Leading from the Front: FROM BOOTS TO SUITS

As an Army officer, he served the nation for 23 years. And now as an Army veteran, he is shaping and moulding the young minds by taking up various initiatives. Meet Lt. Col. Suunil Narula (Retd.) a war-wounded Army veteran who draws inspiration from his Army life to create waves in the corporate world. Having been the Director and CEO of an American Security outfit for the initial six years, he is currently with Suzlon Energy Ltd, Pune, as their Chief of Administration. The foundation of his life has been integrity, honesty and hard work, something that he holds close to his heart. Be it the Army, corporate world or life, he always leads from the front like a true soldier. Leading by example, Lt. Col. Suunil rose to the occasion during the outbreak of the Covid-19 and contributed to society to the best of his ability. This Army officer turned corporate stalwart shares his nail-biting Army life memories, provides a few pointers for the ones who are gearing up for their military to corporate transition, his perception about making Thorium the fuel of future and much more

"No matter how much you climb the ladder of success, the Army life teaches you to stay true to your roots. Over a period of time, I have built my life on three pillars - that of integrity, honesty, and hard work"

Lt. Col. Suunil Narula served the
Indian Army for 23 years

Corporate Citizen: Tell us a bit about your growing up days. Were you always inclined towards serving the nation?

Lt. Col. Suunil Narula (Retd.): After the partition, my parents moved to New Delhi. They went through a lot of ordeals to settle down. Subsequently, I was born and brought up in New Delhi. My father was a government official and he worked with the Central Public Works Department (CPWD). Since the very beginning, I was inclined towards sports. During my school and college days, I picked up all the sports basketball, volleyball, hockey, swimming, tennis, and athletics, I played them all. As I was exposed to all the games over the years, it helped me build my team spirit and made me mentally robust.

I studied at Harcourt Butler School. I must be around 9 or 10 years old when my father got government accommodation near my school, which was right opposite to Mandir Marg Police Station. Every day from my balcony, I saw the IPS Officers wear their uniforms with pride. That is when my fascination with uniform began. Soon, I began my quest of getting into the Armed Forces. I wanted to get in the Air Force and was ready to move heaven to earth for that. However, even after winning the Republic Day Gliding Competition and being awarded the prestigious 'Best Glider Pilot' award, I could not make it. Because, while I was a teen, I suffered brain fever, which paralysed my left side of the body. My vision in the left eye remained affected, which is why I could not get in the Air Force. However, my never give up attitude helped me get back on my feet.

As I started wearing spectacles, the condition of my eye started improving. I was not going to give up that easy. With my hard work and determination, I made it into the Army. It was a moment of pride for us, as I was the first Gazetted Officer in my family. Halfway through my training at the Officers Training Academy, Chennai, I got into the merit list of Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, and joined there. Finally, I passed out on December 17, 1983, into 1 JAK LI (Sher-E-Kashmir) battalion. To serve my country was a matter of pride and honour. From taking control of an operational situation on the forward most post on Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir on the first day of my career as a second lieutenant for which, I even earned a Chief of Army Staff Commendation Card for gallantry, to getting posted to the esteemed 'Military Intelligence Desk - MI - 1' desk during the Kargil War, my journey of 23 years has many highlights, but what kept me going was my love for the nation and willingness to learn.

Lt. Col. Suunil Narula all geared up for operations in Sri Lanka

CC: Walk us through what happened during the 1987's ambush against the LTTE.

