Sir Ivan Menezes died on June 7, 2023. He was the chief executive officer of Diageo. An outpouring of shock, disbelief, and grief followed the news. Friends and colleagues have paid rich tributes to this legend. Of interest to Goans, is the fact that he was the son of Manuel Menezes, former chairman of the Indian Railway Board. His brother Victor Menezes was the former chairman and CEO of Citibank. Ivan Menezes hails from Pomburpa/Divar.
Javier Ferran, Diageo chairman said of Ivan, He was “a thoughtful and passionate colleague and friend, a true gentleman” and “undoubtedly one of the finest leaders of his generation.” I have been reading other eulogies on Ivan and it has made me so proud of him and so sad as he left us, so quickly and so suddenly.
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While Diageo had a presence in India, it took a big punt in acquiring United Spirits from Vijay Mallya. I joined Diageo post this acquisition. It was clear that my mandate was to support ‘people and organisational change.’
“Steve, the review with the London team is a fortnight away, let’s review your material later this week”, said my boss. I was directed to put together a few PowerPoint slides to make ‘crystal clear’ the hyper causal flow between organisational initiatives that would guarantee a future proofed high-performance organisation.
That’s when I met Ivan Menezes, CEO, for the first time. I recall my sharing a few slides. Looking back, I readily admit, it was incremental, and an assemblage of many ideas stitched together to make a coherent strategy to ‘guarantee future performance.’
Ivan listened patiently and attentively, asking a few questions now and then. Then he leaned forward and said, “Steve, if you had a clean sheet of paper, how would you build a future proof organisation. For example, what would the market facing organisation, supply chain, support look like?” Then he lapsed into silence.
My immediate instinct was to jump in with some response, any response. As the seconds ticked by, I recognised the gravity and the gravity of the question. I simply nodded my head thoughtfully and after what seemed like an eternity, I replied, “Ivan, let me think about your question and come back to you”. Ivan made sure this got recorded in the minutes of the meeting.
My colleagues in Excom, at that time, will readily agree that this was the watershed question that propelled transformational change that was subsequently initiated at Diageo India, and which continues to the day. I mention this incident to demonstrate the ‘bigness’ of Ivan’s strategic vision and his ability to empower teams to do achieve greatness.
On that visit, later that afternoon, he addressed the employees in the Town Hall held in the canteen. He immediately built rapport with the employees by sharing his Indian roots, his early days of work at Nestle, and then went on to sharing his vision to making Diageo the most respected and best performing company, even while elaborating on what Diageo stood for – celebrating life, every day, everywhere. He held the audience spellbound and fully engaged.
My heartfelt condolences to Shibani and to his children Rohini and Nikhil. Ivan will be remembered always! Farewell Ivan, may your passage be sweet to lands yonder, in better clime.
May the Lord receive you in love!
