1. What have you found most challenging as a CEO or executive of a large enterprise?

It starts with addressing their digital ambition. There are a lot of shades in defining what is digital transformation. Further, most of the discussions need to go beyond digital optimization before enterprises aim for digital ambition.

The need to transform digitally has also forced organizations to :

1. Evolve their business models to meet the ever-changing demands and newer delivery channels of old offerings.
2. Increase the odds of success by continuously identifying and refining their value propositions, customer segments & newer financial opportunities.


2. How did you become a CEO or executive of a large enterprise? Can you please briefly tell the story?

I started my career as a part of a leadership program and evolved with opportunities to establish/brand newer businesses. Later, challenging opportunities to rebrand a group company of a 100 B USD+ group further made me understand the needs of larger organizations. I am fortunate to map my aspirations and the ambitions of my employers who are at the forefront of disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence and automation.

I continuously learnt on the job and always evolve my methods to help my employer remain on the top of analysts' radar.


3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?

I am a morning lark at times transitioning to a night owl.
I usually start my day early to maximize my thinking and reading time as I need to align to the top trends and their manifestation and monetization opportunities.

A good amount of time is devoted to son via playing and teaching him as he is home schooled. A good amount of my time goes in engaging my senior level stakeholders and preparing the larger teams for the influencer engagement programs I lead at products and company level. I cherish reading story books and hindu scriptures. My day usually ends around 10:30-11.


4. What's the most recent significant leadership lesson you've learned?
My perennial leadership lesson is respectful perseverance.

COVID has challenged mind sets as well as affected lives of all families and yet the above lesson has helped people survive and thrive.
Further, applying this has also helped me generate exceptional results for my stakeholders and make them successful.


5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?

I am deeply inspired by "Shrimad Bhagwad Geeta". This ancient scripture is the guiding source of millions in cutting across the confusion and addressing their mindset and emotional challenges as they evolve.

The foundational principle of doing one's Karma with good intentions is timeless.

When in doubt, dwelling over any random shloa/verses of this ancient masterpiece makes me come back to the best of me. It inspires me to evolve without being greatly involved so that unwanted outcomes do not disturb my beliefs.


6. How do you build leadership capacity in a large enterprise?

I always believe exemplary people lead and give examples.
Examples that inspire, instill trust and challenge biases and conventions go a long way. For example,
the domain of artificial intelligence and automation is highly competitive and constantly evolving. Many find it is too challenging to deliver the promises the technology has. It would be inspiring to know the story of Jim Simmons, the richest mathematician and the founder of Renaissance Technologies. This best performing hedge fund has delivered 66% CAGR since 1988 delivering over 100 B USD in returns.
Jim and his team used complex machine learning algorithms when the current metaverse proponent Mark Zuckerberg was in kindergarten!


7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a CEO or executive of a large enterprise so far?

The most meaningful story from my time as global head of analyst relations programs came from the instances of creating exceptions in getting invited for complex industry assessment programs.
We later outperformed against some of the most well funded VC backed competitors and were finally rated leaders or close competitors to them.