114 | theceomagazine.com
Suranjan joined P&G at the Cincinnati
headquarters in 1993 as a finance intern straight out
of university. A year later, he became a financial
analyst in dish care with the company, before being
promoted to other financial roles. Since then, he has
led operations from marketing to supply chains, from
strategy to business planning and acquisitions, in the
US, China and now in Singapore. Each step has
been invaluable in creating the leader that Suranjan
is today. “I still love every minute of the journey,” he
says. “I am passionate about making a difference in
the lives of consumers across this region and globally
through our brands that touch and improve lives in
both small and substantial ways.”
Suranjan revealed he developed his leadership
style by adopting various approaches implemented
by colleagues he worked with and admired. Adept
in strategic and analytical concept development,
Suranjan mentors his team in the same way and
believes that “consistency sees results”.
“One such concept is the three Ds approach:
depth, deliberate and daring. It is the mantra for all
my business units. The first D is ‘depth’. I motivate
my team to work at a greater depth than anyone
else in the industry as I believe everyone should be
a master of his or her own scope,” he explains.
“The second D is ‘deliberate’, which is to be
clear on what we want to do, but be equally clear
on what we do not want to do.
“The third D stands for ‘daring’. Surprisingly, this
does not mean striving for 100 per cent success.Suranjan believes aspirations should be unlimited,
not finite. “To strive for 100 per cent means we are
not setting the bar high enough,” he explains. “We
should be bold and aspire for unlimited success. It is
okay to fall short, but being daring is a key element
of our work culture.”
Which brings Suranjan to another concept, one
he has been driven by all his life – the idea that
nothing is impossible. Using his own background
as an example, Suranjan explains how he exceeded
his own aspirations while growing up in Africa.
“I started off in a public school in Zambia and
went on to study engineering at the University
of Zambia. Then I went to the US to Indiana
University, made it as a CPA, and earned an
MBA from the University of Chicago.”
After graduation, Suranjan travelled across the
US with his college mates, all packed into a van,
learning essential life skills that business school
could not offer. “Then I found my way to P&G
and the journey has been fantastic. Who would have
thought? I truly believe that nothing is impossible
and I ask my colleagues to also adopt that as a
mindset. This is translated into the strong results we
see today, the strongest in a decade.”
But it wasn’t until his career got into full swing
that Suranjan’s leadership skills developed. If not for
the diversity of the business leaders and departments
he’s since worked with, he wouldn’t have been able
to formulate his own approach to success. Having
worked across four continents, Suranjan leverages
his experience in an impressive swathe of P&G’s
operations to strengthen the company’s standing
with more than half of the world’s population.
Over the years, Suranjan has led P&G through
extraordinary innovations. In 2014, the opening of
the Singapore Innovation Center (SgIC) at Biopolis
brought to life P&G’s mission to create consumer-
centric innovation and deliver great value, as well as
the company’s incredibly strong R&D team and
consumer research capabilities. It is P&G’s third
high-tech innovation facility in Asia, emphasising the
importance played by the region, where it serves
more than two billion consumers with 25 brands.
Impressively, all waste is reused, recycled or used for
energy recovery instead of being sent directly to
landfills. “Just looking at our hair care range, we’ve
created the Head & Shoulders Suprême collection
with argan oil, which has long been used in
Morocco for food and cosmetic purposes as a
moisturiser. We have also developed the first perfume