
Thank you to the 1646 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 questions! I hope reading 7 Questions with
Rana Pratap Singh
helps you in your leadership.
Cheers,
Jonno
Rana Pratap Singh

Name: Rana Pratap Singh
Title: Executive Vice President - Digital Transformation
Organisation: Pine Labs
Global Technology Leader with two decades of experience in leading Global Engineering Teams for directing end-to-end Enterprise Solutions activities comprise design, architecture and implementation of software products and services including customer management across US, EMEA, and APAC markets.
Possess in-depth expertise in working across Fintech, Utility IoT, Energy, POS, BFSI, E-commerce, Business Analytics, Security Solutions and Embedded Systems domains. Proven organization management and leadership track with exceptional talent development and management skills. Received several corporate and global recognitions for the innovative products engineering and deployments.
Active member of CII, ASSOCHAM, ETtech, FICCI, NASSCOM, IEEE, Smart Energy Network, UBS, Startup India, Atlanta Habitat for Humanity, SVS and various FinTech forums.
1. What have you found most challenging as a leader?
Guiding Change & maintaining efficiency
2. How did you become a leader? Can you please briefly tell the story?
This was a gradual progression from Engineer to a leadership role in this two decades. Understanding my own motivations, strengths and weaknesses were very helpful across this journey. Always been available for my team members and connected with them by facilitating open communication, encouraging employee growth and development, and giving and receiving feedback.
3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?
I am an early riser having high level day schedule create a day before sleep by checking meetings, schedules, reminders and to-do lists. Prioritisation is a key to take care of important work items with the available time hours. Some of key enablers which are helpful to me here :
- Creation of to-do list
- Preparation of daily routine
- Planning ahead by making a daily schedule
- Setting time for breaks
- Grouping identical tasks together
- Having an alternative / backups plans in case of interruptions
- Taking advantage of most productive hours
4. What's a recent leadership lesson you've learned for the first time or been reminded of?
The recent leadership lesson that I learnt is to talk less and listen more and being more observant to think of all potential cases that can arise in any of situation and requires my intervention.
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?
How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie.
Winning friends in the competitive world of today is one of life's biggest challenges. In fact it is an art. How to Win Friends and Influence People explains that nowadays people select friends and one should have distinguished qualities to make someone want to befriend you. It sounds quite materialistic but it is visible everywhere and in every walk of life. Influencing someone through one's personality is one of the mechanisms of gaining friends.
6. If you could only give one piece of advice to a young leader, what would you say to them?
Be humble and have a progressive mindset
7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a leader, so far?
This incident took place in 1895. The place was London. Swami Vivekananda was to give a public lecture and he had come to London with Swami Saradananda. When it was time to stand up and speak, Swami Vivekananda suddenly announced that Swami Saradananda would deliver the speech instead of him. Though taken by surprise, Saradananda did an excellent job that day, and thereafter too. Swami Vivekananda had realized that all Saradananda needed was a little push to bolster his self-confidence. This incident in isolation may not say much, but we need to see it from the perspective of the leadership and management style of Swami Vivekananda.
Swamiji was not only an inspirational leader, but was also a very pragmatic one. He not only believed in ‘Servant-based Leadership’ but constantly endeavored to empower all those around him. In dealing with his brother-disciples and followers, he evoked what is today popularly known in the management world as the ‘Pygmalion Effect’. Sterling Livingston describes it as the effect of enabling subordinates to excel in response to the leader’s expectation of them. Swami Vivekananda had a high expectation of his followers and he communicated that to them clearly, thus eliciting a high level of performance. Leaders empower their followers by believing in them, and they rise to greatness as a result.