Sharad Agarwal, Head, Lamborghini India
Alma mater: TAPMI, Manipal
Management education equipped me with key skills for problem solving, building effective communication channels, leading from the front and gaining a wider perspective. These skills have played a significant role in shaping my career and defining my leadership style at Lamborghini.
I strongly believe that while classroom learning is important, a significant part of our training at b-school happens outside the classroom, where we meet and engage with individuals from diverse backgrounds. This helps to appreciate different perspectives, respect divergent views and form strategically sound, informed opinions.
Not every eventuality can be planned for; the pandemic showed us this. However, I was able to apply my learnings from b-school to build the required agility within our teams and business model to remain relevant and efficient. Even before the pandemic, one of the key challenges we faced was expanding our consumer base beyond the metros. We took the brand experience to potential consumers, irrespective of the location. Taking a super luxury brand to smaller cities required an understanding of the nuances of these diverse consumers and their own unique set of needs and aspirations. We created a programme called ‘Lamborghini in your city’ to identify individuals who were dreaming of owning a Lamborghini.
As part of the programme, we gave these individuals a glimpse into the world of Lamborghini through private previews, thus seeding the idea of owning the first Lamborghini in the city. We understood their lifestyle preferences and continued to invite them for other experiential offerings such as the track day, allowing them to enjoy the Lamborghini experience in an actual racetrack environment.
Through these experiences across the country, we aligned the aspirations of potential consumers with our brand values and eventually watched them become proud owners of the first Lamborghini in their specific markets. Additionally, we ensure that our consumers can enjoy the same service irrespective of their location. Our technicians ensure that they reach the customer wherever they might be, using the fastest mode of travel available.
To be successful in any field, it is important to follow your heart and be genuinely passionate about achieving your dreams. Also one must never be afraid of challenges, as success can rarely be achieved without overcoming odds. The key is to not allow these challenges to overwhelm you and to approach them with the right problem-solving attitude. No matter how big or complicated the obstacle, once you break it down and analyse it from different perspectives, it will slowly but surely untangle itself.
A team plays a critical role in achieving great success. Hence, it is critical to hire and nurture that winning team—one whose vision is aligned with that of the brand. Identifying the right talent and mentoring team members are skills that one should start honing from one’s MBA days—by seeking to learn from the experiences of stalwarts across fields. Soft skills of effective communication and collaborative leadership style are learnt both on and off campus, and are the building blocks for successful leadership.
—As told to Abhinav Singh