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

I've always been a people person. I believe that people make all the difference when pursuing organizational goals. Leadership is an intricate balance between people and organizations. Organizations have an existence of their own and more often than not, the human factors driving the organization are not treated as I believe that they should. Then there is organizational transparency and the general tendency to work in silos. I've found that presenting the big picture to people we work with goes a very long way in moving in the right direction. I frown upon treating people as things that can be discarded, just to meet an organizations objectives. I find this to be one of the biggest challenges of a leader.

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

I've always been most comfortable in daunting circumstances. My ability to maintain a cool head and navigating intricate situations was noticed and that's how I was given my initial leadership assignments. People naturally gravitate towards me and this was notices as well and this contributed in a big way in landing me leadership opportunities. Initially it was missions /assignments and then that graduated to managerial positions. Another big contributing factor was my ability to learn very quickly and step into roles that demanded attention to detail and execution. Finally, my ability to delegate, hire the best of the best and work across teams, geographies, cultural differences are what got me my global remits.

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

I sleep very little and that's not because I'm an insomniac. I just work in a manner that enables me to derive the most out of my waking hours. I wake early and carry out my morning routine that encompasses, meditation, exercise and a quick recap of the previous day and what lies ahead. I have a plan for the day before I actually embark on my day. I get my emails and reviews done early and relegate the major part of the day to what I need to personally do. Towards the fag end of the day, I do a quick recap and check what has been achieved and what remains for the next day. As far as possible I don't leave any emails unaddressed, so there is minimal carry forward. Once I'm done with my work day, I attend to my personal interests of music, blogging and my passion of being a digital creator. I then head home to a simple meal and a quick recap of my day. Before I sleep I ensure that I read something or catch up on important news before I lay down to rest.

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

Of late what seems to have been reinforced by events and experiences, is that people need to be monitored and held accountable. Covid taught us work life balance and how tow work from home and from remote locations. Now with preferences going back to co-located work, getting people back into the rhythm of working under the same roof is something that I'm occupied with.

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 Naked Leader by Dave Taylor is that book. The basic tenets of that book are putting people before process, choice before change and meaning before money. The age old methods of leadership were and sometimes even now are about delivering results and throwing a lot of people related priorities out the window. The content of this book, prescribes a new way of doing business, fostering of a realization that there has to be a different way of success, one that encourages awareness, success and achievement. This talks about how we can move away from a purely process driven approach, foster trust between the company and employee and grow together. It shows how relationships can be built and maintained, quick changes to life, change the way we feel, how to present effectively and finally self discovery. I was always geared how the book says, but my indoctrination and grooming detracted me from being who I really am. Reading the book served to opening the floodgates and I was able to reach deep down and resurrect my nature.

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

The single most important principle of leadership, in my view, is to mentor people, provide them the framework to do what they are best at and be available as a safety net when you're needed.

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

The single most impactful and meaningful experience I've had as a leader was hiring and nurturing this one individual to achieve her true potential. I hired a Certified Wealth Planner to work on a new Wealth and Funds Management Product I was charged to create. I hired her out of a leading Australian Bank. She had now clue about tech or code. I asked her to give me two years of her life and I would ensure that she would be the best of the best, despite of not having an engineering background.

I groomed her over the period, appointed her as my deputy and in time handed over all my Product related responsibilities to her. The teams grudgingly grew to respect her and the customers' loved her. I made myself redundant from that particular role as I'd planned. We remain the best of friends, she is wildly successful and that to me is what a leader needs to do. I have been able to develop this into a cookie cutter model and make it work for me in many different roles that I have played.