Adi Godrej the Man who Led Godrej Group

Adi Godrej is the Chairman of Godrej group. He is also Chairman of Godrej Industries Ltd., Godrej Consumer Products Ltd., Godrej Sara Lee Ltd., Godrej Properties Ltd., Godrej Hershey Ltd., Godrej Hicare Ltd., Nutrine Confectionery Company Ltd., Godrej SCA Hygiene Ltd., Godrej Consumer Products (UK) Ltd., Keyline Brands Ltd. U.K. and Rapidol (Pty) Ltd., South Africa. The Godrej Group is one of India’s largest conglomerates.

Educational Qualification:

He enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for his graduation at the age of 17. Although he planned for mechanical engineering, he ended up with management degree. He then joined the family business after his return to India.

Personals 

His father’s name was Burjorji Godrej and his mother’s name was Jai Godrej. He married to Parmeshwa & has two daughters Tanya Dubash , Executive  Director And   President ,Marketing,and, Nisa Godrej, 30, Executive Vice-President, Business Development  and  only son  whom he given some important participation in the company recently.

Awards and Recognition:

He is the Chairman of The Board of Trustees of the Dadabhai Naoroji Memorial Prize Fund. He is former Chairman and President of the Indian Soap & Toiletries Makers Association, The Central Organization for Oil Industry and Trade, The Solvent Extractors Association of India, The Compound Livestock Feeds Manufacturers Association, the Indo-American Society and the Governing Council of the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies and former member of the Deans Advisory Council of the MIT Sloan School of Management and the Wharton Asian Executive Board.

Mr. Godrej is a member of Tau Beta Pi (The Engineering Honor Society). Mr. Godrej also serves as a member of the National Council of the Confederation of Indian Industry and is a member of the Governing Board of the Indian School of Business. Mr. Godrej is a recipient of several awards and recognitions including the Rajiv Gandhi Award 2002.

Godrej has middle class values, courtesy his mother who was a schoolteacher and taught him "the greatest lesson -- humility", but believes in living life king-size. That explains his visit to 75 countries all around the world (Rio de Janeiro in Brazil remains an all-time favorites) and he makes it a point to go on extensive sightseeing even on official tours.

At the age of 62, he spends his Sundays on the Arabian Sea alternately with a jet ski and a speedboat (his grandsons Aryaan and Azaar and close friend Anil Ambani's sons, Anshul and Anmol, usually accompany him, hitched behind his boat on water-skis); and two years ago, he went to Mount Kailash --  42-km track going up to altitudes of 19,000 feet, within a day.

Leadership trade of Adi godrej:

Adi godrej is one of the most successful business leader in our country he achieved the iconic position in the business world, he is the architect of the business empire of godrej industries. Under his leadership godrej diversified themselves and achieved sustainable growth in their operation. The Godrej Group  has engaged in extensive benevolent activities like contribution to nature and wildlife. He has set up a business unit in the Vikhroli Township near Mumbai city. It includes a mangrove forest and a school. Adi Godrej is known to contribute handsomely to the Wildlife Fund of India He is an employee friendly believe in the philosophy of team work. He  has nominated in various public posts, and served in many national and international organization. Godrej has middle class values, courtesy his mother who was a schoolteacher he got great lesion from his mother and his natural extinct is to deliver with the team. Godrej believes that every organisation needs to benchmark itself with global players. The company already receives 10 per cent of its revenue from operations outside India and aims to increase it to around 25 per cent over a 10-year period. On people who have impressed him, he rates former United Kingdom prime minister Margaret Thatcher, General Electric CEO Jack Welch and industrialists JRD Tata and Dhirubhai Ambani. The writings of Welch have greatly appealed to Godrej. “I was lucky to meet the man and see the manner in which he managed GE. Apart from him, Margaret Thatcher awed me by the way she changed the face of Britain. On the Indian scene, JRD Tata was an institution in himself who I admired tremendously, while Dhirubhai Ambani, who was also my neighbor, left a lasting impression on me.”

His secretary for the past 33 years describes him as a man who respects punctuality, who is impeccably organized with a table that is never clustered, who is clear in thought, prompt in decision making — “someone who is constantly open to feedback”.

He believes in the participation of employee in the decision making and always ready to take the feedback so in certain extant he democratized the process of decision making. His authoritative vision showed the new path of growth for godrej industries.