It takes a lot of planning, determination and motivation to finish a marathon. No wonder it’s rapidly becoming the favourite pastime of CEOs and company heads across the country.
It’s well known that Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran, Reliance ADAG boss Anil Ambani and Edelweiss group CEO Rashesh Shah are regulars at the Mumbai marathon. But today, more senior leaders across India Inc are also participating in the event, often with large contingents of colleagues. Chandrasekaran, when he was TCS head, for instance, used to lead a big group from his company, and can be seen, on many mornings at Marine Drive, running with a bunch of entrepreneurs. “Running is the new golf,” says Sanjeev Mantri of ICICI Lombard. It’s become the downtime of choice for corporate honchos, who use this activity to network with other business leaders (in a neutral, non-competitive space), bond with their teams and also set enviable fitness goals within their organisations. Mirror speaks to some senior leaders about how they find the time for running in their busy schedules, and how they have led by example to inspire employees to get fitter.
Feels like team spirit
VS Parthasarathy, 57 Group Chief Financial Officer, Mahindra & Mahindra
Parthasarathy believes a team that runs together, stays together. So every Friday after work, he goes for a run with his seven-member team. In the marathon on January 19, five of them will even run with him. The Mahindra CFO has been participating in half marathons all over the country for the last six years.
Four years ago, Parthasarathy began to run to raise funds for Nanhi Kali, the Mahindra group initiative for the girl child. He has already managed to get donations of over a crore. “If I’m going to run for a cause, I will never be able to raise enough alone. I have to get the team to help as well,” he says. “Training together is a great way to bond. We all have different kinds of work and home pressures, and we talk about it when we’re out, and share ‘war stories’ about our lives. Thanks to this, we have developed a deeper understanding of, and respect for, each other. I also get an insight into the problems my team faces. Once, before a crisis in the organisation, I broke the news to them after our run, but also told them to trust me about some things, and they did.”
Parthasarathy’s fitness journey began relatively late. “I had not seen the inside of a gym until seven years ago,” he says. “As the head of international business, I was living out of a suitcase, keeping unusual hours and poor eating and sleep habits. I realised soon after, that I couldn’t continue like that. I needed to get fitter. If I’m not healthy, how can I ask others to become healthy? If I’m leading a company, I must also lead by example on this front. That was the pivot for me.”
Parthasarathy kicked all his bad habits, started working out and running. He starts his marathon training typically two months before the event, when he runs for three days a week, increasing the distance progressively from three or five km to 10 or 15, and does other workouts on the rest of the days. On certain days, he runs from NCPA to his office in Prabhadevi in the mornings, before beginning work. On many of those days, members of his team are also by his side.
Parthasarathy trains for the marathon with members of his team (Photo by Satish Malavade)
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Accidental runner
Gagan Banga, 44 Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Indiabulls Group
Banga is an accidental runner. A health scare 14 years ago led him to it. “I had gone to see the doctor for a toenail surgery, but the tests showed that my cholesterol levels were very high,” says Banga. “The doctor told me that I should do something about it if I wanted to live well into my 40s. I was 30 at the time.” Banga became a serious runner and has participated in more than 30 marathons across the globe since. “Running a marathon is a reflection of my personality,” he says. “I keep pursuing something till I get better at it, and I need data to prove that, which I can only get by participating in a marathon.”
For Banga, the two hours every morning also gives him time to think through work problems. “I have come to a lot of important business decisions while on a run,” he adds. Some years ago, on a call with investors, Banga described a particularly challenging marathon, which was uphill during a downpour. “It struck me that it’s exactly like business. Problems will occur, but you have to keep your head down and keep going.” Banga says running shows a human side to him; not just an MD obssessed with data. In fact, Banga recently faced some disappointment with marathons as well. He has finished three of the six global marathons (New York, Tokyo and Berlin), and trained twice for Chicago, but couldn’t make it. “I’ll do the balance three in the next two years,” he says.
Banga’s obsession with running does spill over into the workplace. Indiabulls sponsors the Vasai-Virar run, and Banga has instituted a fitness contest at work, where employees who walk the most, or lose the most weight over a designated time-period, are rewarded with overseas trips. “I don’t pressure colleagues to participate in marathons. But it feels great when a sales executive sends me a photo saying, ‘I ran here’.”
Gagan Banga
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In the major league
Sanjeev Mantri, 49 Executive Director, ICICI Lombard
“I’ve always believed that you should do something outside work, something that will create a diversion and help you pull along,” says Mantri. He picked running in marathons, and between that and his work, he finds some balance. Despite a punishing work schedule and extensive travel, Mantri runs at least four times a week, and has been participating in marathons for almost 14 years. “I played tennis for seven or eight years, but had to give it up when both my knees developed injuries,” Mantri says. “Since I was determined to get fitter — and I had been contemplating running as an option — I decided to go for it.” Today, preparing for the marathon spills over from the physical to the mental space for Mantri. “The day you have a good run, you’re happy. The day it’s a bad or even a disastrous run, it teaches you certain lessons,” he says. “You need to be mentally strong to run a marathon. After a few miles, you might suddenly develop cramps and feel that your body is giving up. That’s when the mental strength kicks in. In those moments, I think about how much my family has supported and encouraged me, and that gives me the strength to go on.”
