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< Back The path towards technology transformation can be very long, says Swapnil Deshpande, Chief Digital Officer at ThoughtWorks This is an exclusive interview conducted by the Editor Team of CIO News with Swapnil Deshpande, Chief Digital Officer at ThoughtWorks. Technology leaders need to be able to adapt to the constantly changing environment around them, sense the change early, and be ready before the change becomes a problem by responding to the change appropriately How did you plan your career path to be a successful technology leader? Let me break down this question and answer it in two parts. First, “how did I become a technology leader?” and second, “how did I become a successful leader?” For the first part of the question, let me admit that my journey of becoming a technology leader has grown from many small career dreams I had at various stages in my life. My very first career dream as a child was to grow up and be a teacher. Being the son of two teachers, I have always had a great admiration for teachers, their knowledge and wisdom, and their ability to impart knowledge and build the characters of hundreds of students. Growing up further, when I was in my pre-teens, I developed a passion for reading, and I would spend hours and hours reading various kinds of books and novels. Reading would not only broaden my knowledge and understanding of various subjects, but it would also foster a deep respect for the authors’ creativity and story-telling abilities, and their fantastic ability to take readers on a journey through their stories was something I was eager to learn. So, my second career dream was to become an author or storyteller. Later in my early teens, I got introduced to computers, and it unlocked a completely different world for me. I was fascinated by the abilities of computers and the possibilities they could unlock for the world. Computers allowed me to be creative, abstract, and structured at the same time, and I knew that this is what I wanted to pursue for the rest of my life. So, my next career dream was to make a career in computers and technology. Thankfully, I stuck to that for the rest of my life. After completing a formal professional education from NIT Allahabad as a Computer Science and Engineering student, I had work tenures with Cognizant, Tech Mahindra, and Amdocs before taking the plunge to be an entrepreneur and setting up two start-ups. My most valuable lessons about the corporate world came during my days as an entrepreneur. Now, I have almost 10 years of working experience with Thoughtworks. For the second part of the question, I do not know if I am successful or not. The definition of success is different for different people, so I cannot say generally whether my career is successful or not; I will leave that to others to decide if they think of me as successful or not. For me, “career” is a long-term and evolving part of life. A successful career includes great learning as well as using that learning to help build a positive impact on others. For the first part (my professional life), I believe I have had a reasonable amount of success because I have had numerous opportunities to continue my learning over the course of my two decades of experience. For the second one, I would leave it to the people who work with me to tell if I have been successful in delivering a positive impact on their life and helping them grow. What challenges you faced in your career path and how did you overcome them? I have a comprehension issue with the word “challenge.” I find it difficult to treat a specific situation as a challenge; I would rather think of it as an “opportunity” to make an impact or make life better for someone. A couple of examples I can give are: some people think of the “rapidly changing technology landscape” as a challenge; I think of it as an opportunity to continuously learn and expand the horizon. Another example could be the “constrained financial situation of companies and departments” post-COVID, which may be a challenge to deliver impact, but I think of that as an opportunity to “innovate” the business models. Looking at any situation as a challenge makes your brain think of it as a problem to be solved or mitigated and responds like that, possibly in a constrained way where the focus is to avoid loss or issues or risks. However, looking at the same situation as an opportunity makes you think across the horizon to find the best solutions, innovative solutions, and sometimes those that do not exist today. The emphasis then shifts to value maximisation and impact maximisation rather than risk or loss avoidance. Having said that, the real challenge comes when you deal with people and their emotions at work. Understanding human nature and behaviour is indeed challenging, yet an important aspect of leadership. I am pretty sure I have made mistakes in my leadership career; however, it remains a journey of continuous learning. What are the challenges faced by technology leaders today while implementing digital technologies? Continuing from the previous theme, rather than outlining the challenges that are likely to be faced by the technology leaders, I would like to outline the situations that the technology leaders are likely to face and in which they will play an important role in steering the organisation forward. Technology leaders will face increasing pressures from managing and navigating industry and business model disruptions. They are not only expected to react to disruptions, but also to anticipate and prepare for them in many cases. Markets are evolving fast, and the technology landscape is evolving even faster, so navigating this will be a big thing on the minds of the leaders. On the other side, this presents a wonderful opportunity to disrupt yourself and get ahead of the competition. Aside from the topic of disruptions, technology leaders will increasingly face constraints on the investment dollars at their disposal. In the post-pandemic, recession-hit world, investments in building new technology or in the use of new technology are getting harder scrutiny. The technology leaders will need to learn how to manage experiments, innovations, and using new technology for generating tangible value without touching their mainstream businesses (that earn money). The third and perhaps equally important conundrum that the technology leaders will face is to manage the timing of their key investment decisions. When should I invest in developing or deploying technology for commercial purposes? Should we buy technology or build it ourselves? The right decision always lies somewhere in between “opportunity cost” and “cost of missed opportunity.” If you invest too early, you may not get the right value (because the use cases have not matured), while if you invest too late, you may have missed out entirely. Technology leaders will need to always balance their decisions between these two poles. How can technology leaders overcome the challenges faced? While technology is important, the people and leaders of the organisations that drive tech initiatives and business transformation play a larger role. For an effective outcome, they need to have the right mindset and be “transformation ready.” I would advise the technology leaders to focus on the following key aspects for preparing themselves and their teams to respond better to challenges and unpredictable situations: How to think? The technology leaders need to see possibilities and opportunities beyond the current problems and situations they are encountering on a day-to-day basis. Being buried in today’s problems does not help people have the right mindset to imagine a better future. How to act? Because