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Chandni is passionate about growing people, teams and companies in the data space and currently, working as the Principal Data Strategist at Thoughtworks. Women leadership series - In conversation with Chandni Stiehl 8 Mar 2022 Chandni is passionate about growing people, teams and companies in the data space and currently, working as the Principal Data Strategist at Thoughtworks. How would you introduce yourself? Hi. I’m Chandni. It’s nice to meet you. I always find it difficult to categorize myself into succinct buckets. People are inherently complex and I enjoy hearing about their experiences and expertise. So, usually I stop with a quick intro and start listening. When pressed I usually share that I am passionate about growing people, teams and companies in the data space. Currently, I’m working as a Data Strategist at Thoughtworks, which means I act as a practitioner leading implementation efforts, as a strategist providing advice, and as an evangelist. If you would like to know more about me, visit my linkedin profile . Can you tell me a bit about your career journey? When did you first get into a leadership role? My career journey started quite young. I would go into my father’s office when I was 14 and manage the front desk. Since then I worked most summers or took extra classes. My journey in leadership really started when I moved to San Francisco and took over the role for a Bank of America manager who was leaving. That was 12 years ago and my career has been a fun rollercoaster since then. I shifted from the Financial sector to start again as a data passionate developer at Thoughtworks. I’ve been at Thoughtworks the last 7 years sharing my passion for all things data. What were the top challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them? Early in my career, I believed that I could do anything I put my mind to. One of my first jobs after my 2nd Masters Degree in Financial Mathematics was with a global quantitative financial instrument trading firm. My hope was that it would open up opportunities to apply my knowledge in financial mathematics. However, being a trader involves going into the pits at the Chicago Board Options Exchange, standing side by side with competitors and yelling at brokers faster and louder than your direct competitors standing next to you. It was contrary to my natural strengths in strategy, negotiation and team building. So I worked hard to become more tactical, decisive and aggressive, believing I can do anything I put my mind to. The work hit me hard after a day with a fat-finger trade resulted in a flash crash causing an enormous uproar in the pits all day long. I left the company shortly after, and am happier for it. In retrospect I realized that believing that I can do anything I put my mind to was a red herring. My new guiding principle is to leverage my mind, time and energy to bring about the changes I want to see in the world. What motivates you? As part of my career journey I was a Statistic Instructor at Loyola University Chicago. There I was able to see when that proverbial light bulb turned on in people’s heads. Later on I would see how the right product, the right analysis, the right design would do the same for users. I love seeing people have that Aha moment, because to me it means that people are leaving that moment with a little more knowledge and power than they had before. Do you have a role model in your life? Can you name a few people who you look up to? Marion M. Lovett, one of my managers at Bank of America, is my role model. She is a brillant, strong, hard working woman who cared deeply for her team members. Working with her was the first time that I realized that a good leader understands the strengths in her team and how to foster a culture of excellence. Cassie Kozyrkov, Chief Decision Scientist at Google, is someone I have never met but admire deeply. In my work and interactions over the years, I had this idea of “common sense”. For example, First figure out what actions you want to impact, and then determine what data is needed, or that upstream UI and Decision Architecture will impact the downstream data quality and analysis. However, these things are not common sense for those who don’t work in this space, and that is why I really appreciate Cassie’s articulation of keep concepts in Decision Intelligence. I strive everyday to emulate her by articulating data concepts to non-data audiences. What does leadership mean to you? How would you describe your leadership style? My leadership style emulates my role model, Marion M. Lovett, in a lot of ways. I spend quite a lot of time getting to know the people that I’m working with and listening to their thoughts and ideas. This is nothing novel, but I have seen it pay dividend after dividend. The best articulation of this I’ve seen so far is in the book, Smart Leaders, Smarter Teams by Roger M. Schwarz. The book articulates clearly how your behaviors as a leader impact the outcomes achieved by your team and other teams that work with you. So my style is simple, listen and learn. What would be your advice to young leaders? Practically, if you haven’t done so already take the Strengthsfinder test by Gallup and read Smart Leaders, Smarter Teams by Roger M. Schwarz. As a leader you will need to invest in others. I recommend checking out Shine Theory , and supporting the people around you. Lastly, life will take you in unexpected directions, but no matter where you go, know yourself, know your strengths and leverage who you are to positively impact the world.

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。

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?'

Banu is one of the most organized persons I have ever worked with. She plays the role of Delivery Principal with the Techops Digital Platforms group with Thoughtworks. Women leadership series - In conversation with Banu Pavithra V 5 Mar 2022 Banu is one of the most organized persons I have ever worked with. She plays the role of Delivery Principal with the Techops Digital Platforms group with Thoughtworks. How would you introduce yourself? I would like to introduce myself as a passionate IT professional who also is a competent mother of a 9 year old son. There are other hats that I wear both in professional and personal life, but these two - IT professional & a mother stands out the most to me Can you tell me a bit about your career journey? When did you first get into a leadership role? I started my career as a Software Developer - Trainee in 2005 in NTT Data in Bangalore. I played different roles and had very career growth opportunities in my first company and within 5 years of my experience I had played the roles of Analyst, Designer, Onsite Coordinator,Team Lead, Tech Lead and a Assistant Project Manager. Then I moved on to Harman where I spent close to 8 years solidly playing the role of Project Manager across a wide range of projects and clients. In my recent experience with Thoughtworks for about 3 years I have a couple of hats - of a lead project manager, delivery principal and program manager. My leadership journey stems from my schooling time period itself, where I was the class pupil leader from my 6th Grade. What were the top challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them? One of the key challenges that I faced early in my career was leading teams that had team members who were senior to me in their work experience. I tackled this challenge by working more closely with them and by understanding tech involved in depth. The second key challenge I would quote is being too hard on myself that I would attribute any failure to myself - This is because of trying to get done a lot of things myself without understanding that I have the strength of the team. Once I had this moment of realization of the team's backup and strength, I was able to get out of the challenge quite easily. What motivates you? Appreciation and recognition motivates me quite a bit. Just a small thank you note is good enough to keep me up and running for a few weeks! Do you have a role model in your life? Can you name a few people who you look up to? Come to think of it, I owe a lot of my success to my mom - She was a working woman and right from my childhood I have seen her juggle work and home and she is a pretty successful woman who was able to balance her work aspirations and the responsibilities at home quite well. I have had very low moments unable to manage work and life and everytime she has been my go to person who would constantly encourage me to get back up again. I have a solid mentor and guide at Thoughtworks, Sasikala Mahesh who is one of my key inspirations and role models. What does leadership mean to you? How would you describe your leadership style? Leadership is common sense for me. There is a prescribed format - it just is about how to grasp the context of the situation in hand and try to come up with a win-win situation for the parties involved wherever possible. Leadership is also a form of courage for me to assume accountability and responsibility for a value driven purpose. People say that I practice a people oriented non-conflicting leadership style, which I think suits my personality quite well. What would be your advice to young leaders? Hard work always brings in success. Discipline is key. My mantra [from Jim Rohn] for career progression and even personal progression has been the following in the last few years - “We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.”

