Ep3 Everyday Care, Global Scale - Inside Kenvue GCC in India ft. Dr. Rajesh Puneyani

Of course, GCC's will continue to anchor the enterprise transformation. Lot of amazing brands that have come out over the years from Tylenol to Neutrogena to Johnson's. And for that, let me now welcome Dr. Rajes Pinani. The most underrated skill for succeeding in a GCC. >> Nobody has to tell them on a daily basis what needs to be done because they know this is their purpose. >> If someone wants to be a site leader 10 years from now, what are the key things that they should focus on? >> Data is a new oil. All of us have been

talking about it. So, whosoever conquers that oil obviously is going to be conquering the world of IT. How have you managed to keep technology and operations hub like a GCC? It's digital transformation where the startups and GCC could come together for that faster. The light throws a lemon at you. You need to just catch it and make a lemonade or you obviously take the lemon and throw it somewhere else. >> When you think about innovation, what's the one word that comes to your mind? Contextual translation. Like AI is not always disruptive. AI is actually

improving things in a lot of ways as well. >> An AI buzz word you wish we would all stop using. This podcast is powered by Retro. Retro helps global companies build, scale, and run tech centers in India by aligning top talent and technology with enterprise innovation goals. RERO drives faster, smarter growth, where tenacity meets tech and ambitions meet opportunity. Lexard partners where startups and global corporations find their trusted legal partner from seed to scale and from startups to GCC's. Lexard

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conversation is going to be part of the GCC miniseries and today we are going to talk about something very exciting. We are going to dive into the GCC world of one of the largest global consumer health companies where you have heard a lot of amazing brands that have come out over the years from Tylenol to Neutrogena to Johnson's to bandage. You know we have grown up using these products and today we have an amazing leader with us who's going to give us a you know a little bit of an understanding about how the GCC space operates what is his leadership

background over the years. He has worked in a lot of other companies too and a leadership role and how does the leadership acument come together to create impact in this space and for that let me now welcome Dr. Rajesh Punyani. Thank you so much sir for joining in. >> Good morning AB. Thank you for having me here. It's very exciting time and again I'm delighted to be here. >> Thank you so much. It's been a few years since we've known each other and I'm so glad that you know we finally having a recorded conversation. Uh you've been a supporter for a while. So thank you so

much for taking your time. I'm glad that you know I've been able to get you here and have this chat with you. >> Privilege is entirely mine as well. >> Uh so let's get into something uh very very fundamental. you know you are heading the Kenview India GCC and as part of that I wanted to talk to you about this that you know a lot of people do not understand the concept of GCC's today right it's a solution arm to the larger organization in multiple ways possible but if you had to tell someone who's a non- tech friend of yours what can we GCC India GCC is how would you

describe that in a single line >> okay fantastic and great great way to start of course so if I have to just use one statement meant um it has to be we are Kenview GCC is a global hub for cross functional collaboration for all data and digital initiatives for canv organization. Uh there is a lot more that can be added into this and of course as the time goes we will definitely talk about that but in one line so the key words are cross functional collaboration digital and data initiatives. >> Fantastic. uh if I were to take a step

back and ask you this question that uh you know you have explained what can GCC India GCC does in terms of adding value to the global organization uh through cross collaborating partnerships and platforms as well right but GCC as an industry how's that shaping up today you know there's a it's a you know it's been a buzzword for a while now there's a lot of conversations about this but this whole industry you've seen that happening in various organizations in the past as well from Wells Fargo to Lowe's and uh now Ken view as the as a site head right uh for the GCC uh how

has this industry evolved what what are some thoughts that you can share about the ecosystem at large >> sure no I think and that that's you know perfect way to start the conversation now I go back 200 early 2000 when actually I you know entered into the GCC industry it was all about the task based systems you know the headquarters will throw some task to you know GCCs they will perform both the sides are happy and they go home happily then obviously as the maturity into the system happened the talent got developed the domain knowledge got developed then over the

period of time the value of the task and the functions coming to GCC evolved as well and that is when the value delivery started to happen from GCC and that of course we can call it GCC 2.0 zero. You can call different acronyms GIC, GCC, G, you know, GDC and all that. But eventually that was the second version or the third version of GCC. Then eventually the GCC team got so much of trust and value into the system that they started to back the full programs and the full problem statement to be delivered from India. That is when they said they started to get into the value

domain and they obviously were not told to do some task. They were just given a problem statement and they just delivered that problem statement. Fast forward where we are. The problem statement itself is not supposed to be told to the GCC. They are finding the problem and they just you know solving the problem for the parent organization. How this is because of the talent. This is because of domain knowledge which has been gathered over the last couple of years. Now talk you know talk about genai and AI. How the digital engineering talent in India has been

able to merge the domain and the genai knowledge and create those innovative solution which even the parent organizations are not asking them to solve as well and that you can call it you know GCC 4.0. 0 5.0 whichever version you call it but that's the value scaling the GCC's have come forward. Now if you just add the lens to what the 2026 and beyond holds for us see one thing is very clear and this is something which is being spoken in lot of GCC forums and in roundt conversations. One thing is of course GCC's will continue to anchor the

enterprise transformation >> now which means obviously the they will just not be a function and enabler they will actually be the the intelligence layer for the business. >> Makes a lot of sense. >> Yeah. So that is when the genai comes into picture. That is when the agentic AI comes into picture. Now agentic is of course a very big buzzword that everyone is talking about it. But the key is going to be how the data the business knowledge the technology knowledge everything comes together to solve the problem which is not even existing right

