He has no regrets however. “I believe that everything happens for a reason. Looking back, I have realised that I don’t think I could have handled the bouquets and brickbats our sport stars receive today,” he jokes.

Today, as marketing head of LG’s mobile communications’ division, the biggest challenge before him is to ensure that LG stands apart from the rest in the cluttered handset space. “We have to make the most of all the opportunities before us in order to develop and maintain our market share in India. This, in turn, will help us execute our short- and long-term business priorities, the most important of which is to promote our value proposition.”

Maheshwary is primarily responsible for marketing, product planning, and strategy and business operations. “My job has provided me with a number of opportunities to learn-plan-do-succeed, and I am enjoying this enormously,” he says.

He tackles the challenges of his job through a teamwork-centric style of management. “The only way to succeed is through teamwork and a relentless emphasis on innovation,” says Maheshwary. “I firmly believe that only the power of teamwork can help one survive the fierce competition we currently face. And when I say team, I mean the complete team, that is, not just the employees but also our customers and our partners.”

That apart, his extensive work experience also helps. He has earlier worked with companies like Lucent, Motorola and Nokia in the areas of marketing, project planning, implementation and operations.

Going forward, he says that consumer access communication services are set to become seamless. “Across the world, voice and data networks and services are all becoming seamless. A consumer transitions between personal and professional voice, data and multimedia platforms in a matter of seconds or minutes. India’s telecom infrastructure and range of available products need to be aligned with this long-term trend,” he comments.