Coffee With Sundar » coffee with experts

Roddam Narasimha – Leading Aerospace Scientist & Padma Bhushan Awardee – Part 1

Sundar Rajan G S — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:22:13 +0000

Dear Readers,

Today is a very special day for Coffee with Sundar as it completes 2 years.. And for this special occasion, we have 2 special interviews. The first is the interview with B S Chandrasekhar – Legendary Indian Leg Spinner and second, we have another legend in todays show – Roddam Narashima – India’s foremost Aerospace Scientist & Padma Bhushan Awardee!

Brief Introduction about Roddam Narashima is as follows:

(Source: Wikipedia)

Roddam Narasimha is one of India’s foremost Aerospace scientist and a world renowned Fluid Dynamicist. He is currently the chairman of the Engineering Mechanics Unit at the JNCASR, India. He was educated from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, and obtained his PhD degree at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), United States in 1961. He joined the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in 1962 and was associated with the department of aerospace engineering in various capacities from that date till 1999. He is the author of more than 200 research publications and fifteen books. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, and a Foreign Associate of both the US National Academy of Engineering and the US National Academy of Sciences. In India his distinctions include the Bhatnagar Prize, the Gujarmal Modi Award and the Padma Bhushan, among many others.

I would also like to thank Prakhar Mehrotra for helping me organize this interview. Also special thanks to Mahesh, Santhosh & Nisha for helping me out with the questions.

Coffee With Roddam Narashima – Leading Aerospace Scientist & Padma Bhushan Awardee!

Question: Many people who are not associated with science and technology are not completely aware of the magnificent advancements being made in this field by Indians. Many Indians are not even aware of their fellow great scientists.. What is your view on this?

RN: Well I think that Indian Scientists in general including Indian Scientific institutions are still a little uneasy about publicizing whatever they do.. When I compare typical American Institutions.. they put out press releases & arrange meetings with media etc.. I am surprised that such things are totally absent in the Indian system.. If some faculty members take the initiative to go to the press his colleagues probably will dislike that..

Apart from all of that.. I think in India.. Scientific research is seen as one or two steps which is removed from the normal everyday life.. Implications of the some of the good research.. even if they do good work.. are often not seen.. I think that the basic reason for that.. even when good science is done in India, they have not seen the ultimate end product or service of that science in India.. in the market place.. in the place where it affects the lives of people.. That I think is one big gap today.. There is gap between what the scientists do in the lab & what common man can see.. can touch.. can buy.. can criticize or admire.. That gap we haven’t been able to close yet!

Question: Why isn’t it easy to close that gap?

RN: One thing I do know from working in India as well as in other institutions abroad.. in US & in Europe.. is that Indian Scientists, in terms of their abilities.. are second to none! Never the less, we must admit that the total output of Indian Science.. the impact that it has made on the world or even for the country is still relatively low. We are still a minor force in the world of science.. Even if you just count the papers published.. We only contribute something like 2.5% of the total number of impact making publications.. Of course, we actually spend a very small fraction of the total budget of the world..

So the paradox in India right now is.. By spending 0.5% of the total world’s spending.. we produce nearly 2.5% of the world scientific output.. Looking at it in another way.. we are 4 times more cost effective than the rest of the world! India still remains the world’s cost effective source of high quality.. by high quality i mean internationally accepted.. research in the world.. Even the chinese are more expensive than us.. US & Europe are ofcourse quite a bit more expensive than us! We are seeing MNCs setting up R&D centers in India.. Even though R&D there may not directly contribute to new ideas & products, they are definitely producing new systems & processes..

So.. It is a myth that India spends a lot of money for Science. India still spends less than 1% of its GNP.. US spends something like 2.5%.. South Korea spends 3% or more.. Chinese spend quite a bit more than us.. So I would say, for the kind of money India is spending, we are getting more per dollar than elsewhere in the world!

Question: With this being the case, why is it that India can’t produce more impact making science?

RN: I already mentioned one reason.. The gap between the lab & the market place is still large..

The other reason is also that India’s trade & businesses is not driven by completely export environment, unlike those in east asia.. East Asia’s model has been “Export Fast”.. even if you dont sell within the country! Indian Model has been different.. It is “Sell it first in India” and then think of export! In one of view, it is good! It has increased the living standards within the country! Indian industry is sensitive to Indian market place.. This also meant that.. Indian needs are quite often met by products & technologies imported from abroad rather than be devised by Indian firms.. So Indian market is skewed in some sense! It makes it easy for Indian industries to make money.. when they can take the products made elsewhere.. bring it to India.. make it probably cheaper.. that has been probably been the route for Industrial prosperity in India.. But things are changing… I am beginning to see instances of technologies made out of India.. often for the Indian market.. These are turning out to be interesting, not only for the Indian market but also elsewhere.

Question: You have played a key role in establishing a major parallel computing center in the country. Great advances in the area of engineering research today are been made by using high performance computing. US, Germany and China have been competing in this space. Could you tell something about this in the context!

RN: For example talking about super computers & innovative technologies in India, I do think that there are beginning to be instances of things being done out of India.. often for the Indian market, which also of interest abroad! India has been.. in a way.. making parallel super computers for quite a while now.. The first Indian parallel computer was made in 1986 at the aerospace lab… Now we have the 7th generation.. Now these parallel computers have made the country invulnerable. However none of them have been a commercial success.. it is more of meeting our needs rather than to sell.. But we are now seeing business propositions for these super computers.. They are now seeing a market for these in India..

The second example is the NANO.. So we are beginning to examples of products developed out of India.. Sooner or later, we are going to see more such innovations out of the country!

Question: You had completed your PhD in Caltech and what made you come back to India and be a part of the Indian academic community? I am deeply in awe and respect towards the work you have done and I think its a great act by you to stay in India and train students here… I am asking this because; many people tend to settle in the US after doing their graduate studies there.

RN: Well I came back to India because I always wanted to be back in India! I like working in India. It may come as a surprise to many people. I came back in 1962 and It wasn’t a big decision for me to take. Well why did I come back? I came from another generation when going back was not considered abnormal! It had nothing to do with opportunities in US being much more than the opportunities back home.. In fact even then, US had more opportunities.. But I had known from my previous experience that it was possible to do this research back in India! In fact, there were some advantages of doing it in India! If you really know what you want to do.. India is even today not a bad place to do research! Of course there are limitations! But large number of bodies exist which support research! There is a new initiative to set up the equivalent of National Science Foundation.. When this board is set up, it will give a considerable boost for doing exciting research in India! Institutions are now hiring people who want to come back to India & continue research. There are large number of fellowships & scholarships. The atmosphere for doing academic research in India is now changing rapidly.

Question: Management studies in India are so popular. They attract so many students & have an immense hype attached to it, whereas research does not receive such a treatment. What do you think is the reason for this?