things can get unpredictable along the way and decisions could go wrong along the way, it is important for the leaders to be tolerant of an environment that seems ambiguous and often contains risks. Since the path for each company is unique and unexplored, the teams and leaders need to show a high level of resilience in the face of constant change and constant ambiguity along the way. How to react? The path towards technology transformation can be very long, bumpy, and full of unexpected surprises and blockers along the way. Leadership changes, organisational direction changes, business model changes, organisational politics, shifting powers between teams, and the ability to influence are some of the key reasons why the path can be bumpy. The technology leaders need to be able to adapt to the constantly changing environment around them, sense the change early, and be ready before the change becomes a problem by responding to the change appropriately. Any best practices, industry trends, or advice you’d give to fellow technology leaders to help them succeed professionally? Technology is transient and ever-changing, while the business value paradigm is permanent. While some businesses develop new technologies, the vast majority of businesses use technology to deliver business value. I would strongly advise the technology leaders to take a keen interest in understanding the business model of the organisation and the associated nuances. Knowing how the company runs and generates profit or grows is very important knowledge that the technology leaders should possess. Keep your curiosity quotient high. Go back to the fundamentals and apply first-principles thinking to bring more innovation and impact to your business. Do not be satisfied with the status quo and challenge it continuously. Finally, taking inspiration from the most successful football teams, another message I would like to give to the technology leaders is to forget about the past achievements and successes and focus on delivering future value. What you did in the past is over and should be forgotten as soon as possible, and your focus should be on the next target. A technologist’s true joy comes from the journey of learning and creating value. Any other points that you would like to highlight? Some tips that have helped me along the way are: Try not to overinvest emotionally at work. Invest in people, not work or products. Your career and journey are much larger than the project or team you are currently on. So, invest in long-term relationships and help each other grow. Have a passion (or a hobby) outside of work that you are willing to burn your nights for. For me, watching Manchester United play football is one such passion. I tell my team not to be surprised if they see me responding to some chat messages or emails at 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. India time. It’s possible I might have been awake watching football. Take time off. Do not just book time off to fight stress and refresh your mind; take time off to experience new things too. Take care of your physical and mental well-being. The pandemic has taught us how important it is to take care of mental health. Take it seriously and take good care of it. Previous Next

Deepthi completed her MBA, started her career in IT in a pre-sales role, moved on to be Six-sigma consultant before joining Thoughtworks 2.5 yrs ago as a BA and currently playing the role of the Product Owner for the Data platforms team. Women leadership series - In conversation with Deepthi K 5 Mar 2022 Deepthi completed her MBA, started her career in IT in a pre-sales role, moved on to be Six-sigma consultant before joining Thoughtworks 2.5 yrs ago as a BA and currently playing the role of the Product Owner for the Data platforms team. How would you introduce yourself? Hello there ! My name is Deepthi and I play the role of a Product Owner for the Data Platform team at Thoughtworks. I am passionate about working on social change initiatives and I truly believe we all are empowered to make a positive impact on the world. At home, I am raising a little lioness aged 4 who inspires me to be a better person everyday. These are the attributes that I think of when it comes to my identity. Can you tell me a bit about your career journey? After completing my MBA in Lean Operations and Systems I joined the IT fraternity in a pre-sales role. I loved to experiment with new projects and roles even early in my career . From my pre-sales role I moved on to be a Six-Sigma consultant. Soon after, I picked up the role of a business analyst for one of the world's largest consumer retail companies…and that got me hooked. I started my journey with Thoughtworks around 2.5 years back as a business analyst and have recently taken up the role of a product owner for the data platform team. It has been an interesting journey in the Data space with incredible opportunities to learn and experiment. When did you first get into a leadership role? I think I have been informally introduced into the leadership role ever since I joined my first project as a BA. Though there were no explicit expectations set on me as a leader, I found myself getting curious and learning on the job. This helped to grow my competencies to fit the needs of the project without much of a push and pull. Overtime I got the opportunity to work as the lead BA for the team, a part time PM role and now a PO role. Now that I look back, I can see how big a role autonomous teams and cultivators play in an organization. What were the top challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them? 'Imposter Syndrome' - Definitely. I had to take a career break in between for a couple of years and when I first joined back it was challenging to get into a creative problem solving mode without worrying about skewed outcomes and imagined hurdles. It took some time to gain confidence and what helped was - 1. focusing on the task at hand and thinking of it as an opportunity to exercise and learn new skills 2. Collecting feedback proactively 3. Measuring actual outcomes at each step. What motivates you? Many things - 1. Working with individuals who are passionate about their craft. 2. Learning new and interesting things at work 3. Being a part of a thriving community that fosters deep and candid communication. Do you have a role model in your life? Can you name a few people who you look up to? My dad has been a great role model and influence. He kept widening my horizons and made me realize my own hidden strengths. This has shaped the way I think and act and I try to evolve and emulate these traits with all the great people around me. When I joined Tw, I was amazed by how leaders shared their thoughts very candidly and productively, each one inspiring me in their own unique ways. The list is actually long but few whom I would like to mention are - Ruchika Bhargava (PM - Bahmni Project) , Sujitha Selvaraj- (Office Principal for Tw CBE) and Richa Trivedi ( my previous mentor). What does leadership mean to you? How would you describe your leadership style? For me a leader is someone who inspires you to elevate your thinking without a fear of failure. In short, that is the example that I would like to set for my team . What would be your advice to young leaders? Do not trivialize the impact that you as an individual can have on your project/ team/ goals. You can inspire people by setting an example of how things can be done. It doesn't matter how small you think the task is and whether anyone would notice it or not. The other important thing is you pull others up on their journey as you grow. Listen, be empathetic and you will find opportunities to leverage the strengths and solve problems more efficiently.

