Play To Potential Podcast

GUEST Neera Nundy is Co-Founder at Dasra - India’s leading strategic philanthropic foundation. Dasra actively shapes the process of social change by forming powerful partnerships with funders and social enterprises. Since its inception in 1999, Dasra has accelerated social change by driving collaborative action through powerful partnerships among a trust-based network of stakeholders (corporates, foundations, families, nonprofits, social businesses, government and media). Over the years, Dasra has deepened social impact in focused fields that include adolescents, urban sanitation and governance and has built social capital by leading a strategic philanthropy movement in the country. In our conversation, we spoke about how she and Deval Sanghavi (her husband) started Dasra about 19 years back after their initial careers in Banking in the US. We also discussed how she has evolved as a leader as the organization has grown, the challenges in people transitioning from a corporate career to the Social Impact worl

GUEST Vinay Sitapati is an Assistant Professor in Political Science and Legal studies at Ashoka University. He has a PhD in Politics from Princeton University, in addition to degrees from National Law School Bangalore and Harvard University. His book - Half Lion: How P.V Narasimha Rao Transformed India (Published by Penguin Randomhouse) - traces P.V. Narasimha Rao’s journey from his modest beginnings in Telangana to the post of the Prime Minister. More importantly, the book talks about the fact that despite heading a minority government, P.V. Narasimha Rao was able to drive significant reforms that have fundamentally altered the economic trajectory of the country. In our conversation, we spoke about P.V. Narasimha Rao’s unfettered curiosity across disciplines, his resilience that saw him manage the vicissitudes in his political career, his intellectual and implementation agility, his ability to reflect and introspect, judgment around playing like a Lion, Fox or a Mouse depending on the context, capacity to

GUEST Roopa Kudva is Partner at Omidyar Network and Managing Director of Omidyar Network India Advisors, where she leads overall Investment Strategy, Operations and Portfolio Development. Prior to joining Omidyar Network, Roopa spent 23 years with CRISIL, and was its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer from 2007. She led CRISIL’s transformation from India’s premier ratings agency into a diversified global analytical company. Under her leadership the company’s market capitalisation grew four-fold and revenues tripled. In this podcast conversation, we spoke about her initial years in Assam and Meghalaya, her journey to IIMA after being rejected the first time based on a technicality. She speaks about her journey through CRISIL and how a stint in Standard in Poor (Paris) changed her mindset towards her career. She also talks about the various transitions in her career - getting to the Chief Rating Officer role, MD role and then to Omidyar Network. She shares some interesting insights around how she h

GUEST Chandramouli Venkatesan (Mouli) has a strong corporate track record of over 25 years. He is an alumnus of XLRI, Jamshedpur and spent his initial years in Sales and Marketing in Asian Paints, GE Capital and Onida. He worked with Cadbury’s from 2005 till 2016. Over that time Cadbury metamorphosed to Kraft Foods and Mondelez and his last role there was Managing Director for India. In his decade-plus time there, he has worked across areas including Strategy, Marketing, HR and General Management across India and Asia Pacific. He now works with Pidilite Industries as CEO, Special Projects with the mission to create and set up a new business for them. Mouli recently authored the book - Catalyst which was published by Penguin RandomHouse. It is a synthesis of his reflections around how leaders should think about the two questions - Where to go & How to grow - as they go through their respective journeys. In this podcast conversation, Mouli talks about the notion of TMRR for leaders to turbocharge their p

GUEST Amit Chandra heads Bain Capital in India and is a Managing Director in the Financial and Business Services Vertical and a member of the Asia Pacific Private Equity team and a part of its leadership group. Before joining Bain Capital Private Equity, he spent most of his professional career at DSP Merrill Lynch, a leading Investment Bank in India. He retired from DSP Merrill Lynch in 2007 as a Board Member & Managing Director. Amit is also a committed Philanthropist. He and his wife Archana (CEO - Jai Vakeel Foundation and Research Centre) aim to donate 90% of their wealth to social causes. He has moved to a part-time model in Bain Capital where he devotes 50% of his time to Bain Capital and the remaining 50% to Social Impact and related topics. In our conversation, Amit spoke about his formative years and his early career choices including the decision to come back to India after an MBA in the US and join Investment Banking. He spoke at length about how he was able to have a successful career in I