RN: Well I think it goes back to what I said already! After the economic reforms of 1991, business & industries have expanded in India. Our GNP has gone up. It is growing at 7 – 8% for several years now. Industry has found out that it is now possible to prosper in India. Of course they complain about a variety of things still like labor laws etc.. But nevertheless, record shows that India is a good place for business. It is actually quite remarkable because it was not too long ago that people used to talk about the Hindu rate of growth (never grow faster than 3%). But thanks to some good policies things have changed. I actually believe that be in business or science, India is limited by its policies and not by its abilities. India has people who can do it! With the growth of business environment, management studies are becoming popular!

Readers, stay tuned for the part 2 of this interview!

B S Chandrasekhar – Legendary Indian Leg Spinner!

Sundar Rajan G S — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:06:09 +0000

Dear Readers,

CWS has completed 2 years since it was launched on 19th March 2008. To celebrate this special occasion, we have 2 really amazing guests for the CWS show today!

In the first of the two interviews today, we have a legendary leg spinner of Indian Cricket – B S Chandrasekhar! It is indeed a very very proud moment for Coffee With Sundar to host such a stalwart on our show!

Here is a brief introduction of B S Chandrasekhar (Source: Wikipedia)

B S Chandrasekhar is a former Indian cricketer who specialized in leg spin. Considered amongst the top echelon of leg-spinners, Chandrasekhar along with E.A.S. Prasanna, Bishen Singh Bedi and Venkataraghavan constituted the Indian spin quartet that dominated spin bowling in the 1960s and 1970s.

Born and educated in the city of Mysore, Chandrasekhar was infatuated with cricket from a very early age. Overcoming a polio attack which withered his right wrist as a child, he became one of the most successful leg spin bowlers in cricket history. An unorthodox bowler with an unusually long run-up, Chandrasekhar played in 58 Test matches, and collected 242 wickets in his career. Making his Test debut against England at Bombay in 1964, his most memorable performance was against England at The Oval on August 23, 1971 where he took six wickets for 38 runs, and helped India to a series win. Of the spin quartet, he was the most likely to bowl an unplayable delivery, and it brought India many laurels including its first victory in Australia. He was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1972 and won the Wisden’s “Best bowling performance of the century” award in 2002, for his 6 wickets for 38 runs against England at the Oval in 1971.

Coffee With BS Chandrasekhar – Former Indian Leg Spinner

Me: Sundar Rajan G S

BSC: B S Chandrasekhar

Me: You had a polio attack in your childhood and yet you managed to achieve your dream of playing for the country? How did you manage.. Can you talk about your early days?

BSC: I was born in Mysore on the 17th may 1945 and I had the attack of polio when I was 5 or 6. By the time I was around 10, my arm had largely recovered, though not to 100%. Like most children in the neighborhood, I enjoyed playing cricket with my brothers and friends.

Then we shifted to Bangalore in 1954 where I continued to play rubber ball cricket in the streets. It was in 1962 that I joined City cricketers just to enjoy leather ball cricket without any great expectations. Since I was playing for fun, I was able to try different styles of bowling. I tried left hand, fast bowling, and whatever else I felt that the famous bowlers at the time were doing.

In 1963, I started bowling leg spinners, the way I imagined Richie Benaud would, and succeeded in getting wickets regularly. In a short period of about 3-4 months, I reached the international level from the club level.

Me: Can you share 2 or 3 anecdotes about your most memorable moments in your cricketing days.. Especially some moments shared with the spin quartet..

BSC: It was a great experience climbing the ladder and reach the top of it. I was only 18 then and it was great to travel to different places in India and abroad and meet different people. That gave me a chance not only to meet the big people from different fields, but also a chance of meeting the prime ministers and Presidents of different countries. The entire experience itself of a person from Mysore meeting the queen of England and such “big” people was memorable for me.

On the cricket front, there was a time in ‘76 in New Zealand when the umpiring was so bad that plum LBWs were not given several times in a row, even when it was obvious the batsman was out. My appeals were met with no reaction from the umpire. Then, I bowled the batsman out – and appealed to the umpire. When I appealed, the umpire said that the batsman is bowled. So I replied, “I know that he’s bowled, but is he out?”

Me: Thank you sir for sharing those amazing anecdotes.. You were a match winner abroad during the days when India wasn’t having a great record abroad.. You had 42 wickets in 5 test matches abroad.. How did you enjoy bowling aboard? Did you do anything differently?

BSC: I really enjoyed playing cricket everywhere. Since I was able to extract nip and bounce on any wicket, I didn’t try anything different on the foreign soil. I also had 5-6 different types of variations apart from the normal leg spinners which I utilized accordingly, depending on condition of the wicket. But again, this didn’t depend on the country.

Me: We have MRF Pace foundation for producing good fast bowlers.. Do you we must have similar academies for spin bowling to produce more spinners at the grass root levels? What other suggestions do you have to improve spin bowling in India?

BSC: Well they have the national cricket academy in Bangalore where they have camps for spinners also and they call spinners from India and other countries to come and coach the up and coming youngsters.

Me: Can you talk a bit about Sachin Tendulkar & Anil Kumble?

BSC: Without doubt both of them are greats. Both of them have survived for 20 years. They were able to adjust themselves in all 3 categories of the game successfully which is very difficult. Each category has different technique and different approach which one has to adjust accordingly and both of them have done it and were a very big success as well.

Me: A lot of us want to play cricket & represent the country.. But the slots are so few.. What is your advice for young & budding cricketers with high aspiration and odds so strongly against them?

BSC: I always recommend that you concentrate on your academics, unquestionably. The critical question to be answered here is whether the individual is confident of being Better than every other Indian in the population who is also equally interested in entering international cricket. If so, then go for it. If not, I would suggest concentrating on academics.

The odds of making it big in cricket are very small. Only 11 can play in a side. One has to contend with millions of people vying for those few spots. The odds of winning a lottery are probably better. Counting on making it big in cricket would be as risky as counting on winning a lottery ticket for your future.

Me: Thank you so much sir! It was fantastic having with you for this special edition of CWS! Thanks a lot for your time.

Suraj Sreenath – Head Sales & Operations, Dream Gains – Part 2

Sundar Rajan G S — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 04:40:16 +0000

Hi All,

We are continuing the interview with Mr. Suraj in this blog post. The part 1 of the interview can be found here.

Me: So what after Manifesh Technologies?

SS: I joined Jain College in Bangalore for doing my BCA. I was living without pocket money.. My parents gave only as much as i needed.. I got Rs 25 per day.. 25 * 30 = 750.. included everything.. My father’s argument was go eat at Aunts place.. go in bus.. why u want money..

My dad is a highly disciplined man.. He always had a fixed schedule.. He wakes up at 4:45 in the morning.. If I had any stains of discipline.. it is only because of him.. He sleeps at 9:30 in the night sharp come what may! He always told me that If I do things on time.. I will be already half successful.. I started incorporating what he said and I saw changes.. After that I have been doing things on time.. Even now.. I reach office first.. It worked wonders for me.. If there is one message I would like to tell even today.. it is “Work on time”

So, to make up for the pocket money, my friend & I decided to work in the night.. I joined AOL.. I had a very interesting interview there.. I was reasonably at good english.. They asked me What I was doing.. I told full time graduation.. Later they come & tell us.. that they cant take full timers.. I asked the HR what if I tell correspondence.. The HR told.. correspondance is ok.. So We went again.. to the SAME PERSON. He recognized.. We were laughing.. He was very serious.. Actually interviews get recorded and interviewers are also assessed for their skills.. So he cant laugh I guess.. I told him that I did my graduation by correspondence.. A BLATANT LIE.. Finally HR came & told that both of us were selected.. The friend the same day.. I joined a week later. He is now doing his MBA in Australia..

