Name: Jaydev Sanghavi

Title: Executive Director

Organisation: Aarvi Encon Ltd

Chemical Engineer with more than 20 years of experience in Technical Staffing. Was involved in staffing large projects in India. As an Executive Director of Aarvi Encon, I am looking after Overall management of the company, Finance, Sales & Marketing, and Operations. With support of my team we were able to grow Aarvi Encon from 100 Engineers to today employing more than 5,000 Engineers. We started with an office at one location and now has a Pan India presence and is growing internationally.

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

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

Cheers,

Jonno White

1. What have you found most challenging as a leader?

People management - building and retaining a strong team, motivating my staff. Also managing investors, balancing their priorities with long-term vision. Making timely decisions on complex issues. Overcoming my own procrastination tendencies.

2. How did you become a leader? Can you please briefly tell the story?

I joined the organization right after engineering school and worked on various projects. In 1997, an opportunity came up to deploy engineers to India's largest refinery. This was a new concept - contracting engineers when the industry normally deployed blue collar workers. We grabbed the chance and became one of the top companies for technical staffing to clients. Today we are a leading technical staffing firm with over 5,000 engineers. The Board saw my performance and desire to grow, so promoted me to Executive Director.

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

I'm not an early riser. My day starts rushing to the office. I spend 30 minutes planning with my mentor. I schedule priorities - emails, reports, meetings, brain dumps. Meetings take up the afternoons. Evenings I spend on family time and hobbies before more family time post-dinner. Weekends are more relaxed with yoga and family.

4. What's a recent leadership lesson you've learned for the first time or been reminded of?

I've learned how to better apply the 80/20 principle to grow the business by focusing on key clients and operations. Also, the importance of delegating versus micromanaging, and leading with empathy.

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?

The Harvard "Adjacency" case study gave great insights about staying focused. We often pursue too many new things and make bad decisions by changing many variables. Better to change just one variable at a time and grow steadily.

6. If you could only give one piece of advice to a young leader, what would you say to them?

I would advise them to lead by example. Their team will likely copy their behavior. Actions inspire more than words. The team and culture reflect the leader's example.

7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a leader, so far?

My father suggested an improvement ignored by his boss but implemented by the MD, which doubled production and got him promoted. It taught me to listen to everyone - you never know where the next good idea will come from.