Caihong is one of the best at organizing and executing all kinds of work and is absolutely super efficient to get stuff done. Almost relentless! Women leadership series - In conversations with Caihong Liu 5 Mar 2022 Caihong is one of the best at organizing and executing all kinds of work and is absolutely super efficient to get stuff done. Almost relentless! How would you introduce yourself? Hi, My name is Caihong Liu. My husband, me and our 11-year-old son live / work and study in Chengdu, China. My husband's biased description of me is that I am good at organizing and executing all kinds of work and is super efficient. My son doesn't have a mature description of me yet, sometimes he calls me the best mom in the world, sometimes he is not very happy with me because I am firm on his study and can be pushy in order to keep his time management on track. One common description of my colleagues towards me is that I am very good at getting things done. Can you tell me a bit about your career journey? When did you first get into a leadership role? I majored in Computer Science for both of my Bachelor and Master degrees in a good university (University of Electronics, Science and Technology of China) in Chengdu. After graduation I joined Motorola, and worked there first as a Developer / QA and 3 years later my first Project Manager leadership role. I started to interview candidates, managing teams and teams’ delivery. Motorola passed the CMMI level 5 certificate back then so I was educated in the way of following the process in every step of the software development lifecycle. The 5 years working in Motorola led me into the TeleCOM industry. After Motorola I worked in Nokia (later changed to NSN) and TietoEnator (later changed to Tieto), with the role of Project Manager, R&D Manager, Networks Director, Site Manager, the size of the teams under my management grew to over 1000 people. I was in the leadership role for another 7 years. Within this period, I was the first batch of scrum masters and started to use agile and lean practices in our daily deliveries. Then my experience of growing a new site for a foreign invested company in Chengdu got noticed by a headhunter and after the interviews I took the position of the site manager for the Bleum Chengdu office. That is the time I transferred from the TeleCOM industry to a software consultancy company and started to learn to provide the service for all different industries. Over 7 months in Bleum, the typical conflict between being a “2-year-old’s mom” and a “full time working mom” reached to the peak - My constant traveling and my own mom who took care of my son at that time had to leave us to take care of my brother’s baby. So I had to stop my “full time work” and be the “2-year-old’s mom” temporarily until he was old enough to go to kindergarten. I created an Elance (it is a freelancer platform) account at that time, doing research, translations, writing articles for my clients in parallel with taking care of my son. My husband complained a lot because most of my clients were from the US and I had to work till very late hours and my husband was concerned about my health and did not think it would be sustainable. Fortunately 1 year later, my son started kindergarten and I joined ThoughtWorks as a staffing manager first, Later community manager, project manager, I will be with ThoughtWorks for 8 years this June. What were the top challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them? One of the top challenges I faced during my journey is things can always be more complicated than they seem to be and I don’t have all the answers, but teams are counting on me for. What I usually do in this scenario is to organize the people who have the best knowledge to break down all the problems, get them analyzed, prioritized and get them tackled one after another. Explain as much and clearly as possible, and be the first person to take responsibility, walk my talk to move the whole team forward together. The other top challenge I face is to find the balance of my focus and time spent among context analysis, planning, operational and administrative tasks, managing team(s) deliveries, managing up, cross teams’ cooperation etc. The context is changing so flexibility is always required. When I first stepped into my leadership role, I made the mistake of still taking all the difficult tech tasks with me (Because I did them very well in the past), which left the other team members less opportunities to grow. What I do after I realize the problem is to adjust my focus according to the context and support people to own the tasks which could build their expertise and help on their growth. What motivates you? Making people’s lives better, it doesn’t matter if it is via Tech or not, I feel achievement when a problem is solved and people benefit from what I do. Do you have a role model in your life? Can you name a few people who you look up to? My mum is my life long role model, she did not receive much education, but she is the best at everything she does and is usually super fast at everything, plus she is always kind to all people, even the ones who are mean to her. Oprah Winfrey (An American host) and Echo Chen (A Chinese writer) are also my role models, I admire their storytelling talents, their energy and interpretation of making the world a more interesting place, and their courage to move on when the world is not so beautiful. I wish to be more like them to tell stories and influence people positively. What does leadership mean to you? How would you describe your leadership style? To me leadership means a good facilitator and a transformer, sometimes you need to be a beacon, sometimes an architect, sometimes a catalyst, sometimes just a person. Being a good facilitator helps to put everything together and being the transformer helps to roll in different roles when context changes, with the goal to organize a group of people to get things done. My leadership style (or my goal) is pretty much the same. I’d like to borrow the words I heard before “We play to win, or we don’t play” as my leadership identity. What would be your advice to young leaders? The best lesson I learned from my experience is leadership is about creating conditions that enable others to be at their best. It is easy said but can be hard to do. I find running rehearsals in my head beforehand can help me practice from different angles. It is like playing chess, I get to think forwardly what are those conditions, how they will help other people, from what ways and what are the best shots; Also young leaders might feel embarrassed to reach out for help and support at the beginning, but what I learned is that it is absolutely OK to do so, other people usually would love to offer you the needed help and support, so don’t lose the opportunity to learn from other people.