AOL was an amazing place.. We had great training.. We also got 2 hours in play station.. etc.. AOL had lots of games.. so we must know the products well to support the customer requests.. to tell the good things about the product etc Work was very cool… Office was in ITPL and it was a big thing for us to be at ITPL.. I was earning 6000 a month..

At AOL.. I was put in a dept called SAVES – Whenever a customer calls for cancellation, we have to retain them.. Hence the name SAVES.. Actual AOL model is like this.. they give a CD for free trial for 21 days.. And you have to cancel before 21st day.. Else on 22nd day you get automatically charged.. Only then customers would call to cancel.. It was also very expensive.. 23.95$ per month.. lot of money.. compared to 6-7$ per month provided by others. And We had saves target of 80%..

Before I left .. i was at 90%.. So, I was promoted to join Platnium club based on my performance.. But people in Platnium club worked day shifts only.. Majority of Irate customers.. called in US night i.e., day time in India.. But obviously I had college and So I couldnt continue.. Hence I left AOL give some fake reason… you see my manager doesnt know that I was studying..

Me: Cool.. So after AOL.. what next?

SS: After AOL, I was dabbling with a few things before the next big thing happened.. It is called the UTHBLIGHT.. It was a network of jain college students.. Those were the days when orkut/facebook were not there.. UTHBLIGHT was a common platform to talk anything.. science.. culture. debates.. It was a Get together sort of a thing.. It expanded quite soon and we had a student rep in every college.. jain.. jnc.. mcc.. We had editors to make articles of the meets.. We soon had a formal body.. We had election & I won the election and was made the President.. That is where I met Rohit (Partner at Dream Gains)..

We grew UTHBLIGHT a 8000 student body from various colleges.. Infosys started coming to us & sponsored some part.. We got around 10,000 – 15,000/- and called people for internships.. That is when one of the big mistakes we committed as a group.. There was some personal misunderstanding due to 1 girl and 3 or 4 guys.. Someone proposed the girl and the girl accepted.. And there was some politics etc.. We lost in the mess.. And we shut down UTHBLIGHT.. That is when we learnt what big mistake we committed.. Things shouldnt depend on individuals.. And I learnt that next time I build something, it must be built to last.. beyond the individuals..

Me: That was a lesson learnt the hard way I guess! What after this?

SS: Yes, we learnt it the hard way.. and it was big network and we let it disintegrate due to personal reasons.

Then I joined as a HR traine in LYCAS.. My work was to type resumes for candidates who come.. We used to recruit till 1 or 2 in the night.. They wanted me to relocate to Chennai… As usual, I couldnt. So I Quit..

Then I applied for DELL for job.. I went to final round of the Interview.. But I did get through.. I asked the HR Why didnt get through.. HR didnt give reason.. The interviewer there was a senior manager..

I asked them how do I apply again.. They told apply after 6 months later.. I did well in the interview.. I wanted to get into Dell because it was a more of a challenge..

Me: Ok.. But you did join Dell right!

SS: Yes, that was much later. After this incident, I applied to Transworks.. I used to be in credit card sales experience.. I was working for Canada.. Basically had to make a lot of Cold calls… It was one of the best learning experience..

I was doing 1 sales per hour. We were having targets in the range of o.7-0.8 sales per hour.. That was the first time I saw how a process in place.. How process shapes the sales behaviour.. The role of a good team leader etc.. Infact, I have incorporated some of the practices of these process here in Dream Gains.

In between all these.. Jain college principal calls our gang.. We were a group of 3 girls & 3 guys.. we were like “which movie what time” gang..We always had a Gala time..laughing at the foolishness of people who are attending college.. 1 girl is daugther of Kuberan silks owner.. Another one is a model.. One guy’s father was a health minister in Mauritius.. He is now a professor in Mauritius. We take a dig at him even today.. our TOTAL ATTENDANCE was also < 75% We had 68% put together.. They asked us to leave.. It was becoming a pain.. In other colleges.. we just had to only pay fine.. But Jain was not giving TC We wanted to go..

We just had one semester left.. I joined Venkateshwara College..

I told them strictly… “I am not going to come”

This principal asked.. “Can you atleast come to the lab.” I said.. No way.. I have work.. I will pay full year’s fees.. You cant expect me to come college I said & paid fees.. I still worked with Transworks..

Me: Can anyone’s life be more eventful than this?

SS: Oh.. There is more to come.. Check this out..

I had a girlfriend when I was there in Transworks.. She was in microsoft.. She was my friends’s wife’s friend.. She got fired for some random error.. They took her back after 2 days.. One evening I got a call from her telling that she is going back home.. I spoke to my manager in the cafeteria.. I wanted to go back.. My manager told that it was the last 2 days of month.. he told “I am seeing u in the floor..”.. I went & took the lift & I went home.. That was my last day at Transworks.. As I said.. 2 days later.. she got job… she was called back.. But I didnt want to go back..

Me: So.. what did you do after that?

SS: Well nothing.. I spent 3 – 4 months.. idle.. My only work was to watch friends.. order food.. sleep.. go out.. one day she got bugged.. She said.. “what are u doing with your life” I also decided enough is enough.. I thought I should apply.. I applied after 6 months to dell & got through.. The interview started at 5 in the evening.. and it ended at 12.. I almost walked away.. I was upset that they made me wait soo long..

In the end.. they asked “do you have any questions” I said.. “Will I atleast go home now..” The interviewer was a director.. she told sorry and asked Will you take the job if I ask you stay for 1 hour more.. Thats when I told her about my past story.. and I badly want to talk to that guy.. and I will take this job come what may!

Me: You wont leave that poor guy! Will you ?

SS: No way! After joining dell.. in 1 week I searched for him and I asked him.. obviously he couldnt locate..He finally gave the reason that in my resume, I had mentioned objective as Customer service.. and didnt mention sales… he told sorry..

I got the Rookie of the quarter.. I went to him..

I got the best sales performer.. I went to him & showed him.. Some 5-6 times I told him..

But in all these… I learnt a lot at DELL.. I learnt what “Superior cusotomer service” is all about.. They value customer experience.. I learnt the way they teach.. They taught us to put the customer first.. Every banner spoke of customer.. Today my customer focus comes only because of dell. Even the way the organization is structured here in DG is based on the model followed at Dell..

Me: In your whole career was there anyone who influenced you the most?

SS: Yes! After Dell, I started looking out to move on in my career. I got a job in Google & Strategic Outsourcing. I chose strategic outsouring because I got a people management role. There I had a manager by name Enok. He is one of the best managers I have ever had.. Under him, I learnt the team management skills & people management skills.. Infact, I called him recently told him about the feedback which I got from my team… I owe it completely to him. He was very friendly.. He was the only manager.. who used to hang out with his team.. when most of the managers used to hang out with other managers.. He supported us a lot and gave us a lot of motivation..