now. Probably could come. So proactively basically picking up those problems and solving it in the end. My four favorite P's letter acronym that of course I will talk about it. The GCC's will definitely be growing up in the value chain if they can solve for four Ps. uh preventive, >> proactive, predictive and personalized solutions. You know any GCC which can foreign to either one of them or more than one piece into this they will be the GCC's which are actually the strategic value creators and the partners for the headquarters. >> That's fantastic to hear. In fact,

personally I've seen some of those initiatives back in the day. In fact, Target was one of those first examples where I saw that you know the target accelator program started in India before it started in Minneapolis, right? Whereas the rest of the ecosystem was not even thinking about this. This was a mirroring function that used to happen in India and now what you're saying is that you know going forward this is what is a major change that's happening where the intelligence layer that is being shaped up in a country in a GCC environment in India is now proactively

coming back to the mothership and saying this is a problem that we need to solve for as well and they're already starting to work towards that >> correct and additional point to add to that data is a new oil all of us have been talking about it so whosoever conquers that oil obviously is going to be conquering the world of IT >> now the the prim primary purpose of the GCC continues to be how do we elevate the you know the productivity how do we elevate the decision-m process and in the end deliver a very impactful delivery value to the parent

organization now these fundamental constructs are always there and you know that the difference between a great GCC and a good GCC is something who's just delivering and somebody who just delivering plus value on top of that as well so that value story obviously will continue to become stronger and stronger in 2026 the tools the genis and the agentis of the world whosoever ever masters the art of implementation of that will be the GCC that will continue to be the shoulder-to-shoulder partner for the parent organization. I think this is where the difference in GCC's is

coming in in terms of yeah who is the most impactful versus who is the just about a GCC and trust me when I say that obviously some of those GCCs may cease to exist down the line if the value quotient doesn't go up >> that makes a lot of sense I think one of the important aspects that you just highlighted about the on the four Ps is the fact that talent centricity is very important so I do want to touch upon two different pieces right one is consumer centricity and the other is the talent centricity right and both as a leader I wanted to take get your perspectives on

both. Now, Kenview as a global entity serves more than a billion people, right? In different form factors, different to buy different products as well. Uh >> how have you managed to keep consumer centricities or consumer at the center perspective while being in a technology and operations hub like a GCC? >> Yeah. No, fantastic question of course. So um a so first of all our tagline um realize the uh externality power of everyday care all our products are obviously falling into this as well right all our products are touching not

only people communities they make a larger impact into the larger you know the stakeholder base as well so one thing a force that we obviously always do is make sure that we personalize everything now when I talk about let's let me take the lens of the talent when we are hiring somebody walks into our office so we have a full candidate experience basically hire to retire kind of an experience Okay, somebody comes in you know how do we connect them to the brand that can be holds you know there is a display area there is definitely an experience area for them to see that as

well so that creates a first level of excitement in terms of yeah this is the organization that I want to work for >> because this of course has a very rich legacy um of 135 years of legacy of you know the products which are sitting in marketed in global markets right so that of course creates a talent centricity in terms of people coming in and working for it and then you sort of put the employee value proposition of you know what that work is going to be for the larger organization Not like a traditional operational work but more of an engineering build data

and digital initiatives that creates that bond between that candidate and the organization which absolutely leads to a larger win-win for the candidate and of course we end up you know getting a good talent of course that is number one from a consumer point of view again we have like you said in your opening comment right all of us have actually used those products in very early childhood for ours >> very true >> whether it is a Johnson's in the beginning now Ainos of the world neutraos of the world liter of the world

you know I have seen my kids and I'll give one small little anecdote an example when my son was born in US uh you know obviously his first few cosmetics were all you know Johnson baby oil and Johnson baby shampoo so he has pictures you know small little pictures as a toddler with him so when he was there in Keny office last year so he saw those products in action so imagine the kind of an impact that he got it you know fast forward from the users to you know the consumers or the employers of the world right so that is where of course we all do that and again products

are very scientifically researched and very scientifically backed keeping in mind you know the diverse consumer base the diverse geography that is going to be served in. So that strong sciencebacked research that you know the the data of the science that comes behind it of course creates that consumer mentality that all of us are constantly thinking about what next innovation we can do from a product point of view from an experience point of view not only for the consumer but for the whole ecosystem that comes with the whole chain from a CPG point of view

>> makes a lot of sense I think I think uh the companies who have done well and of course like you said it's been there for 135 years now >> so it's only possible when you have consumer centricity at the heart and core of it right uh Very interestingly you mentioned about your son so is the case with mine. Uh I have a 4 and a half year old and uh you know we were just discussing me and my wife that Aino was probably his one of the first products that he used right because uh you know that that's something that you know we decided to use for him as well. So it's

very interesting that way too even as a as a parent that you know we've used those product for our kids. >> It's it's it's an emotional connect that everyone gets it with those products. Johnson is still Johnson for everyone now that you trust in us and some of the big other products that have come in. absolutely super crazy in the gen Z's and of course of all age factors >> right >> that creates an immediate bonding yeah this is my product and this is my organization so we continue to evolve on that of course the journey is not

completed journey is obviously evolving but yeah we are on the right track >> no thank you so much for sharing that in fact uh I have come to your new office and it is very inspiring as a as a non-emp employee when I came there I saw a lot of those brands the way it was displayed and so on and so forth that brings a lot of uh excitement into the conversation you're just entering in and you feel like you know this is a good place to work out of as well right so brilliant brilliant architecture and congratulations for the new office it's been a while I know but congratulations