Anumeha is a Data Strategist & Product Manager with Thoughtworks and she says "Nothing gives me more joy than watching those around me grow and reach their dreams." Women leadership series - In conversation with Anumeha Verma 5 Mar 2022 Anumeha is a Data Strategist & Product Manager with Thoughtworks and she says "Nothing gives me more joy than watching those around me grow and reach their dreams." How would you introduce yourself? I’m a generalist in both my personal and professional lives and don the hat that my personal or work family needs the most. Sometimes that’s a friend, other times a disciplinary parent, or a product manager or rebel leader. My creativity thrives in chaos and I love to use it for creating structure and organisation. Words are my first love and I’m an avid reader too. Can you tell me a bit about your career journey? When did you first get into a leadership role? My journey is similar to a lot of technologists in India. I studied Electronics & Comms engineering and landed an IT job. A few years later, I decided to go back to college and study HR and General Management. I was excited to join on the Digital Business side and thus joined Thoughtworks. I’ve been in Analysis and Product roles ever since, with a specialisation in Data & Analytics. My first leadership role happened a couple of years into my career, while working with Tata Consultancy Service (TCS). I remember it being a lot of fun and also quite stressful as I walked the tightrope from a manager to a leader. What were the top challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them? This might be the longest answer I give you. For I love a good challenge :) There are a couple of challenges that are top of my mind. One was my inability to fail. As a leader, I felt it was my responsibility to keep succeeding so my team could look up to me. How could I fall in front of those that I lead? However, my mentor pointed out how that was stopping me from making the right decisions and more importantly, it was stopping my team from doing their best. Over time, I’ve learnt to look at failures as learning opportunities. For example, I learnt to test our hypothesis and take calculated risks before making a big, new investment. Another that I’d call out is the need for validation that some of us have. I’ve seen this in women more than I’d like, including myself. I’ve been hesitant to aim for the sky for I wonder if I‘ve got all the right skills. This excerpt sums it up nicely: A chief information officer at a large bank told us about her experience receiving support from sponsors. When she first became eligible for promotion, she believed that she could apply only if all her skills matched the stated job requirements. But her sponsors counseled her that the leaders in charge of promotions considered some skills essential but saw others as skills that candidates could develop on the job. (I’d recommend reading the full article here ) Having friends and mentors around me, who give me honest and constructive feedback, has been my biggest career support. In my endevour to be a lifelong learner, I also think about my work quite deeply and reflect on what’s happening in my space and others. What motivates you? To see my team grow. Nothing gives me more joy than watching those around me grow and reach their dreams. As a leader, I constantly strive to create both space and support for my team. Space for them to stretch themselves towards ambitious goals but also giving them support so they have the skills and resources to move forward. I draw a lot of positive energy from my work. I really love what I do and that keeps me tap-dancing to work everyday. Do you have a role model in your life? Can you name a few people who you look up to? There are so many! But I’ll name three women for now: My mum to start with. Her energy and excitement to learn new things never ceases to amaze me, even at her 60+ age. I’m also thankful for having a lot of women at work to look upto. To name a few, Joanna Parke, Chief Talent Officer at Thoughtworks, for being such a great, empathetic leader and encouraging others around her to voice their opinions and Sunita M, General Manager at Thoughtworks, for being that leader whose candour can put anyone at ease and how she keeps her cool in the most difficult of situations. What does leadership mean to you? How would you describe your leadership style? To me, leadership is an everyday job. There are the ones who lead from the front and save the day in a crisis. But, to me, leadership is getting out there with our team and face the everyday challenges together. What would be your advice to young leaders? Hustle > Fail > Learn > Grow. Repeat. Set ambitious goals. If some of these goals frighten you, it’s a good thing. That’s what tells you that you’re aiming high. Have trust in yourself and make your dreams come true.

If you think of some of the most successful football club teams in the world .. < Back Three models of building successful teams If you think of some of the most successful football club teams in the world .. [ Originally published on LinkedIn here ] If you think of some of the most successful football club teams in the world in the past 50 years, Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Barcelona would likely come on top of your list. Between them, they have won 80+ domestic and 21+ continental & world football honours and the list does not end there. While, they are known for success, glamour, and position they held in the world football for multiple years, they also represent three unique models for developing successful teams over multiple years and generations. Manchester United Success philosophy - Visionary leader, investing in young players with potential and hunger The most successful period of Manchester United’s history had been under two legendary managers, Sir Matt Busby, and Sir Alex Ferguson. They created multiple generations of successful teams from young, hungry talent. Think Busby Babes and the Class of 94 and more. Both managers spotted, recruited, invested in and cultivated in potential young talent that had a burning desire to succeed and dominate the world and created a culture of discipline and an environment where talent flourished. They both exactly knew how to balance team goals and individual aspirations. The moment the manager felt someone was being bigger than the club or team, the player was shown door out of the club. They had a long-term vision of the club success. The club, however, went downhill each time the legendary manager retired or left the club. Real Madrid FC Success philosophy - Buy the best talent, have a manager that can keep them together and see them create wonder Since I started following Football (maybe last 20 odd years ago), I have always known Real Madrid to invest in and buy the best of the talent available in the market and got them working together in the team. They created a super brand with the ‘Galácticos’ approach. Their president Florentino Pérez spent huge money on buying the best available players from other teams and countries and created a Real Madrid team that was the envy of the world. Every player, in every position, was a world-class and expensive purchase and probably one of the best, if not the best in the world at doing their job. They went on to win a lot of trophies, simply because they were almost always better than the opponent in quality at every playing department. The job of their manager was mostly spent in managing the big player egos and ensuring that these brilliant bunch of people were always able to play together. Barcelona FC Success philosophy - Create a perfect system and follow the system to perfection that leads to the success When you think of Barcelona, it is very likely that you would likely think of terms like beautiful football, Tiki-taka and passing opponents to death. Indeed, it’s