Me: People say that you dont leave job.. You leave managers.. You had a great manager.. but you didnt stick to this job for a long time.. why was that so?

SS: I didnt belong there.. somehow.. I was working only for 3 days a month.. The systems work like this.. as long as your hitting ur targets.. you can do whatever you want.. I even used to take 9 hour breaks.. Today the productivity management software which we have now at dream gains.. are some of the ideas which we were discussing in the coffee table discussions over there.. about on how to track our coffee breaks..

Also.. Night shifts was taking a hit on me.. It was 4 years of less sleep also I track markets in the day.. So it started affecting my health and I needed a break.

Me: Oh so you moved on to a new job?

SS: Yes! Then PTC happened.. Interview was good.. Manager was good.. Role was good.. they gave me “Strategic accounts”..

The company had 3 sets of teams… One of them focussing on sales at the bottom pyramid with reseller & channel partner… Another set of team for middle of the pyramid.. dealing with only one channel partner.. The third set of team focussed on top clients.. Only direct sales handled by PTC..

I was a completely new world for me.. I was learning about sales by relationship.. sales in a B2B space.. How to startegize sales.. how to sell after 6 months.. We also had a number of case studies on strategic sales of PTC which was an incredible learning experience… I got an exposure to how to build value and more importantly how to sell services.. It was a hard core b2b space..

When dealing with Indian customer.. one should know the purchase guy very well.. It is difficult to get money of Indians.. You need to build good rapport with them.. You shouldnt just treat them as purchase guys.. give them respect.. You may have to do some exception for them.. like one month trial extended to 3 month etc.. But it is like investing in a long term relationship.. When you are in a cruch.. He will certainly give you orders.. It was amazing amazing learning..

Me: Oh wow! That seems to be a second innings in sales for you… So when did DG happen?

SS: True it was a second innings in sales especially in B2B space.. But at the end of the day basics of sales is the same…

1 year into PTC.. 3 of us were in UB city.. I was telling them that we should profile customers for a sister concern.. We were only targeting only low values players.. We should do something to focus on high end traders who trade more than x lakh rupees everyday.. We must also bring in processes.. One process can change a lot of things.. That is when rohith said.. I knw you dont have much information on stock market.. but why dont you look after Dream Gains.

Me: And thus began Dream Gains How were your early days?

SS: It was very interesting.. I was on my own.. Setting up the a new business from scratch.. Setting up a whole new team.. It was exciting..

Me: So what are plans hence forth..

SS: I am inclined to the vision of the group.. which is to create employment & to make a difference.. I am working towards that.. It is my small but sure contribution to the Indian economy..

Personally at some point I want to get into training.. We have a lot of entrepreneurship courses etc.. But there are very few TRAINERS. I want to get into that.. It could be as trivial as discussing issues on difficult it is to find an office space to how to build a pitch book.. I want to share my learnings.. Lets when the time comes.. Right now I want to grow Dream Gains..

Me: Sure Suraj! Any final message that you would like to share..

SS: I would like to share an incident today.. I was interviewing a candidate who was a district level football player.. he had applied for sales job.. I asked him why he discontinued his football to study further.. He said.. his parents wanted him to quit football to pursue MBA.. Today he is now looking for sales job after his studies. I think he would have been much better footballer..

Formal education is a just one way of reaching your dreams.. It is not the only way to accomplishing it!

Me: Thank you Suraj! That was an amazing interview with an amazing message! Good luck for Dream Gains!

SS: Thanks Sundar! I hope CWS audience will find it useful!

Me: Readers, hope you enjoyed this edition of coffee with experts!

Suraj Sreenath, Head – Sales & Operations, DreamGains – Part 1

Sundar Rajan G S — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 20:17:48 +0000

Hi All,

I am very happy to introduce Mr. Suraj Sreenath – Head – Sales & Operations at Dream Gains Financial Pvt. Ltd. Before taking over the sales & operations at DG, Suraj has played a number of sales roles at Transworks, Dell & finally at PTC.

A salesman has a number of stories to share and Suraj has been kind enough to share a number of anecdotes from his career and personal life.

Coffee With Suraj Sreenath – Head – Sales & Operations, DG

Me: Sundar Rajan G S

SS: Suraj Sreenath

Me: Hello Suraj, Welcome to CWS Season 2! It is a previledge to have you here on the show!

SS: Thanks Sundar, the pleasure is mine!

Me: Suraj, the interview is based on single big question. Tell us YOUR STORY! If I remember right, you did your first sales when you were in 10th Std.

SS: Sure.. I will share all I can..

Actually, my first sale was in 3rd std I was in Hassan then.. Opposite to my house, there was a tree with boat shaped leaf.. I sold it to a guy who was staying a couple of lanes ahead for 10 paise each! He had a drain in front of his house

This was covering my icecreams without informing my parents.. But the business was shut when the guy’s mom found out.. I dont know if she took the money back My pocket money was reducing after it closed.. But I was still proud of my sales.. I gave me confidence at a very young age!

Me: Wow! You were a sales man in 3rd standard Anything else you managed in your early school days?

SS: Yes! I started my next sales work in 4th std This time it was a bit more sophisticated.. At that age, students in school used to collect stickers of super heros.. gods.. etc as hobby.. So, I thought there was huge “opportunity”. I researched the whole of Hassan to find out where the cheapest stickers were available.. So I would buy at Rs 2 and sell it at Rs 2.5 making money in between. That is when I learnt the power of research while doing sales.

Me: So were in Hassan only all your childhood?

SS: Yes.. from 3rd standard to 12th I was in Hassan..

Till 7th.. I used to get a pocket money of 200 rs a month.. I was a 70 – 80% “normal” guy.. My sister was in a different zone all together.. 98 – 99%

Me: Sure.. You have compensated ur academic scores with your sales target scores Carry on with your sales story…

SS: I was in my 7th std when I first got a computer.. My dad got it for himself.. Till 8th std I wasnt very interested.. 8th I joined St.Joseph. There is something special about St. Joseph.. They always set the toughest tests.. I only managed to get some passing marks.. I reduced from a 80% student to 40-45% of 8th std.. Obviously not acceptable to by any std..

They cut down my pocket money till scores improved..

Instead of studying.. I was wondering.. how to make pocket money.. not why was it cut..

I put a Rs 100 catridge for printer… I foundout that it costs 30 rupees refill.. I started typing jobs I had a dot matrix printer.. So I could take loads of printout… Regular typist would charge Rs 6 – 7.. I was charging Rs 15 for a printout + softcopy.. I started getting lot of customers.. I used to do this 3-4 hours after school.. full of sundays etc.. My dad saw that I was doing some good work… he started giving some of his office work.. My working in PWD (Public Work Dept).. PWD had a document called the SR document.. It had the complete schedule of records.. what task has to be performed.. how much to charge etc.. And having a softcopy of that document would be very invaluable.. So he said, he would give a bulk order and instructed me not to take any other orders.. I took 3 months & finally gave him in a good format..

