Jai Nagarkatti is an oddity in today's corporate world. He has spent his entire career at Sigma-Aldrich, a $1.7-billion life-science and chemical company based in St Louis, Missouri. Captivated by chemistry at an early age, he left his native India for the United States to get a PhD in synthetic organic chemistry at Texas A&M University. (See CV)

Throughout graduate school, Nagarkatti had ordered his chemicals from Aldrich, so it seemed natural to apply for a job there. Starting as a production chemist, he has risen through the ranks over the past three decades — a journey to his current role as president and chief executive that he says has gone fast.

Only last year did he receive his first formal business training, through Harvard Business School's Advanced Management programme. Nagarkatti's three months in the programme exposed him to new trends in organizational structure, employee development and, perhaps most importantly, strategic planning for a global economy. Learning primarily through case studies, Nagarkatti says the most important insights came from being able to interact with peers in related industries across the globe. “Not only do you learn about conducting business internationally, you get insight into different cultural approaches to problem-solving,” he says.

In many ways, his lack of formal business training was advantageous. Although he intuitively understood asset management and capital funding, Nagarkatti says it is his focus on listening — to both customer needs and employee ideas — that remains the driving force of his success. “Business is common sense,” he says.

Nagarkatti carries on a company tradition of cultivating talented staff, which he cites as his greatest achievement. Following the Harvard programme, he selected ten high-potential employees from different parts of the company to help him develop a strategic plan for long-term growth. The plan, implemented last year, includes expanding the company's presence in growing economies such as the Pacific Rim countries and building on its Internet presence.

Over the years, Nagarkatti has rebuffed offers to work for competitors or other industries. Early on, he did entertain the notion. But he preferred to show allegiance to a company that had treated him fairly and rewarded him accordingly. “The grass always looks greener on the other side until you are there,” he says, adding that he couldn't walk away from the company he has helped build.