a system that has worked wonders for Barcelona for multiple years. They have defined system and a predictable way of playing football and is based on intrinsic passing, keeping possession, outrunning opposition and allowing individuals to flourish. Everyone who joins the team must adapt to the system and learn to play a part. Over multiple years of use, the system has been perfected to help them achieve results, simply by outplaying and outrunning the oppositions. Often, the opposition is not able to keep up with Barcelona and end up losing. Summary If you are a football fan, I am sure you would connect with these three teams and their characteristics that I outline above. So, if you want to apply these models in your teams and within your organizations, here is what you should consider. To build a successful team based on the Manchester United model you should, Have a manager/leader with a vision, clarity, and passion to build teams Policy, process, and mechanism to recruit the best young talent with potential Creating an environment for them to succeed and achieve individual goals and glory Do not be afraid to take risks and stretch people to seek higher goals Base your system/processes based on talent at disposal to get the best out of what you have Leader’s vision matters the most and the leader has the last word To build a successful team based on Real Madrid model you should, Buy (hire) the best people, pay them the most, put them in a team, let them figure out how to win Strategize to be a company/division/unit/team or a brand that people aspire to associate with Leader’s job is to keep the team working and manage people System is based on the team at the disposal Vision is to the best brand and best paymasters where best people want to work To build a successful team based on the Barcelona model you should, Build a solid system around sound foundations, Leaders, and teams follow the system absolutely to the last word Take a perfectionist approach to implement the process & system Allow individual talent to flourish but only as a part of a perfected system, without breaking/challenging the system People who radically alter the system are not welcome Perfect system is most important, leaders and teams can keep altering Which model would you be using to build your successful team? 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< Back Futuristic Technology: How should companies prepare their workforce for such a future? Here is an exclusive conversation with Swapnil Deshpande, Published in Times Jobs. Futuristic tech includes the likes of Robotics, Artificial Intelligence , Cognitive Computing, Machine Learning, Quantum Computing etc., and we find their implementations all around us. The advancements in cognitive technologies and AI in the last few years mean computers are increasingly able to do tasks that were traditionally done by humans. A few examples? Alexa, Siri, self-driving cars etc. Cognitive technologies’ impact on organisations Interestingly, the technology is also impacting organisations like never before. And, over the coming years, their impact will significantly grow changing how organisations work with clients, run businesses and operations, and most importantly manage their workforce. Cognitive technologies like Robotic Process Automation help organisations reduce operations costs, increase speed and accuracy, improve output quality - more than what humans can deliver but, in the same amount of time. Some applications of cognitive technologies augment (or assist) humans in doing their jobs either better or faster. And, in other cases provide insights that help humans make better decisions and improve the delivery of work. Cognitive technologies’ impact on the workforce In the coming years, cognitive technologies will not be an option for organisations. Almost every organisation, across sectors, will implement some application of the tech in their internal/business operations and/or products and services to the customers. Jobs of the future will be redefined, and their nature will change from completing tasks to delivering value and desired outcome. And, the workforce will include both human (permanent and contingent) and nonhuman (machines, robots, computers and systems) segments. The changing landscape of jobs will leave skills like creativity, empathy, complex problem solving, critical thinking, STEM, SMAC and ability to learn, unlearn and relearn at a fast pace, in most demand amongst humans. Cognitive technologies will evolve to help machines grow their ability to perform complex tasks - however this isn’t an all-or-nothing proposition. Organisations will need to find ways for human and nonhuman segments to collaborate and complement each other when delivering desired outcomes. What is the future-ready talent strategy for organisations? The aforementioned human-machine collaboration will revolutionise organisations’ talent strategies. For instance, organisations’ re-thought strategies should include - ● Mapping all the internal and customer facing work ● Identifying and classifying the work into human and nonhuman segments ● Identifying core work that require human intervention ● Identifying work that can be automated / eliminated or augmented using cognitive technologies ● Identifying impact (of work) on teams and functions due to displacement and augmentation ● Redesigning jobs to be outcome-oriented while keeping the human-machine collaboration in mind ● Designing workforce transformation plans that address and prepare organisations for future jobs ● Investing in developing critical human skills required to perform the jobs of the future ● Planning and managing workforce transformation as a priority change program ● Continuously assess the impact of the transformation programme, review and revisit the plans at appropriate frequency Technologies of the future bring threats as well as opportunities to organisations. To safeguard themselves from the potential threats, it is advisable for organisations to really delve into the impact these tech and plan for appropriate workforce transformation. Previous Next

On the face value of the question, it looks very simple to everyone, however ... < Back How would you define leadership? On the face value of the question, it looks very simple to everyone, however ... What do you think leadership means to you? How would you define it? I was part of a discussion with the new joiners to talk about the leadership and one of the question I asked them was the above. On the face value of the question, it looks very simple to everyone, however what surprised me and probably others was that everyone took a pause and thought for a moment before answering the questions. Few interesting answers that came out of the discussion were, – Leadership is all about getting things done on time within budget & costs – Leadership means helping your team grow – Its about people management – Its about how you handle issues and the pressure cooker situations – Leadership is how you motivate people to do their jobs – Leadership is about managing the work and team – Leadership is controlling the behaviour and emotions of self and influencing in others – Leadership is all about setting the rules and helping the followers follow them! and the answer I gave was “Leadership is all about taking risks and making key decisions that help you grow your team”. However, after the session is now complete, I would redefine leadership as, Leadership is not a science, its an art. Its an art on how you understand the mindset of individuals as well as groups, connect with people of various styles and patterns and still form a successful team and achieve a common goal of growth & success. However, none of the above is possible, without yourself making a conscious effort to understand yourself, your own emotions and learn to control and channelize them to create positive energy around. Leadership is demonstrated by various people and they have unique style of executing leadership within the group. Previous Next