Me: But were you excited with Typing? Wasnt it monotonous?

SS: Yes! I agree.. Somewhere I Realized.. that there is no future.. I wondered what can i do after typing.. So started learning how to assemble computer.. more about computers.. Installing OS etc.. I charged Rs 1000 for installation I can go easy on typing if I get an installation order.. My interest started developing towards programming.. The Computer teacher was a good friend.. He started teaching C, Fotran.. I started developing small softwares.. education database.. for a school etc..

Me: oh cool.. So you got into the geek side of it

SS: Yes.. In 9th std… We (a friend of mine & I) started thehassan.com.. Internet was very new then.. The website was meant for local advertsing.. We launched with a rock show.. It was a portal.. motivation was from Rediff.. We even found a sponsor.. – Oxemberg

It was an exciting phase.. I had a business card as Founder, Thehassan.com We gave cards in IT.com and other gatherings.. People used to ask.. are you a founder..

Me: So how did it go? How was the venture..

SS: I was going ok for some time.. But the problem was management.. I was going to schoool.. Ravi had a MIRC.. (Internet relay chat version) He was running the admin of that site.. Dont remember how it got shut down.. But great experience.. newspaper & tv coverage.. those were the days when DOT COM companies got a lot of coverage..

Me: What next ?

SS: Next was when I was in 10th std.. I had fair idea about web design.. 2 – 3 friends had excellent design skills.. they were not getting jobs.. mainly because of language problem.. Only today the communication skills have increased.. I proposed them to start something on our own..

We knew one thing.. from my past experience.. Indian customers dont pay.. So we decided to focus on international customers.. So we didnt want an Indian name.. for our venture.. Hence we called it.. “Manifesh Technologies” The idea was we shouldnt have any dictionary meaning.. No Indian connection even through that.. It took off well.. I was in 1st PUC (11th std).. Major way to catch customers was by yahooo chat group.. I was hooked onto many chat rooms. A UK company had information of hospital docs/nurses.. they gave us big orders.. We had many global group of companies.. A China company etc..

The understanding with my friends was I will do sales.. They will do coding.. We also got registration done.. It was a Small Scale industry registration.. actually it was free.. We didnt even know about taxes at that time..

We had 10 – 12 clients.. By the time I was in 12th.. We made our first 1 lakh

I couldnt focus on exams.. So I didnt write my 12th exam

Me: What.. You didnt write 12th? Then what happened?

SS: My father was working for PWD. My uncle was a commissioner..

I didnt want to write 12th.. My reason I gave at home was attendance.. I had 18% attendance.. So I may not able to attend exam.. My father used his network.. FORTUNATELY FOR ME.. My princi was strict and I was barred

I was “Shifted” to Moodbidre – 30 km from Mangalore to hostel.. So that I could get some discipline instilled..

It turned out to be a blessing in disguise.. My company grew faster as one of the parnter there.. We used to meet and lots of brainstroming.. We stared something called “electrifying pages”. It is exactly same as Justdial.. This was done when we had some free time.. A local yellow pages company brought us for 2 lakhs.. In the mean time.. UK company started giving more & more projects.. They asked our designers to shift inside… We had a meeting and I told them that they should go ahead.. They got to go UK They were job less here.. They both took up.. One of them is a chief designer there.. He started a 50 seater design house.. based out Mangalore..

Stay tuned for part 2! and also watch out for the next interview with Padma Bhushan Roddam Narasimha – India’s leading scientist.

Nithyashree Mahadevan – Carnatic Vocalist & Playback Singer

Sundar Rajan G S — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 05:07:00 +0000

Nithyashree Mahadevan was here in IIM Bangalore to give a live performance at Yamini ’09. Thanks to SPICMACAY student body, I got a chance to conduct a quick interview for CWS-2! Please find a brief introduction about Nithyashree.

Brief Introduction:

Nithyashree Mahadevan is a leading carnatic music artist and a playback singer. Her paternal grandmother is a legendary musician – D K Pattammal. Her maternal grandfather is Mridangam maestro Palghat Mani Iyer. Nithyashree herself, is an eminent artist who has performed in various sabhas across the world. She has over 100 commerical albums to her credit. She made her debut in playback singing with A R Rehman for the movie Jeans where she sang – “Kannodu Kanbadellam”. Her other hits include – “Ra Ra” in kannada movie Aptamitra and Soukiyama Kanne from Sangamam.

Coffee With Nithyashree Mahadevan – Carnatic Vocalist & Playback Singer

Me: Sundar Rajan G S

NM: Nithyashree Mahadevan

Me: Maam, We all know about your legendary background and how it has played an important role in your career as a singer. What in your personal opinion was the single biggest turning point in your musical career?

NM: Well, I would say there were 3 turning points, which were very crucial in my singing career. All these were equally important.

Me: Sure Maam, can you please talk about those.

NM: I started my singing in 1987. Till the early 90s I was making very slow progress. In one of those concert seasons, I didn’t even get a single concert slot to perform in Chennai. I was extremely disappointed and I was very upset about it. Finally one opportunity came. It was not an individual concert. I was a given a chance to take part in an aradhana in a not so popular place. Secretary of fine arts saw my performance there and offered me a chance to perform in a Sabha on January 1st. To my surprise, the concert was overflowing with crowd. I really enjoyed the concert and performed really well. I would say this was a really the first big break which I was waiting for.

Me: Sure Maam, needless to say you never stopped from that time you started! What is your second turning point?

NM: Yes, from then on I have been performing for so many years!

There was a very popular carnatic music critic by name N M Narayanan. He was a purist and was very strict. He used to tear apart the singers in his articles. (Kizhi Kizhintu Kizhichuduvaru)

During the early days of my career, when I was still trying to establish myself, I was told that Mr. Narayanan would be attending my concert and will be writing a review on my singing. I was very worried and tensed. After the concert, he came to me and asked my name.I was surprised with his question and told meekly “My name is Nithyashree”. He replied in a loud voice, hence forth you should say your name is “Rani Nithyashree. You are the Rani (queen) of music.” I was pleasantly surprised.

Few days later the review came in the paper and I became quite famous after that review. He had praised me a lot in that. I also have an emotional connection with that review. I got to know that it was Mr. Narayanan’s last review before he passed away.

Me: I am sure words like “Rani”, at that point of time, would have been very special for you! What is your 3rd turning point?

NM: I would say that my 3rd turning point was a more recent one. My entry into the film world through the movie “Jeans”.

Me: That was a surprise! Why is that a turning point?

NM: Singing for the movie helped me reach people whom I wouldn’t have reached otherwise. I became popular amongst a number of non-carnatic music fans.

Me: Well, What is your take on singing for movies? A number of carnatic music singers are purists and they don’t even entertain the thought of singing for movies.

NM: I am happy about singing for movies. One thing you must understand is that it is very difficult to shift genres easily. So, I prefer to sing only a few selected ranges.

Also it is difficult to groom your career in both. In one you are a specialist, in another you are generalist. The expectations are different. So, once in a while you can switch gears, but it is difficult to maintain both the careers.

