From an individual performer to a team contributor, my professional metamorphosis has not just been highly rewarding, but also significantly enriched my motivation to achieve beyond my limits.
As manager of social media analytics, I was part of a team entrusted with setting up social-media command center for one of India’s largest telcos. I executed high-impact content strategies, identified niche social-media tools to reach out to customers, and supported internal sales team to better position the firm’s offerings. With the entry of Jio, the Indian telecom industry saw significant disruptions. At this time, my team noted a huge spike in postpaid migration numbers and notified the stakeholders. While this was perceived by the management as a temporary switch, we convinced them of potential long-term loss. With further analysis, sentiment and tone insights, and coordination with market-research and insights team, we were able to create the industry’s first data-rollover plan. It became an instant hit, while helping us up renewal numbers by almost 80%, followed by other industry leaders launching similar plans. This gave me immense satisfaction and re-established my faith in team work based on solid preparation.
As Product Manager at one of the fastest-growing health-tech companies in India, I decided to launch ‘cart’ feature to improve user experience. It was touted to be the company’s most ambitious launch because of its extensive resource- and-budget bandwidth requirements, and hence, wasn’t being agreed upon by stakeholders. I addressed the situation with a top-to-bottom approach, and first convinced senior management by demonstrating the ease of multiple transactions and significant business impact. I justified the use of tech-team bandwidth by convincing my fellow product-team members to adjust their task timelines. Consistent and coordinated communication between different stakeholders ensured everyone was on the same page. In 25 days, the new feature was taken live, and the company saw an immediate increase in daily revenue by almost 10K. In the next two months, average order size went up by 30% and eventually to 60%. The launch was not only impactful in terms of revenue, but also taught me to be a self-starter, an effective leader and an able manager.
My diverse experiences empowered me to think like a leader, while maintaining the humility to put myself in the shoes of individual team members, and drive a common cause. I will bring these experiences to the class to enrich my peers’ learning and broaden their opportunities.