When we gathered to discuss about Collaboration, questions came about What exactly is Collaboration? How we can achieve it? .. < Back What exactly is a "collaboration"? When we gathered to discuss about Collaboration, questions came about What exactly is Collaboration? How we can achieve it? .. Recently I have been part of few discussions on how to increase collaboration within enterprise & at an industry level. The forum was volunteered by enthusiastic professionals who wanted to deliver value to their work through collaboration. Excellent thought ! When we gathered to discuss about Collaboration, questions came about What exactly is Collaboration? How we can achieve it? How different is it than team work? Simple questions, one might think, however when the question was asked to everyone round the table, we got few interesting answers. Few of those I would like to mention as follows, “Collaboration is what the F1 team does to ensure that the driver is on the track within shortest time. Its just another form of Teamwork” “Collaboration is what the Power Inverter company does with the Battery company to provide the customers a full set of power solution. Its more about knowing your strengths & weaknesses and match it with someone else’s so create a powerful combination that enables more success” “Collaboration is a process of knowledge management where people are important, but outcome is even more important. Look at Wikipedia, we have world’s biggest knowledge bank in one place, and we don’t even know who created it. Collaboration focuses on end outcome, rather than who does it.” Interesting ! What is your definition of collaboration? Previous Next

Junjun Yang, also called as Lily, is part ofthe Digital Capabilities team with @Thoughtworks IT. She started her career in China in in Digital marketing & communications, before moving to Silicon Valley technology start up as a Marketing director. She is motivated to learn new things, gain new skills and taking on new responsibilities and solve problems. Emerging leadership series - In conversation with Junjun Yang (Lily) 14 Feb 2023 Junjun Yang, also called as Lily, is part ofthe Digital Capabilities team with @Thoughtworks IT. She started her career in China in in Digital marketing & communications, before moving to Silicon Valley technology start up as a Marketing director. She is motivated to learn new things, gain new skills and taking on new responsibilities and solve problems. How would you introduce yourself? My name’s Junjun Yang, and most people call me Lily. I am from China, and I joined the thoughtworks as a business analyst in 2021. Can you tell me a bit about your career journey? What inspired you to take on the leadership role? After completing my master degree in Environmental Science from Peking University, I started my career in the digital marketing and communication industry by coincidence. Even though the problem that people are trying to resolve in digital marketing is different from that in the science labs, the approach is basically the same, namely systems thinking and analytical skills. Since moving to a Silicon Valley technology start-up in 2016, I've held positions as marketing director. That gives me an opportunity to do lots of different things and develop skills, like capital raising, product localization, and have a full experience to build a business and expand the brand in China. I'm very motivated by learning new things, gaining new skills, taking new responsibilities, and trying new ways to solve problems. That’s what inspired me to take on the leadership role, and why I joined the thoughtworks. What were the top challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them? One of the biggest work challenges I’ve faced is selling ideas to others or persuading colleagues, who are just willing to listen to themselves and never listen to others’ opinions. It made the collaboration difficult, and work was proceeding slowly. First, we need to build trust. I initiated many conversations to focus on what they have to say and let them know I truly understand what they care about. Second, invite them to identify the root of the problem together. Instead of proposing the solutions, we discussed what the current situation is, and answered essential questions together. After fully communicating, we were finally in alignment with the problem and reached a consensus on the solutions . What motivates you everyday? I believe we are the sum total of our experience. Experience motivates me. For positive or negative, at home or at work, be it together or alone, I may want to experience something different and progress every day. Do you have a role model in your life? Can you name a few people who you look up to? My role model is my last supervisor Brian Yang, and he is also my mentor because of his strong leadership and lifelong learning. We built a great team, pulled through the tough situation and accomplished business goals. He led by example and taught me how to think globally, how to communicate with staff and upper management effectively, and gave me advice on how to plan my career. Currently in thoughtworks, many long-term thoughtworkers and great women are inspiring me everyday, such as Gregory Schalliol, who is always shown concern for social vulnerable groups and starts a program to help the unemployed in his retirement, and KK, who is willing to spend time developing others and provide learning opportunities for the junior. What does leadership mean to you? How would you describe your leadership style? Leadership means collaboration to me and leading by examples. I would describe my leadership style as delegate, and open minded. I enjoy taking the lead and responsibilities, planning for the strategy, and considering future growth. But I also like to stay involved, work hands-on and know how to help coworkers do theirs better but not get in the way. What would be your advice to other leaders? What I expect from myself is continued self-improvement, like thinking critically, communicating clearly, and establishing connections with others to build trust, share ideas, develop their strengths and achieve the work. This could be my advice to other leaders as well. Chinese version 简单介绍下你自己？ 我是杨君君，大家也叫我Lily。在2021年我加入thoughtworks武汉办公室，作为一名业务分析师。 可以分享一下你的职业经历吗？ 是什么促使你承担领导者的角色？ 在完成七年的环境科学专业学习之后，机缘巧合使我在数字营销传播行业开始了自己的职业生涯。我发现尽管人们在数字营销领域试图解决的问题，与在科学实验室里的不同，但运用的思考和方法基本相同，比如系统思维，和逻辑分析。 在2016年，我加入了一家硅谷科技初创公司，担任市场总监。在五年的时间里，我有机会锻炼多样的能力，也有幸实践了很多不同的事情，比如支持公司不同成长阶段的融资、响应市场的需要进行产品本地化，以及拥有在中国市场建立业务，和扩大品牌影响力的宝贵经验。 学习新事物，获得新技能，承担新责任，尝试新方法来解决问题，这些激励我积极担任领导者角色，也是我当初加入thoughtworks的原因之一。 在这段经历中你所遇到的最大挑战是什么？又是如何克服的？ 我曾经遇到的最大挑战之一是如何推销自己的想法，说服共事的人。如果对方过于果断，只想听自己的声音，从不听取他人意见，合作往往会格外艰难，事情的推进缓慢。 首先要做的是，构建信任，为此我发起了许多次对话，专注于让对方表达自己想说的，确保他们明白我是真正理解他们所关心的。之后，我会邀请他们一起澄清问题，或者找到分歧的根源，不着急提出解决方案，而只是讨论当前的情况，共同回答一些重要问题。经过充分的沟通，我们最终对所面对的问题，以及下一步如何去行动达成了共识。 你每天的动力是什么？ 我相信，人是自身经历、经验的总和。每一天激励我的是能经历不同的事物。无论是积极的还是消极的，在家庭生活中还是工作中，无论是在集体里或独自一人，我期待每天有新的体验和成长。 在你的生活中有行为榜样吗？ 可以介绍几位你所钦佩的人吗？ 我的行为榜样是之前的上司 Brian Yang，他有很强的领导力和终身学习的能力。回顾一起渡过难关，一起达成业务目标的时光，Brian始终以身作则带领团队，也教会我如何从全局思考，如何建立与员工和高层的有效沟通，以及指导我如何规划自己的职业生涯。 现在，身边有很多资深的thoughtworkers令我钦佩，比如Gregory Schalliol，他一直关心和支持社会弱势群体，刚刚退休的他将启动一个帮助当地失业者的项目；KK老师，她愿意投入自己对时间发展别人，并为后辈创造学习实践的机会。 领导力对你意味着什么？ 你如何描述自己的领导风格？ 对我而言，领导力意味着合作带领进步，以身作则。 我认为自己的领导风格是知人善任，保持开明的思想。一方面，我愿意承担领导者的责任，为中长期的发展做规划；另一方面，我也很享受在团队中，处理实际的任务，帮助同事们更顺畅的创造价值，而非妨碍他们。 你对其他领导者有什么建议？ 我期待自己成为持续学习者，比如，持续迭代自己的思维能力，与他人更清晰地沟通，建立联系建立信任，持续分享自己的想法，发挥个人优势以更好的实现目标，等等。这也可以作为我对其他领导者的建议。

