People of Beam Suntory: Mani Shukla

People of Beam Suntory: Mani Shukla

“I work with people from all over the world and it’s fascinating to be able to experience firsthand the diversity and culture of my own team.

Over the past few years, I’ve learned a lot about my teammates by virtually seeing their lives through our conversations – whether it’s been a meeting with a colleague where their cat is happily plopped in their lap, or a teammate’s partner popping their head into view for a quick ‘hello.’ Connecting personally with my team has deepened my understanding of their cultures and how we work together, contributing to our shared success.

In 2021, I was asked to Co-lead the Culture and Racial Awareness workstream – a natural calling for me as it aligned with my curiosity about other cultures and learning from my colleagues. Our global team collaborated to create a culture map, sharing cultural norms for different nationalities in professional and personal settings, then held learning sessions to introduce each country's cultural norms to an international audience.

I've found it fascinating to discover these nuances, such as spending time talking about personal lives before business discussions in Chinese culture or ensuring a good long catch-up in a more casual environment in Spanish culture. These things might seem small but make a huge difference when it comes to connecting with people and are very insightful when conducting business in local markets. We always want to make sure that our product offerings are resonating locally.

Understanding my team’s culture has also helped me become a more empathetic and effective manager, which is in line with one of our company values of Growing for Good, which means being committed to growing as a company and as an individual, and know I have a better framework for effectively managing each of my team members as they seek to grow their own careers.

My goal is to continue to expand this workstream and my global team’s knowledge around different countries and cultures. We’re currently working on the new culture buddy program and building on the culture map/multicultural mindset by making it a part of the global onboarding. Beam Suntory is truly a global business, which provides incredible opportunities to expand our worldview – and I want to continue to take advantage of that.”

- Mani Shukla, Regional Commercial Marketing Manager, India