GUEST Baijayant Jay Panda is currently serving in his 4th term in the Parliament of India. He was elected to his second term (2014-2019) in the Lok Sabha from the Kendrapara constituency, Odisha. He graduated from the Michigan Technological University and, with a background in Engineering and Management, worked in the world of Business before joining politics. Jay Panda had helped to form the erstwhile Young Parliamentarians Forum (YPF) and was its Convener. He has also been associated with the India-USA Forum of Parliamentarians from its founding in 2001 and is currently its Chairman. He was awarded the “Bharat Asmita National Award” for best parliamentary practices by the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India in 2008. In our conversation, Jay spoke about what it takes to build a career in politics and specifically addresses the notion of resilience in a political context. He also talks about how politicians need to think about staying relevant over time in a digital world. He goes on to share his perspectives on

GUEST Devdutt Pattanaik writes on relevance of mythology in modern times, especially in areas of management, governance and leadership. Trained in medicine, he worked for 15 years in the healthcare and pharma industries before he focussed on his passion full time. He is author of 30 books and 600 columns, with bestsellers such as My Gita, Jaya, Sita, Business Sutra and the 7 Secret Series. He was a speaker at TEDIndia 2009 and spoke on Myths that Mystify, East versus West. His TV shows include Business Sutra on CNBC-TV18 and Devlok on Epic TV. He consults organisations on culture, diversity and leadership and also consults various television channels and filmmakers on storytelling. In our conversation, Devdutt spoke about how he transitioned from the world of Medicine and Healthcare to the world of mythology. He recounts the teaching methodology of some of his professors in medicine which, he mentions, laid the foundation for him to be curious about the world around him. We spoke about his take on flourishi

GUEST Suresh Narayanan is the Chairman and MD of Nestle India Limited (which recently crossed INR 10,000 Crores for the first time after about a century of operating in India). Suresh is often dubbed as a turnaround leader given what he has accomplished in various markets - Handling the operations in Singapore during the 2008 financial crisis, Leadership in Egypt, Libya and Sudan during the Arab Spring around 2011, turning around Maggi in 2015 when the company had taken a significant hit on the P&L and the Balance Sheet. In our conversation, Suresh spoke about how his childhood years, especially the years at Rishi Valley School have given him the foundation and the attitudes that have helped him through the journey. He spoke about how he made some of his early career choices including the decision to join Hindustan Unilever Limited, while he was actually preparing himself for the IAS. He also discussed how he has transitioned effectively from one context to another and his perspectives on what it takes

GUEST KV Sridhar (Pops) is one of the most respected creative leaders in the Indian Advertising World and has been the driving force behind several international awards including 22 Cannes Lions. He currently runs Hypercollective - a cross-disciplinary platform for leading independent companies in strategy, communication, content, design, technology and data to collaborate and solve real world problems for brands, institutions and governments. In our conversation, Pops spoke about his humble beginnings and how dyslexia (which was a diagnosis that happened later in his life) had an implication of the choices he made. He candidly shares about a passage of play when he was beginning to be noticed in the ad world and was getting several job offers but he went against the flow and took a 6 month break in Goa to discover his voice and develop greater conviction in his career direction. He talks about how he has reinvented himself in the context of the changing role of Advertising and Technology in the lives of co

GUEST Meher Pudumjee is the Chairperson of Thermax Limited, one of India’s leading energy and environmental engineering companies. She is also an active Philanthropist with a passion for making a difference in Education. She is the Chairperson of Akanksha Foundation and is a Trustee of Teach to Lead, Mumbai. She is also on the Board of Imperial College India Foundation, Shakti Sustainable Solutions and Pune City Connect. Meher has a keen interest in music, especially western classical and is a member of a Pune based choir. Meher represented India at the Asian Business Women’s Conference in Osaka in 2006. The World Economic Forum in 2008 selected her as a Young Global Leader for her professional accomplishment, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world. She was selected CEO of the Year, 2009 by Business Standard. In our conversation, Meher spoke about influences from her childhood that have shaped her attitudes specifically towards philanthropy, how she dealt with