nonetheless >> thank you so much the idea is of course warmth to everyone who comes in >> yeah it it did I did I I felt very good walking to the office so >> uh uh I also wanted to touch upon this fact you mentioned about talent and how you wanted to create a perspective for them when they come in uh but what are two three key cultural aspects that you think should be very pertinent for a person new employee who just walks in and spends the first one week. What are those cultural aspects that need to

be embibed in them so that they feel more aligned towards the larger goal of the organization? >> Sure. No, absolutely. See, apart from a very strong rich portfolio of products that we have, iconic brands, right? We are we live and we swear by obviously the you know the canvue uh values and behaviors. So when somebody's coming in obviously we have a very structured program in terms of what these people go through within the first day first few days from an onboarding point of view. So when they see a lot of functional leadership in India obviously people you

know working around them that gives them the first level of inspiration and obviously that creates that kind of you know value pattern and behavior in their mindset saying that this is what they need to be working on and this is what the whole culture is all about from an organization point of view. It is not like anybody's waiting for anybody's instructions to work. It is all about there are there are problems to be solved and there are some things in flight something needs to be started. How they can take inspiration from those functional leaders to you know start

working and be part of the larger core mission. number one and second thing is of course the moment they get into the office obviously like I said they are connected with the brands immediately and they see their work actually impacts those products you know the consumption of those products how how we sell more how do we you know create a better experience for our consumers they immediately connect to that mission and that's a core behavior of you know take the first action those things obviously come into the picture as well and third thing is obviously there's a lot of as

you would have seen in the office as you visited obviously there's a lot of autonomy in the environment in terms of you know there is no mic micro culture or something. It's all about one common culture, one common mission, vision and purpose. So, everyone is working towards that purpose. So, you know, we just want to make sure that as part of our first few days of onboarding, people are constantly talking about those things. People have, you know, buddies and mentors within the function organization and they see this is their environment to work, thrive, create an impact and

create the value. So one thing consciously that we do always is for them to you know to understand the whole philosophy of GCC why GCC exists because different people coming from different organizations have different view to GCC like you alluded to in the initial you know conversation. So how that exactly plays out from a Kenview point of view when they appreciate that culture when they appreciate the overall you know the value proposition of GCC and they realize the overall you know the iconic brands of Ken View I think those behaviors and patterns automatically

become part of their DNA. Nobody has to tell them on a daily basis what needs to be done because they know this is their purpose. >> That's amazing. That's amazing. In fact, that is why I wanted to talk to you about this because when you have uh when you're part of a company which is 135 years old, then over the years the value systems have been streamlined into the actual vision alignment that they have right and when newcomers come in I think it like you mentioned whether they are freshers or they are someone who come from different backgrounds it becomes

very pertinent for them to understand what are the values that they're striving for now right in this organization. So that there's alignment and that helps you create a lot of impact a lot faster. >> Yeah. >> Leverage the true potential of the all the people working in that organization. >> Correct. And couple of additional messages that is always very common for you know between me and my leadership team when we talk to the new hires. Right. We never claim to be perfect but we always claim that our next day will

be better than our previous day. And that will happen only through their collective feedback through their experience sharing saying that you know something needs to be better because when we are growing from zero to 500 to 700 or certain numbers right all those perspectives matter to us now the the transparency honesty and the humility that we show on the ground obviously that goes very deep in their mindset in terms of this you know the voice of that employee matters on the ground. So, so that experiential journey obviously creates a little bit of additional uh

behavioral pattern in their mindset. You know this is a place where they have the freedom to not only operate, freedom to speak and freedom to obviously you know I shouldn't say innovation innovation but from experimentation or what that work demands them to be. >> That's fantastic to hear. In fact uh now with companies as large uh you know you see a lot of uh earlier we used to talk about a mothership and a GCC model but now there's so many hubs right across the globe and uh like you mentioned right at the beginning that you know there's a lot of interaction uh through

cross functional platformization crossunctional partnerships etc. uh I wanted to talk to you about this as a GCC what are certain operating mechanisms or structures that you have put in place so that there's the these kind of partnerships across the global hubs with the business leaders across the globe they're streamlined and put it in a more impactful way >> yeah one is no absolutely great uh question of course so one thing is of course we all talk one common language even though the functional language could be different depends on finance

talking one language you know R&D talking different language and digital talking Eventually there is one common language in terms of how do we grow our market share, how do we grow our top line, how do we obviously streamline our bottom lines in terms of how we can do things certain certain things better from an intelligent automation point of view or automation point of view. Right? So that is one common language which brings everyone together from a common governance point of view. >> Makes sense. Second thing is of course you know there is there is there are

multiple avenues and channels that we have created in GCC in terms of employee experience groups in terms of various committees from inclusion point of view or from uh you know the council GCC council that we call it so that everyone has a voice onto the table in terms of you know what is happening in a function what should be happening in a function specific to that function that the GCC can proactively create an ecosystem for them to thrive whether it is certain different working hours or shift hours or something like that. So we are constantly working through that kind of

a governance and then reaching out to our sponsors or the stakeholders in terms of what is their experience of service coming out of GCC something that can be done better whether from a talent point of view whether that's from a governance point of view nobody's talking about or I shouldn't be say nobody but there is very limited talk in terms of you know value from that function everyone is talking from value from the center >> makes sense >> that's that's the that's the difference when I say individual functions