It was a miracle that I survived that incident. It was the same year (1987) that I got married. We were stationed in a peace location and our battalion was flown to Chennai to manage a riot situation. Soon after that, we were inducted into 'Op Pawan' in Sri Lanka to fight Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). That day, I was leading the column of around 100 officers and men, and we were ambushed in the Kanjiracode Forest near Thirukkovil, Batticaloa, Sri Lanka. We had already destroyed the mine factory of LTTE, which was the domain of famous terrorist, Newton, LTTE's mine expert. We had even laid an ambush and shot him when he was returning to his base, but he escaped. After that successful operation when we were coming out of the forest, his team laid a counter ambush in revenge. One of my comrades who was behind me, saw an IED as the wire of the same on the tree had touched his face where he took position on getting fired upon. Luckily, I got saved as it did not blast, but then the crossfire began and amidst this hoopla, I got shot in my left shoulder. It was such chaos that I did not even realise that I was shot till I started bleeding. We did not give up and went ahead to fight back with rocket launchers and another officer, Capt. Atul Kochhar took charge and finally, we all came out safely. It was a 5 day operation, and despite my insistence to stay back, I was evacuated in a helicopter to the hospital in Batticaloa. During my recovery, I had a revelation that I should enjoy life a bit more. This war like situation, which I survived, gave me the impetus to appreciate and relish the small joys of life. I now realise that this near death experience had probably changed my outlook on life to a great extent.

CC: What has your Army life taught you? And what are the assets that you have picked up from the Army life that is coming in handy in the corporate world?

Right from my first positing as the Platoon Commander along the Line of Control in Jammu Kashmir to my last posting at HQ Southern Command, Pune, I have handled several roles and situations, which helped me blossom into the person I am today. No matter how much you climb the ladder of success, the Army life teaches you to stay true to your roots. Over a period of time, I have built my life on three pillars-that of integrity, honesty, and hard work When these virtues form the foundation of your personality, nothing in the world can stop you. Also, self-confidence is one of the qualities which comes in very handy in every walk of my life. I do not shy away from any responsibilities. My Army career has helped me to understand the position of a leader, which is why leadership roles in the corporate world are natural for me to handle with ease. In the Army, we are expected to comprehend orders at the spur of the moment. This ability heightens one's grasping skill. So, in any given situation or meeting in the corporate sector, I tend to easily understand the criticality and use the military way of delegation of authority and responsibility as the primary tool for executing the task at hand. Also, military experience comes in handy when your decision-making skills are put to test.

"Adaptability is of one of the many things that the Army life teaches you. It's a myth that Army personnel cannot adapt once they leave the field. I feel we are someone who can modify ourselves to any given situation"

CC: At the beginning of this year, industrialist, Anand Mahindra backed to a proposal put forth by the Army, which will allow civilians, including young working professionals, to join the Forces for a three-year tenure. This 'Tour of Duty' proposal will permit the civilians to gain operational experience, which adds to their work knowledge and helps in overall development. How do you think this proposal will benefit us?

Lt. Col. Suunil Narula with Mr Lingham, (white shirt), a top
commander of Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front
Political party, who was martyred by LTTE in India Later

I think this is a great idea. It is important to get the value system that the Army provides back to the corporate world. It is not that the corporate or industrial sector does not have any virtues, it surely functions on commendable core vision and values. However, once you get to experience the Army life and understand its three pillars of integrity, honesty and hard work, there will be a paradigm shift in the person's psyche. Once you enter the Army, you are reborn into a better version of yourself. It has had the same effect on me. Army life, even without combat can change your persona. The transformation happens at a subconscious level. Even performing the simple march past or the 'left right left', brings in discipline in your life. Just like the growing years of a child are crucial, the first five years of the Army life moulds a person into a great human being.

I strongly feel that there is an urgent need for such sort of training for fresh graduates, corporate professionals, and youth. And for that, we must expand our scope of the Territorial Army in India. As an example, you notice that the charisma which cricketer MS Dhoni exudes in uniform is phenomenal. Incidentally, even he has served the Indian Army in Kashmir as an honorary Lieutenant Colonel in the Territorial Army unit of the Parachute Regiment (106 Para TA battalion). In 2019, he completed his 15 days patrolling duty as well. So, life-changing training like this does make a positive impact on a person.

CC: Tell us about your life after you took retirement from the Army.

Soon after I took retirement from the Army in March 2007, I began my second career. By December of 2006, I had already agreed for my assignment with an American Security Company to be their India head. After a special orientation training in New Mexico and Washington DC, I took up the post of Chief Executive Officer and Director for Akal Security India Pvt Ltd. Within no time, I established and designed their office and training facility. Under my leadership, the company grew leaps and bounds. I applied the knowledge that I gathered from my Army life, and soon we grew from four people to about 500-plus security professional in just four years. We become one of the most preferred security agencies in Pune.

