I overslept on the Sunday of April 10th and the first thing I heard on waking up was my husband telling me “there is some bad news…Raghu Pillai is no more”. After a stunned silence, I checked my phone to see the umpteen text messages all conveying and confirming the same shocking fact. I kept re-reading the messages, not willing to accept it as reality till the words got blurred in a haze of emotions.
I can confidently state that there would have been a virtual flood of emotions which swept through each and every person who has ever come in touch with Mr. Raghu Pillai. He was that rare business leader who was first and foremost a “People Leader”.
How does one describe a person like him? Words fail to do justice……
“a dream boss who was warm, caring, large-hearted, ever-smiling, accessible, approachable, concerned, forgiving, encouraging, inspiring, …..CHARISMATIC”.
He taught us to take quick decisions, based on facts combined with “gut feel. He taught us that a mistake is not the “end of the world” and taking a decision is any day better than taking no decision.
He taught us to try out new ideas at work, to take ownership, to have confidence in our decisions. He was that leader who made you want to excel, to scale greater heights, to improve the current way of working. He taught us to treat every individual with dignity. He made even the lowest person in the corporate hierarchy feel important.
Open door policy was not just some corporate jargon for him….he embodied this principle in his dealings with all employees. Despite his stature, no one ever felt over-awed to go up to him or speak out his/her mind. He was direct and honest with his opinion and expected the same from others.
He genuinely cared for his people and we would all have some instance or the other where Mr. Raghu Pillai would have gone “out of the way” to extend his help much beyond our expectations.
I have had the good fortune to be associated with Mr. Raghu Pillai twice in my career, first with Foodworld-RPG Retail and then again with Reliance Retail. Even though I had not been in touch with him for a few years after I quit Foodworld, when I met him at Reliance Retail next, he greeted me with the same warmth, the same huge smile that we all remember him by. He never failed to ask a person about his/her family. Even on the phone, one can “hear” him smile .People say if a person’s smile does not reach his eyes, it is not genuine….by this standard Raghu Pillai possessed probably the most genuine smile in the corporate world, particularly amongst people at that stature. This smile was also backed by a legendary sense of humour.
People flocked to work with Raghu Pillai, changing jobs just to work under his guidance and leadership.
I know of instances where employees have given up considering greener pastures only because “Raghu asked to reconsider”. That was the charisma of the man, the leader, the corporate beacon who will stay in our hearts and minds forever.
Madhumita Mohanty worked with Raghu at RPG Foodworld and at Reliance Retail and is currently General Manager and Head-Merchandising at Reliance Jewels.
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