Name: Pramod Kumar Vatsa

Title: Growth & Turnaround Consultant, Startups Mentor, Independent Director and CEO

Organisation: Silver Sure Vending Solutions, New Delhi

Pramod Vatsa is a Business & ESG Consultant, Startup Mentor, Qualified Independent Director, Advisor Vyapar Bandhu Consultancy, and CEO at Silver Sure Vending Solutions. He also works on focused assignments for corporates with a couple of consulting companies, in India and abroad, mainly on the subjects of Transformations, Digitalization & ESG.

Before these portfolio roles, he was International Director with Saint-Gobain Sekurit International, France; Director of Operations with Saint-Gobain Sekurit India; General Manager with Saint-Gobain Crystals & Detectors; Divisional Manager with Titan Company Limited and SBU Head with Titan TimeProducts Ltd.

It has been a dream run during the last 35 years in global manufacturing businesses involving deep exposure to different industries with complex supply chains covering Automotive Components, High Technology components, Electronics Manufacturing Services, and Precision Instruments in Tata Group and Saint-Gobain Group. He has grown businesses & turned around High Technology operations. Pramod has moved around India & abroad to experience the diversity. In his early years, he worked in a B2C environment & for the last 20 years, he has been working in Leadership roles in B2B businesses.

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

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

Cheers,

Jonno White

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

Having worked in various organizations and locations across the globe, leading people of different cultures is probably the most challenging task. People Strategy is key for any transformation and despite having led teams in different organizations, it never gets easier when it comes to managing people, especially when dealing with trying to change the culture of an organization.

Every team is different. They have different Needs, Strengths, Skills, Motivation, Work styles, and Risk tolerance. To lead well, you have to match your style to your team. EQ is vital to know when to use which style. Good leaders adapt and choose the right style at the right time.

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

I had the privilege of gaining early trust to lead a Team in a conglomerate of Tata Group, soon after my joining work as a fresher. Further on, with support from great Mentors, in just about four years, I was the Project Manager of Titan Company Ltd. with responsibilities for the capacity & capabilities growth of a most promising & customer-facing business of Tatas. This role demanded working with cross-functional Teams, both internal & external. In parallel to the projects, I was also assigned to explore precision engineering components' business potential and support the adoption of Operational Excellence.

By the age of 35, I was heading an SBU of Titan in a location far from the head office. My Boss & the Board provided me all the freedom to experiment & grow this company from a one-product entity into a company with multi-products & diversified customers serving sectors like Auto, Industrial & Watches. In 2005 I was identified as a Significant Leader among Tata Managers and I also received recognition as ‘Manager of the Year’ from the local Management Association.

I was thus ready for the big league and at this time I made my only job shift (from the Tatas to Saint-Gobain). I was lucky to meet great leaders & mentors in my 1st job with Tatas (Titan Company) and I have learned a ton about business mechanics, team development, and (most importantly) myself In Saint-Gobain Group I started as a General Manager of a specialty business of scintillation crystals & detectors. This Bangalore operation has been part of the global supply chain and I was responsible for the P&L, realizing domestic business growth & and servicing large OEMs across Asia & North America.

Later I moved over to head Automotive Glass Operations of Saint-Gobain Sekurit in India. In parallel to my direct roles for Businesses (2009-2019), I have managed additional roles as the Head – World Class Manufacturing for Saint-Gobain India. Position reported to Country CEO (India) & Global Director WCM Program, Compagnie de Saint-Gobain. WCM is a flagship program designed & operated by Saint-Gobain Worldwide. I facilitated & promoted WCM over a period of 10 years for the ~20 Indian Plants across 10 businesses, by working with the respective local & global WCM Leaders.

Owing to my noteworthy contributions in India and after I designed & presented the unique “Integrated Management System (IMS)” for the automotive business, in 2019, I was given this most challenging assignment with Saint-Gobain Sekurit International, France, as Director – of Excellence Programs & WCM.

I left Saint-Gobain Group in 2021 to build my own consulting business. It has allowed me to master and continue doing what I love the most: transformations & turnaround. I am also sharing a few Startups and had 3 Startups and 2 midsize companies to mentor & advise since then.

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

When I wake up, I remind myself daily of the 3 end goals of the day:

• I will love myself.

• I will aspire to have beautiful life experiences.

• I will be learning and growing. During the day I use what I call the 𝟯-𝟯-𝟯 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗱 for productivity.

• Devote 3 hours in the morning session to deep work on my most important tasks for the clientele. This includes strategic work, planning, report preparation, and answering customers’ priorities.

• Do 3 “maintenance” tasks after lunch when my productivity typically wanes. It remains the ideal window for administrative tasks like social media outreach, email correspondence, checking the news, etc.

• Complete 3 other urgent virtual meetings. Prioritize the most important task for the next day. Evening Routine - My evenings are reserved for personal development, time with family, and relaxation, including meditation. Lights out at 11 PM ensures I'm well-rested for another high-impact day ahead. Before bed, journal on the following 3 Qs:

• How did I surround myself with love?