The way I see it is, I am a specialist carnatic singer who wouldn’t mind singing a few selected pieces for general audience whenever it falls in my range.

Me: How easy it is to practice for a movie song? Does it require the same effort as a carnatic song?

NM: Generally, you get the song in a couple of interaction with the director. One or two practice is enough. It is not very hard. But for a carnatic concert, you put in much more effort.

Me: Ok. Apart from carnatic & movies singing, another dimension of yours is that.. you have been giving quite a good number of performances outside India. Do you see any differences between performing here and there?

NM: Not exactly, once you go into the hall, it is exactly the same audience. They come with the same enthusiasm which can be seen here. I don’t see many differences between performing here and performing abroad.

Me: That is an interesting reply. There is one question which is lingering in a lot of us. How do you handle the pressure of expectations from people, when you come from such a legendary background?

NM: True! I wouldn’t say there are no pressures. In fact, during my early days I used to experience a lot of pressure. I was still trying to establish myself, but the expectations used to be really high.

But having said that, I have now established my own way of singing & I have my own styles now. Coming from a background like mine has a huge positive in terms of learning and recognition, but at the same time there will be expectations.

I am able to cope with it now. I understood that unless I establish myself, people won’t come and listen to me forever… just because I am a grand-daughter of legends. I have now learnt to cope with the expectations and I have moved on.

Me: That was a great reply! I have one final question. What is your advice for late beginners into singing?

NM: Well, it is better late than never. Keep the passion alive and keep practicing. Practice makes you perfect. So, you are never too late. All the best!

Me: Thank you very much for sparing your time for this interview maam! CWS is very proud to host you on its show.

NM: My pleasure. Thanks!

Coffee With Mr. Sudarshan – Part 2

Sundar Rajan G S — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 13:25:51 +0000

Hi All,

Continuing the interview with Mr. Sundarshan (Part 1), please find the part 2 of the interview below.

Me: You joined Viveks after the brief stint at Hyderabad. How was your experience? What was your role?

Sudarshan: Retail was the sunrise sector when I started. Viveks was a small family company with 3 stores managed by 3 brothers and they wanted to make it a big chain. They started a corporate office for this growth plan. They hired a lot of professionals. I was the general manager of HR. They hired a person from Whirlpool for marketing, we also hired a dedicated project manager and we stream lined the whole process.

First the project manager would do the initial set up like putting up showrooms. Then I, as a part of HR, would hire the employees for the shop, put them to training in other showrooms and ensure that the employees are ready to handle the work. Then the marketing manager would work on marketing displays before finally opening the shop. This 3 stage process took about 2 months to complete.

We went on to open about 27 showrooms in about 4 years. My primary role was to recruit, train & place people. I was also responsible for a professional module for training the employees. We also opened a couple of shops in Bangalore – One at South end & another at Rajajinagar. In some places, we also acquired a few shops and rebranded them to Viveks. We had stream lined the entire expansion plan and were prepared for a plan for 100 showrooms.

Me: If work was as exciting as this, why did you move out of Viveks?

Sudarshan: Well, the work didn’t move as fast as expected from there on. Actually the owners didn’t want to expand beyond 30 stores. That is when we realized that they just wanted sufficient shops for the next generation to take over. Their kids were all doing MBA abroad and they were about to return to India. Hence the purpose of expansion plan was more of a family level growth than a full fledged growth.

Me: So what was your thought process at that point of time?

Sudarshan: I had seen various sectors by then. I had been a part of banking, services, chemical & retail. I felt I was too old for software.

In fact, when Infosys was 150 people strong, I had given an interview with Narayan Murthy. I felt it was too small. I was not sure what would be my role. At that point of time, I was handling 3000 people. I couldn’t understand the need for a HR head in the company.

Not only that, I didn’t know anything about software. NITT also had just begun. Hema Ravichander, Senior VP of HR in Infosys actually joined 5 years after I gave the interview.

Personally I had never used a computer. We had secretaries and there was never a need to open a computer. It was during my tenure at TVS, that we first introduced computer for processing and efficiency improvement. Those days we never had connectivity. We used to transfer data in a floppy. Initially, we used to think that IT department was only staffing people and doing no work. The accounts department had 30 people and IT department which was supposed to reduce the work, actually employed 50 people ? I wasn’t really convinced that IT added value at that point in time when I interviewed with NRN.

So I ruled out the option of going back to IT. That’s when I thought all these days I was teaching as a hobby and why not consider it as full time. I enrolled for a phd and simultaneously I joined as a visiting faculty in Symbiosis.

Me: Wow that was one interesting experience. Thank you so much for your time and sharing all these anecdotes. Finally, can you share one message for the youngsters?

Sudarshan: If there is one message, I would say differentiate between short term goals and long term goals and give them their due importance.

Me: On behalf of all CWS readers, I would like to thank you once again.

Mr. Sudarshan – Former General Manager of HR at Viveks

Sundar Rajan G S — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:20:03 +0000

Dear CWS Readers,

It gives me immense pleasure to invite Mr. Sudarshan, former General Manager of HR at Viveks (Retail chain in South India) and a visiting faculty at Symbiosis Management Institute. Mr. Sudarshan holds an MA in Personnel Management after completing B Sc in Physics and MA in Indian Philosophy. He also had a long corporate career with rich experiences in various facets of HR Management. Without further ado, it is Coffee With Sudarshan.

Me: Sir, Welcome to this show on CWS-2! Can you talk a bit about your background, your schooling etc.

Sudarshan: I was born in Delhi. I did my schooling in Bhopal. Actually my father was working in BHEL. He was one of the 5 people who set up the first BHEL plant. He was transferred from Delhi to Bhopal. I studied till 11th STD in St. Josephs in Bhopal. Then we got transferred to Chennai, where I started pursuing my B. Sc. in physics. After that I decided to do an MA in Indian Philosophy. I also completed a MA in personal management.

Me: You seemed to have shifted from Physics to Indian Philosophy. How did you make such a choice? It is not an obvious career move.

Sudarshan: I was interested in Indian Philosophy. My father’s elder brother had a collection of books written by J Krishnamurthy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiddu_Krishnamurti) I have also listened to his speeches during my B Sc physics days. So, after this I wanted to pursue humanities. During our days, we didn’t have internet, career counseling etc. Someone suggested that I can pursue MA in Indian Philosophy course and I joined for the same. T M B Mahadevan, Head of Indian Philosophy, Centre of Advanced Studies, Madras was managing the course. He was also the advisor of Indira Gandhi.

In the meantime, I was attending an evening course on “Datamatics”, where I was finding applications of philosophy in Management. I started becoming interested in people aspect of management. Once again through word of mouth, I was told to apply for Tata Institute of Science for a course – “MA in Personnel Management”. It was a 2 years program. This is the equivalent of “Human Resource Management” in those days. After I completed the course, I started my corporate career.

Me: Sir, Can you talk about your corporate career, the various roles & responsibilities you held etc. You could also talk about some interesting anecdotes etc.

