Aditya Krishna, sales and marketing head, McCain Retail, is an ambitious man. His skills range across front-line sales, brand management, trade marketing, and product innovation. He raises the bar for himself by reading books, listening to podcasts, and keeping himself well-informed.
In a conversation with Storyboard18, Krishna shared his take on workplace toxicity, the books he reads, the podcasts he listens to, and what his weekend is all about.
Edited excerpts
The creator economy has taken the world by storm. Which influencers and trends are you following currently?
For me, social media and creators are a great way to get insights into three things. First is the space that my company and I operate in, which is food, on which I get a wealth of insights. Second is pop culture. And third is about understanding my bullseye target audience, which is women, especially mothers. I follow a lot of influencers specific to food and pop culture, and also a lot of influencers that my target audience follows, which is beauty influencers, food influencers, etc.
What marketing-related content do you consume in your free time?
I consume two kinds of marketing content. The first is the structured kind. And the second is slightly unstructured. I look up a lot of the work that’s happening across the industry. I research a lot about what ads are currently running and what are the kind of conversations currently ongoing across media. I read up a lot on that and refer to social media.
I look at LinkedIn and speak to a number of my industry colleagues to get a much deeper understanding of what’s happening in marketing out there.
They say, ‘marketing is both an art and a science,’ so I read a lot to understand those aspects of marketing. Regarding the science part of it, I’m a big believer in Byron Sharp’s (Professor of marketing science, University of South Australia) philosophy of ‘how brands grow’ (book).
But creativity also interests me a lot. I like to deep-dive into the right-brain aspect that makes creativity and work so great. One book I’m reading is ‘Creativity Inc.’ by Ed Catmull, who was one of the founding members of Pixar, the famous animation company.
He talks about how Pixar has created such great work over the past 30 odd years with creative processes in place. Also, I am curious about the ways in which great creative work has evolved.
One interesting podcast I came across was by Malcolm Gladwell. It’s a series called ‘Revisionist History’ and there is an episode called ‘Hallelujah,’ where he talks about how there are two kinds of creativity. One is the light-bulb moment, where the idea comes instinctively. And the second is a process of creativity where the idea gets evolved.
He talks about this song called Hallelujah. It’s a song which started off a certain way. The song we know today is different from how it started. It evolved through a creative process, with different singers and artistes trying their hand at it. That’s something which I’m quite interested in. So that’s the structured part of marketing.
Then there’s the unstructured bit. I look after both sales and marketing at McCain, and one thing my job gets me to do is travel extensively. I spend about six to seven days a month in the field, in the market, interacting with consumers, retailers, and even taxi drivers.
I’ve found that what a 15-minute interaction with a shopkeeper can tell you, or a 15-minute interaction with a consumer in a supermarket can tell you, it might take five months of reading to uncover those insights. So that’s the unstructured way in which I gather my marketing information and content.
There is a lot of talk about burnout, workplace toxicity, and hustle culture. What steps have you taken to avoid the adverse impact of the always-on culture on yourself and your colleagues? What advice would you give to your peers, colleagues, and next-gen marketers on this?
McCain has a great culture. It’s a culture which treats employees like family and keeps issues like burnout and workplace toxicity at bay.
Having said that, I would add that burnout and workplace toxicity are real themes in today’s day and age. When one is in a toxic environment or facing workplace burnout, the first thing is to understand and acknowledge that. The second is to understand a little bit more about oneself.
We can all be successful if we play to our strengths versus always trying to improve on things we are not good at. In a toxic environment or in an environment where one feels burnt out, people are often experiencing the imposter syndrome (self-doubt of intellect, skills, or accomplishments).
They are constantly questioning themselves and bringing down their self-confidence. At times like that, it is important to recalibrate, to either focus on one’s strengths and revisit how one looks at a situation. Or, find things that are aligned with your strengths.
Is there any sport or fitness routine you practice?
I love playing a sport in the morning. At least two to three days in a week, I play badminton.
I also like running. I find that getting into a breathing rhythm while running helps me introspect, unwind, and gives me a fresh perspective. I like adventure sports as well.
Trekking, mountaineering, and climbing are among the things I have tried. During the lockdown, I would do home workouts, which I quite enjoy.
What does your weekend look like?
The weekdays are fairly intense. So weekends are about recharging and being completely set for the challenges and opportunities that the week ahead has to offer. What I do on weekends is invest time in myself by playing a sport, watching movies, catching up with friends, or spending time with family.
I have a three-year-old daughter, and spending time with her and seeing her grow brings me great joy. Apart from that, travelling brings me a lot of joy.
My philosophy on travelling is to take the road less travelled — I find that super fulfilling. I was in Greece last month and instead of travelling to touristy destinations like Mykonos or Santorini, we travelled to lesser visited places, like Paros and Meteora.
I continuously try to explore new places. I have travelled to almost all the states. That’s a real area of interest that keeps me refreshed and recharged.
What are you watching or streaming this weekend?
This weekend is going to be the cricket world cup. I have recently watched some content that pleasantly surprised me. I watched ‘Guns & Gulaabs’ on Netflix, which was a very nice series. This was followed by ‘Rocky aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani,’ which I also quite liked.
I have watched a lot of Malayalam cinema in the last couple of years and I am keen to watch more of that. Some great content is being created there.
Any work or life hack you swear by?
I try to start my day early and achieve as much as I can during the morning hours. That is something which stands me in good stead every day. A life philosophy which I follow is ‘chasing excellence.’ Whatever I try to pick up or do, I try to do it to the best of my ability.
What are you reading? Any recommendations?
Right now, I am actually reading three books. The first is Creativity Inc by Ed Catmull, on the journey of Pixar and how the process of creativity works over there.
The second book I am reading is outside of my domain, it’s a book called Outlive, by Dr. Peter Attia. He touches upon how to live longer and better.
He has a philosophy called Medicine 3.0, where he talks about how one can have a high quality life for a much longer period. The third book, which I picked up just recently, is by an influencer called Krish Ashok. It’s called ‘Masala Lab: The Science Of Indian Cooking.’
A piece of wisdom you would like to share.
I would share two pieces of wisdom. First is to do what you enjoy doing. If a Monday morning feels like a drag, it’s normal. But if a Monday morning feels like a drag very often, then one needs to re-evaluate what one is doing.
The second thing I would like to share, something that came to me a little late in life, is that there is great wisdom and value that one can acquire from friends, mentors, and sounding boards. A wide set of those is a great asset to have in one’s life.