5 Reasons Why HUL Managers Become CEOs

This is an excerpt from The CEO Factory: Management lessons from HUL by Sudhir Sitapati
HUL is famously called the CEO factory in the Indian industry. Last time we had counted, we had more than 400 CEOs or CXOs in various companies who had worked in HUL. And when I analyzed the reasons, I found five reasons why HUL managers become such great CEOs.
First is that the company has a very strong middle class ethos, in terms of working hard, not being flashy, being very prudent on cost. All great characteristics of great CEOs.
Secondly, it is a meritocracy. It hires from the best of the best schools and only the best gets promoted.
The third and most importantly perhaps, Young HUL managers regardless of which institute they came from and what their marks were, are always sent to the field first for a couple of years. So, they are very very comfortable with the grassroot reality of India but at the same time they have foreign exposure and fancy South Bombay investment bank offices. So, they are able to do both. Be in Lakhimpur and be in London.
Fourthly, it’s a very rare quality that HUL managers have, which is being entrepreneurial professionals. On one hand they are process driven professionals, which is what many multinationals have. But, on the other hand they have this Indian entrepreneurship which is also part of HUL DNA.
Fifthly, it’s a company which has absolutely no tolerance of lack of integrity. So, you can be almost certainly sure that if you recruit somebody from HUL, that person’s integrity will be well well above board.”
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