Your success mantra to manage work-life balance
Sushil: Today, leading a balanced and holistic life is key to a healthy lifestyle. It is mandatory to have a work-life balance to maintain equilibrium.
Snehal: Especially for women, it gets more challenging since they are required to meet equal, if not more, demands on the personal front also.
Sushil: My success mantra, which Snehal also has adopted, to achieve this is threefold – prioritization, dedication and delegation. To begin with, one must prioritize activities on both personal and professional fronts. Whether it is attending the parent teacher meeting or ticking targets at work, whatever is prioritized first, must be attended to with full dedication till successful completion. That way the mind can focus on the next activity with ease. Finally, for those on top of the ladder in their respective professions, judicious delegation of work and responsibilities can be extremely rewarding in terms of desired outputs and saving time (time management).
Snehal: Most importantly, one must prioritize some kind of physical fitness for a healthy mind and body.
Board room strategies that you have borrowed from each other.
Snehal: The first strategy I always admired in Sushil and have adopted myself over the years is to be professional at all times. There cannot be any room for a lackluster attitude in the boardroom. The second would be to keep an open mind that is receptive to new ideas and strategies. The third would be to draw and attempt realistic goals, in a phased manner and keep everybody’s benefits in mind, including the employees. The fourth would be to identify at the outset tactics that are inept and eliminate them immediately. Revamping business processes according to changing times is necessary.
Sushil: Finally, and most importantly, be decisive, be a prompt decision maker for speedy delivery and efficiency. Even if results are adverse/unfavorable, one can learn through mistakes, but quick decision making is vital.
How do you collaborate/inspire each other in your profession?
Sushil: We brainstorm regularly, especially about innovative designs, fresh marketing ideas, competitive sales strategies, etc
Snehal: We learn from new and fresh minds, from other perspectives and employ such ideas suitably in our business
operations. For all this to bear fruit, the key is to listen and learn from each other. As I have emphasized before, one must have a receptive mind to advance and flourish in any business.
Power and couple…perhaps an oxymoron…who do you think as a power couple?
Snehal: No powerplay, but partnership.
Sushil: Or working as couple and to effect positive change. This is a good application of power as a couple.
Snehal: Look at the Obamas’, the Gates’, the Khans’ (Shahrukh & Gauri).
Favorite topic of discussion at your dinner table?
Snehal: Reiterating my previous point on prioritization for a healthy work-life balance, I ensure that business affairs are kept at bay at the dinner table. It is the time for the family to get together at the end of the day and we mostly discuss personal matters, sometimes also extending to the larger family circle.
Sushil: But at the same time, encouraging ideas and innovations in a family forum, like at the dinner table, is not a bad thing. I sometimes get good insights from my children at the dinner and feedback on our products from other relatives during social gatherings.
Who has a last word on family vacations? Your memorable vacation and why?
Snehal: We draw up a couple of destinations but the children have the final word on the destination. We want to ensure that they are equally involved in the vacation planning as it is a family affair. New Zealand by far is the most memorable vacation because it was the longest vacation ever! Hence, plenty of time for personal introspection and family. I am an avid admirer of picturesque landscapes and New Zealand is gifted with pictographic locales. I also engaged in a lot of adventure sports with my children and discovered a whole new side to me.
Sushil: This is not my area at all. Rather, I am happy that at least there are some areas that I do not have to make decisions and make choices.
Profile: Snehal Mantri is Director- Marketing & HR at Mantri Developers & Sushil Mantri is CMD at Mantri Developers
Power Couple is a series initiated by Paul Writer featuring successful couples in the profession of marketing, media and advertising.