I started my career with Bank of Baroda. I joined in Chennai and was soon transferred to Hyderabad. I was appointed as a “Personnel Officer” and I was an assistant to the regional manager. I was primarily a specialized HR person handling recruitment & people issues. Functions like Recruitment, training etc were separated. In Hyderabad, only day to day activities were going on. Most of the important activities were happening in main office in Baroda. So, I opted to move to Baroda voluntarily.

In Baroda, I was involved in starting performance appraisal system. Performance appraisal as a concept was very new to the organization. We had 8000 officers at that time. We had no data to assess the performance. Nearly 1 year was spent in collecting data. Also those were the days when there were no PCs. There was a company by name Alumbic which had mainframe computers. We encoded the data – that took another 6 months. We used to generate reports using the facilities at Alumbic. It took us nearly 2 years to put the performance appraisal system in place. After that I left Bank of Baroda and joined TVS & Sons.

Me: From Bank to an automobile company. Why did you move? How did you make that choice?

Sudarshan: Bank was a very big system. There was no specific accountability. Also, I went for 2 or 3 programs in HR at IIMA. I came to know that TVS was looking for consultants. So, I pursed that opportunity and headed the HR in TVS & Sons, Sales & Service. This was the parent company. I moved back to Madurai.

Me: What role did you play in TVS?

Sudarshan: At TVS, I started the appraisal systems like before. In addition, I was also in charge of training and manpower planning. When I joined, TVS was around 3000 people strong, but we could have been more efficient. We only needed 1600 for the work we were doing at that stage. We wanted to right size the organization, but at the same time, we didn’t want to fire people. So, first we froze the recruitments for nearly 5 years. TVS was setting up different branches. We gave relocation offers to move to Kerala. If the employee doesn’t want to take up that offer because of relocation issues, we had a policy to offer the same job to his/her children. It also helped the company because the father would have been earning somewhere around 5000 – 6000 a month. Son gets only 2000 – 3000 because he starts at a lower position. Kerala was prone to many labor problems and TVS didn’t want to risk that. So we preferred to send our own employees there. In addition to this, some really good people were also retained as trainers for youngsters. On the whole, we followed a ‘right sizing without tears’ policy. I was there with TVS for nearly 8 years and the size of the organization was around 1800 when I left. During my tenure, I was in charge of manpower planning, performance appraisals, starting new branches in Kerala and starting professional recruitment after correcting the manpower.

Me: Why did you leave TVS when you were doing such interesting & challenging roles?

Sudarshan: Actually, my wife had limited opportunities in Madurai. Most of the big companies in Madurai like TVS & Madura Coats etc had no women policy. Even academic roles in Thiagaraja College of Engineering were very limited. So, we decided to move to Chennai. Even from children’s education point of view, it was a sensible move. I also decided to work as a consultant for 3 or 4 years with TVS even while I was at Chennai. Actually TVS had a JV with a company called DuPont which produced connectors for computers. They were planning to put up a factory. The officials of DuPont never came down to Madurai as we never had 5 star hotels in Madurai. They used to come to Chennai and my presence in Chennai actually made the job easier. I helped them in recruiting executives, setting up etc.

Me: After this did you join Viveks?

Sudarshan: Before joining Viveks, I spent some time in Hyderabad consulting on a Merger. It was an interesting experience. SOL Pharma was merging with Standard Organics. There were a number of HR challenges. Std Organics was an old company which was in the market for 10 – 15 years. It was into bulk drugs manufacturing company with a lot of chemistry activities as the back bone of the company. On the other hand, we had SOL Pharma, which was mainly into advertising & packaging of drugs. Chairman of Std Organics, Mr. Reddy had managed the company well. The stock price of the company had increased from Rs 10 to Rs 60 and was considering the merger for accelerated growth.

There were a number of interesting issues. SOL Pharma was full of young people with modern offices and new culture. Std Organics was just a factory, with lots of old people earning lower salary, but were more skilled workers with traditional work culture. It was a proper factory set up, while the former always into some PR activity or the other. You will have Models visiting offices etc.

If this wasn’t diverse enough, both organizations had a parallel organization structure. The old company was run by Son in Law of Mr. Reddy and the new one was run by a professional manager. Mr. Reddy wanted his Son in Law (SIL) to have more powers in the merged structure, but the professional manager didn’t want to report to SIL.

We decided that let us take one change at a time. First we will start with both the companies operating under the single banner, but internally, they were two different divisions operating independently. We moved the common functions like finance, HR, purchase, supply chain, MIS etc to a centralized division. This common function department can report directly to the chairman. And SIL & Professional Manager can be made as executive heads of their respective departments and report to the chairman.

I remember explaining all this on OHP sheets to the Chairman. We never had PPTs those days. In just 1 hour, Chairman asked a few questions and finally said it was a wonderful idea and approved for the plan. Then, the implementation phase started. Everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong.

First of all, offices of both the firms were in different places in Hyderabad. So, a decision had to be made regarding where to place this “centralized common department”. There was a new R&D department which was started. It was an entirely separate organization, which the chairman wanted to start. It was full of researchers who had their own style of working. We didn’t know what to do with it. As I already mentioned, we had 2 parallel organizations. We had 2 finance heads. We asked one of them to report to another based on qualification, work experience, performance evaluation etc. Some of them executives even left the organization at this stage, which made merging easier. This was in terms of executives. We had redundant staff; we offered VRS schemes to them. We had lot of ladies staff, who weren’t willing to travel to new place. They chose to voluntarily leave the organization for suitable compensation.

Just when we thought we managed to pull off the merger, the real problem began. An unexpected event took place. USSR collapsed. Bulk drugs were mainly exported to USSR. Nearly 50 crores were lost. There was turmoil. Chairman spent nearly 1.5 months in Russia scouting for payment. But he couldn’t recover anything because the rules of the land had changed and the old contracts were not binding. In the mean time, stock price of the company fell from Rs 60 to Rs 8. Suddenly, bankers stopped lending us money. Suppliers etc started asking for payables. The company got entangled in financial mess.

Chairman retired. He washed his hands off. SIL was given the responsibility to take care of the firm. Professional manager wasn’t willing to report to the SIL. Nobody was talking eye to eye. Even I didn’t have anybody to report to. I was initially working with the old chairman, who is no longer with the company. I had no role there after he left and I started to pursue other opportunities. That’s when I joined Viveks.

Readers, hope you enjoyed the Part 1 of the interview. More interesting anecdotes coming your way in Part 2.

I would also like specially thank Swetha S, IIM Bangalore student, for co-ordinating this interview with Mr. Sudarshan. Mr. Sudarshan is Swetha’s father.

Part 2 is coming soon! So stay tuned

Mukesh Sharma and his theatre exploits

Sundar Rajan G S — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:26:12 +0000

Hi CWS Readers,

Continuing the interview with Mr. Mukesh Sharma, the part 2 of the interview is here in this video. Mukesh talks about how his interests started in theatre, how he formed his group and most importantly, an exciting incident…. of how things almost fell a part just a few days before his big play.. and how he managed to pull it off in the end.. All in this special edition of CWS. I hope you enjoy watching this show.