delivering their value is one part but the the value of the GCC the sum of all those functions coming together in the form of a cross functional collaboration hub across all digital initiatives versus the mini ecosystem coming together and saying we delivered an impact the infrastructure team coming together the application team coming together the data team coming together and creating an impactful product which the business can consume the leadership team can consume to take a business decision I think those are the things which create a kind of a governance and

a trust factor and a transparency saying that yeah we are we don't have our own agenda it's a larger agenda which is a Ken View agenda and we have a very inspirational leadership team in in various regions and the headquarter who are constantly always thinking how to you know obviously keep bettering from a you know can view business you know targets and OKR's point of view that continues to give us a lot of confidence in terms of yeah this is us this is our playground this is our talent and we are picking it up with the right intention and that continues to move the ship

forward from an overall value delivery point of view >> that's fantastic because it seems very very welloiled and very tightly integrated as well because crossun functionally I think uh when you talk about cross functional teams this becomes uh like you said it's a very good mantra >> that you know value creation at a center level is any day more important than value creation at that function level right because together in cross functional environments that is what happens you come together multiple teams

come together to create the overall overarching impact so thank you so much for sharing that that's actually very >> and a few other things that we do from a governance couple of more pointers of course you know the business acument knowledge sessions um so for example you know the people are coming from again different backgrounds probably different verticals in the industry right so they need to obviously know the business domain how it works from a supply chain point of view from a manufacturing point of view so that they don't just focus on their own domain they can see things in

360deree you know how their work is going to be touched or consumed by somebody else and how their output will be consumed and touched by somebody else as well so those business acumen sessions those constant governances various platforms for people to voice it out you know it holistically completes the situation but again like I said we are not perfect perfect we are just moving it forward but as and when more and more functions keep getting added as and when more and more business uh related uh you know functions keep coming in we constantly try to see our

basic framework remains intact we continue to keep more flows on top of that beautiful foundational building of course >> amazing that's great to hear in fact you touched upon you touched upon a very important piece which was about automation which was about agentic geni in the past as well in our conversation uh I want to talk to you about this uh in consumer health business at large. Are you seeing AI playing a very pivotal role these days? And if so, is it really starting to create actual impact? >> Yeah, I think it is still early days.

Um, because first of all, we don't know what we don't know in the AI space >> because it's it's it's a word and it's a buzz word which is used widely across the industry. While we know that the successful use cases of agent AI are there in the finance world, HR world, it is definitely leading to much faster go to market for various products and services and delivery. Um but one thing of course you know the the true power and the true uh you know the the strength of AI will be when of course we use it in the right areas consistently when the right use cases are there on

the floor for people to take inspiration from each other. So I know there are there is a pocket of excellence companies are leveraging it but I think the true unleashing potentially like I said in 2026 and onwards when we have more mature systems and more processing power I think that should definitely kick up speed in my mind. >> Makes sense. Yeah, Rajes, over the years uh you know and we've had multiple conversations there's been a lot of inspiring nuggets of wisdom that I've received from you right and I wanted to tap into those leadership uh traits and

qualities and you know how you've embied them over the years right I wanted to talk about this fact that over the last two decades you have actually uh you know built and matured so many COE's uh GDC's GCC's etc as well right and across different areas you know from BFSI to retail to tech and now healthcare as well. Can you talk to us about what are the commonalities or the common thread that connects all these different experiences and that you know that has helped you shape into the leader that you are today? >> Okay, fantastic. And a bit of a complex

question because this again so leadership according to me is a multi-dimensional aspect. M >> leadership is not just about managing things in a very efficient manner or continue to think strategically you know as as lot of times strategy becomes a very much abusive overly used word I should say that now I think what I see is it's all context driven now as as a leader obviously you are sometimes obviously rolling up your sleeve and getting things done that's also a leadership team but if I have to categorize leadership team and where

exactly I have grown you know I have leveraged and I have grown is see one is of course your corporate strategic leadership team you know in terms of how you're thinking strategically what's good for the enterprise what's good for the GCC or your COEs and everything. One is of course your functional leadership you know the technofunctional role that you are responsible for right >> but of course the main part of course that I think I have leveraged more and I have grown more and you know which has been my key strength is my personal leadership you know what it means is how

do you respond versus react to a situation obviously I and I can see my time 20 years back when obviously reaction was more response was less because of you know obviously the maturity level kicks in only you know when you face those situations continuously in the life then second thing is of course how do coach versus how do you mentor and how do you give directions to people now if you're hiring right people you don't need to obviously give them directions you just give them a problem statement sometimes they find the problem statements you

enable them in terms of how do you you know they can get the work done that is my second style of leadership of course that I do that but if you have to give them instruction which means you have to start questioning your hiring as well because you may not have hired the right people >> right >> third thing is of course how can you do a you know the context switching or you can switch the hat at a certain time in the day you know right now you are you In a in a leadership conversation, you're talking thinking strategically

and you know in terms of how the road map for the next two years, three years is going to be but all of a sudden there is a there is an incident or there is a transaction. How do you see that transaction through the lens and of course you can immediately you know switch your hat and then make sure that you're solving that problem or you're helping team solve that problem as well. >> It makes sense. >> So this is the third one and fourth thing is of course certain things the theory of controllables and uncontrollables. You can only control

