Narayan Kunal Kishore, (PFM 2005-07) is currently the Zonal Head in ICICI Prudential Life Insurance managing PSF Channel for Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh & Jammu Kashmir.
Kunal holds rich leadership experience of 15 years in handling multiple Sales & Distribution Channels of Life Insurance Business – Agency, Bancassurance, Rural, Alternate, Direct Marketing & Service to Sales in his long career at Prudential.
His specialisations include Disruptive sustainable distribution scale up & raising sales force productivity, Change management & Business continuity management.
The freedom to fail, learn, unlearn and rebuild has been the most satisfying part of his wonderful long career with ICICI Prudential.
Linkedin ID: https://www.linkedin.com/in/narayan-kunal-kishore-1048685
Q) How has been your journey from IIFM to this role?
A) I joined as a Management Trainee along with other 6 batchmates in ICICI Prudential Life Insurance. The journey at ICICI Prudential has been like a self-fulfilling dream. I have learned to be on my toes, waiting for the next disruption, waiting for the next transformation, and waiting for the subsequent fulfillment. I got as much from it as I put in the fire to fuel, the momentum keeps me going, keeps me accelerated.
Q) What were some of the key milestones/learning in this journey that you would like to share with us?
A) It has been more than 14 Years working in the organization, and in hindsight, it looks like the journey has just started. I got the opportunity to work in multiple departments and geographies over all these years and had my fair share of success & learnings. Responsibilities & span of work has increased multifold in these years. I believe in aiming for the sky while being firmly grounded.
Q) What is the most satisfying part of your current role?
A) Freedom to fail, unlearn, learn and rebuild with the team and ability to measure the positive difference I create with my team.
Q) Has your learning at IIFM helped in shaping how you approach your professional roles?
A) The month-long field trip with Gujarat Forest Department, 2 OT’s (known as SI and Projects now) totaling 4-5 months at IFMR, Chennai & ICICI Prudential Life prepared me well for transition from classroom to the corporate environment. It helped me anticipate and prepare myself to work in the worst of situations and demanding timelines. Although I am an Economics graduate, basic courses in management disciplines & computer systems at IIFM have proved to be handy and helped me remain at the top of the curve in my organization. I was not very good at computers. Our Professor CSR Sir always used to say in class that even a ‘C’ in computers at IIFM would place you in the top quartile in your organization, just enjoy the journey. I am a living example of this statement; I owe it to professors like him & IIFM as an institution. Last but not least, we, batchmates of PFM 07, are a very closely-knit group. Needless to say, I am blessed to have friends for a lifetime from IIFM. Classmates, including seniors & juniors from IIFM, form a robust ecosystem on which you can always rely.
Q) Who (or what) are the biggest influences or drivers in your careers? What would be your advice to freshers and IIFM graduates who are looking to choose similar sectors/roles?
A) I have been blessed with good seniors at work during all these years, and it’s one area where my luck has favored me, although I don’t believe much in luck. Stay hungry, stay foolish is a perfect message for all to follow to build a good career.
Q) What are your favorite memories during your IIFM days?
A) IIFM days are full of memories but to name a few- group studies before exam night to find a way to score in minimum time, sipping tea in the canteen in all possible breaks between periods, watching movies screened by movie club as well as movie theatres and having endless discussions with batchmates on every possible topic under the Sun!!
Q) In hindsight, what was the biggest contribution (courses, faculty, library, friends, alumni.. Anything else!!) or take away from IIFM that you think played a critical role in shaping you as an individual or professional?
A) Two years spent at IIFM has been instrumental in shaping up my career in multiple ways. I am a staunch believer in the fact that you learn most from the failures and mistakes that you make in your life, be it personal or professional. The important takeaway here is not to repeat the same mistake. All interactions inside and outside classrooms missed deadlines, group projects, cricket matches that I lost; everything made me tougher, wiser & better prepared for future challenges. At this point, most of the challenges & problems I face are déjà vu moments for me, thanks to the robust foundations laid in my IIFM days. It would be prudent to acknowledge here that IIFM was the tipping point in my career.
