Changing Market Dynamics

Nissan Joseph came on board Ii Metro Brands n 2021 when the world was still reeling from the impact of COVID and businesses were establishing new ways of reaching out to consumers. The challenge for him here was to steer Metro through these difficult times. “What my team and I focused on was to set up an effective structure that promotes growth and scale and adds leadership talent for future-proofing. MBL, under the leadership of the promoters, has been a highly profitable organization. Hence, the transition was very smooth for me,” shares Nissan Joseph, CEO Metro Brands. Leading from the front, setting examples for the team and empowering people to become leaders has been the styling of functioning for this retail veteran.

Nissan Joseph, CEO Metro Brands

In the last few quarters, both the offline and online platforms performed well. Going forward, he will be further looking at building strength and capability in the key operational verticals of supply, business development and store personnel development. “The primary focus will be to strike a healthy balance between our e-commerce and in-store sales while prioritising the customer experience across all platforms,” adds Joseph.

Talking about the changing dynamics and agility required, Joseph says, “We have daily morning meetings where all key decision makers keep us up to speed in their respective areas and make quick decisions as per market conditions. This agility ensures that we are constantly on our toes ready to adapt and react to changing conditions. We are also increasingly looking at the deployment of technology and capitalizing on innovative ways to run the business.”

COVID was the biggest test of faith and endurance. There was no playbook and no precedent to refer to. Tough decisions needed to be made swiftly and that too with empathy and a high Emotional Quotient (EQ). Communication needed to be open and transparent so that the teams felt included and not excluded. It was important to admit that no one really knew how and when this would end. Joseph took it one day at a time and was open about the unknowns with the teams. He sought their support, understanding and ideas through it all.

Talking about his work hacks Joseph mentions, “The best productivity hack is to start my day early and clean up my mailbox at 4.30 AM. This clears up a big chunk of my time to focus on the daily priority list. I also tend to group my emails in conversation mode so I can quickly view a full thread in a single go. Multimedia podcasts have been a great tool to listen to the news on the go. With so many interesting conversations available on variegated topics ranging from airplane technologies to the latest developments in HR, it’s my current favorite way to stay updated.”

Joseph is one of those CEOs who believe that collaboration, communication and engagement are best achieved when people work together physically. He also advocates how an office setup increases the speed of communication and decisions.

Fact File

· Age: 58

· Year of joining the current organization: 2021

· Total team size: 4000

· Turnover of the organization: for H1 FY23 stood at ₹ 984 Crore