If you do not innovate, you will stagnate: Ravinder Singh, Co-Founder and COO of 1-India Family Mart
The Proust Questionnaire is a questionnaire about one’s personality. It has its origins in a parlour game popularised by Marcel Proust, the French essayist, who believed that, in answering these questions, an individual reveals his or her true nature
Ravinder Singh is the co-Founder and COO of 1-India Family Mart, a fast-growing value retail chain owned by Nysaa Retail Private Limited. Ravinder shoulders the responsibility of business planning, sales management, business development and competitive analysis for the retail brand.
A science graduate from M D University, Rohtak, and an MBA degree holder from IMT, Faridabad, Ravinder has more than two decades of rich and diverse experience in top management roles across companies and industries. He has held key positions in companies such as HLL and Reliance Communication before starting his own travel venture and then shifting focus to banking with another venture, Starfin India Private Limited. Here are his responses to our Proust questionnaire...
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Seeing happy people everywhere.
What is your greatest fear?
My greatest fear is not that we are inadequate, but that we are powerful beyond measure. This power needs to be channelised in a positive way.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Being calm at times when a situation calls for an action.
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Dishonesty and laziness.
Which living person do you most admire?
Bill Gates.
What is your greatest extravagance?
Electronic gadgets.
What is your current state of mind?
Peaceful.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Self-discipline.
On what occasion do you lie?
I try to refrain from lying.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
Nothing. It’s perfect.
Which living person do you most despise?
Never spared a thought about it.
What is the quality you most like in a man?
Talent and determination.
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
A go-getter attitude.
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
‘Please correct me if I am wrong.’
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
My family.
Which talent would you most like to have?
I would like to have the talent to play cricket, tennis and chess well.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I would control my reactions in certain situations.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Treating more than 3,000 people in my organisation as my family.
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
I would make the exactly same choices as I have made in this particular lifetime.
Where would you most like to live?
Dublin, Ireland.
What is your most treasured possession?
My organisation.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
To be separated from my family and loved ones
What is your favourite occupation?
Retail and business.
What is your most marked characteristic?
I am quite passive.
What do you most value in your friends?
I value the care and love of my friends.
Who are your favourite writers?
Arundhati Roy, J K Rowling and T.S Eliot.
Who is your hero of fiction?
Captain America.
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
I have been greatly influenced by Swami Vivekananda.
Who are your heroes in real life?
Our soldiers fighting for the nation.
What is your favourite name?
Ravi.
What is it that you most dislike?
Disloyalty.
What is your greatest regret?
I wish I had faced my fears earlier.
How would you like to die?
Peacefully.
What is your favourite journey?
Travelling abroad to places like Europe and Australia.
What is your motto?
If you do not innovate, you will stagnate.