Volatility is the new normal, says HUL's Paranjpe

Says organisations need to build capabilities that can future-proof their business

In a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world, organisations would increasingly have to push the boundaries in their endeavour to adapt to this new reality, said Nitin Paranjpe, CEO and Managing Director, Hindustan Unilever (HUL). Giving the key-note address at the INSEAD India Business Dialogue here on Saturday, he said that organisations needed to build capabilities that could future-proof their business.

"As leaders, we must be absolutely clear that the reasons that helped us succeed in the past will not be why we will succeed in the future. The context has changed. We now need to put on a bifocal lens, where on one hand, we need to look at the 'here and now' and on the other, look to the future," he said.

Highlighting specifically the initiatives taken by HUL to 'future-proof' its business, Paranjpe emphasised that leadership conviction and organisational discipline were key to achieving it. Of the strategies and approaches that the country's largest consumer goods company had taken was its focus on technology. "Consumers have become empowered and they are determining what they want to see and when they want to see it. This marks a paradigm shift for brand marketers, especially, when it comes to consumption of media. If I may say, these tectonic shifts will eventually lead to the death of the 30 second ad, something that many of my generation have grown up on."

The company, according to Paranjpe, has set a target that by the end of the current calendar year almost all its employees would be externally certified in understanding and using new media in their plans and processes. For instance, reverse mentoring was something that the company had taken up on a war footing enabling senior management to equip themselves with knowledge and expertise in new media. "I am being mentored by a 25 to 30 year old on new media and apart from teaching me about how it works, I am also given assignments which I have to complete," he said.

Paranjpe also emphasised the need to de-couple business growth from resource usage. Specifically, how it was increasingly becoming important for companies to take stock of their social responsibilities even as they looked at profitable growth.

In the last two years, Unilever globally has charted out the Sustainable Living Plan that looked at sourcing raw materials in a sustainable manner. Unilever has set internal benchmarks in the area which they hope to achieve by 2020.