Name: Abhishek Rungta

Title: Founder & CEO

Organisation: Indus Net Technologies

Entrepreneur (25yr+ of Bootstrapping😂), Marketing & Tech Geek🤓, Venture Builder😎, Angel Investor😇. Works @IndusNetTech

Thank you to the 2,000 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 Questions on Leadership!

We’ve gone through the interviews and asked the best of the best to come back and answer 7 MORE Questions on Leadership.

I hope Abhishek's answers will encourage you in your leadership journey. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jonno White

1. As a leader, how do you build trust with employees, customers and other stakeholders?

I think the biggest way to build trust is to lead by example. You must follow what you commit, and what you expect in terms of professional behavior.

Transparency, communication, and integrity are key to achieving this. It helps beyond building trust.

2. What do 'VISION' and 'MISSION' mean to you? And what does it actually look like to use them in real-world business?

To me, vision is a picture that a leader paints of the future and the state of the organisation at that time. So, here there are things which can be controlled, and things that one does not control. It is critical to be able to adapt the vision and keep it relevant.

Mission is more of a purpose statement. This should drive the leader and her team to do more, achieve more, move forward, and get things done.

3. How can a leader empower the people they're leading?

Leaders shall put people out of their comfort zone, give an objective that is a stretched goal, and then provide support and confidence to them.

Even if they fail, they will over-exceed their base objectives. This creates a lot of trust and self-confidence in people who work with you.

4. Who are some of the coaches or mentors in your life who have had a positive influence on your leadership? Can you please tell a meaningful story about one of them?

I worked with Sarah Hasan, who has been coaching me after my Stanford Seed Program. Her management style, which involves spirituality as well as pragmatism, abundance mindset, and most importantly ability to filter signal from noise, has been a big positive influence on me.

In one instance, I was super excited to implement my transformation plan. She made me realise through deep questioning that I did not have the team ready, and leaders identified for the transformation program.

That saved me a lot of time and heartburn. We worked on understanding the team, their capability (or lack of), and realigning the whole plan, timeline, and identifying talents within the company who can get us through the process.

It was a very humbling experience for a hustle-first builder like me.

5. Leadership is often more about what you DON'T do. How do you maintain focus in your role?

I write down my key goals on my whiteboard. I check every morning if the decisions and meetings I have are aligned with the top 3 goals that I have listed down. If they do not align, I mercilessly prune those meetings and demands on my time and energy.

6. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Everyone plans differently. How do you plan for the week, month and years ahead in your role?

I have a broad goal for the future. I do not do an annual plan for myself. I do a monthly OKR for myself, and work every day towards those three key result areas with all my energy.

This allows me to stay tuned every month. I can recover and refocus every month, even if I slip.

7. What advice would you give to a young leader who is struggling to delegate effectively?

It is normal to feel that the person may not be able to do the job. It is important to mould the person to your way of working and show direction in the early days of collaboration with your reporters.

Also, remember, the new generation is far smarter than us; they learn faster, they have less to unlearn, and they have more energy.

It is all about channelising the energy.