what you can control. Certain things you can't even control. So don't even waste your energies into something which you cannot control. Focus on those things which you can control and in all likelihood and in all my experience in the past uncontrollables get sorted on their own as well. >> Wow. >> So so that is something which is so 80% of the time obviously or 90% you can give 80/20 theory right 80% control what is in your control but make sure that you are not reacting to situation because that actually can complicate the

overall situation. Respond to it. when you respond to it, you are thoughtfully responding to something which actually takes the emotions and the impulsions out of it. And again, like I said, uh you know, you need to constantly evaluate yourself. You need to constantly introspect yourself. Could I have done something better in a situation? Could I have done the given different direction? Could I have done some things in a different way if you don't do that introspection, you feel that you are doing everything fine and you are in your zone? That is when your

growth stops. And fortunately, obviously, I have not seen that zone in my life. And of course I say no hang my boots and obviously this is me. So continue to learn new things, continue to learn new technology areas, continue to learn new functional areas and then keep applying that at your workplace. Of course there is a there's a whole lot of content in the internet right now. You read it but if you don't apply it that is as good as of course a vocation knowledge right so that is of course my few little mantras that I give it to everyone. Um then of course continue to

be strengthening in those areas. No, I mean it's real elastic because like you said towards the end, right? There's there's a lot of bookish knowledge available, but I think you uh if you've been able to implement this over the years, that's because you've built a muscle by actually executing on those mantras regularly, right? Because that's how you build out a muscle in those areas. Like for example, a lot of people have spoken about this fact that uh you know, anything that is not in your control, just let it be, right? There's no need to fret over it.

>> But life doesn't work that way. More often than not, most of us still fret over things which are not in our control. Uh but if you've been able to actually differentiate that and do it successfully, that means that you've built a muscle in that space like like you have in the other mantras as well. Thank you so much for sharing that. >> Yeah, one thing is of course many of these things don't happen overnight. >> You obviously do that in a very mindful manner or in a conscious manner to begin with. But if you continue to practice that mindfulness, you know, if I'm

drinking water, obviously I'm drinking it mindfully, not like my mind is somewhere else and I'm just drinking water. If I'm drinking water mindfully that water becomes a medicine >> right >> and similarly if you over the period of time conscious actions become subconscious actions and of course they become part of your DNA. I think I have I'm reached or I'm reaching that stage where obviously some of those actions are part of a DNA and subconscious. I don't have to think about it but still it's a constant introspection, constant

development and constant feedback. Again I get feedback from my own teams and again my you know leaders you know certain situations think it like this from an enterprise point of view or in the past right that continues to you know strengthen your belief system and your muscle memory continues to become stronger. >> Yeah for sure. In fact, uh I had seen this video a while ago, right? Which inspired me quite significantly. It was about a NSG uh commander coach, right? I'm forgetting his uh name, but uh armed forces defenses personnel. And he was

talking about uh that, you know, soldiers are trained in a way that you know they have to bend down and go around in circles and then stand up after 1 minute of doing that or 30 seconds to 1 minute of doing that and punch exactly at a target. Right. Most people can't even stand straight. >> Yes. But over a period of this training, months after weeks after weeks, months after months, and then they are so accurate that, you know, they're able to punch on the exact target. But that the reason why they do that is because in case they have a bomb exploded that

happens right next to them, they can still get up, not be phased out. They still know what the target is and they still get it a bullseye, right? Yeah. Yeah. So this becomes so pertinent as an example that you know unless you're executing it regularly it doesn't become a part of your muscle memory doesn't become a part of your subconscious so that you know whenever you're thinking about a particular situation your natural thought drifts into using one of those mantras to solve for that solution totally a problem sorry >> you said it absolutely

>> fantastic >> so one one more p that of course I give it to everyone is of course it's always easy for us to overthink >> because there are situations around you um jobs related, you know, promotions related, growth related, personal situations and all that. >> How you can keep your overthinking at bay because that is of course one of the biggest distracting factor everyone has. If if you if uh you know you can keep that overthinking away obviously you can use that constructive energy in doing more of course again goes back to

controllable uncontrollable but again overthinking is something which I used to do a lot but I think this is one more thing that of course I have powered enough consciously that again the moment I think that I'm overthinking I actually will switch back >> makes a lot of sense >> so no that's fantastic thank you so much for sharing these nuggets right because I think a lot of people who are listening to us will find it very very useful because like you said right it's not just about professional leadership it's also about how you personally

conducting yourself, how you're mentally attuned to or solving. Chief, is there any pivotal moment that you would like to talk about in this in this whole journey? >> Yes. So, it goes back to my early Dell days. I would go back and again if my Dell colleagues from that time of course are listening to it, of course. So, I was hired for a different role >> and and I I came back from US for that kind of a role of course. But then the moment you came in obviously um you know your expectations so multiple things struck me. First of all from US a very

structured life you know a place where you can drive better you can live better you can live peacefully and all of a sudden you're in the middle of a Bangalore >> traffic issues you know infrastructure issues and then all of a sudden you are coming into an organization which is defining its own culture there's no culture per se because everyone is coming together >> then all of a sudden you realize that your role what you were hired for is not the one that uh you know uh is there of course now either you take it or leave

it not those many key words but they said it so the the the point for me it was of course you need to be always flexible no matter what comes to you you need to be obviously always you know able to take it so it's that you know the life throws a lemon at you you need to just catch it and make a lemon it or you obviously take the lemon and throw it somewhere else right so the opportunity that I took it up after that from a flexibility point of view away turned out to be such a golden goose for me because it not only allowed me to set up a much larger capability in their GCC

