Bacardi finds its new leader in India's Mahesh Madhavan

He will head the world's largest family-held liquor firm after working in various roles for 28 years

 

How often do we take interpersonal skills and/or people skills seriously and invest our time and energy to brush them up? Most professionals, working outside the fields of show business and communications, seldom realise its importance. But Bacardi’s Mahesh Madhavan is surely not one of them. The Indian management professional, who is now in line to occupy the corner office of the Cuban liquor company next year, derives his strength from his ability to manage and motivate people he works with. And that is what turned out to be the key to his success.
 
Madhavan, in his mid-fifties, will be taking charge of chief executive officer of the world’s largest family-held liquor company Bacardi Ltd, the firm announced on Monday. He is currently serving as the regional president for Asia, Middle-East and Africa and is located in Dubai, UAE. And is expected to move to Hamilton, Bermuda, where the firm is currently headquartered. He takes over at Bacardi after working in various management roles for over 28 years.
 
Madhavan, who grew up in Mumbai (then Bombay), completed his primary and secondary educations from Campion School and went to Bangalore’s M S Ramhaiah Institute of Technology for his Mechanical Engineering degree. After completing his MBA in Marketing from Mumbai’s renowned S P Jain Institute of Management and Research, Madhavan started his professional career at Wipro Consumer Products in the city in 1988. Over the next six years, he gained experience in sales, marketing and branding in Wipro and FCB Ulka – one of the largest advertising agencies globally.
 
His journey in the field of hard liquor began when he took up a job in British multinational alcoholic beverages firm Diageo 1994. The experience he gained from his role in its products division for the next three years determined his career path in the years that followed. He was instrumental in introducing brands like Smirnoff, Malibu, Gilbeys Gin, Archers and Kellys in India. According to Rakesh Chopra, a consultant who knew him from the early days of his career, Madhavan was at that time an extremely quiet but a very effective manager. “Mahesh, with the help of his GM, single-handedly launched Smirnoff in India. He had the makings of a leader which has shown up in the later years,” Chopra further wrote on the professional networking site LinkedIn.
 
In June 1997, Madhavan joined Bacardi as general manager-marketing and never looked back. Over the past 20 years, he has headed various regions in Asia and Africa.
 
“I had the pleasure of hiring Mahesh into our business over 10 years ago, since when he has proven to be a great asset. Mahesh is a focused, dedicated Senior Manager, with great people skills. He never hesitates to stand up for what he believes in and is a relentless 'business-builder'. Not someone who takes no for an answer, Mahesh overcomes most objections with a rare intelligence and charm”, the CEO of Samson & Surrey, Robert Furniss Roe wrote about the latter.
 
Madhavan’s upcoming responsibility is, in fact, expected to test some of his core strengths and the experience that he gathered over the years. In recent years, Bacardi has struggled to maintain growth and attract young consumers, the key to success for any consumer facing company. In Madhavan’s own words (as he told the sectoral newsportal Just-Drinks) the firm may have to relook at its communication and positioning strategies. “I think that just using different offerings to rebuild a brand is a quick fix - that can be done at any time. But, fixing the core is more long-term and self-sustaining than having extra offerings, which just give us a short-term spike in sales. When you look back to the late-1990s, the advertising for Bacardi was about sun, sea and sand; a care-free attitude was what the brand stood for. We'll be asking: How do we bring that back and make it relevant to Millennial consumers? That is one of the challenges we have on our hands. We'll look at addressing that”, he told the portal.
 
Madhavan describes himself as someone who is “confident, caring, compassionate person who rallies people to get the best out of them while remaining calm, cool. A risk taker who has the foresight to make difficult situations look simple and bring business back on track and solid growth”.
 
Well, his risk taking abilities and calmness in tough situations may just become the key for a turnaround for Bacardi as well.