Mitrabhanu Pati
Sales & Tech Director
Prior to IMERYS, Mitrabhanu was associated with the Tata Group for nine years leading its International business for TRL, and later led TRL KROSAKI Refractories for over six years as its Business Head in the United Kingdom, setting up growth plans in Western Europe. These sixteen years with the Tata Group have greatly influenced his career and shaped him as a successful leader in the industry. Leveraging such powerful experiences, Mitrabhanu is currently leading a massive multicultural team with people from five different nationalities and supporting almost 800 odd ceramic customers across Asia. He is a global leader with astounding leadership & management skills and hands on experience in sales, marketing, product management, operation, and post M&A integration, and P&L management.
Let’s hear it from him.
Throughout your professional journey, what has been the mantra that helped you to deliver positive outcomes?
I believe in the mantra of approaching a problem with the perspective of finding a solution. " You need to believe, every problem has a solution. If there is no solution to the given problem, only then it is a fact" And, I have been leveraging this mantra in every step of my
career. Being humble, I motivate myself every day to be a better version of myself. I always look for challenging opportunities which also brought me back to India and made me take up a more challenging & customer facing job at IMERYS.
Tell us about the unique experiences NIT Rourkela offers and what did you learn from the campus beyond academics.
NIT Rourkela is a dynamic experience with significant exposure in terms of multistate cultural scenarios which has been a unique advantage for my career it gave me a chance to get along with different people from different states, reflect on their different cultural aspects and understand their perspective This diversifying experience helped me in transforming myself from having a completely regional personality to multicultural personality. I have gained many vital learnings from this institute, like, how to work along with teammates to manage crises without adequate resources. This, I believe, is a vital skill that I practice as a business leader even to this day.
Tell us about IMERYS as an organization.
IMERYS is a global leader in mineral based specialities delivering high value added, functional solutions to a huge range of industries, from construction and sustainable energy to consumer goods. IMERYS provides expert solutions based on processing and refining mineral resources, synthetic minerals and formulations. More details on this French company can be on www. Imerys.com
What kind of leadership approach do you follow to lead teams?
My leadership approach depends on different circumstances, teams and organisations. I believe in adapting my leadership style to a given situation.
Some times, I lead from the rear, like a shepherd tending to a flock. I usually lead from the front when there is change within the business, helping teams to embrace the change or if I have a new team in that case, I lead by example. I also practice deliberately leading from behind as this enables established
Sustainability of natural & physical resources is the most important topic that today's business leaders must administer to broaden the concept across the value chain of each business
Tell us about the unique experiences NIT Rourkela offers and what did you learn from the campus beyond academics.
NIT Rourkela is a dynamic experience with significant exposure in terms of multistate cultural scenarios which has been a unique advantage for my career it gave me a chance to get along with different people from different states, reflect on their different cultural aspects and understand their perspective This diversifying experience helped me in transforming myself from having a completely regional personality to multicultural personality. I have gained many vital learnings from this institute, like, how to work along with teammates to manage crises without adequate resources. This, I believe, is a vital skill that I practice as a business leader even to this day.
Tell us about IMERYS as an organization.
IMERYS is a global leader in mineral based specialities delivering high value added, functional solutions to a huge range of industries, from construction and sustainable energy to consumer goods. IMERYS provides expert solutions based on processing and refining mineral resources, synthetic minerals and formulations. More details on this French company can be on www. Imerys.com
What kind of leadership approach do you follow to lead teams?
My leadership approach depends on different circumstances, teams and organisations. I believe in adapting my leadership style to a given situation.
Some times, I lead from the rear, like a shepherd tending to a flock. I usually lead from the front when there is change within the business, helping teams to embrace the change or if I have a new team in that case, I lead by example. I also practice deliberately leading from behind as this enables established
teams to flourish, be empowered, and believe in themselves. Giving autonomy to teams can reap wonderful rewards.
What are the changes in market behaviour that you anticipate and what are the opportunities that you foresee?
With the growing awareness of sanitation and real estate construction industries in India, the ceramic industry will continue to grow by +7 to 10% in the coming years. Fundamentally, we’ll see having a toilet OR tiles paved house will be shifting towards bathing solutions and better architectural design houses with higher leaving standards for young Indians, Many foreign companies are carefully looking into India to take advantage of its growth market. But with the growth in production & consumption the nuance of greenhouse gases will increase.
The industry needs to work simultaneously on carbon emission controls. These controls are not very robust right now but the government of India and key manufacturers having strong aspirations to manage greenhouse emissions makes me believe in the notion of saving energy and reducing carbon emissions in the industrial process. I strongly believe that the sustainability of natural & physical resources (such as minerals) is the most important topic that today's business leaders must administer to broaden the concept across the value chain of each business. On this principles, IMERYS as a company positioned very well than its regional competitors.
What would be your advice for upcoming leaders in the industry?
As leaders, we must never forget that we are working with both categories of employees millennials whom we cannot afford to replace in our companies and Gen Z who bring new ideas into the business. They both have different thought processes, and the leaders in this traditional Ceramic industry need to think of ways to engage people of both generations yet give them the freedom to work at their own pace. It is going to be a challenge and we need to manage this with agile leadership. My simple suggestion is Define the goal but not the path to reach the goal.
Mitrabhanu Pati, Sales & Tech Director, IMERYS
Having a Diploma in Advance Management from XLRI Jamshedpur and a Bachelor in Engineering in Ceramic Engineering from NIT Rourkela, Mitrabhanu is leveraging 20 years of experience in refractories and mineral industries to build unique growth strategies for IMERYS in Ceramics minerals.
What are the changes in market behaviour that you anticipate and what are the opportunities that you foresee?
With the growing awareness of sanitation and real estate construction industries in India, the ceramic industry will continue to grow by +7 to 10% in the coming years. Fundamentally, we’ll see having a toilet OR tiles paved house will be shifting towards bathing solutions and better architectural design houses with higher leaving standards for young Indians, Many foreign companies are carefully looking into India to take advantage of its growth market. But with the growth in production & consumption the nuance of greenhouse gases will increase.
The industry needs to work simultaneously on carbon emission controls. These controls are not very robust right now but the government of India and key manufacturers having strong aspirations to manage greenhouse emissions makes me believe in the notion of saving energy and reducing carbon emissions in the industrial process. I strongly believe that the sustainability of natural & physical resources (such as minerals) is the most important topic that today's business leaders must administer to broaden the concept across the value chain of each business. On this principles, IMERYS as a company positioned very well than its regional competitors.
What would be your advice for upcoming leaders in the industry?
As leaders, we must never forget that we are working with both categories of employees millennials whom we cannot afford to replace in our companies and Gen Z who bring new ideas into the business. They both have different thought processes, and the leaders in this traditional Ceramic industry need to think of ways to engage people of both generations yet give them the freedom to work at their own pace. It is going to be a challenge and we need to manage this with agile leadership. My simple suggestion is Define the goal but not the path to reach the goal.
Mitrabhanu Pati, Sales & Tech Director, IMERYS
Having a Diploma in Advance Management from XLRI Jamshedpur and a Bachelor in Engineering in Ceramic Engineering from NIT Rourkela, Mitrabhanu is leveraging 20 years of experience in refractories and mineral industries to build unique growth strategies for IMERYS in Ceramics minerals.