.?Since I?d already been in the market for a few years, people in the business thought I wouldn?t make an unwise decision of joining a bad company,? he says honestly. Zutshi got together a good team and things started rolling. From a turnover of Rs 156 crore in 1991, we went up to $1.3 billion in 2007-2008. But more than raking in the money, it?s getting to the top that is a priority for Zutshi. ?We have to make it to the number one slot.?
It may have been a long and tough journey, but at the same time it has been a rewarding one. ?It?s a wonderful feeling to grow with a brand.? In his 30 years of work Zutshi may have taken it slow and steady, but has successfully established the brands he has been associated with.
What filters easily during the conversation is Zutshi?s ease with people. The door to his cabin is never shut. ?I don?t believe in it. If you give people a feeling that you are not approachable because you are the one who will end up learning less. I love interacting with people. It can be anyone right from my manager to the security guard. Anyone can walk into my room..?
And it?s one of his skills that has probably helped him climb the ladder. Anand Ahluwalia, a senior executive with Atlas Cycles, who has been friends with Zutshi for the past 30 years, admits as much. ?He is one of the most down-to-earth persons I?ve come across. He has remained quite approachable even as he climbed up the corporate ladder.?
For Zutshi, it?s his way of life. At 54, Zutshi is passionate about both life and work. Be it playing his favourite game of squash or going out to socialise, he believes in living it up. His day usually starts at 6.30 in the morning. He plays squash thrice a week. He also enjoys playing badminton. His weekends find him indulging in his new passion, golf. ?It helps you focus well at work. Also, it?s a nice way of meeting people.? Zutshi is also particular about spending quality time with his wife Manjot, 21-year-old daughter Akshita and 16 year-old-son Ashwin. He also loves watching movies and shopping.
Though his wife Manjot is a yoga instructor, he sticks to his games, he tells you. ?I like sports. They are a wonderful way to keep you fit and agile. They also help you to relax. Also sports, I think, sharpen your reflexes.?
The agility, say Zutshi, comes in handy if you have a hectic lifestyle. ?At work, I think, it helps you a great deal to be able to travel, move around, attend meetings and socialise. Sports can contribute a lot to your success,? he smiles.
