Priya Nair: From Intern to CEO of HUL – A 25-Year Journey of Purpose and Grit - video Dailymotion

Priya Nair: From Intern to CEO of HUL – A 25-Year Journey of Purpose and Grit

Transcript

00:00Sometimes you're going to fail really big, that's the inevitable reality.

00:04What matters not is that how you fail, what matters is how you pick yourself up.

00:08That's Priya Nair.

00:09She just became the first woman in 92 years to be appointed the CEO and MD of Hindustan

00:14Unilever, also known as India's biggest FMCG company.

00:18I started in the company 25 years ago, but what was clear was that I wasn't joining a

00:23company just to sell soap and detergent.

00:25Nair joined HUL as a management trainee in 1995.

00:28Since then, she's climbed every rung, from shaping ad campaigns to running Unilever's

00:33global £12 billion beauty and well-being division.

00:36Under her leadership as chief marketing officer, brands like Dove, Lifeboy and Lux spark conversations

00:41around hygiene, self-confidence and gender roles.

00:44So, I think it is about figuring out what makes you feel fulfilled.

00:48So, it's not about what entertains you.

00:50It's what fulfills you.

00:52What wakes you up.

00:53What gets something inside your stomach moving.

00:56She's an alumna of Sydenham College, has an MBA from Symbiosis and later returned to academia

01:01mid-career for a leadership program at Harvard.

01:04Think big.

01:04Think change the world.

01:06But start somewhere, for God's sake.

01:07But her story's also part of a bigger one, of women breaking ceilings.

01:12Indra Nooyi at PepsiCo, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw at Bicon, Naina Lal Kidwai at HSBC.

01:18With Nair stepping into HUL's top job, the message is loud and clear.

01:22Indian corporate boardrooms are no longer just old boys clubs.

01:25The future includes women at the top calling the shots.