it allowed me to actually expand that GCC in Koala Lumpur and Pinang some of the other locations Dell had and if I reflect on that the role that I was hired that would have continued to be a very limited domain role you know very limited impact >> not like multi- geography multicultural and now the new role which was given to me the way I did that I was taken to places by my those leaders and say you have done that now we'll take you to another role because they were changing and that is when Fargo came in when Wells Fargo was setting up in Manila I

was picked up because I had the AP pack experience there so now you reflect obviously if you you could be stubborn about something coming at you or you just flexibly take it forcefully sometimes, unwillingly sometimes, but that is where some inner calling sometimes push pushes you in the right direction. >> Makes a lot of sense. I mean, that's fantastic. In fact, uh uh you know that that the whole leadership journey that you spoke about has been so inspiring, right? Uh I've been a part of some of those uh conversations too in the past.

But if today a youngster who aspires to be a site leader, GCC site leader in in the future, right, maybe 10 years from now, >> if he or she wants to aspire and wants to obsess over two or three key things functionally >> or thought leadership wise, what are the areas that you would recommend that they obsess on? because you know there's so many different things that you one can focus on technology wise functional wise nonfunctional wise but if there three things and I say this coming from a place where I've seen people in some

organizations say that you know in our organization if you are a sales head that there's a very likely possibility because you're you know contributing to the revenue you will become the site leader of a market right or in some cases you're talking about the person who has the best capability to hire talent in many cases is then expected to become the site leader. In the other cases, it's about technology, right? So, there's so many different kind of experiences that people come up with and then then then they share those perspectives. But in today's day and

age, if someone wants to be a site leader 10 years from now, what are the key things that they should focus on or skills that they should focus on? >> Fantastic. Very relevant because last week in fact, somebody actually came up to me as part of a mentoring session and you know actually asked something not from a site leader but more from a global technunctional leader. So, I'll I'll interpolate on that. So very relevant question today obviously see the part is of course my three very practical recommendations and suggestions to those people one is of

course focus on business while you could be a techie focus on business and business impact understand the business domain >> because it's not like you come and deliver your work packet or the problem that you're solving you solve it try and see the larger ecosystem try and see how your problem is actually not just impacting the function that you're working on how it is impacting the upstream downstream and you get a holistic business proposition of the organization that you're working on. That is of course going to be helping

you to see what could be your next role in those upstream downstream functional domains rather than just keeping a straight eye. I think the time has come where people have to keep looking around 360°ree on what those career domains could look like. That is number one. >> Second thing is of course continue to have a you know the most important thing which is actually helping certain GCCs to be very strategically aligned and successful versus not is a context translation. >> What it means is of course see your headquarter has priorities, business

goals. OKRs and then they obviously are expecting GCC to do that for the right reasons right but if you're not doing that context translation and you're just focusing on the work coming to you and you're not questioning >> you know why it is important so that you can attach the right side of you know priority and you know the prioritization to that you're not going to be able to deliver plus value to that work which is coming in so that context translation why am I expected to deliver this because there's a larger purpose and what is that larger purpose there's

another larger purpose when you continue to peel the layers of that cabbage you will really understand There is something very core that you need to deliver on which certain other teams will deliver that more core certain other teams will put more layer on top of it and it'll become a beautiful you know solution or a product which the business team will be able to lay that have that curiosity you know that is number two and number three is of course from now till 10 years down the line time is going to be changing pretty fast what was happen you know the the

innovation which was happening or the transformation which was happening in 3 years or the technology refresh is happening now in 6 months or 1 year >> so break down your 10 years road app into small little steps and small little milestones to become a site leader or technology business leader. This is what you need to do in 12 12 months and 18 months. Then again 12 months once you complete that you're going to be looking into an innovation and transformation. You're going to be looking at creating business value in some way or the other. Keep those handy in front of you. Number

one. Second thing is keep reviewing that with you and your mentors, coaches and your leaders of course to make sure that your view is not your view. Their view is obviously important for them to see how holistically things are moving, >> right? >> And then fourth thing is continue to upskill >> because obviously work you're delivering fantastic, your ratings are great, work impact is great, but if you're not looking at a holistic ecosystem and you're not upskilling for the future proactively before it becomes a real,

you know, necessity, then you're going to be just playing a catch-up game. >> Makes a lot of sense. So I'll just repeat those for the viewers who are who going to be listening to you. Uh the first one is 360° view which is very critical for you to absorb really what's happening around in every possible domain around yourself. The second is the contextual understanding about what's happening in the organization at large so that you know you are able to contribute more meaningfully to the larger context of the organization. The third one was about sprints and

milestones. How do you define your 10 years long plan into smaller sprints and smaller milestones so that every 6 months you're able to address those and review that introspect and move from there and the fourth one was continuous to continue to learn and upskill yourself right so you keep upgrading yourself into the latest that's happening because of a lot of technology volatility and overall global volatility as well so that becomes very pertinent so fantastic learnings I this is I'm sure a lot of people who are listening to this these four are really good

pointers because there's so many people in the middle management today in the GCC ecosystem system as well and they're always figuring out ways in which they can you know upgrade themselves and get get to a place where they're able to contribute more meaningfully and eventually become a site leader as well. So I think this is fantastic. >> Uh talking about these partnerships as well right uh we did speak about innovation inside the environment of the organization how that becomes very pertinent for people or employees to contribute more meaningfully. I've also

