Chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, Kumar Mangalam Birla, said that he does not believe in making his opinions known publicly. Birla said he had carefully stayed away from the media because he is a rather private person.
Birla was speaking to Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath in the latest episode of his show ‘People by WTF’. When Kamath asked why he does not speak publicly often, Birla said he would rather keep his personal thoughts personal.
“I have pretty much consciously stayed away from the media. I don’t think my job requires me to be in people’s faces all the time and personally I am a private person. I am not very keen on sharing things about my personal life or I would rather keep all of that personal thoughts to myself. That’s pretty much it. There’s no other reason for it,” said Birla to Kamath.
“I mean you have platforms to express your opinions if you want to, whether it’s at work, whether it’s with the government or whether it’s your family, rather than speak about it to people at large through the media. I would rather speak about it at an appropriate forum or an appropriate platform. It could be a dinner table conversation,” the industrialist elaborated.
Birla said he has never shied away from speaking his mind about something that really matters to him or bothers him. “I have never really worried about becoming unpopular on account of that or rubbing someone the wrong way if it comes from a place of conviction,” said Birla, highlighting the importance of speaking to the appropriate audience.
Kamath also asked him about his interview with Simi Garewal in the television talk-show, ‘Rendezvous with Simi Garewal’, aired from 1997 to 2009. He said it was difficult to decline the interview request with Garewal.
“I just thought it was interesting. I don’t know, she’s a friend and also could not say no, to be honest. I liked the format. It was kind of fun. Those were very early years. I think my father had just passed away less than a year ago, so life was different then,” he said.