Pillar of my dreams! - Meera Shingala, IIM Visakhapatnam

As big as ABGLP is, so were my dreams... As a kid, I always wanted to have my own house, full of bright colors, and protected by strong walls. It is said that fathers are the pillars of a home, but when it came to the pillars of my house, my father trusted non-other than UltraTech cement! Aditya Birla Group has been there since 1857 and will stay here for eternity! It has been making an impact on an average person life by various means. Today with more than 120,000 employees, Aditya Birla Group is the third-largest Indian private sector conglomerate. Be it textile or insurance, be it fashion or finance, Aditya Birla Group has been leading in all the industries and serving us in as many ways as possible. Being a teenage girl when I wanted all those trendy clothes, it was Pantaloons where my mum took me. Being young and a college fresher that I was back then, I got all those pretty clothes to style myself and create an impact in the new world which I was stepping in. 

As time went and I got admission in IIMVisakhapatnam, my needs were changed as I wanted all formal dresses which give me the businesswoman look. All my needs were fulfilled again but this time by Van Heusen, Louis Philippe, and Peter England came to my rescue. Connecting dots create the line. Likewise, Vodafone Idea keeps me connected to my family in Ahmedabad while I am studying here in Visakhapatnam.

We can never count how much ABG has contributed in our lives, yet here I tried and listed a few of it. I would always be thankful and cherish the memories I made which ABG was a part of!

How did I overcome challenges to achieve my ambitions in life so far?

It was when I got placed in a company after while I was doing my graduation. I was pleased and enthusiastic about my first job as I was the first to secure it in my batch. Everything was going great, and my job started on the 1st day of 2018. Like any other fresher, I was nervous about working for the first time ever. In the initial days, training went well, but when the actual work started, it got difficult for me to cope up as I still had my final term exams pending.  Gradually, I started losing confidence and was not able to communicate well with the clients. I had many more dreams to fulfill and many more milestones to reach, but I was losing the track in between. 

While I was still learning, copping up with my studies and retaining my confidence, I was given an issue to resolve. The client was saying that we while updating the website, messed it up and they are not able to find specific values which they need. I took the call with the client, and she was very furious with us. I initiated the conversation and asked her to share the exact problem. It was challenging for me as I was new, and she was angry. My seniors asked to consider it as a new request and share her a quotation for the same. But I wanted to make her happy as clients are the ones who run the company. I tried multiple times to get to the core of the issue. After a few calls and numerous other attempts, I reached to the error, and it took just a few minutes to resolve it. That day I realized my self-worth and potential. I came to know that I have a problem-solving approach, and I felt more humanely toward people. Hence I firmly believe that it's was a problem from the client, which made me strong and helped me overcome my fears! I kept my attitude as the positive towards the organization and kind towards the client, which in turn was very happy and satisfied with the work.

Since that day till now, I have become a good listener and learned that the perceptions make the problems more prominent than they actually are! But at the end of the day, I am proud that I was the one who saved a customer from abandoning our organization.