We have many common friends and she was
introduced to me by one of them. She was also invited to be a part of the IWH,
which is now an incredible platform that all of us are proud of; where we have
reached and all the possibilities that lie in front of us. I discovered that we
share many things quite similar and our professional journeys have similar
nuances too. She has had a great career in the hospitality industry; presenting
the inspirational story of Ms. Keerti Nambiar. She is an
alumna of the reputed Oberoi Centre of Learning and Development (OCLD
1999-2001)and has over 18 years of extensive experience in the hospitality
sector. She has worked in operations with Oberoi Hotels in Kolkata and Mumbai
and later with the Taj Hotels (Luxury Division) in the Learning &
Development function at Mumbai, Hyderabad & New Delhi. Her last assignment
was with The Leela Mumbai as the Training Manager. She is also a post
graduate in HRM from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and her core
competencies include Training & Development, HRM, Employee Engagement,
Business Excellence, Coaching and Recruitment. She can be described as a
strategic Leader who has shaped high-performing cultures with robust
development frameworks; indelible reputation for delivering best-in-class
trainings with a focus on building a strong corporate culture for
organizational development.
Her upbringing in a defence background has instilled in her
values of discipline, professionalism and a strong moral character. She
is married to a banker with Reserve Bank of India; in whom she finds her best
critic and well-wisher. They are blessed with two daughters, Shamita and Kimaya
. She is a feminist who is a strong believer in ‘Karma’, the work life balance
and is a wildlife enthusiast as well as a baking aficionado.
Currently on a career rejuvenation; she wishes to become an
academician and contribute to the fraternity as well as the budding
hospitality professionals. Having had an illustrious career working with some
of the best hospitality brands in the country; makes her a great resource.
The Early Life
Keerti Nambiar was born into a family with a Defence
background; her father and his brother were Infantry Officers and so was their
father before them. The early upbringing hence, was extremely regimented and
disciplined. She strongly believes that it helped to instill the values of
discipline, professionalism and a strong moral character in her early formative
years.
By the time she and her brother were 10 (they are fraternal
twins), they had already moved 4 cities and roughly the same number of schools.
So, change, she learned early on was her constant companion whereas flexibility
and adaptability were her best friends. Her mother was always very particular
about their academic pursuits and kept a strong vigil on her children’s grades
at school. As for extra curricular interests, she was almost always spoilt for
choice. Living in Army cantonments across the country exposed her to limitless
indulgence when it came to sports, libraries, clubs and olympic sized swimming
pools! All these and more contributed to a well-rounded development of character
and physical stamina to take on challenges ahead of her.
Ironically, Hospitality as a career featured nowhere in her
aspirational list in high school. Being an above average student all through,
she felt reasonably confident to crack the Armed Forces Medical College exam.
But, fate obviously had other plans for her, as she failed to secure a good
rank not once but twice! It then dawned upon her that she had no back up plan
if this didn’t work. Her mother was keen to see that she pursued a professional
course and one of the options available to her was a Diploma in Hospitality.
After a brief research and counseling with a few industry insiders, she went
along with her gut and decided to take the plunge. After 2 decades ; she now
proudly says that it was one of the soundest decisions of her life. She
had stumbled upon her new reckoning for life as a Hotelier!
We had a few questions for Ms. Nambiar and she graciously
answered them. IWH in conversation with her.
IWH: How has your hospitality journey
been so far? Pros, cons etc?
Keerti Nambiar: In the past 2 decades, I have had the
good fortune of being associated with India’s top 3 indigenous hospitality
chains namely, Oberoi, Taj and Leela. Each has its own unique take on the
Indian service dharma – ‘Athithi Devo Bhave’ or Guest is God. Their approach
may differ but they all have one common goal- guest delight. Exploring and
understanding this fine nuance has made this journey albeit, an interesting
one.
