ABOUT THIS EPISODE
What happens when your highest performer is also hurting the team?
In this episode of Middle Manager Mastery, Shruti Rustagi sits down with Shailendra Singh who brings two decades of experience across FMCG, retail, and e-commerce, including leadership roles at HUL and Nykaa.
Shailendra shares practical lessons on building and leading high-performing teams - from inheriting a struggling team and making tough calls to coaching low performers and identifying the difference between will and skill.
The conversation explores why strong individual performance isn't enough, why managers need to understand the root cause behind performance issues, and how empathy and coaching can turn struggling employees into valuable contributors.
About Shailendra:
Shailendra Singh is a senior business leader with 18+ years of experience across e-commerce, retail, and FMCG. He has held leadership roles at Nykaa and Hindustan Unilever, where he led P&Ls, digital transformation, e-commerce growth, and large teams.
At HUL, he scaled the e-commerce business 40X in three years and helped build the function from the ground up. At Nykaa, he leads Beauty Retail and Omnichannel Strategy across 150+ stores, focusing on sustainable growth and seamless consumer experiences.
Timestamps:
01:23 - Inheriting a struggling team at Nykaa
01:42 - The first 30 days: Observe, understand, and act
04:00 - Why managers need to start from the ground up
05:09 - Getting an unfiltered view of your team
05:42 - What to look for when assessing a team
07:10 - Identifying teams that are out of sync
08:23 - The “bad apple” problem
10:15 - Having difficult conversations as a manager
11:16 - When letting someone go may be the right decision
12:01 - Can a low performer become a high performer?
12:36 - The “will vs. skill” framework
14:00 - Coaching, empathy, and finding the root cause
15:16 - Why people are a leader’s greatest capital
15:50 - Why people switch managers, not organizations
16:58 - Building a team from scratch
17:47 - Defining roles and expectations before hiring
19:00 - Hiring for passion, intent, and potential
20:01 - Key lessons for middle managers