A strong desire to be a catalyst or a problem solver brings Venkatesh to work everyday. He is at his best when he is connected to people. Emerging leadership series - In conversation with Venkatesh V 12 Jan 2023 A strong desire to be a catalyst or a problem solver brings Venkatesh to work everyday. He is at his best when he is connected to people. How would you introduce yourself? I am a taskmaster, go-getter, thinker, story teller, an influencer and an enabler working for /thoughtworks in the role of a Product Manager. It's been 5 fantastic years so far in thoughtworks and I must say some of the best times in my career are what I am doing right now at work. I have had a good share of Industry experience prior to I started off in software consulting, I have briefly run a start up and have also helped my family business scale during my long sabbatical. In my current role, I work with a fantastic team to build a product that addresses the critical access management needs of /thoughtworks to run thoughtworks’ business as a public company. The product we build directly contributes to the efficient functioning of business, providing right access to right systems/data for right people at right time. This product benefits the business directly and indirectly in many ways. Can you tell me a bit about your career journey? What inspired you to take on the leadership role? I was one of those people who was drawn by working in the fancies of the technology industry, genuinely interested by getting a taste of doing it for a project while working in the financial services sector. I knew I had it in me but have waited long for a suitable opportunity to transform my career path. The euphoria moment was 12 years ago and I haven't looked back ever since. I have taken leaps in growing levels in a short span of time in my past career. I once used to be the youngest among my counterparts responsible for managing business operations for a state/province. I have had reportees more experienced and qualified than me, despite I felt this is not what I wanted to. I always wanted to be hands-on responsible for my own work, an individual contributor. But this belief has changed in the environment that I am currently in. It naturally occurred that the role I took up in thoughtworks in a team after being a team player for a considerable time, I had to step up and become responsible for just not what we build but also for the well-being of the people who do it. I would like to stand clarified, I was no one's manager here but a leader to enable people and nurture them. I must thank my leaders who have spotted the potential in me, created an opportunity for me to practice and learn leadership in my own style. My leaders have constantly helped me take up more challenges, extend the role across teams in multiple countries, supported me when I struggled and provided the right kind of support. They made me feel privileged and special, what more can I ask for? What were the top challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them? More than anything the fear of failure and anxiety about ‘Will I be recognised as a leader’. Probably it is the case for anyone who starts off in their leadership role; perhaps I have also gone through that difficult phase. Like I said before, I was backed by my leaders and it was ok for me to experiment, still I was longing for the acceptance and recognition as someone who can lead from the front. It all worked well, with some intentional efforts and took up responsibilities willingly to bring that difference. More than anything, having regular one on one with the team, being open with feedback and listening to the team’s opinions helped me operate well. I remained honest, candid about telling what I really know about anything and was able to gain the team’s trust in a short span. What I enjoyed is observing the team from the cultivation lens, with an intention to see the potential in each one of them and consciously look for opportunities to expose and expand their strengths. I enjoyed doing this repeatedly alongside fulfilling my work responsibilities. I have seen evidently that people grew, became more footed and confident in their trade, they spread the feel good vibe everywhere they went. The emotional send-off that I got from the team I recently rolled off is my personal testimony of how I contributed in building a REALLY STRONG AUTONOMOUS TEAM. What motivates you everyday? The desire to be a catalyst or a problem solver brings me to work everyday, I am at my best when I am connected to people. I can contribute to solving problems interestingly, generate fascinating ideas, build a solution or design an interaction by engaging in a conversation. People and conversations are the real motivation for me to get to work, as long as it all ties to a meaningful goal. Do you have a role model in your life? Can you name a few people who you look up to? I certainly have a role model, not just one but many many. I have got positively influenced by many people/leaders I have come across in both professional and personal lives. I have made sure I build a relationship with such people and continue to draw inspiration and seek their help and support. I am consciously not making an effort to call names here, those people have been my professors, well-wishers, friends, mentor/coach, managers or colleagues. I am sure they would know I am referring to them if they get to read this interview. All due respects and credit to them for having helped me become what I am today and constantly helping me thrive and get better everyday. I talk to people who are in reach often. I remember, recollect and cherish the times of those I could not be in touch with. What does leadership mean to you? How would you describe your leadership style? In my mind leadership has 2 dimensions, Meet the goals as a collective in this process enable/motivate/show the team to do it the right way To Support people to grow in this process, spot the potential in them, provide right opportunities and take them towards their aspirations. These are mutually inclusive in their own way, a leader is not successful by achieving just one of ‘accomplishing the collective goals’ or ‘helping the team meet their aspirations’. A good leader is expected to obtain both with a good balance the most times, no leader or a team is fail proof. One of my colleagues gave this candid feedback to me. Hey Venky, “I think you will have to be less polite and more authoritative in what you ask from the team”. I thought for a while and asked them, the problem here is my style or not getting things done? Is there a concern that I am not delivering to the expectations? My colleague said, no you meeting your expectations is certainly not a problem. Therefore, there is no one leadership style that works the best, it is a combination of what your personality is and what you truly believe in. Some leaders like to drive to the detail and lead by facts, while some remain as an example and show the team how to deliver: neither is good nor bad. It depends on how you orchestrate and make things work and uphold your team’s dignity. My style of leadership is tuned by what is necessary and the kind of people I deal with, however I can confidently say I mostly lead by being an example. I first prefer to do what I expect others to do! What would be your advice to other leaders? I am no expert, so I cannot offer any advice. But I can share what I have learnt from my experience: Leadership is not about one secret formula to success, it can be as different as how unique you are and a different person from everyone else. We can observe and learn from everyone, but practice it based on your best judgment and intuition. At times, I have attempted to deal with situations like how someone whom I look up to would have dealt with it, maybe it is logical or safe to do that way, later I have realized i was not my original self in dealing with it and regretted. At last, be yourself as a person and a leader, learn what to do and what not to, but do things your way. In hindsight, Did I offer advice? Maybe!🙂 Good luck!