As we approach the end of 2017, we at the Play to Potential Podcast decided to step back and reflect on the year that has gone by and the incredible learnings from the various conversations at the podcast. It is hard to distil 20 plus hours of content into a few minutes but we wanted to share some key themes that stood out for us across the various interviews we had. We are excited to share that www.playtopotential.com (the site where the content is hosted) now has Curated Playlists by themes that enables you to get multiple perspectives on a topic that you care about (Childhood, Resilience, Navigational Principles, Re-inventing yourself, Insights into a career path and more). Wish you the very best for 2018 and look forward to having you listen into some of the conversations in 2018.  HOST Deepak Jayaraman, the host of this podcast series, works with Leaders and Organizations with a growth mindset and helps them play to their full potential. He strives to spend significant upfront energy in understand the

GUEST Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand is an Indian chess grandmaster and a former World Chess Champion, considered as one of the greatest chess players of all time. Anand was the first recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 1991–92, India's highest sporting honour. In 2007, he was the first sportsman to receive India's second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan. Harnessing the full potential of our mind and staying relevant in the context of advances in machines is something that all of us wrestle with as we go through our respective journeys. Chess is a great canvas for us to explore perspectives on these two questions. During the 90 odd minutes that I spent with him in Chennai, Vishy spoke candidly about how he got into Chess as a career, how he thought about his own development at various stages of his growth, how he harnesses his mind and leverages the right brain and the left brain, how EQ matters as one grows through the ranks, how he stays level-headed and grounded despite his towering

GUEST  Anu is a Partner with McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), the economics and business research arm of McKinsey & Company. She is an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad and worked for a few years in Banking before joining Consulting at McKinsey. Subsequently, she moved from the Consulting track at McKinsey to her current role at MGI through some experiments along the way. In our conversation, Anu spoke about some of the influences in her childhood and how they have equipped her for life. She also reflected on the various transitions she has been through (Transitions within Banking, Banking to Consulting at McKinsey to MGI, Maternity etc.) She spoke about how she has gone about gaining clarity around what gives her energy and how she has slowly gravitated towards that over time. She also shared some of MGI’s insights on the Future of Work and how leaders and organizations could think about staying relevant in that future. This conversation was published in October 2017. We value your feedback on the podcast. If

GUEST  Dheeraj Pandey is Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Nutanix, Inc. (Market Cap of ~USD 3.5 Billion) that had an IPO in September 2016. Nutanix is a cloud computing software company that sells what it calls hyper-converged infrastructure appliances and software-defined storage. He grew up in Patna and is an alumnus of IIT Kanpur and UT Austin. In our conversation, Dheeraj spoke about his early formative years and the rationale behind some of the initial career choices (writing JEE twice, going for a PhD instead of job and subsequently dropping off the PhD programme). He also talks at length about 4As - Antifragility, Authenticity, Ambition and Attention to Detail that are core to him and the character of Nutanix. He also discusses how he has grown as a leader over time and has scaled up as the organisation has grown over time. This conversation was published in October 2017. We value your feedback on the podcast. If you have 3 minutes, please visit http://bit.ly/p2pfdback. HOST Deepak Jayaraman, the h

GUEST  Rama Bijapurkar is India’s most respected thought leader on market strategy and India’s consumer economy. She has an independent consulting practice and works across sectors and organization types, describing her mission as “bringing market and customer focus to business strategy”. In addition to her consulting practice, she is on Boards of several blue-chip companies. She is a regular visiting faculty at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, her alma mater, and is a member of its Board of Governors. Rama has published several books - “We are like that only”, “Understanding the logic of Consumer India”, “Winning in the Indian Market”, "A Never Before world: Tracking the evolution of Consumer India” and “Customer in the Boardroom: Crafting Customer based Business Strategy" In our conversation, Rama talks candidly about how she has navigated the world of opportunity as a solo-advisor with a specific emphasis on how she has chosen a playground that uniquely leverages her strengths and pa