seen in GCC's uh and enterprises at large uh there's a lot of corporate uh startup partnerships as well. Is there any wide space that you've observed in the GCC ecosystem when it comes to partnerships with startups? >> No, absolutely. Um first of all, I do believe that uh GCC's alone will never be 100% successful in a certain way. Obviously the startup ecosystem the the it's about when we say ecosystem it is not just about GCC partners startups everyone has to come together to create the next meaningful because the reason is if you are doing it completely

organically yeah you may be successful but then the speed to market is important right >> that's when of course the startups come into picture because they may have something very closely related to what you could be looking at with a little bit of a customization and finetuning they could put something in front of your business from a POV and you know the MVP point of view and again Those things obviously will help. Now the areas where I'm looking at of course where the startups and GCC could come together for that faster

>> movement is digital transformation. >> Makes sense. >> Yeah. And but obviously a lot of it depends on obviously the organ you know the organization's own maturity where they are at the moment from a business point of view their priorities and all that but this is an area obviously you don't need to necessarily reinvent the same wheel. You can continue to leverage the opportunities in whichever possible scale point of view. Second thing is of course which is absolutely not you know uh luxury anymore. This is a mandate is a sustainability

>> how exactly your sustainable business is of course and again this is something that there are a lot of experts in the market out there who not only can roll out offerings to you in terms of not only you know rolling out the sustainability measures tracking it you know carbon footprint and you know how exactly your manufacturing plants and how your facilities and buildings and running on some of those sustainability measures you know including your physical movement of transportation goods and all that. So that of course I believe that the there are a lot of

players in the market who can actually add value to you which is another big white space of course >> third thing is of course the workplace and collaboration >> that's where again as as postcoid obviously the hybrid workforce is the way to go and I don't think we are changing anytime soon on that as well that is where the collaboration and the productivity is directly linked to how closely the teams can h you know collaborate with each other they are spread across the you know multiple geographies they are spread across

multiple cities in India even though we have some of the great tools all around us but we always feel there's an opportunity for how they can become more productive from whiteboarding point of view from exchanging ideas from hackathons in you know innovation related stuff that's another opportunity that I feel they can be done as well and fourth thing is of course how exactly the value quotient or you know the value delivery from GCC can be you know exponentially uh fasttracked by these startups as well when I say that you know no matter what the GCC's obviously

have to have a business case and obviously have to have a value story carved out >> right While you are obviously working for the larger cause of your business organization from their OKR goals and all that what exactly is the additional plus+ value that you can create that plus+ value has to come from the startup because business is only so much funded business is only so much staffed to take care of the business priorities and all that but if there is something more that needs to be delivered on top of it that is something which the startup ecosystem

has to do that and that reminds me obviously if you see where the C language in the early 70s and 80s was and why C++ came into picture because C was comp it was a very strong language but it was a very character- based language it was non-user friendly of course and that is when C++ came in which gave that wrapper on top of the original core C to make it even more you know meaningful and userfriendly for the developer to use that so that plus is what I consider the ecosystem and the startup that they can add any value from a speed to market from a quality from a

compliance and from a regulatory perspective so that I don't have to deviate my focus from the core business priorities for which I'm created for the parent organiz organization. >> That's fantastic. I think uh you have very succinctly talked about certain advantages. I think a lot of leaders miss out on these advantages and unfortunately they're not able to tap into innovation the more meaningful way. Personally speaking, I have uh since I've led innovation arms in various large organizations as well uh over the years this is this has been my

experience right that you know uh some organizations tend to move towards external innovation some are just focus on internal innovation. And I think there has to be a balance on both, right? Because it's equally important to tap into both. Unless someone who is very contextually understanding of what the business vision is, unless they are working towards innovation themselves, external partnerships would not help. And without sometimes external partnerships, you are yourself too biased towards solving their own BAU as well. And you may not look about

adjacent areas which might actually make the lives better for your consumer. So at the end of the day, I always talk about this in deltas and you know very strategic KPIs as against innovation for the sake of innovation, right? Because unless it sees the light of the day and at a scale that a large enterprise can provide that innovation, >> there's no point in that innovation. >> Yeah. No, innovation for the sake of it is never going to be successful. Number one, there needs to be strong sponsorship. There needs to be a strong passion behind it. Technology is a

commodity. No, it's all a matter of taking the business problem use take the commodity technology and wpper it and I think you made a very relevant and wonderful point rather I should have mentioned that internal innovation and the external innovation I think that balance is absolutely important why some of the GCC's have been able to retain some great and top talent is by creating that internal innovation culture in the organization so that the first level of innovation the experimentation as we call it comes from them and that keeps them glued to their seat because people

come to office for a certain work but obviously what keeps them glued to their seat and passionate is they go back home and obviously they experiment. I mean not that we expect them to work beyond a stipulated number of hours but they are doing it on their own. So that experimentation starts internally and that is when we expand that to the external ecosystem and say how this can come together and create more meaningful innovation. So absolutely you called out I think both of them are important. If internal innovation is not there there is no passion external innovation is not

going to be impacted. It's just going to be like maybe on a on a dashboard there's going to be tick in the box but it's not going to be successful. If it starts from inside out then outside will create a wonderful job for you. >> Exactly. In fact I mentioned this earlier as well uh in in one of my TEDex conversations as well that innovation is not just a buzzword uh where you expect as a jargon for a huge disruptive impact. Innovation is a mindset and uh sometimes a mindset is all about looking at the extraordinary and the ordinary. >> Yeah. So you know while you might be

