Rajashree Telharkar: Driving Success With Passion & People-Oriented Approach
Rajashree Telharkar
Chief General Manager
Exuding confidence, leadership, expertise, and a keen sense of empathy.
That's the kind of inspiring presence that Rajashree Telharkar, the Chief General Manager of Confidence Group, brings to any situation.
With over 27 years of experience in sales and marketing, Rajashree has donned multifaceted roles extensively and successfully in the industrial and automobile consumables sector. This lineage of sheer expertise has enhanced the petroleum sector for the past four years.
With a background in chemistry and research, her career trajectory zoomed towards sales and marketing. It was here, that she found her true passion. Her remarkable journey has taken her across India, making her experience different cultures and geographies. Leading to an enriching contribution in her personal as well as professional growth.
CEO Insights dives deeper into Rajashree's wise thoughts and leadership style.
What are your guiding philosophies of success?
My success mantra is centered around a few key factors. Firstly, being a highly agile person, I approach my work with great passion and enthusiasm. I truly love what I do, and make sure that my team shares the same level of passion and dedication.
For me building a strong and collaborative team is most essential. I believe in being approachable and working alongside my team members to evolve effective strategies that each team member can take ownership of.I do not believe in being an autocratic leader instead, I work
closely with my team, thereby creating a supportive and open minded work environment.
Tell us about your leadership approach that is unique.
One of the things that sets me apart as a leader is a parental approach that corrects and admires the team. I encourage my team members to make mistakes. I firmly believe that mistakes are opportunities for growth and learning. The key is to take ownership of mistakes, find and undertake corrective measures and make sure not to repeat them in the future.Achieved by either by establishing or correcting existing processes or systems.
All through my career spanning 27 years, I have learned that problems and mistakes are a natural part of the business. Rather than running away from them, I believe in facing them head-on and using them as opportunities for improvement and growth. Ultimately, it is this mindset of continuous learning and improvement that has helped me achieve numerous positive outcomes in my work.
How would you define Confidence Group as an organization and its current position in the market?
As the largest LPG and CNG retailer in the country, Confidence Petroleum is trusted Green Fuel supplier, who has established itself in Indian market over last 30 years, with a strong presence on both NSE and BSE stock exchanges. Our infrastructure encompasses 15 cylinder manufacturing units, 58 bottling plants in 22 states, enabling us to provide exceptional service to our 2,000 successful dealers who rely on us for their livelihoods.
What sets us apart from our competitors is the fact that we offer dealership opportunities without requiring any upfront dealership deposit ensuring dealer investment exclusively in the business growth.
Tell us about your leadership approach that is unique.
One of the things that sets me apart as a leader is a parental approach that corrects and admires the team. I encourage my team members to make mistakes. I firmly believe that mistakes are opportunities for growth and learning. The key is to take ownership of mistakes, find and undertake corrective measures and make sure not to repeat them in the future.Achieved by either by establishing or correcting existing processes or systems.
Being a good leader requires the 3Ps: Passion, Productivity, & People-orientation. You must be passionate about what you do,productive in delivering results & people-oriented in your approach
All through my career spanning 27 years, I have learned that problems and mistakes are a natural part of the business. Rather than running away from them, I believe in facing them head-on and using them as opportunities for improvement and growth. Ultimately, it is this mindset of continuous learning and improvement that has helped me achieve numerous positive outcomes in my work.
How would you define Confidence Group as an organization and its current position in the market?
As the largest LPG and CNG retailer in the country, Confidence Petroleum is trusted Green Fuel supplier, who has established itself in Indian market over last 30 years, with a strong presence on both NSE and BSE stock exchanges. Our infrastructure encompasses 15 cylinder manufacturing units, 58 bottling plants in 22 states, enabling us to provide exceptional service to our 2,000 successful dealers who rely on us for their livelihoods.
What sets us apart from our competitors is the fact that we offer dealership opportunities without requiring any upfront dealership deposit ensuring dealer investment exclusively in the business growth.
In addition to our dealership program, we supply approximately 30,000 metric tons of LPG & Propane to industries throughout India. As a clean fuel alternative in automotive sector, we are operating 225+ Auto LPG Dispensing Stations across the various parts of country.
With growing demand of CNG in India, we have also ambitiously ventured into manufacturing of CNG & High pressure cylinders for industrial gas with a production capacity of 50,000 cylinders across our three manufacturing units. Our commitment to innovation is further demonstrated by our partnership with GAIL Gas to set up 100 CNG stations in Bangalore.
Could you reflect on some of the toughest challenges you have encountered in your journey so far? How did you overcome them and what did you learn from them?
As a woman in sales, I faced numerous challenges, such as the gender bias that exists in leadership roles. Another significant challenge was balancing my family responsibilities while pursuing a career. Managing this was difficult, but with the support of my joint family, I was able to succeed.
Professionally, sales is a challenging field that presents different situations and people every day. During the COVID-19 pandemic, our business was hit hard and we had to adapt and introduce new strategies for survival. We shifted our offline business model to an entirely online system within one month, which was a significant challenge. However, with hard work and dedication of my entire team, we succeeded in generating revenue in a short span by creating a combination of online and offline business model that is most effective even today.
Rajashree Telharkar, Chief General Manager, Confidence Group
Rajashree is known for her unique leadership style that combines various approaches to achieve success. She believes that a leader should be approachable, collaborative and a visionary, whilst also being a mentor to their team. With a focus on strengthening her teams, Rajashree views herself as a parental leader who understands the importance of correcting and admiring her team members as needed. In addition to her leadership approach, she values emotional intelligence over IQ and recognizes the importance of guiding and supporting the most talented younger generation.
With growing demand of CNG in India, we have also ambitiously ventured into manufacturing of CNG & High pressure cylinders for industrial gas with a production capacity of 50,000 cylinders across our three manufacturing units. Our commitment to innovation is further demonstrated by our partnership with GAIL Gas to set up 100 CNG stations in Bangalore.
Could you reflect on some of the toughest challenges you have encountered in your journey so far? How did you overcome them and what did you learn from them?
As a woman in sales, I faced numerous challenges, such as the gender bias that exists in leadership roles. Another significant challenge was balancing my family responsibilities while pursuing a career. Managing this was difficult, but with the support of my joint family, I was able to succeed.
Professionally, sales is a challenging field that presents different situations and people every day. During the COVID-19 pandemic, our business was hit hard and we had to adapt and introduce new strategies for survival. We shifted our offline business model to an entirely online system within one month, which was a significant challenge. However, with hard work and dedication of my entire team, we succeeded in generating revenue in a short span by creating a combination of online and offline business model that is most effective even today.
Rajashree Telharkar, Chief General Manager, Confidence Group
Rajashree is known for her unique leadership style that combines various approaches to achieve success. She believes that a leader should be approachable, collaborative and a visionary, whilst also being a mentor to their team. With a focus on strengthening her teams, Rajashree views herself as a parental leader who understands the importance of correcting and admiring her team members as needed. In addition to her leadership approach, she values emotional intelligence over IQ and recognizes the importance of guiding and supporting the most talented younger generation.