Do share you comments about this video.

Coffee With Mukesh Sharma – Automobile Engineer & Theatre Artist

Sundar Rajan G S — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:59:45 +0000

In the first video interview on CWS-2, I am glad to host Mr. Mukesh Sharma as a guest. A brief profile about Mr. Mukesh can be found below.

In this part 1 of the interview, Mukesh talks about his experience in Automobile Industry. In part 2 (which will follow this post), Mukesh speaks about his theatre interests & his newly formed theatre group etc.

Mukesh Sharma did his Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering in 1998. After a short stint at Tata Motor’s Engineering Research center , Pune , he joined Maruti Suzuki India Ltd in 1999.

Currently Mukesh is pursuing his one year full time executive MBA program from Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. His current areas of research are employee motivation , change management and building competitive strategies.

Before Joining IIM Bangalore , Mukesh was working as Manager ( Product development) in Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. He has spent more than two and half years in Suzuki Motor corporation , Japan on various vehicle development projects. He specializes in installing crash related equipments and facilities. He has worked on various product lines of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd and carries vast experience in automotive product/process innovations

In a career spanning for more than ten years in automotive industry , Mukesh has written eleven technical papers in the area of occupant protection , vehicle crashworthiness and accident analysis , which have been published in SAE International USA and SAE India.He has also represented India’s automotive delegation in the area of vehicle accident and research to United Nation in year 2007 and 2008

He also runs a non profit theatre group in Delhi which has produced several plays since 2003. His recent production was covered and applauded by various media houses in Delhi ( NDTV , HT and Delhi events).He has conducted various workshops on Theater in Education for school children in Delhi.
His productions are : Hamlet (2003), Aadhi raat ka sach(2005) , Japani Gudiya(2007) , The siege within (2008)

Stay tuned for part 2 of the interview where Mukesh talks about his theatre exploits, exciting incidents in life & his EPGP program at IIMB.

Inspiration for Indian Youth – Sunil Robert

Sundar Rajan G S — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 11:14:11 +0000

The part 1 of the interview with Mr. Sunil Robert can be found here: http://coffeewithsundar.com/i-will-survive-sunil-robert/

Mr. Sunil Robert works for TCS Financial Solutions, where he runs the global Analyst Relations and Public Relations program. Sunil has also been the front end of the Marketing arm for i-flex in North & Latin America. Sunil holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration and another Master’s degree in Communications & Journalism that helps him to bridge the gap between pure communicators who often miss the business landscape or Business strategists who have the know – why but don’t often have the know-how.

Me: What were some of the learnings you had in your career? Some things which you learnt the hard way?
SR: I was 18 years – a struggling immature kid when I joined the work force. I was too naive in transaction initially. My first learning was that the corporate world is a very competitive place. I was taking people at face value. You see, coming from a very mild & protected back ground, I was suddenly facing the hard realities of life.

As you keep going through life experiences, you realize that life in the corporate world is not very different from that of the personal life. Rules of relationship don’t change. My freshness, energy & innocence helped in my career. In my life I met a number of genuine, honest people with no politics. Those few good souls changed my life. 10 years ago, I had one of the nicest bosses in my life. Always polite, not angry, very humble and corrects your mistake with smile. Even I want to be like that for young. Even the people I don’t like also gave me deep, deep insights. In essence, my corporate experience was “An accelerated course in maturity.”

Me: Who were your role models?
SR: Well a number of them have influenced my life. One of them was my school teacher, who inspired me to love public communication. I was no body then. The influence is unforgettable. When I was 18, I came across a person named Ravi Zacharias. He was one of the most persuasive communicator, whom I met. He was a great human being. He never let achievements to come in the way of relationship. Even I want to influence the lives of youngsters in India. Apart from them, there are business leaders who are my role models. I have spoken about them in my book – I will survive. They run organizations by the sheer strength of their persona. One of them is Ratan Tata. He has 350,000 employees working for him. We approached him with the manuscript and asked him if he could write the foreword. His office is inundated with such requests. But he was willing to spare time for it. They inspire me. Even I want to pass on such generosity to young people. If I don’t, I will be failing him. Some time back, I met a guy, who said his brother is a writer and wanted me to help him out. I spent some time with him and helped him out. We fail if we don’t pass on the generosity in spirit. Not only professional, but also in the personal life. The book – I will survive is also a guide to young people. It has all the lessons which I have learnt the hard way in life. It is in a narrative style which appeals to the young audience.

Me: Why is the book named – I will survive?
SR: A number of reasons.
1. Indians are a resilient lot. We look at the crisis at eyes & won’t blink. We are a great nation of survivors against the external imperials. Surviving is our national trait. Hence the name.
2. People need some support. Generally we tend to think that we might through a tough time, but we always have the belief – “I will survive”. This book is not catering to Celebrity & successful people. It is for marginalized. This is for people who are seeking inspiration to succeed in life.
3. I was in late 30s when I started this book. But not many people write autobiography at this age. I was wondering if I was too early. I thought “would you rather be little early or a little late”. I knew that this book was for youth and I wanted it to be relevant. I thought I will go in for it a little early and I knew “I will survive” with my decision.

Me: You have now been in the corporate world for more than a decade. Do you see India changing?
SR: Yes of course! I have only great news here. In the late 80s, we were over-whelmed and were always in awe with our counter parts in US. It has always been our culture of respecting others. Today, after being in the IT industry for 10 – 12 years, I can say that Indians are good or probably better in managing others. Our culture is very unique. We are not very combating and westerners are comfortable with that. We have shown that world that we are amazing in technology & engineering. Now, Indian managers & professors are also empowering. We are well poised to move into top management of some of the top companies.

Me: A good number of people are going abroad. A lot of them are working with international teams in their work place in India. What are your tips for working in this new international environment?
SR: Indians are well positioned to work in Global community. In our schools, we have friends who speak 2 or 3 different languages at home. Youngsters play cricket, where people come from different backgrounds. So, our kids are exposed to handle diversity very easily. It is a part of our skin. There are few areas where we need to fine tune ourselves. Things like etiquettes, differences in our cultures & theirs, where to bond, the social set up etc. This will help us to easily handle global communities.

Me: Sir, it has been amazing having you on this show. I am sure your book would go on to inspire many more Indians. What are your future plans?
SR: I will be taking up full time writing. Writing this book has been amazing, but it was a tiresome and quite an experience. So, I want to be doing this full time. The good news as far as the book – I will survive – is that it has gone for re-print in just 2 weeks. It has got a critical mass following.
My next book is also towards young executives, Indian professionals & managers. I want to help serve young professionals & managers.
A lot of people define success as “where you are now”. But for me it is important to add another parameter. Success is a measure of “Where you arrive, from where you started”. I am happy with where I have arrived from where I started. I want to go on to become an inspiration of many Indian youth & young professionals.

Me: Sir, Thank you so much for sparing your time. It was indeed a pleasure to have you on this show. Thanks once again. I am sure; this book would be a huge success. You are going to be an inspiration for many young Indians sir.
SR: Thanks a lot Sundar! I am also very happy to be a part of this show.