EP 031 - How to Run a Fortune 500 Company with Srini Phatak, Deputy CFO of Unilever

Strategy of Finance

In this conversation, Srini Phatak, the Deputy CFO and Controller at Unilever, shares his journey and insights as a finance professional. He discusses the importance of experiencing different parts of the world and embracing middle-class values. Srini also highlights the compelling combination of hunger, humility, and the art of the possible that drives Indian executives to succeed. He emphasizes the significance of trust, confidence, and meritocracy in career progression.

Srini provides valuable advice on managing multinational companies, including the importance of understanding the business, people, and culture, as well as making choices and simplifying operations. He also discusses the role of the CFO and the finance function in delivering value creation and sustainable cash flows. The conversation with Srini highlights the importance of focusing on key drivers of business success, such as growth, profit, and cash. He emphasizes the need to go beyond just focusing on outcomes and instead focus on the enablers of those outcomes, such as volume growth, penetration, consumption, and premiumization.

Further, Srini discusses the importance of managing risk and making winning choices in business strategy. He explains that risk management is not restrictive, but rather a growth enabler. Additionally, Srini shares insights on organizational design, talent management, and the role of finance in driving value creation. Srini also talks about the importance of understanding consumer habits and preferences in the CPG industry and how they influence brand strategy and innovation. He shares insights on building a strong organizational culture and the balance between global and local cultures. Srini defines success as creating an impact in the business and with people, making a difference in external communities, and making suitable work-life choices.

Takeaways

- The combination of hunger, humility, and the art of the possible drives Indian executives to succeed.

- Trust, confidence, and meritocracy play a crucial role in career progression.

- Understanding the business, people, and culture is essential for managing multinational companies.

- Making choices, simplifying operations, and delivering value creation and sustainable cash flows are key responsibilities of the CFO and the finance function. Focus on the key drivers of business success: growth, profit, and cash.

- Identify and focus on the enablers of the outcomes, such as volume growth, penetration, consumption, and premiumization.

- Risk management is not restrictive, but a growth enabler.

- Make winning choices in business strategy by considering the opportunities and risks involved.

- Finance plays a crucial role in driving value creation by providing a holistic view of the business and being a co-pilot to business partners.

- Attract and retain talent by offering challenging opportunities, personalized development plans, and a stimulating work environment.

- Use data and trends to inform decision-making and prioritize where to invest time and resources.

- Identify and prioritize key risks in your business and develop robust plans to address them.

- Understand consumer habits and preferences to inform brand strategy and innovation.

- Build a strong organizational culture that aligns with the company's values and purpose.

- Define success by the impact you create in the business and with people, making a difference in external communities, and making suitable work-life choices.

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Quotes

"Strategy - Where to play, how to win?"

"I (am) a product of many Indias."

"I'm a product of education."

"The story of India is the story of Indian executives."

"India has truly arrived, our best is yet to come."

"Running a business, is a team sport."

"What failure and setback teach you. Success doesn't."

"Careers are marathons, careers is not a sprint."

"Not the results. How you go about and what you do is equally and sometimes more important than just the results."

"When you had a new opportunity and it was only two criteria. Is there somewhere which I am going to learn and make any difference? And is that an opportunity to create an impact?"

"If there are the CEO and the CFO for making tons of decisions, then there is an organization which is off-catered."

"There is an element of price and mix because end of the day you also need to make sure that you are able to command the right price premium because you also significantly invest behind your brands."

"Risk management is misunderstood and seen as something restrictive and defensive."

"You can't map all the risks and try and address all of them."

"The relevance of brands, customer choices, consumer choices, preferences, trends, that's really the lifeline of a business."

"In day-to-day business, there isn't a right answer or a wrong answer. There is always what I would call classically an evaluation of the upside and the cost of trying to realize that upside."

"Have the hunger, but also have the humility."

"You can't stretch a brand completely into different functional space, into value space and benefit space indefinitely."

"It's really about the impact that you can create with the business, impact you can create with the people. And if you can go and make a bigger difference to some communities. If you can, I think it's great."

"Be open to experiences, be open to doing different things. Go and seek out and do the difficult jobs early on in your life. Don't take the easy way out."

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Where to find Srini Phatak:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/srinivas-phatak-3aa954/

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Where to find Unilever:

Website: https://www.unilever.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/unilever/

X: https://x.com/Unilever

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Where to find Rohit:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohitagarwal001/

X: https://x.com/podcast_SoF

Email: [e-mail]