GUEST  Zia Mody is an Indian legal consultant and considered an authority on Corporate Merger and Acquisition Law, Securities Law, Private Equity and Project Finance. She is an alumnus of Harvard Law School and worked for 5 years in the US with Baker and Mackenzie in New York City before returning to India. She started her own practice in Mumbai in 1984 and over the years, she has built AZB & Partners – one of India’s largest and most reputed law firms where she is the Managing Partner. She has frequently appeared on Most Powerful Businesswomen and Most Powerful CEO lists over the last several years. In our conversation, we spoke about her take on how people should think about law as a career, her take on women growing to become leaders and the leaky pipeline there, trade-offs between work and life, what it takes to be a trusted advisor with a client, what it takes to build an institution of repute and more. Without further ado, over to my conversation with Zia. This conversation was published in Septemb

GUEST  Vinita Bali is a distinguished leader who has held leadership roles in 6 countries (UK, Nigeria, South Africa, Chile, USA and India) across 5 continents across organizations including Cadbury’s, Coca Cola Company and Britannia. She is currently the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). In addition to this, she also sits on multiple Indian Boards (CRISIL Ltd, Titan Industries Ltd, Kasturi and Sons Ltd) and MNC Boards (Smith and Nephew Plc, Syngenta International AG). She is also a Member of the Board of Governors of Indian Institute of Management - Bangalore. Vinita has had several significant transitions across cultures, functions and organizations in her career. We spoke about a range of topics including spending time on some of the transitions she has made, her early years and how they influenced her ability to see things as a continuum, her perspectives on adopting the mindset of a “tourist” and more. This conversation was published around August 201

GUEST  Vedika Bhandarkar is the MD in India of Water.org, an organization that empowers families with access to safe water and sanitation through affordable financing. Water.org pioneers innovative, community-driven and market based initiatives to achieve the above objective. It is a global organization that operates on the belief that access to safe water can turn problems into potential: unlocking education, economic prosperity and improved health. It has impacted 6 Million lives till date over the last 25 years. Vedika is an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad and spent several years in the Financial Services sector across ICICI Ltd and ICICI Securities, JP Morgan (headed Investment Banking for them) and Credit Suisse (Vice Chairman and Managing Director based in India). In addition to her role in Water. org, she is an Independent Director in 6 Boards today. In this podcast conversation, she shares her perspectives on Investment Banking as a career, her thoughts on transitioning companies at a senior level, transi

GUEST  Dr. Pramath Sinha has worked in diverse fields spanning business and strategy, consulting, leadership and academia. He spent 12 years with McKinsey & Company in North America and India, heading leadership and media practices. Passionate about education, he forayed into the field as the founding Dean of the Indian School of Business (ISB) and was instrumental in building ISB into a world-class business school in India. He is the Founder and Managing Director at 9.9 Mediaworx Pvt Ltd. He is the Founder and Trustee of the recently launched Ashoka University (ashoka.edu.in), India’s first liberal arts university. The Young India Fellowship (youngindiafellowship.com) launched under its aegis in 2011, was another first of its kind scholarship programme in the country. He has recently started the Vedica Scholars Programme for Women with a vision of creating a cadre of successful women professionals for the 21st century. Pramath mentors and advises various educational groups that seek his expertise. In ad

GUEST  Karthik Reddy (based in Mumbai) is a Founder and Managing Partner at Blume Ventures, one of India’s leading tech-focused early stage VCs that was set up in 2010. Karthik is the architect of the Blume business model and investment hypothesis framework that he constantly iterates with his team members. Karthik is arguably one of the best sounding boards in the early stages of a business on capital raising, user and customer behaviour and product market fit. Prior to starting Blume Ventures, Karthik had held a variety of roles across Financial Products Structuring, Investment Banking, Business Development, and Strategic Planning in a Large Corporate. He is an alumnus of IIT (Roorkee), IIM Bangalore and the Wharton School. In our conversation, we spoke about his choice to go to Wharton after graduating from IIMB, his path to Venture Investing, his thoughts on what it takes to transition effectively and succeed in Venture Investing, how he picks Founders, how they could scale up their leadership capabili