Insights from Global Leaders: Ravi Venkatesan, Former Chairman

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17 Oct 2020

Insights from Global Leaders: Ravi Venkatesan, Former Chairman – Microsoft India
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- Industry Insights
“If you love what you do, you radiate positive energy”

Every Thursday, SOIL conducts a Webinar series with prominent industry leaders. This leadership session is hosted by the SOIL Founder and Chairman, Mr. Anil Sachdev. The session focusses on insights from global leaders on how to become the best version of yourself and how to leverage your unique talents and strengths to contribute your best to society & your work.

As a part of this leadership series, we were honored to interact with one of the most eminent industry leaders – Mr. Ravi Venkatesan (Former Chairman, Microsoft India). He is a leader of a unique kind, who has worked in almost every sphere of the industry, whether it is as the Chairman of the Board of Bank of Baroda or Co-chairman of the board of Infosys or as a UNICEF Special Representative for Young People and Innovation. He is currently working as a venture partner at Unitus Ventures.

He shared his life experiences and lessons learned from the corporate world with us. Such a kind of personality requires a very strong inner sense of purpose and journey consciousness on taking responsibility for leading the life which everyone dreams of.

When asked about his happiest moments in life, Mr. Venkatesan recollected the time when he handled different projects during his early days that were full of adventures. He further quoted that the joy of handling such projects fades away over time, but what remains clear and etched are the moments of success of the project with the team and staff working in the group. That is what matters at the end of the day.

He also said that setbacks are part and parcel of everyone’s life whether it is in the field of education or at work. Quoting Winston Churchill in the session, he said, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts”. Setbacks are natural. If we don’t have setbacks, it means we are not stretching ourselves enough as we want to be in our comfort zone. The biggest lesson to learn from failures in life is the realization that one should constantly learn, unlearn, and relearn. This is a life-long process.

He shared that we all are heading towards a VUCA world where there will be Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity in the environment. These elements present the context in which organizations/individuals view their current and future state. These will also set boundaries for planning and policy management in life and will also either confound decisions or sharpen the capacity to look ahead, plan, and move forward. VUCA sets the stage for managing and leading to the future. So, he advised us to become comfortable with extreme uncertainty and fluidity.

To become a successful leader, the most important thing an individual need is to live life with conviction. Find a source of energy conviction to drive a real change in the life of others. There is no need for any formal authority or mandate from anyone to be a leader. The key to outsmart competition is uniqueness. Individuals need to have courage in themselves to pursue their dreams. Then they will be followed by the society.

Following are a few additional insights from that session which I am trying to incorporate in my life ahead:
- Always remember the contribution every person makes in your life and share credit with them.
- Have the courage to make bold moves in life.
- Do tough things with compassion and respect.
- Tough times teach you valuable lessons for life.
- One should not be afraid to constantly learn, unlearn, and relearn.
To view the webinar replay: Click here
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Ravi Venkatesan is the UNICEF Special Representative for Young People & Innovation & the founder of G.A.M.E.
He serves on the board of Rockefeller Foundation & has been on the boards of Bank of Baroda, Infosys Ltd., Harvard Business School, and several advisory boards. Prior to this, as Chairman of Microsoft India, Ravi helped build Microsoft India into Microsoft’s second-largest presence in the world. He is the author of an acclaimed book ‘Conquering the Chaos: Win in India, Win Everywhere’ published by HBR.

He has a B.S. from IIT Bombay, an MS from Purdue University, and an MBA from Harvard Business School where he was a Baker Scholar.
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About the Webinar Series: SOIL Founder & Chairman, Sh. Anil Sachdev gets into insightful conversations with Global Leaders every Thursday, 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM (IST). Every session will focus on:
- Insights from global leaders on how to become the best version of yourself – How to leverage your unique talents and
- strengths to contribute your best to society & your work
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Key Takeaways & Learning by:
Himank Kapoor
PGPM – Business Leadership, Class of 2021

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