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

I think one of the most challenging and yet the most exciting aspects of being an executive is building and engaging a high-performing team. Especially in a large enterprise, where teams not only increase in numbers but also in complexity (be it language, nationalities, locations) keep every member of the team aligned and focussed towards the common goal is a challenge.

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

For me, this has been an internal growth story. I joined PeopleStrong right after my MBA as part of their enterprise sales and business development team. I moved to the marketing team from there and ever since have grown along with the team. I was part of the two-member marketing team which was operating for a single brand, in just one country and in the subsequent years got an opportunity to create new brands and take them to multiple geographies. In this stint, I also got a chance to experience and learn from multiple teams - be it finance, Sales, Operations, Product Development amongst others. Which helped me take on my current role of an executive team member and the Head of Strategy and Marketing at Taggd.

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

I typically plan the week on Saturday (end of the day) as I keep Sunday to engage in my other interests and family. I mostly divide the week's major actionable(s) into days and block time in advance to complete those. Then, I try to review how I did against the plan every alternate day and align things if the schedule has changed.

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

The power of context over control - when managing teams. Basically, if you can equip your team with the right context, they might perform much better than the case where you try to build unnecessary controls around them.

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?

Two books and I would like to share my learning from both.
1. Lean In: In this book, Sheryl Sandberg mentions how we often don't aspire for challenging roles and limit ourselves as women. When I read this book a few years ago, I realized I was doing the same thing in some situations. The book gave me the perspective to grab opportunities as they came to me and has been instrumental in my growth.

2. Becoming - Michelle Obama spoke about context and how important it is to understand before you judge someone - that their context and back story might be something you don't know of. This thought has helped me improve myself both as a leader as well as an individual.

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

I think the journey of an exceptional leader begins the day self-awareness starts. The moment you learn to understand your limitations, accept them and improve them, you learn to improve yourself and move further in your journey. Honestly, in this path, the size of the organization doesn't really matter. Because if you are in this journey of self-awareness and self-improvement, you and your work gets noticed.

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

nothing comes to my mind immediately apart from what I have shared already