The first few years in the corporate world were a great learning experience. I had a great vision of taking this company forward. And all this while, I continued to nurture my affection towards technology, which I knew would work in my favour in the coming years. Before setting up my own consultancy firm, 'One Roof', as the Founder Director, I took time to wind up Akal Security business as the organisation was a support system for a lot of workers, who were the sole breadwinners of their family. Once they were settled, I took my next step. Though there were many challenges pertaining to government compliance etc., but my resilience of the Army came in handy and all was taken care of. During this transition, I was without a job for more than a year, and it was at the same time, I focused on consulting for 'Make In India' in Aerospace and Defence. And Suzlon Group invited me to set up their Aerospace and Defence vertical.

I realised that they almost had around 40 per cent of their manufacturing infrastructure available to contribute to 'Make In India'. I chose advanced composites as the key focus area and helped Suzlon set up their first advance composite facility in India with a technology transfer arrangement from a Greek Company. That branch would have handled the niche area of manufacturing helicopter blades. Unfortunately, due to the financial challenges at Suzlon, the project had to be wound up last year, but they retained me to support their Business Strategy and Innovations in the core business of wind energy. Finally, Suzlon has revived this year after an unprecedented debt restructure and I am proud to say that the company is all set to make waves in the wind industry at the global level, as before. I see this as a big success story of #AtmaNirbharBharat around the year 2022, as re-imagined by the visionary founder, Tulsi Tanti, whom I consider as my mentor and person to emulate in corporate life.

"Once you enter the Army, you are reborn into a better version of yourself. It has had the same effect on me. Army life, even without combat can change your persona"

CC: Akal Security undertook several prestigious locations in Pune. One of them was the Osho Ashram where your Facility Marshal's vigilance prevented a huge blast. Could you walk us through that incident?

Lt. Col. Suunil Narula and team prepping for an operation

When I started handling the functions of Akal Security, the first thing I did was to drop the tag of the bouncers given to some able-bodied guards on facilities. They are also trained officials who provide us with security, and I wanted to acknowledge that. This is why I developed the new culture of re-designating them as Facility Marshal. I even came up with a crisp attire of grey safari suits for them similar to the commandos around a VIP. Their hard work got appreciated and helped them shine at their work. Around the same time, I brought in the concept of the Quick Reaction Team (QRT) in the security business in Pune. The QRT along with our commandos were trained to handle any emergency.

In 2010, Pune was taken aback by the German Bakery Blast. When we heard the news, I was there in exactly four minutes. We looked after the casualty management along with Swami Dhyanesh from Osho. Later, when we were going through the CCTV footage, we reckoned that this unidentified man's initial target was the Osho Ashram. It was one of our vigilant Facility Marshal who noticed something unusual about the man who parked his bike in front of the gate. Showing his presence of mind, the Marshall insisted the man to move away with his bike. The man realised he cannot plant the bomb and left in haste to avoid detection. Thanks to our Facility Marshal and Security Guard's diligence, the blast at the Osho Ashram was averted. However, as the man left and moved towards North Main Road and probably noticing crowd at German Bakery, placed the bag in the Bakery which blasted and claimed several lives. His idea of planting at Osho Ashram was to get international attention as most people in Osho are generally foreigners. This incident brought in a lot of security awareness in Pune and later, I got the opportunity to guide Maharashtra Police to set up the Force One commando outfit. I even requested many ex-NSG Commandos from my team to help in the training, this effort of mine got highly appreciated by the DG of Police, Mr Roy and I was felicitated in Official Police Function. I am glad that my Army acumen had come in handy for National Service even after my retirement.

CC: How did you handle this drastic shift from Army life to the corporate sector?

