Sharad Barot: Everyone needs something they can run away to

Sharad Barot, Chief Operation Officer at Vitafoam

I never say no to any work. This mindset has propelled me to where I am today. I graduated with an IT degree and naturally looked forward to a career in that industry. I got an IT job in a mattress company but they also had me count mattresses in the loading zone. The next job I got was with yet another mattress company that was opening up an IT department. The first question they asked me was whether I knew about mattresses. Thanks to my previous job, I could tell the sizes of mattresses a mile off. I got the job. when the sales manager went on leave, I’d sit in sales. Thanks to my IT background, I was quick in retrieving data for customers. This translated to increased sales, so much so that I broke the sales record.