1. What have you found most challenging as a CEO or executive of a large enterprise?

The most challenging task for any CXO is to keep up with the innovations that are happening in our respective industry. Making the best use of our resources and delivering competitive solutions and service to our customers. What keeps us on our toes is the challenges that are faced by our customers, the disruptive business models and ability to respond quickly to solve their business challenges.


2. How did you become a CEO or executive of a large enterprise? Can you please briefly tell the story?

Becoming a CXO is not an overnight success story indeed , it's a 20+ years of constant improvisation to the work we do and ensure continuous learning & unlearning as we encounter today's challenges. I started my career as a Technical Architect , had the good fortune to work for Citi, GE and Hitachi before joining Pactera Edge. Over the last 2 decades worked with over 100 different customers across the globe. It's an enriching experience to learn from our customers and apply the expertise we developed over the years to solve their problems. I was fortunate to have some great leaders who mentored and guided during the toughest times of my career. Every position is a privilege to serve more and do our best . I strongly believe in the following quote " Efforts are appreciated but only the results are rewarded".


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

I am an early riser, I love working in the early morning hours between 4.30 am to 7 am, It’s my most productive hours of the day. I start my official work addressing some of my peer’s request and prioritise the day’s work by completing the tasks that are of high priority. I take a break post lunch for 40 minutes to rejuvenate to work for the next 6-8 hrs. Normally I spend close to 12 -14 hrs a day on my tasks which includes learning few new concepts related to my profession. I am an avid social media influencer, I write self-motivation articles and some technology related innovation articles.


4. What's the most recent significant leadership lesson you've learned?

Leadership is not an authority to govern but a privilege to serve the organization and its customers to your best of the abilities of you and your team. Subordination of your ego and having enough elbow grease to ensure that your productive moves benefits the organization at large.


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?

My latest favorite book is "Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't" . In this book the author Simon Sinek explains where we’ve gone wrong and puts out an urgent call for real leaders to step forth to make a positive difference. Leadership isn’t just about managing numbers. It’s about helping people to thrive and find meaning in their work. When leaders take care of their people, the numbers will take care of themselves. Unfortunately, many leaders and organizations seem to have lost sight of this fundamental truth.


6. How do you build leadership capacity in a large enterprise?

Leadership is a ladder, every step counts. I mean every ladder step we add has to be robust and matured for the organization to last and strive harder to achieve its vision. We ensure the culture fit to the organization is given the utmost priority as they say culture eats strategy for breakfast. Every leader is handpicked to ensure that as an organization we strive together as one team. Before building the capacity , we need to be sure why we are building that capacity and what exactly the results expected of that leader and his team. If you can answer these questions well in advance , It's easy to build a strong and empathetic leadership team.


7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a CEO or executive of a large enterprise so far?

What makes you a Leader is the ability to respond without losing the human touch. During this pandemic, we were pushed to the extremes both in terms of managing our professional commitments as well as to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our employees. A sizable number of our employees were down with covid19 and for a few days it was really tiring to get the medical help for our peers. When we look back on those days, It’s a very fulfilling experience to serve our employees and their family members to tide over their difficult times.