• What amazing experiences did I have?

• How did I learn and grow today?

I make a conscious effort to keep weekends free to recharge. I prioritize spending time with my family and use some leisure time for reading. By adhering to this structure, I can manage my responsibilities effectively, balance my work commitments with my personal life, and ensure that I am continuously striving towards my professional and personal goals.

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

I have a newfound respect for start-up founders as I now understand how hard of a role it is. While dealing with Startups I have learned that design thinking can help you transform the way you develop products, services, processes, and organizations. Design Thinking encourages organizations to focus on the people they're creating for, which leads to better products, services, and processes. In my view, Design thinking will score over all these new advances in technology.

By employing design thinking, we pull together what’s desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable. It also allows those who aren't trained as designers to use creative techniques, methods, and mindsets to address a vast range of challenges.

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 find Atomic Habits by James Clear a fantastic book for any serious reader. Most people don't realize how much power their habits have for their Leadership. Small changes will compound into remarkable results over the years for your Leadership. I have used its lessons to sharpen my Leadership skills by developing some good habits and breaking some bad ones. Here are some of the lessons from Atomic Habits that have impacted my Leadership positively.

• Make it easy to start.

• Find a cue or trigger to form a new habit.

• Find a way to create a craving for your new habit.

• Make your new habit satisfying to stick with it.

• Set a SMART goal for your new habit.

• Set a deadline to make sure you stick with your new habit.

• Make a plan to stick to your new habit. If the plan doesn’t work then adjust.

• Get an accountability partner: Find someone with a similar goal and check in with each other regularly to measure your progress.

• Reward yourself when you reach your goals.

• Tracking your progress is a great way to stay motivated and on track with your habits.

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

Great leaders eventually get results. Some combination of competence, planning, execution, focus, hard work, and inspiring others is critical to positive outcomes. However, there are often a myriad of factors outside a leader's control that can create lackluster results. Some legitimate reasons for failure include market changes, lack of funding, product failures, and regulatory changes, to name a few.

While no leader desires any of these on themselves or their team, as Winston Churchill reminds us, "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that count." His point is the exact reason for a failure is less important than how a leader responds to that failure.

I have arrived at my favorite principle to coach and teach leaders to embrace this mindset, based on the simple equation in Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning.

E + R = O; it stands for: Event + Response = Outcome

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

In the personal annals of my leadership journey, I found myself at the helm of a couple of remarkable transformations – from average to world-class. My last corporate assignment demanded the application of my years of experience and learning. To win this international position of “Director – Excellence Programs & WCM” with Saint-Gobain Sekurit International, France, I had to design & sell a new management system.

This Management System was to answer all applicable regulatory frameworks and many individual Audits required by each Auto OEM. It had to also assimilate the running Operational Excellence Model and the new Business Model under discussion! This new Integrated Management System (IMS) had to be simple enough to pass the test of the PDCA (Plan, Do, Check & Act) cycle.

The biggest stumbling block to implementing such an integrated system was the Quality organization. They always believed that it is impossible to integrate the regulatory frameworks of Automotive with the Operating Model. Customer-facing functions and purchasing believed that the new Business Model couldn’t be supported well by the running Operating Model. So, I was asked to prove the new system to this consortium and I did this with aplomb within about 6 months, before moving to Paris.

SEKURIT's Excellence journey involved simplifying, digitizing, and promoting a global Integrated Management System focused on the convergence of all the Excellence initiatives. It focused on the integration of the Management Model, Operating Model & Business Model into an “Integrated Management System (IMS)” for Agility & Business Transformation. It involved:

a) Convergence of Business Potential Standards & Management Model: % Revenue Improvement and to achieve Business Excellence.

b) Integration of Business Process Standards & Operating Model: enabling performance multipliers, positive cultural change, and improved financial results.

Armed with this vision to implement IMS at Sekurit International and its 39 plants across 16 countries, we formed a Team of Global Directors of Quality and Operational Excellence. The New Purpose, Mission, Vision, and Strategic Objectives of Sekurit were deployed through Policy Deployment across pilot countries first and the remaining countries later.

The task of implementation was colossal, demanding an unwavering commitment to excellence and a relentless pursuit of innovation. As I began weaving the vision of IMS into reality, I knew that the key was not merely in the grandeur of the concept, but in the meticulous execution that followed. We embarked on a collaborative journey, engaging stakeholders at every level, from the C-suite to the frontlines of Plants. Together, we crafted a shared purpose, aligning our objectives to a singular, unified goal.

The most important lesson I have learned in this exercise is that you need to build a great team and trust your leaders. Together as a team, we have shown that with vision, resilience, and collaboration, we can transform not just a multi-national organization, but an entire paradigm of possibility. real leadership is empathy. By developing empathy, leaders can build trust, loyalty, and performance among their teams, and create a positive impact on their organizations.