Q) The best buddies/seniors/faculty at IIFM? Some memorable tidbits that you like to share?
A) Lots of them, we were closed knit batch of 40 people in 18th Batch which is PFM 2005- 07. We used to hang out a lot in our beautiful campus where the canteen was one of our favorites where we spent time together sipping tea over many discussions, outings in Newmarket, watching TV(sports+movies) in the common room. I have many friends so to a name a few- Shreekant, Rishi, Kr Abhishek, Tarique, Bigsna, Sudeep, Tarvinder, Himanshu, Ashish Verma, Mayank, Pravin, Suraj, Satyajit, Ashish Malik, Rajeev Singh, Harsh, Krishnan, and also Kamal, Rajkumar, and Ramakant who were from Nepal. Seniors like Alok Kashyap, Santosh Singh, Parth Mishra & Abhijit Kishore, and Kallol from our junior batch who also comes every year in our 15th August week reunion at IIFM which we have done every year since passing out. I have earned a lifelong support system in my friends from IIFM.
Q) As an alumnus, what’s your advice to freshers or those who are joining IIFM to get the best out of the 2 years there?
A) These two years are going to be your real engines for life so make the most of it.
Enjoy the IIFM feel & experience, build camaraderie, learn new things while being open to new ideas so that you come out as a better person and professional.
Q) What is your typical day at the office?
A) My work involves extensive travel of 12-15 days in a month across the states I am managing. When I am at my base location, my day starts at 9:30 am with a morning discussion with my team members, followed by multiple conference calls, VCS, reviews during the day, which generally extends till late evening. Every day brings up a new challenge, and I am primarily in fire fighting mode, on my toes.
Q) You would like to share about your typical weekends, hobbies, family?
A) Weekends for me mostly start late Saturday evening. I try to rejuvenate myself by being at home with family, watching movies and web series, reading books, exercising, and running. I am a long-distance runner and had started running mainly due to health reasons; I wish to continue this for the remaining years of my life.
Q) Favorite Books, movies, authors.
A) I am a movie buff. There used to be a time for years when I used to watch movies every Friday. I have even watched three movies in the theatre in a single day. OTT platforms have been a blessing in disguise now during the pandemic. I have always believed that reading books always adds value to you in multiple ways and one should keep doing that irrespective of one’s age. Over the last few years, I have moved to audiobooks as it is more convenient in my lifestyle. Atomic Habits, A Brief History of World are a few of my favorites.
Q) IIFM is driven by alumni’s passion and commitments towards its goal. How would you like to contribute to IIFM or IIFM alumni, students?
A) In our IIFM time, many of us were clueless while at the campus as proper guidance to navigate through corporate careers was scarce with very limited interactions with alums so I try my best to interact with both batches of students and guide them during my yearly IIFM trip which our batch has been doing since passing out in 2007. It would be my absolute pleasure to continue doing that every year as we intend to continue our reunion every year.
I have also done my best in getting our HR to visit IIFM and participate in campus placement whenever possible.
Q) What do you think is different at IIFM now vs when you studied there? What do you think is a positive change and what is not?
A) Our batchmates have been visiting the IIFM campus every year in August for the last 14-15 years as an annual trip which has become a tradition now. I have also visited the campus multiple times during these years. Campus facilities, including classrooms, are getting better; larger batch size has its pros & cons but it gives you better leverage when it comes to peer-to-peer learning, floating more courses, societies, learning groups in formal and informal ways. Although I have not gone through the current course structure I am hoping that learning methodologies can include more & more case studies of real-life problem solving, including smaller organizations, which can help students get first-hand experience of what is in store for them once they come to professional life. The world out there needs genuine problem solvers and IIFMites can make a huge positive difference to it.
Q) Any suggestions on who from our alumni you want to get profiled/interviewed here?
A) I would like all my batchmates to be profiled as everyone has a unique story so you can start with Shree Kant & Sudeep and cover others who are left too.