.png)
Thank you to the 1,400 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 questions!
I hope reading
7 Questions with Venkataramani Suresh
helps you in your leadership.
Â
Cheers,
Jonno White
7 Questions with Venkataramani Suresh
Name: Venkataramani Suresh
Current title: Chief Business Officer
Current organisation: Matrimony.com Limited
Alumnus of The Wharton Business School, Pennsylvania. v
Graduate in Instrumentation and Control Engineering with an MBA in Sales and Marketing from Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Prasanthi Nilayam. v
24 Years of Work experience in Sales, Product Management and Business Leadership. v
In the Current Role as The Chief Business Officer -Matrimony.com, Leveraging Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning to digitise the US $ 55 B Match Making and Wedding Services Business Market in India. v
Managing a team of young, energetic, and high performing Tech, Product, Marketing and Sales Professionals in delivering world class products and services. v
Started the career with Xerox ModiCorp and handled various portfolios viz, account and product management. v
Played a vital role in building and scaling Naukri.com as a part of the core founding leadership team. v
Joined as a branch manager and grew up to become the Chief Sales Officer for Naukri.com and Naukrigulf.com. v
As the Chief Sales Officer for Naukri.com & Naukrigulf.com, managed a team of over 900 plus young and dynamic sales, inside sales professionals spread across India, Dubai, Bahrain, Qatar & Riyadh. v
Managed a business more than 120 Million USD (8 Billion INR). v
Have been instrumental in conceptualising and driving new HR processes on talent acquisition, talent management, induction, training, leadership development etc. v
On the boards of few Business Schools as an academic advisor and a speaker in many B-Schools and HR forums across India and GCC countries.
.
1. What have you found most challenging as a CEO or executive of a large enterprise?
Given the current pandemic and its impact one of the key challenges is sustaining the harmonious blend of delivering business metrics with an attitude of empathy for all our stakeholders.
2. How did you become a CEO or executive of a large enterprise? Can you please briefly tell the story?
Professional growth is a journey and not a destination. Few Thumb rules to follow in the journey are having clear goals, sharp focus on consistently achieving short-term and long-term goals, childlike curiosity to question all assumptions, consistent efforts to learn, unlearn and fire in the belly to be No1 .
3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?
For me the day starts at 430 a.m. with 30 mins each for meditation, prayer and a brisk walk .I spend 30-45 mins early morning in planning the day and reviewing the top priorities for the month and quarter. Apart from all the scheduled meetings, I do keep my calendar free to have informal discussions with the team and key customer meetings.
4. What's the most recent significant leadership lesson you've learned?
The Pandemic taught two important lessons -Attitude of gratitude and Empathetic leadership
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?
Execution -The Discipline of getting things done by Larry Bossidy and Ramcharan .This book gave deep insights on the discipline of meshing strategy with reality, aligning people with goals and achieving the desired results.
6. How do you build leadership capacity in a large enterprise?
Building High Performing Leadership Teams is a process which starts by having the right culture of trust,transparency,performance and meritocracy with a clear bias for action. Leaders must feel empowered, respected and recognized with apt rewards and recognitions.
7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a CEO or executive of a large enterprise so far?
I am happy to share the story of so many of the Management Trainees who have grown up the ladder to become Vice-Presidents and Senior Vice Presidents, whom I have personally hired and trained. Glad to see them evolve as great leaders, amazing human beings and being successful on both personal and professional fronts.