In 2013, my life’s journey took an unexpected turn when I joined an NGO, ‘MAD’, to teach English to some underprivileged children. Though I was their teacher, my students taught me the true meaning of compassion, empathy, love, and optimism; to be happy and satisfied despite limited privileges. I grew to be a better person and a better leader, professionally. Going forward, I carried these invaluable lessons to my workplace where I ensured my entire team was happy, treated with empathy, given autonomy, and felt recognized.
While working as a Project Manager in GAP, the separation of Old Navy from GAP Inc. was called off after year-long toiling efforts. All the five teams I led were left unnerved and apprehensive about their futures. Layoffs, management upheaval, complete lack of roadmap, job insecurity – I had a gruelling battle to fight for my teams. Sure enough, I fought with gusto! I invited revered leaders to speak to my teams to boost their morale and assure them of great things lined up in the future. Through external trainings I addressed professional growth concerns, enabling technical transformations. I also ensured the teams were still focused and had all the opportunities to grow and learn by involving them in innovation and quality projects. I organized fun activities as team building was my focus area. I ensured the team took pride in being extremely cohesive and highly performant. And what did I achieve in return? Not only did I reach my true potential as a Project Manager, but I also learned the true meaning of being a good leader.
Now, I would like to expand my scope of value addition to customers and transition into a customer-centric product management role, and eventually grow into the Chief Product Officer in my current organisation, ServiceNow. Here I want to design and launch products that are aligned with evolving needs of the users, cost competitive and have long term stickiness. Improving TAT for resolving customer queries through AI automation, increasing product usage through cross systems integrations are potential problem statements I will aim to solve through meaningful products.
ISB PGPPro, with a cohort-based learning environment, cutting-edge curriculum, flexible schedule, and world-class faculty, will help me build robust business acumen and empower me to practically apply classroom learnings in my daily work. As I interact with the diverse cohort, I most eagerly look forward to an enlightening and enjoyable experience!