As A Professional

Shanker Adawal’s personality was imbued with a sense of responsibility from his early days as the eldest child in his family. His parents never interfered in his decision about his future career, believing that their child could choose and choose well for himself. Shanker Adawal chose to study Economics at a time when it was not the most popular subject in Indian universities. His mother was always the one to inspire him, as she was the first woman in Uttar Pradesh to earn a Ph.D. in English Literature. Shanker Adawal entered the professional world at DCM after completing the loop with an MBA from DU. At that time, computing was something out of a science fiction novel.

This was his first experience in the corporate world, and working for a behemoth like DCM set the tone for the years to come. From there, he took a stride to join Larsen & Toubro’s prospective planning department to hone his strategy and engineering skills. This event in his life taught him to see the trees as well as the forest. He could see the big picture as well as all the gears that have to work together to achieve the goal ahead.

Then, Shanker Adawal decided to try his hand at entrepreneurship at the young age of 27 with his limited experience. In the grand scheme of things, this was probably the most difficult learning curve he would have to face. He established a factory for the production of automobile axles. While demand was always high, output was insufficient. “I always had faith in my abilities, but it takes a lot more than that to keep your own enterprise going. Even though that was my first & brief brush with failure, it taught me a lifetime of lessons that I carry with me with whatever task I undertake.” It was this loss, both in terms of time and money that led Shanker Adawal back to the corporate world.

But now, he was a different person; young in years but wise from everything he had learned within such a short time. His stints with TATA and Nortel were exciting because they occurred at a time when the Indian economy was opening up to the rest of the world. He learned various tactics of the trade both in the professional as well as personal spheres of interpersonal skill development. With Nortel, he was able to see how things worked on a global scale, both in terms of process and professional etiquette.

Shanker Adawal and Reliance started a long and fruitful partnership in 1998. He applied his knowledge accumulated over the years to all of Reliance’s divisions, with a holistic approach to the flawless operation of all the gears in the Reliance machinery. Given Shanker Adawal’s abundance of knowledge gained through working with industry legends, it is safe to claim that learning from him would improve the mind in a variety of professional and personal ways.

Dr. Shanker’s approach to life is absolutely empirical. When asked for any advice he had for people entering the workforce, he had this to say, “I work with a very young team and after seeing them in their natural habitat, I would tell them three things:

1. Patience is the mother of all virtues and all great things take time. Do not be in a hurry to succeed, as you may miss out on important learnings along the way.
2. Look up from their phones & computers from time to time. (This comes from the person who ushered in the computer revolution in India.)
3. Don’t chase money but pursue wealth. Money is just one thing, wealth encompasses all the things that make one’s life rich; knowledge, a flourishing personal life, and of course, enough money to keep you comfortable.

DCM Data Products (1978-1981): The unassuming Cancerian’s first job at DCM Data Products entailed selling computers and calculators. It also included training. So well did Shanker fit into the groove and so green did the spreadsheet read that his training and probation period were curtailed by six months. In two years, he notched up four promotions.

Larsen & Toubro (1981-1986): By virtue of his Excellence and accolades he won so far Shanker was offered a position at Larsen & Tubro fwhere he handled national accounts. During the five-year stint, he was adjudged the youngest achiever to meet targets well before the deadline.

Modi Xerox (1987-1989): After leaving L & T for good Shanker joined Modi Xerox in 1987, the year reprographics was creating incessant buzz as the latest concept in the country.  In the very first year he took the sales graph to the top   and hurried up ta ladder to become e National Accounts Manager of the company.

Tatas (1989-1993): Just when the Indian economy opened its doors to liberalization, Shanker landed in Nelco, a company then headed by Mr Ratan Tata where the job was challenging as Shanker was entrusted with turning around the fate of Nelco. He effectively introduced the C-Dot technology to the industry and clinched some major government accounts. Orders started pouring in and the coffers of Nelco jingled with what seemingly an impossible turnover of  Rs 100 crores a year.

There were still more feathers to adorn his cap. As part of Tata Services, he was instrumental in forging an alliance with Bell Canada and the foray of Tata Bell Canada’s into the GSM business. The company’s internal policies threw spanners in the project, but that did not deter Shanker. He struck a deal with Teleglobe of Canada and the credit of selling the first Public Switching Data Network to Department of Telecom goes to Shanker. Later, he was also involved in the acquisition of Teleglobe’s Data Division by the Tatas.

Nortel (1993-1997): Starting Nortel’s liaison office was the first of the achievements in Shanker’s four-year stint in the company. Starting the company’s enterprise network division was next on agenda, followed by relentless efforts in the fields of coordination, business development and public relations with Nortel offices in Singapore, the UK and the USA. He was strategically involved with various service providers who wanted to enter the country and interacted at the highest level with various industrial houses like Essar, Bharti, BPL, Hughes etc. for sale of equipment and financing.

At Nortel, he forged alliance with Global Tele-system for the enterprise division that shot up to an annual turnover of Rs 100 crore and also saw through a tripartite arrangement with GE Global and EDC of Canada to set up the First Electric Mail Business in India.

The job included extensive travel through Europe, the US and Asia to attend seminars, workshops and business meetings. The frequent flier miles gave Shanker a global perspective of the industry and economy.

All this was topped with four promotions in four years; he had walked into Nortel as a manager but walked out as the Director, Business Development and Enterprise Network. No one has been able to match that feat.

Reliance Industries (1997-present): Shanker’s major task at RIL has always been liaison with the government and the industry environment while continuously adding market knowledge to facilitate the expansion of the company’s business in all spheres. Another area of thrust has been to undertake proactive initiatives to facilitate all regulatory compliance critical to run the projects on pan-India basis.

The highlights have been setting up single-point corporate management of critical ministries like Petroleum, Commerce, Industry, Coal, Power, Finance, Telecom and Environment and support system to execute all statutory approvals required by the ongoing projects. He is remembered for executing huge projects and creating a regulatory basis that founded and shaped various projects.

Presently, he is also working on the aspects of higher education sector which is in the process of being deregulated by the Indian Government. Shanker’s rapport in the corridors of government organizations and Industry Chambers have positioned and benefited RIL immensely.

For Shanker, the journey continues… just the way it had begun, with utmost dedication. And yes, deadlines still amuse him. And conclusions still walk in with the beginnings.