thinking of it as your BAU job in that if you can think about a 10% delta also that is innovation mindset right sometimes people overlook that they think that everything disruptive is innovation no it's about looking at the next big thing also from where you're seated because you have a very amazing vantage point sometimes as an employer where you're doing a lot of jobs internally you understand the process you understand the vision you understand the alignments the contextual uh aspect of of the organization and sometimes you can look at it and say hey listen if we

just tweak this maybe this is going to have a 10% impact on the top line or bottom line or efficiencies or whatever else right NPS and so on and so forth and that sometimes is way more better than even external participation so unless that mindset changes internally external participation cannot really help you but that's fantastic and I still don't want to let you go I know we're running late on the conversation on the time as well but uh like with some some of like some of the favorite shows that I have watched on TV I do want to indulge in a rapid fire as well

right Okay. >> By the way, we do have a hamper for you at the end of it. So hopefully I'm actually hopeful that you know you'll give a lot of really quirky fun answers because I think a lot of lot of people out there want to see Rajes's human side as well. People know you as a leader but they also want to know you as a human as well. So >> bring it on. >> Awesome. Thank you so much. Uh so here it goes right. Uh short answers, oneeline answers probably. Uh one can you brand you personally connect with

the most? >> Neutrogena. >> Why? >> My kids love it. Oh, awesome. >> One word your team would use to describe you as a leader. >> Um, inspiring and outcome focused. >> Fantastic. An AI buzz word you wish we would all stop using. >> Um, one is of course the humanlike intelligence and I'll tell you why. And uh, second thing is disruptive. Hm. >> Um and again I can give more but so the humanlike intelligence obviously I I I think it has been highly abused u you

know you know I think the systems haven't reached a stage where even AI system can even count five fingers in a hand >> right >> yeah so forget about the human like intelligence right side but it has to come a long way of course so but that has been used in very loose senses in lot of ways of course and disruptive in the sense like AI is not always disruptive AI is actually improving things in lot of ways as well disruptive gives a little negative connotation to all that so I think I particularly I

don't want that disruptive word in my AI journey. >> It makes sense. We are called the innovators and disruptors. I be mindful of that. No, thank you so much for sharing that. The most underrated skill for succeeding in a GCC. >> I think I mentioned that contextual translation >> and then again if you can map that to what the headquarter wants to what the GCC should do that map it into that kind of a wise and hows and what of that ask those questions translate and then keep it simple. I think that makes a GCC

successful that makes you as a GCC site leader or or any leader in GCC successful. >> Fantastic. One book or resource you would gift or recommend most often to leaders? >> Shrimat Bhagat Gita. >> Wow. >> Because I believe every situation in your life, any problem in your life, any question in your life, if you go through that with lot of genuinity that you know that book has the answer for you. >> Amazing. Uh complete the sentence. 5 years from now, GCC's in India will be

>> um able to generate 100 plus billion dollar um revenue in the industry and second uh will be the strategic value differentiator for the headquarters. >> Fantastic. Last one. When you think about innovation, what's the one word that comes to your mind? >> Curiosity. >> That is precisely going back to the same thing again. Why is the question and innovation starts from why and then finding extraordinary things in the ordinary situations. >> Fantastic. Thank you so much Rahes for taking our time. It was a fantastic

conversation. I'm sure a lot of people a lot of consumers are going to be listening to us. We'll find so many amazing nuggets of information and wisdom and gam from you. So I think they should that should really help them you know lead their lives better both in terms of their personalized as well as professional and also get a better understanding about the the world of consumer health as well. So thank you so much for sharing that. pleasure, honor absolutely to be on this platform away and I think through this platform uh I definitely want to tell everyone don't

stop dreaming. Um sometimes the the target may look like pretty distant impossible but every target if you you know break it into small little baby step uh sprints and scrums and everything you 100% will be able to achieve. Don't take your eyes off the goal but in the process don't stop enjoying the journey also because life is not about the goal life is about the journey. >> That's amazing. That that's deep. that's holistic and I think that's such a wonderful advice and on that note I do want to give you the hamper that I

promised you and I think we have amazing gifting partners let me give you those >> it's my pleasure absolutely taking it from you a >> thank you so much this is from >> admire you you're absolutely your innovation spirit and obviously the platform that you're creating it's an honor to be receiving it from you >> our pleasure complete this is one of our gifting partners which is called Nantra which harmonizes India's ancient narratives and crafts with contemporary living creating sustainable treasures that preserve cultural heritage while

ensuring artisal traditions high for generations to come. So the Rajatra that you see here is also one of those ancient traditions that they have brought to life today. So that's that and they have amazing personalized gift for you and on the other one >> oh there's one more >> there's one more and this is Kohome Organics another gifting partner of ours and it's from both of them to you. >> Thank you to all your sponsors of course for the great gifts of course we'll definitely cherish that. >> Pleasure. Thank you so much. All right,

thank you so much folks for joining in today. We had a fantastic conversation. If you have any questions or comments or feedback, do feel free to reach out. I will see if at all Rajes has some possibility of taking a little bit of time to answering those questions. But do do give us uh your feedback and if you find anything interesting, do reach out to us. We'll be happy to receive that uh feedback as well. Thank you. Heat. Heat.