Essay 1 (Recall a time when you have been at your best and did your

best work. What does this teach you about your own strength and
gifts?)
“One day at a time and each day is a new beginning” were the first two lessons that I learned when I
started working in Retail. It was a different life altogether, with new expectations and hope at the
beginning of each day. Even if the day did not turn out to be as expected, each of us would just hope
for a better tomorrow. It was as if with every change in the pages of the calendar our motivation
went stronger. That showed me the power of hope and the spirit of never giving up. As I started
growing in my career, the positivity and hope that I learned in the early days of my career never
failed me and always helped me soar higher. The journey was exciting and there was something to
look forward to every day.

Planning and Execution

I have always been a very hard worker as far as my work concerns and there have been multiple
highlights in my career such as launching Carters in India through Mahindra Retail, Planning and
executing the seasonal buying meets at Levis, new store openings and business set up at new
countries like Mauritius, Indonesia, Sri Lanka are few of them. All of them required a lot of planning,
understanding of business, optimum risk-taking, and a lot of operational control but if I am told to
select the best time of my life in terms of work it would be my small duration of work experience
with PUMA.

Building a Brand Image

PUMA and Mahindra Retail was also an excellent opportunity and being a part of the brand image
team was the most satisfying shift in my career. Days were very busy, work hours were long but
every second of work counted and impacted the way the brand was perceived in entire south-east
Asia. Building a brand identity is a multi-disciplinary strategic effort, and every element needs to
support the overall message and business goals. These elements did not only include the internal
workings of an organization, but also the cultural and social factors of the consumers and the
community these brands cater to.

Creativity and Innovation

As Steve Jobs once said, “Branding is storytelling, and storytelling is a creative work”, the most
important quality that helped me justify my work and position was my creativity. It was the most
important tool to think out of the box and bring in a completely different perspective of the brand
without altering its overall image. Building a marketing calendar aligned with the new products that
were to be realized that year and planning different new strategies for communication with the
audience via social media, online advertisements, multimedia advertisement, in-store graphics, store
window communication, celebrity endorsements, etc. took a serious creative thought process, mind
mapping and taking care of a lot of details.
Challenging Myself

Career psychologist Eileen Sharaga said that every business needs a strategic thinker. “It’s critical to
demonstrate that you have not only a vision for the future but also a plan to get there”, she said.
Therefore, challenging myself is a big step that I have taken to grow and sharpen my skills at every
step of life. Accepting a challenge not only develops my skills but also the skill of my team member.
Optimism is also a strategy for making a better future, especially when I think that the future can be
better. I step up and take responsibility for making it so. With this also comes self-reliance and self-
confidence, which makes taking responsibility and accountability easier. I stand by my decisions and
work hard to achieve my organizational goals.

Budget Control

One of the factors that have always been a challenge in every business for creative thinkers is the
budget. Every communication, advertisement, and endorsement had a stipulated budget which
needs careful division. I was able to achieve a fairly good result in this aspect due to my ability to
take a calculated risk. A lot of quick decision making and alterations are required during this phase of
work. For example, signing a contract with Indian cricketer Virat Kholi as a brand ambassador had
taken a considerable resource and hence a huge risk. This was one of the very important decisions to
put in front of the senior management with extremely detailed planning in terms of resource
management and return on investment. This was highly appreciated and later paid off very well for
the brand.

Communication Skills

Communication was also an important skill that I had to develop. Communication at different levels
such as with the consumer, vendors, inter-team, buyers, merchandising team, senior management,
and so on, had to be addressed in different levels. Correct understanding of the situation and ways
to communicate especially when some kind of problem was raised was crucial. This helped to solve a
lot of internal problems and significantly contributed to vendor management issues. Efficient
communication was the key at all operational levels, which developed me as a human being so that I
was able to work accurately towards the set organizational goals and contribute to organizational
performance.

To conclude, therefore, if I have to pen down my best phase of work, I would say that working under
extreme pressure brought out the best in me. I learned to deal with my personal fears of failure and
anxiety, manage time more efficiently, never lose control on myself or the situation, communicate
with my team, and work very closely with a lot of people in different job roles. I have discovered that
life is a continuous learning process. Life is all about learning and discovering new things. We learn in
every experience that had happened in our life. We learn from our bad experiences as well as good
experiences. It should never stop.