There is a flip side to this too- a thin line between
standardization and customization.And more often than not, there is overlap
with disastrous outcomes. It’s fashionable these days for Hotel companies go to
great extremes and deploy expensive resources to analyze trends and capture
guest data. The entire service philosophy shifts from being guest centric to
data-centric and loops into a vicious repetitive cycle.
Another aspect worth mentioning here is the ‘Inertia to Change’.
The past decade has seen stupendous growth in room capacity in all major
markets to the extent of saturation. Simply put, more people are hungry for the
pie and the pieces are getting smaller now! Change in strategy of doing
business is painfully slow but the guests and travellers are moving ahead in
their expectations and definitions of ‘Luxury’. Unless hotel companies learn to
react fast, they will fall way behind the new breed of young, agile and daring
start-ups and consolidators.
IWH: Who has been your mentor or a role
model? In what way has that person helped you?
Keerti Nambiar: There have been countless generous souls
who have contributed in making me what I am today. I feel a deep and enduring
sense of gratitude to those who have given me opportunities and support. But,
if asked to single out one then, that would be Mr. Veer Vijay Singh. An
exceptional hotelier (Ex-Taj)an industry stalwart, a compassionate human being
and visionary is how I would describe him. One management lesson of his
that I swear by is – ‘take care of your people and they will take care of your
guests’. With his work and words he has touched many lives and continues to do
so till date.
IWH: What have been the high points of
your career? Highlight at least 3.
Keerti Nambiar:
1. Graduating from India’s most premier
hospitality training program – The Oberoi Centre for Learning and Development.
2. Designing and Executing developmental
workshops for the Leela Management Training Program.
3. Secured a Gold level in the Business
Excellence Leadership Program at Taj and qualified as an External Assessor for
TBEM.
And of course… every moment in time is a high point when you
have positively influenced or touched the life of a person who has reached out
to you.
IWH: What challenges have you faced as a
woman in the industry? How did you deal with them?
Keerti Nambiar: Women@work like myself are posed with
many ambitious challenges day-in and day-out of their lives: to create the
lives we want, to be leaders in our work, to be partners in our homes and to be
champions of other women. Learning to deal with them have come through experiences
of trials and error over the years. My key takeaways have been;
·
I have learnt to be
never pressured into muting my accomplishments. Owning one’s success is key to
achieving more success.
·
My desire to be liked
by everyone was holding me back from making progress. You can’t please everyone
when you want to change things.
·
In order to grow and
challenge myself, I have learnt to believe in my capabilities. Never find
yourself spoken over or discounted for amongst your peers.
·
Negotiate without
inhibition, whether it is a raise or promotion or a recognition rightly
deserved.
IWH: If there was anything that you
could change about your life or career what would that be?
Keerti Nambiar: If I could change one thing, that would
be my mobility factor. Once you have a family you become rooted down to a place
with responsibilities and develop ‘homing’ tendencies. For most women this
happens when she is usually at the peak of her career. If you are not mobile,
one inadvertently misses out on career growth opportunities offered by the
company. I wish I had the conviction and risk appetite to see beyond and take
the plunge, throwing caution to the wind!
IWH: What do you think of IWH?
Keerti Nambiar: I see it as one of its kind; a fantastic
initiative to connect and grow as a fraternity. An all women interactive
platform to share industry experiences and learn from each other along the way.
The younger budding hoteliers who seek inspiration and motivation to break
traditional ceilings at work will never be disappointed here. Happy learning
and sharing!
IWH: Your advice to the young
professionals and students.
Keerti Nambiar:
·
Be open to different
experiences and be on lookout for diverse opportunities that present themselves
as ‘challenges’
·
Never stop learning
·
Patience and
perseverance towards your goals
·
Be a visionary and
always try and see the ‘bigger’ picture, and…
While doing all the above STAY Humble and grounded.
IWH: Anything else you wish to share
with our readers?
Keerti Nambiar: Stay inquisitive to new experiences and
learning’s, share without inhibitions, compliment successes without restraint
and grow as a force to reckon with.
Link to the story:
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