Sanjeev Mantri (Photo by Deepak Turbhekar)
Mantri approaches his marathon preparation like he approaches work: He thinks things through, plans accordingly and executes them with precision and determination. At the Mumbai marathon this time, he plans to run only the half, preferring to conserve his energy for the Tokyo event in March. “Tokyo is part of the six World Majors of marathon [the others being London, New York, Chicago, Boston and Berlin],” says Mantri. “I’ve done the others, and I’ve only got this one left. Mumbai will be practise run for Tokyo.” Mantri participates in the Mumbai event every year, but also makes it a point to mix in one or two on the international circuit. Also, he says since he works for an insurance company, it’s imperative that he is fit. “We provide health insurance. So I must practise what I preach,” he laughs.
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Every runner needs an ecosystem
Manisha Khosla Sinha, 43 MD, Head, Brand and Comms, BNP Paribas India
“It’s hard for a woman to hit the road alone at the crack of dawn when it’s still dark,” says Sinha. “But if you’re determined to train for the marathon, you’ll just have to ignore the stares and the catcalls. Yes, it happens, even in Mumbai.” But running is catching on, across the country, says Sinha, who finds women, sometimes dresed in traditional clothes, out for a run in other cities.
For Sinha, who started running four years ago, and has participated in several half marathons since, the one hour in the morning — away from work, her phone (which she always leaves at home) and even her family — is the precious downtime she needs to recharge. “The feeling of being liberated is addictive,” she says. “You don’t need special equipment to run, just a pair of shoes,” says Sinha. “Also, distance running is not a race. You’re only competing against yourself and trying to improve your own timing. I think that’s the hook for most runners.”
Manisha Khosla Sinha (Photo by Aakanksha Mankar)
Three days a week, Sinha runs between six and nine km. On Sundays, it’s either 18 or 20. “The more regular you are, the better you’ll get. There are no shortcuts,” she says. She is planning to do a half marathon on January 19, but hopes to be ready for a full marathon by November.
Sinha, who has two young children, says her family has been extremely supportive — something she’s certain even male runners need. An ecosystem of understanding friends and family, who will allow you to miss get-togethers, work their schedules around you and even change their food habits so that you can stick to a diet. “My family knows that running makes me happy,” she says. “I believe that you cannot be a good parent if you are not happy and at peace with yourself.”
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The motivator
Amar Misra, 55 Executive Director, Legal & Properties, RPG Enterprises
Twenty years later, Misra still remembers the turning point in his fitness journey. One day in 2000, Misra, who weighed an unhealthy 130 kg at the time — thanks to years of binge-eating and heavy drinking — suddenly decided he needed a lifestyle reboot. “That evening, for the first time in many years, I didn’t feel like having a drink,” he says. “I didn’t have any health problems, no blood pressure issues or diabetes, so the weight just crept up on me. But I’d seen my father, who passed away at 75, completely neglect his health, and I decided I wouldn’t do that.”
Misra started running shortly after, and has completed over 25 half marathons till date. After taking part in the 10K in the last two years, this time, he plans to run the half during the Mumbai marathon. Given that he does a 10 or 12 km run every week in the two months since he’s started training for the forthcoming event, he doesn’t have to do anything out of the ordinary to prepare.
Amar Misra (Photo by Satish Malavade)
During the 2005 Mumbai marathon, Misra noticed that many companies had sent large contingents of staff to participate, while he was the sole representative from RPG. So he started talking to HR about getting more employees involved. This year, some 500 people across RPG enterprises’ group companies, will participate in the marathon, and the organisation is footing the entire bill. Some senior leaders — including Misra — are going to partner visually-challenged runners from the Adventures Beyond Boundaries Foundation. “When you no longer have anything to prove, you should step outside of yourself and see how you can help others,” he says. “I’m not hung up on improving my timing any more, so I want to help someone else achieve his or her goal during the marathon. That’s the reason behind the partnership.”
Misra has lost some 45 kg over two years, but the fat man that lives inside his head, refuses to go away. “My clothes sizes have decreased and they fit better, but even today, when I look in the mirror, I still see myself as overweight,” he says.
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Going the distance together
Group of CEOs
“Entrepreneurship requires a ‘marathon mind’,” says businessman Ajit Panicker. “When you start running, you must have a coach to guide you, otherwise you could injure yourself. And you have to be patient if you want to improve. It’s the same with running a business.” Panicker is part of a group of 25 entrepreneurs, who have been participating in marathons for the past five or six years. In his core group are five other businessmen — Vikram Dhawan, Manoj Agarwal, Amrish Arora and Adarsh Todi — who have become good friends because they train together for three days of the week.
Although they are all at different fitness levels, they motivate each other to make the small (and big) sacrifices needed to keep going. Despite running their own businesses, they try to be disciplined about having dinner by 7 pm, getting enough sleep to start training at 5.30 am three days a week, and giving late-night parties a miss.
“My day goes well when I run,” says Todi. “I feel more energetic and want to achieve more.” Arora says he looks forward to that hit of dopamine, which lasts through his work day. Agarwal adds: “If you have to leave office early, you’ll work more efficiently to do that. The runners finish their training with breakfast at a nearby club — which is a great way to wind down after a rigorous training session. “We don’t talk business,” says Dhawan. “We are not trying to compete with each other, but we do have an incredible bonding.” Running the marathon, they all agree, has definitely brought them closer.
(From left) Adarsh Todi, Ajit Panicker, Amrish Arora, Manoj Agarwal and Vikram Dhawan train together three times a week.