Well, Indians are flying high and a lot of Indian-born CEOs are taking the global center stage. One such name to actually join that bandwagon is now Shailesh Jejurikar. He's become the CEO at Procter & Gamble. And you know what? He's got a very, very strong India connect. He's the brother of Rajesh Jejurikar from Mahindra & Mahindra. How does it feel, brother going places?
Yeah, of course, one can only be happy about this, Aisha. So, you know, Procter & Gamble is one of those companies which has always been very aspirational for all of us coming out of B-school and so on and so forth. So, to get into a company like that and then in India and then to work your way up to become the CEO in January '26, I think is something we all as his family feel really good about. But also, I think every Indian today, as we are picking up from the sentiment, is really feeling proud that an Indian could get there.
Absolutely. But what's it with the brothers? What's been the magic sauce? M&M, P&G, anymore or just the two of you?
Okay. No, but really, what were the growing up years like? I really wanted to understand, you know, how is it that two brothers here from India reach that kind of milestone? M&M and of course P&G.
So, you know, I think there's no one answer to this, right? But if one is to think about what is it that the growing up years bring to us, I would kind of underline two or three things. And I'm saying this more because, you know, I think we are now at a stage in our life where many young people can learn out of what we've gone through. And especially, I see today's generation being so obsessed and parents being so obsessed with academics as the one single metric on which they want to evaluate their kids. And for us, it was always, you know, about holistic growth. Do sports, we spent a lot of time playing, having fun, going out, and even through our college years. And academics was never the overriding thing. And in fact, you know, I'll share that both of us were very average in academics all the way through.
Really? Yeah, and you're actually confessing that on national television.
I'm actually saying that we were both very, very average in school. And so, you know, because we spent a lot of time doing other things. I mean, he used to play cricket for public school, and I used to do athletics at state level when we were in Hyderabad. So, we spent a lot of time doing that. I mean, like when I was in my 11th and 12th studying, I was doing four hours of athletics a day, two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening, to literally sleep through class because you had worked out two hours in the morning and you're going to start again at 5:00 in the evening. But I think all of this led to more holistic growth where you learn—in a way you never realize it then—but you're learning leadership, relationships, all of that by being and doing different things. And of course, having fun. We had lots of fun all through college and hostel.
Yeah, so life lessons more important than just textbooks is what you're saying.
And I think from our parents, you know, because I think they play a very important role, it has always been about values, ethics, growing up the right way with a lot of care and connection.
So what were the earlier years, early years like? Where was your preschool, school, college till the time you and Shailesh were together?
We were together for a large part of our childhood, so till we were 17. And my father used to work with ICI, which is Imperial Chemical Industries of that time. And we grew up in a colony life, which is now in Thane-Belapur Road, which is very beautiful, but you were basically self-contained there. And of course, there were no phones and televisions in that era, and there used to be a television in the club. So we were allowed to see Sunday movie for one hour, that's about—that was the only exposure to television that was allowed. And the rest of the time you were playing and you were with kids and all of that. And you know, I almost see that having disappeared in today's generation, instead of just go and hang out and play, it has all become so competitive.
So we kind of grew up, you know, playing around and playing, and hence actively pursuing sport—so tennis, badminton, table tennis, swimming, everything. So we had it all in our colony. So we grew up in that kind of a life. Then we went to Hyderabad, and that was in the colony life, but it was a very closed ecosystem and the school had a lot out of that. And then coincidentally, I went to Elphinstone and stayed in the Elphinstone College hostel on Marine Drive, which was the best years of my life honestly.
And he saw that and followed me in exactly the same. So the year I finished college in hostel, he was three years behind, so he came in and went into the same hostel and lived the same fun life for three years before of course then we went to business schools and we were on our own paths. But even when he started working and was—the years he was in India—they always lived in Bandra where we used to live. So we were very close through those years as well.
So he's always been the younger brother who's followed in the elder brother's footsteps.
Yeah, except that I was the one who was bullied by most places and he used to fight for me. So it was actually the other way around.
You know, the younger ones are always smarter and stronger. It's played out in my house as well. But what I wanted to understand also was when is it that the sporty, hangout, fun-loving boys finally decided that, you know what, we got to build something out of our careers or life just happened? I mean, from Elphinstone, how did the jump to B-schools happen for both of you, you and Shailesh?
You mean how did we get in?
Get in, but you know, who directed you to that? Or you knew that this is what you wanted to do? All the fun and frolic was fine, but yes, now it's time to make our careers. When did that realization come?