After my 16 years of service getting posted all over, I was given a posting to New Delhi in 1999 during the Kargil War in MI-1. There, I got a chance to interact with the media, scholars, political stalwarts, and other individuals. Later, I was selected to pursue a two-year research fellowship at The Indian Think Tank (IDSA). This exposure was quite new to me. And little did I know that this welcoming change will prove useful in my corporate journey. This interaction boosted my knowledge, helped me discover new things, enlarged my understanding, and familiarised me with cross-cultural communication skills. Also, in 2005, when I shifted to Southern Command, Pune, I took care of Protocols, Accounts and Administration. One of my roles included looking after the institutions being in the 'A Branch' in charge of welfare matters. Later being with Army Commander, I got to deal with the who's who of the city like Late Shri BG Shirke, Dr S. B. Mujumdar and others. These interactions added to my overall development and made me a corporate ready soldier.

Adaptability is one of the many things that Army life teaches you. It's a myth that Army personnel cannot adapt once they leave the field. I feel we are someone who can modify ourselves to any given situation. If given the right platform after they serve the nation, the sky is the limit for an Army Veteran. As they have a mastery over several subjects. They are keen to start their second life, and all they ask for is respect. An Army officer is exposed to a lot of happenings in their career be the leadership, adaptability or learning ability. All these virtues make it easy for them to start their second career. One must make the most of this cross functional ability of military officers. I feel that the first and foremost, qualities that the corporates need are leadership and drive, which we have in abundance. We can build a team and lead it to accomplish any task in the corporate world. Be it administration, manufacturing, human resources management, estate management, project management and, of course, financial prudence, an Armed Forces veteran can handle it all.

CC: An order given in the Army is the last word. Now that you have spent enough time in both worlds, do you feel that the same applies in this industry?

Difficult to say a yes or a no but fortunately, I have always served in a leadership role, where I had to make decisions and delegate authority. Now, I am more into technology and innovation, so it is a completely different picture. As I grow further and expand my roles, I feel, with clarity of thought and looking at the larger picture one can emulate the best practices of the Army into corporate governance also.

"As per me, humility is the hallmark of human personality, if you have it and function with this thought, regardless of the sector you are working in, you have it all"

CC: You have spent over 13 years in the corporate world as an Army veteran. During which, you have picked up several leadership roles that have led the organisation to its goals. So, what are your learnings from this industry?

Lt. Col. Suunil Narula with his family

First of all, it has been an amazing journey in the corporate sector post my retirement. I have given my golden years to the country and now the corporate with hard work and diligence, I continue to learn every day. Over the years, the corporate world has taught me to be a little coherent. In the Army, life was always on the go, it was quite unpredictable, and we had to behave as per the situation. Now, life is more consistent. Having understood both the Army and the corporate world, I feel that the military professionals are quite emotional, whereas, the latter is a tad bit impersonal. We find it difficult to leave our emotions behind. One must understand that compassion and courage are two sides of the same coin. As per me, humility is the hallmark of human personality, if you have it and function with this thought, regardless of the sector you are working in, you have it all. However, to develop humility, one needs to traverse through Intelligence, Emotional and Nobility quotients. Come what may, your soul must remain noble and only then you possess the quality of being humble, and this leads you to success.

CC: You are relentlessly promoting the use of thorium for sustainable energy solution. Could you enlighten us on the same?

The nuclear power industry faces two issues because of which, they are not able to become an alternative. One is the proliferation and the second one is safety issues, as the basic fuel that a nuclear plant functions on is Uranium. Nuclear disasters at Hiroshima-Nagasaki, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima Tsunami have proved that nuclear energy is not really safe and carries a stigma. The cost of nuclear power generation is skyrocketing, as opposed to alternative energy like renewables and hydro etc. This is where thorium comes into the picture, where Core Damage Frequency (CDF) can be zero. Which means there cannot be any core meltdown or radiation leak. The maximum that it will leak is gamma, which incidentally is good for the agricultural and other sectors if harnessed well. Also, thorium is readily available everywhere in the earth's crust, and this will only decrease the cost of generation. More so, studies show that a thorium plant operates at the best of thermal efficiency.

CC: Alright, then what do you propose?

