Hi

This May, Bipin Odhekar, the Head – Sustainability, EHS & Operations Excellence at Marico, a leader known for driving transformative and customer-centric innovation is our guest at Innowin, the monthly newsletter dedicated to innovation, ideas and leadership.

With decades of experience turning complex ideas into practical solutions, Odhekar offers a grounded view of what real disruptive innovation requires—clarity, discipline, and a willingness to course-correct without hesitation.

In this conversation ahead, he shares where inspiration truly comes from, how to evaluate (and sometimes let go) ideas, and what entrepreneurs, especially in sustainability, must focus on to build meaningful impact.

Q. What does disruptive innovation mean to you?

Any innovation that can deliver a 40–50% improvement in key customer KPIs, whether that’s affordability, accessibility, availability, or quality.

Q. This kind of innovation is hard, and often leads to failure. How does one deal with it?

It’s common to go through 2–3 major course corrections along the way, whether we label these as failures is up to us.

Q. What are some unexpected places to find inspiration?

I often find it outside the organisation such as success stories shared on Linkedin and Flipboard, discussions on industrial forums, or insights gained at conferences.

Q. How does one know an idea is “good”? What are some ways entrepreneurs can self-evaluate their ideas?

One useful approach is to assess the current (“As-Is”) state of the business processes and then imagine the future (“To-Be”) state, either on your own or with the help of experts. This should give a fair understanding on the feasibility of an idea.

Your readers can look at these three key business dimensions that might be helpful:

1. The Configuration: Profit model, Network, Structure, Practices

2. The Offering: Product performance, Product complementary services

3. The Experience: Service, Distribution channel, Brand value, Customer engagement

Q. What qualities matter when you are hiring for your team?

There aren’t any fixed “ideal” qualities, but every individual should be analysed on their abilities—intellectual, physical, and emotional, their approach towards work, and their attitude toward the team.

Every candidate brings something valuable, but role fitment will supersede.

Q. Any advice for the Gen Z working in the sustainability space?

There are enough platforms and opportunities to start or contribute, but the first step of success is overcoming the “starting inertia”.

Q. How can organisations work to remain agile in rapidly growing sectors like climate/agri-tech/recyclable plastics?

No product or service has a permanent lifecycle, so it’s essential to keep updating key team members across functions.

Gathering their insights and reflections should be embedded as a regular process in the Management Operating Review (MOR) to ensure continuous agility.

Q. What do successful innovators have in common according to you?

1. They focus on customer needs.

2. They have no emotional connect per se with the invention, they focus on converting the invention into a business product.

3. Talent management

💯Tell us about a habit that changed your life

Spending an hour every week on updating myself on a topic of my interest.

📚What have you been reading lately?

Topics related to environment, ecology and social ecosystems.

🌤️Do you believe in having a morning routine? What does yours look like?

I start for office at 07:45 but I make sure to go for a 30-min morning walk.