After spending over three decades in Unilever, Leena Nair joined the French luxury group, Chanel, as its new global chief executive. Ms. Nair has much to share from her vast experience,which she consistently does via social media as well. Here are some of her life lessons we can benefit from.
Wisely invest your time and energy
Ms. Nair suggests that you must always focus on moving towards a goal hence, don’t waste your energy on anything that you are not passionate about. In a social media post, she tried to explain this by giving an example of her friend who wanted to be a screenwriter but always ended up working on creative side projects. Then she realized it was more of a fun distraction and focused all her energies on scriptwriting.
Discover your life’s purpose
Ms. Nair shares one of the best pieces of advice she received from her college professor. The professor suggested that she had a flair for management and would be a lousy engineer. She found a sense of purpose and followed her professor’s advice to pursue MBA in HR and join Unilever.When you know and understand what gets you up in the morning, you can achieve great things.
Every life experience is vital
Leena Nair never said no to ‘grassroots roles’ and she credits this attitude to her remarkable career trajectory. She was quite a ground-breaking female employee at Unilever, the first to work at the factory of Hindustan Levers and the first to work at night shift. She learned to be resilient while working on the factory floor; from production processes to the shop-floor ecosystem.
Every voice matters, so listen
Inclusion is a core principle that Leena Nair follows. Leena Nair believes in listening to every voice, irrespective of the level. Throughout her career, she stood out and challenged corporate hierarchy and social norms and quotes that she wouldn’t have reached where she has if she had not questioned. She also encourages all the managers, supervisors, and senior leaders to listen to their team members and treat everyone fairly.
Consider feedback as a gift
Accepting feedback genuinely and learning from it is another golden piece of advice from Leena Nair. She confessed in one of the posts on social media that she used to dread feedback earlier, but soon learned that we need to embrace feedback and learn from it as much as can. When people care, they give feedback. Therefore, you should consider feedback as a gift.