India can move to the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor design. We are the second largest producer and consumer of coal, which can be used to develop graphite and with that, we can produce the pebbles of thorium. China is currently using the concept of a high temperature gas cooled reactor pebble bed module (HTR PM) 200 MV. It handles safety issues quite efficiently. Back in the days, China brought this technology from Germany. China encashed on it and created a prototype of 10MV capacity called HTR, which went live in 2000. It has been 20 years now, and they have even developed a new technology in which they have put up a graphite core into it. This new design helps the plant run for 40 years at a plant load factor of 98 per cent. Well, that is the power of thorium.

Thanks to the RTI act, I got the confirmation in writing that India has a huge thorium reserve. We have the world's 25 per cent thorium reserves. We can dominate the world market with such a number of reserves. We must make the hay while the sun shines. For that, we should set up a Ministry of Thorium Energy, which should get into the nuclear power game and should have nothing to do with the Nuclear Arms angle. Thorium energy has the potential to become an alternate energy source just like renewable energy. This will also contribute to the hydrogen economy in the future, as it uses helium as a coolant. We will also develop a hydrogen ecosystem in our country. I have been fighting for eight years to promote this theory, and I am not going to give up. I wish to set up a Centre of Excellence for Thorium Energy, probably a few years down the line. This could happen if we get the support of investors and the Government of India.

"I feel that there is a need for our citizens to understand the Army. There should be a campaign 'Know your Soldiers', where people get to know their Armed Forces"

CC: Any word of advice to those who are looking to shift from the military to the corporate world?

People should understand that respect is a two way street. It does not matter where the person comes from, respect cannot be demanded, and if you wish to command respect, then you should possess the ability to give it as well. Many Asian countries, especially Japan, greet people in a specific way. Their 15-degree bow while meeting people showcases their elegance and humility at the same time. Regardless of who they are connecting with, they follow the same culture. If we take some insights from them while entering the corporate world, the transformation process will be easy.

One could be working with a CEO who probably is half your age. But that does not take away the fact that this person also started from scratch to reach the top. Once you have served the Military, I reckon it's difficult to work for someone younger than you. But we should learn to adapt. Getting a second chance to serve the society is a big deal, we must make the most of it. Let me tell you that Military Officials have a lot of spark left in them even after retirement.

CC: Well, all this thought process must be taking up a lot of your energy. To get back to working ways, one must find solace. How do find yours?

While I was serving my nation, I did not get enough time to spend with my family. Well, now when things have settled down, I spend more than enough time with my wife and son. And this brings a smile to my face. We love to travel, and we try to take small trips occasionally. I have missed them for three decades, and I am making up for that. To restore hope and optimism, one should walk on the path of spirituality. Lately, I have been doing so and it has been a boon to our family. We practice the Art of Hope and follow the tenets of Humanism as expounded by Buddha and find solace.

CC: Any words of wisdom for our readers?

Currently, India consists of about 34 per cent of youth who have the potential to drive our nation forward. The way social media is taking over the world is utterly surreal. It has its pros, and the cons are taking a toll on the people. I would advise them to avoid getting swayed by social media, rather believe in their capabilities. As Indians, they should work to the best of the ability to bring in some positive change. They should nurture the innovation within them. And for that, you need to search your soul and become noble. By following the path of spirituality, you get closer to who you are. A spiritual person is naturally calm, content, and joyous, thus most productive.

I am quite fond of the #AatmaNirbharBharat, and to spread its essence, I have even written an anthem to inspire young people. Thing is, I strongly believe, that every invention or innovation in the corporate sector will come in handy to the Military one day. That's how a US Military initiative is today called the Internet and Google. The fact is, the big gap between the Academia/Intellectuals, Industry, Defence Research, and the Ministry of Defence needs to be narrowed down. They must follow an integrated approach and only then this #AatmaNirbharBharat will become a reality.

That said and done, I feel that there is an urgent need for our citizens to understand the Army. There should be a campaign 'Know your Soldiers', where people get to know their Armed Forces in general. Their lack of knowledge makes everyone look bad. People should also understand the ranking structure. Our society is heavily influenced by Bollywood, social and electronic media, who should take the right measures to spread the spirit of the Services in the right earnest.