‘Try being good at improving to succeed’

The business economist-turned-management wiz, who has a strong three-decade experience of leading teams talks to us about his journey. 

After I passed out of IIM Bangalore, I joined as a management consulting professional in a foundry and worked in India for about three years. I gave it all up as I didn’t want to be in management. Then I joined a small company called Infosys in December 1987. In 1988, I went to the US, to work as a contract programmer and then grew up the technical ladder and worked in a company called Manhattan Associates in Atlanta for seven years. Since then I have been the CEO of three different companies in the US. My most recent tenure was that of CEO of a Silicon Valley company called Ooyala, which provides technology for online video. 

I have not been an entrepreneur so far as I haven’t had the good fortune of coming across an idea that I am passionate about. Hopefully life will give me a chance. I won’t start a company just for the sake of starting one. But if I come across an idea that I can throw my life at, then there is every chance that I might still be an entrepreneur. My vantage point is from that of companies that I have managed, but not started.

I believe in hiring to the extent it is necessary. I recall an anecdote from May 2000. I was being promoted as a VP in Manhattan Associates. At that time, I thought it was the saddest day of my life. I was really depressed because until then, I was a programmer and a manager. I had 20 people reporting to me. I could get stuff done. I was the main problem-solver. It felt good when a user came and asked me a question and I knew the answer before the question could be completed. I knew that the day I got promoted to VP, would be the day I became useless. Like now, whatever I delegate to someone else gets done faster than whatever I keep to myself. 

When the founder of the company Deepak Raghavan walked in to congratulate me, he saw that I was upset. So he told me, “You have two skills — technical skills, which are limited by the 24 hours of day; and you have leadership skills that are scalable. You can lead a 10, 20 or 500 person team.” Similarly, in every person’s career, there comes a time when his or her leadership skills become more important than the technical skills. When the time is right, you will hire the right people and do the right thing.

The most crucial thing you can be good at, is being good at getting better and being good at improving. That is the most crucial skill that you need as a leader, as an executive or as a programmer, or a salesman. In order to get better, you need inputs from others and you need to have an open mind. You need to be able to accept the fact that you were wrong. 

When I joined Manhattan Associates, it had 200-250 people. Now it has around 4,000 to 5,000 employees. Back then it was a $40 million annual revenue company. In April 1998, I was made in charge of recruiting people in the midst of the Internet boom. Today, Ooyala competes against Google and all of the top companies in Silicon Valley to hire talent. The smaller you are, the more you have to focus on picking diamonds in the rough. 

I never had a formula while interviewing people. I have always tried to understand individuals from their point of view. What is it that this person has accomplished? What kind of circumstances did he go through? If I am looking for a programmer or marketing guy, I look for the kind of competence they have. What have they accomplished in their lives for the opportunities they got.That is my way of assessing people.