Vijayalakshimi Kandasamy (Viji) comes with 19 years of IT experience and leads one of the most important project within internal IT. Viji is very passionate about solving problems and has a keen interest towards Project and People management. She loves to be close to nature and spend her spare time trying to maintain a small farmland. Emerging leadership series - In conversation with Vijayalakshimi Kandasamy 25 Jan 2023 Vijayalakshimi Kandasamy (Viji) comes with 19 years of IT experience and leads one of the most important project within internal IT. Viji is very passionate about solving problems and has a keen interest towards Project and People management. She loves to be close to nature and spend her spare time trying to maintain a small farmland. How would you introduce yourself? I am a Lead consultant at Thoughtworks with over 19 years of IT experience . I consider myself fortunate for being exposed to a variety of projects in different domains with many organizations. I am always passionate about solving problems with a keen interest towards Project and People management. This interest also led me to pursue MBA while parallelly working as a developer. On the personal front, I am a mother of two tweens. I love to be close to nature and spend my spare time trying to maintain a small farmland. Can you tell me a bit about your career journey? What inspired you to take on the leadership role? I started my journey as a Java/ J2EE developer in a small sized product company. Being in a small sized company one can’t restrict to a specific role and that helped me to explore and extend my knowledge on the end to end software lifecycle. As the product I worked on was acquired by a large software firm I moved to this firm as part of the acquisition. This opened doors for me to work more closely with clients and understand their perspective. I have spent considerable time in the automotive domain and also with DevOps in trying to set up CI / CD pipeline for toolchain and in automation to bring down lead time for release. During my journey , I always ensured to take up the opportunities that came my way and challenge my limits. Before Thoughtworks, I spent more than a decade with Bosch which helped me to shape my management skills. Being empowered , accountable and driving strategic initiatives to deliver results were some key factors that inspired me to take up leadership roles. What were the top challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them? Collaborating with different teams to achieve a common goal is one of the challenges I could recollect . As a means to overcome , an alignment on the priorities, the benefits of the common goal and responsibility of each team involved will bring everyone on the same page. Following this, establishing a mechanism to uncover and track dependencies certainly helped in successfully delivering the results. Keeping the teams focus and delivering results while navigating through ambiguity and uncertain times is definitely a key challenge faced. Being transparent about the situation , constant communication with teams, working on solutions given the current clarity and openness to evolve as the situation improves were some actions we implemented to sail through the rough patch. What motivates you everyday? It is good to be surrounded by people who constantly motivate you however I feel the best is to be intrinsically motivated. The impact created due to our work and the value we add to the organization motivates me. Also I am greatly motivated while I am able to mentor people and make them realize their complete potential. Do you have a role model in your life? Can you name a few people who you look up to? I do not deny the fact that some training and leadership programs help play your role efficiently , but more than any other means I imbibe a lot of skills from the people I collaborate with on a daily basis. While I had opportunities to work with a lot of inspiring leaders , I still cherish working with my first mentor after moving to IT. He inspired the team by his way of approaching a complex problem , modularizing it and then connecting the dots. We were as freshers quite awestruck by his way of solving problems. Another great leader I look up to, empowers his team to be autonomous and stands by them during difficult times. My Mother has been a great inspiration in my Journey ,a Doctor by profession she has always been empathetic and I Am greatly astonished by the positive impact she has created on many people. What does leadership mean to you? How would you describe your leadership style? Leadership is just not a designation or role offered to you, it is a mindset where you assume responsibility and be accountable for the results. I do not stick to a specific leadership style always ,it is scenario based and a mix of multiple leadership styles. Although mostly inclined as a Democratic leader in some cases I also tend to be autocratic where specific guidelines have to be set and to keep the team focused on near term time critical goals. In a few other scenarios in my experience, where there was a strategic restructuring of teams based on product revamp I acted as a transformational leader in adapting quickly to change and supporting the teams to eventually sustain. It is not that I consciously shift between different leadership styles but this comes out naturally in a given situation. Only later when I reflect , will I be able to differentiate the approach taken and the correlation with the leadership styles. What would be your advice to other leaders? I believe there is no substitute for hardwork and commitment. As leaders, creating an unbiased environment that encourages open feedback is essential.While it is quite common to spend significant effort firefighting on the current priorities , setting up time to strategically plan the long term objectives of the Project will not only help the Business but also reassure the team of the opportunities ahead.