Download 1% Club App Now! https://dl.onepc.io/2Hh8/fws-yt-sureshn In this episode of The 1% Club Show, Sharan Hegde sits down with Suresh Narayanan, former Chairman and Managing Director of Nestlé India, the leader who took charge of the company during the 2015 Maggi crisis and steered one of India’s most loved brands back to market leadership. Suresh began his 44-year corporate career in 1981 as a management trainee at Hindustan Unilever, worked with Colgate-Palmolive, and joined Nestlé in 1999. He went on to hold leadership roles across Nestlé Indochina, Singapore, Egypt and the North East Africa region, and served as Chairman and CEO of Nestlé Philippines before returning to lead Nestlé India from August 2015 until his retirement in July 2025. He is also the author of Courage Under Fire, a book on leadership lessons drawn from the crises he managed. At the heart of this conversation is a rare, first-hand account of crisis management at a Nifty 50 company. Suresh explains how a food inspector’s test in Barabanki questioned the “No Added MSG” label, why the lead testing methodology and laboratory accreditation became central to the case, and what it meant to sign off the first quarterly loss in Nestlé India’s listing history. He walks through the decisions that shaped the recovery: refusing layoffs even as 25 to 30 percent of turnover disappeared, recalling 39,000 tonnes of product from 5 million outlets, choosing fact over rhetoric in public communication, relaunching Maggi without changing the brand, and backing a young brand manager’s idea to launch online. The result was a brand that was off the shelves for six months and returned to market leadership within three months. The episode also covers his journey from a middle-class upbringing and an economics education at SRCC and the Delhi School of Economics to an accidental corporate career that started on a salary of 1,400 rupees a month. Sharan and Suresh discuss how legacy FMCG brands like Maggi and KitKat should respond to India’s growing health consciousness, why consumption in moderation matters, how brand penetration is measured, whether young Indians should study in India or abroad, the case for vocational education, and what life after retirement looks like as he now teaches leadership and strategy at ISB and IIM Bangalore. For entrepreneurs, aspiring CEOs, business students and investors who want to understand how consumer businesses, brand trust and people-centred leadership hold up under pressure, this is a masterclass from someone who has lived through it. Connect with Suresh Narayanan: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suresh-narayanan-65582233/ Courage Under Fire (Book): https://www.penguin.co.in/book/courage-under-fire/ Subscribe: The 1% Club YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@onepercentclub12 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onepercentclub/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-1-clubfws/ Sharan Hegde Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/financewithsharan/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharanhegde95/ Twitter/X: https://x.com/financewsharan — Sharan Hegde is a personal finance creator & founder of the 1% Club, simplifying money, markets, and mindset for India’s next generation of wealth builders. — #financewithsharan #leadership #business #nestle #maggi