Grant Thornton India LLP's Vishesh Chandiok on his many firsts

My first role model
David McDonnell, former CEO of Grant Thornton International, who taught me the meaning of leadership - getting others to do things they would not otherwise do

My first job
As an audit trainee with Grant Thornton UK, based out of London, where I made mistakes and learnt from them. I also learnt the values of discipline, confidentiality and commitment

My first boss
Anuj Chande, who leads the Indo-UK desk and is also head of South Asia Group at Grant Thornton UK. From him I learnt the art of networking and how to become a trusted adviser to entrepreneurs as well as their families

My first promotion
When I qualified as a chartered accountant in the UK, I moved to our consulting department where I became a senior consultant. I then had the good fortune of directly working with David Andrews, the best known strategic consultant to law firms globally

My first disappointment
On my first day at work, someone asked me how long I had been in the UK. I said one year and the person responded: "You have picked up English rather quickly"

Photo by Shekhar Ghosh

As told to Manu Kaushik