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

One of the Challenging things in a Large Enterprise environment is to Create a Highly motivating work environment for all. It's not One man's job, it needs the entire Leadership team to think alike and create a certain environment around People, Partners and Processes that encourages to work together.

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

My capabilities include a combination of Technical and Leadership qualities. I learnt a lot on the job, how to work in a team, then started leading teams and gradually started managing large teams.
At Vertex Software Solutions in 2004, I learnt a lot of Technical stuff, and was leading a team of 4, in 2008 at Tech Mahindra, I led a team of about 25 resources spread across multiple locations. In 2012 at Tomtom, I hired 25 resources and at one point I was managing about 90 resources split across multiple Countries.
Having managed such large team members, working across different Time zones and still ensuring the team members were motivated and were performing well was an achievement recognized by my Organization and most importantly my team members. My Technical, Management and Communication skills made me move up the ladder to where I am now.
I hope to continue to create great Leaders and high performing teams in all my future endeavours.

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

I have always been a little Organized and try to stick to my time table as much as possible. I usually wake up early by about 6am, I go for a walk and exercise for nearly an hour. I drink about 3-4 glasses of water, take a shower and then have my Breakfast.
Then I spend some time checking my emails or chats and ensuring I respond to any pending requests. I start working in the office from around 10am till about 6pm. One of my habits is to shake hands or say Hello to everyone I meet in the office. I conduct daily meetings with my team members to Listen to Problems, Ideas and work together to bring Solutions.
After office, I usually go back home, take a shower and have food with my family. Then I make calls to my Friends and Colleagues to know how their day was.
After Dinner, I go for about a 30-40 minutes walk. During this time, till I sleep, I try to respond to any Urgent or Important requests over email and phone.
I normally sleep at about 11pm.
Weekends are usually the time to spend with Friends and family more or sometimes learning more Technical stuff that keeps me going.

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

I learnt that it is very important to Listen to your team and people who work with you.
Every individual has a different level of hunger. It's not just always good Salary but also Work profile, Job roles, Care, Rewards, Recognition and Ego to name a few. "Maslow's hierarchy of needs'' explains it nicely.
At work, it is very important to keep your Ego aside and work together as a team. Listen carefully to your team members about challenges and ideas to overcome them. Let them try to improve things and bring Change. Support them to learn and grow.

"Leaders who don't listen will eventually be surrounded by people who have nothing to say." ~Andy Stanley

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?

There are multiple books I studied about Leadership and every book has something good to take back and improve on Leadership styles. One of them is "Multipliers" by Liz Wiseman and Greg Mckeown.
This book talks about How to create Leaders, Understanding Leadership type, Develop and Liberate Talent, Making Quality decisions, Understand Multipliers Vs Diminishers and a lot of things you could relate to real life scenarios.
These learnings are relevant, practical and very much helpful in achieving more using the same or fewer resources.

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

In a large enterprise, your team looks at you as a role Model and I believe it is essential to interact more with your team members, peers and management to be able to understand better and help bridge gaps. To build leadership capacity, it is also essential to Identify, Create and Groom the Next level Leaders in the team who can understand and drive things better.

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

When you work with the people and for the people, they will work for you. I feel proud to share my tenure at Tomtom India where I created a team of Level1, Level2 and Level3 Technical Support Professionals. It's not just one story but many. The Culture we created in the Organization was very much motivating, helpful and friendly. Each of my team members performed very well and at various intervals of time, everyone got Promoted, few of them had a chance to travel abroad, some of them got lead roles and responsibilities. Everyday was challenging yet inviting with positive vibes. When I was leaving the Organization, I got a Certificate from my team saying "Greatest Boss of the World ''. That was THE awesome moment of my life and they are all still in touch with me and willing to work with me again.