Partha is a thought leader and a passionate technologist having 14 + years of experience in Networks and Security domain. He is currently playing the role of enterprise network architect with Thoughtworks. For Partha, leadership is like parenting and is based on trust and integrity. Emerging leadership series - In conversation with Partha Dash 20 Feb 2023 Partha is a thought leader and a passionate technologist having 14 + years of experience in Networks and Security domain. He is currently playing the role of enterprise network architect with Thoughtworks. For Partha, leadership is like parenting and is based on trust and integrity. How would you introduce yourself? A thought leader and a passionate technologist having 14 + years of experience in Networks and Security domain. Currently playing the role of enterprise network architect at Thoughtworks. Can you tell me a bit about your career journey? What inspired you to take on the leadership role? I completed my Bachelors in Computer Science and engineering in 2008 before joining TCS as a desktop support engineer. My stint at Thoughtworks began in 2012 where I played various roles starting from system admin to Infrastructure consultant to leading regional network team and becoming a global network technical leader. The curiosity to understand various cross cutting technologies associated with the network and security domain has actually pushed me to talk to various set of internal and external stakeholders to widen up my perspective and look at things more holistically.This has naturally drifted me to my leadership journey and helped me to think from a global first approach. What were the top challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them? Leading any critical initiatives where there are multiple stakeholders from diversified backgrounds sometimes lead to delay in decision making process and execution.Learning the art of listening and trying to speak in the last has helped me to understand wider perspectives of individuals. This enhanced my articulate skills, bringing the necessary data points to arrive at a common alignment. What motivates you everyday? Smile of my kid. Sense of fulfillment by achieving tiny milestones that is part of a bigger objective. Being part of the growth journeys of other individuals. Do you have a role model in your life? Can you name a few people who you look up to? I am fortunate enough to learn something from many great individuals around me.They have consistently supported me in my growth journey and bring the best out of me. I look up to Nir Zuk (The founder and CTO of Palo Alto Networks).He is the reason why many people like me are passionate about working in the cyber security industry. What does leadership mean to you? How would you describe your leadership style? To me leadership is like Parenting.Leaders should create a safe environment built on trust and integrity where individuals are motivated to do remarkable things. What would be your advice to other leaders? Leadership is a choice not a rank. So it can be performed at any level. Have a clear vision and strategic thought process. Be courageous,transparent and humble.

Jade Daubney is a go-getter and the Global Programme Manager with Thoughtworks University Women leadership series - In conversation with Jade Daubney 5 Mar 2022 Jade Daubney is a go-getter and the Global Programme Manager with Thoughtworks University How would you introduce yourself? I am Jade Daubney and I am the Global Head of Thoughtworks University. Can you tell me a bit about your career journey? When did you first get into a leadership role? I trained to be a Teacher at University, and after realising I completely disagreed with our education system, I 'fell' into Recruitment. I later joined Thoughtworks as part of the UK Recruitment Team and became our Graduate Project Manager; managing all UK Graduate hiring, University relationships, events and scholarships. I spent numerous years training in Change Management and Transformation and have spent the majority of my Thoughtworks career in the Global Recruiting Team, managing our portfolio of change. I threw myself into something new and joined the Digital Platforms Team, doing a very similar role but taking away a whole new wealth of knowledge in a new part of our business. I very recently started my new position as Global Head of Thoughtworks University. I have done a whole 360 and I am back working with our graduates! I would say my real first leadership role was when I joined Global Recruiting, although I have always seen myself as a 'leader' in some capacity at Thoughtworks. What were the top challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them? My main challenge was definitely due to my own internal blockers. As a 'non-technical' young woman, joining a Technology company, in an historically male-dominated sector, it took me a little while to overcome my fears. I would spend time doubting myself and my possible impact. I would even hold back on opinions, nervous that people would think I am too young to make senior executive decisions. I am happy to tell you that I am not that woman any more. I am extremely lucky to be surrounded by incredible colleagues and the most valuable coaches. I overcame my challenges when I realised that I am actually the Subject Matter Expert in MY own area, I don't need to understand how to code, that isn't what I was hired for. When I understood my strengths and how to utilise them, I grew tremendously as a leader and my business impact grew. It is important to remember that skills and attributes that come naturally to some of you, are skills and attributes that other people have to try really hard to learn how to do - that is our special power. What motivates you? Seeing people grow and achieve their goals/dreams is what motivates me to be a better cultivator. Seeing our business do things that we only ever imagined motivates me to think bigger, be more courageous and work smarter. Having siblings motivates me to be a better woman and lead my example. Do you have a role model in your life? Can you name a few people who you look up to? I am blessed to be surrounded by role models, but two that stand out... Emmeline Pankhurst is my hero. She was the leader of the suffragette movement that played a critical role in helping to win British women the right to vote. Her extreme courage and fearless nature constantly inspires me. Secret - I have her tattooed on my body! Iris Apfel is 100 years old - she is an interior designer and fashion icon. She is not afraid to be herself and she taught me that being different is a gift, not something to hide! What does leadership mean to you? How would you describe your leadership style? For me, leadership is the ability to lead, inspire and guide a team, whilst empowering them to reach their fullest potential. I like to think my leadership style is flexible depending on who I am working with. Some people like full autonomy and some people prefer more direction. I prefer to alter my leadership style depending on my team's needs. It is important that my team members are meeting their goals, are happy, are learning and growing, have clarity and direction and are feeling empowered ... Without these things, I am not succeeding as a leader. What would be your advice to young leaders? There is nobody else like you. Understand your strengths and what you bring to the table, and utilise those things. Be open to feedback...getting defensive will stunt your growth. Never stop learning - there is always more. Embrace change. Ask yourself regularly 'what would I do if I was not scared?'