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According to this CEO, knowing your goals is what it takes to achieve them anywhere

Spending time at airport lounges
When I am travelling by day, I spend time checking mail in the business lounge. During evenings, I prefer to catch up on my reading. Certain airports, among them Dubai and Heathrow, are great for shopping. So when I am there, that’s what you’d catch me doing.

Dress code
Personally, I don’t think it is a necessity but it does depend on the type of organisation one is working with. A dress code would matter in a financial services industry but in a manufacturing concern such as ours, we can afford to keep things casual.

Office parties
We have office parties every quarter. I think they serve as great motivational tools and forums to discuss issues and concerns in an informal setting. Apart from these regular office parties, we also host a special yearly party at my farmhouse.

Working hours
This again depends on the type of industry one is involved with. In our organisation, an
8 am-5 pm straight shift works fine.

Advice to those who want to work with you
I would give this advice to anyone who wants to work anywhere actually. Before you join any organisation, you should have a clear idea about your goals and your purposes as part of it. Once you are sure about this, you will not have a problem working anywhere.

Your vision of an ideal office
Ours is an organisation without hierarchies and layers. The channels of communication are open and healthy between the different people working here. And I am happy that things are working this way. Of course, an office also has to look decent and be comfortable. After all, we do spend a large part of our day here.

What would you have been doing if you had not been in this industry?
I would have been a stock market gambler (laughs). I was involved with different stock markets at different periods of time. India from 1994-96, Oman from 1997-98 and America from 1999-2000. I really enjoyed those times. So if I hadn’t been doing this, I would have been part of the stock markets, in one capacity or the other.

Any person who has left an indelible mark on your attitude to work
No one individual has inspired me that much. Rather, I have what I call my sixth sense that I depend upon for guidance. You might say that my attitude to work has been inspired by myself.

Working in a global village
The world is becoming smaller. And we want our company to become bigger. Towards this end, working with people of different natio-nalities, with diverse language skills and the knowledge of different markets, is essential.

Your big dream
Professionally, I want us to become the largest safety boot supplier in the Middle East by 2010. That means we will have to increase our sales fivefold in four years. That is going to involve a lot of hard work but that’s my dream. Personally, I would like to raise my kids in such a way that they are a lot more independent than they are today.