Brain Box: Recent Episodes
Kaushik Bose
Having been in corporate for 14 years (Wipro, SAP, IBM, GBM in Dubai); and the last 4 in building a startup - the singular focus of "BrainBox" is to "grow 1% daily". The series has a unified theme for 5 episodes.
I have successful guests on the show from different walks of life - to have a free-flowing, unscripted intelligent discussions:
I've had a Solo Series, "Leadership" series (Interviews with Managing Directors & Sr. Directors from IT behemoths), "Technical Evangelists" (Interviews with Technical Leaders), "CXO Series" & even LinkedIn live sessions.
Join us for the premiere of Season 19, recorded from our new podcast studio, as we sit down with Manish Dabkara, the Chairman and Managing Director of EKI Energy. Discover the journey of transforming a company setup in a non-metro to a 1000 crore enterprise. We discuss the basics of carbon credits, and the future of the carbon market. Manish shares insights on sustainability, the impact of international agreements like the Paris Agreement, and the importance of carbon credits in achieving India's net-zero emission goals by 2070. Learn about EKI Energy's role in the industry, their collaborations, and the pressing need for global climate action. Don't miss this insightful and educational discussion!Timestamps:00:22 Meet the Guest: Manish Dabkara01:12 Journey to Carbon Credits01:59 Understanding Carbon Credits03:09 Achievements and Recognition06:28 India's Carbon Market and Policies14:56 Future of Carbon Markets22:26 Conclusion and Farewell
In this Season 18 finale, award winning host & serial entrepreneur, Kaushik Bose, hosts finance veteran Iftikhar Shaikh, who brings nearly three decades of experience from leading financial institutions. The dialogue dives into complex topics like life insurance, investment strategies, asset allocation, and the impact of economic conditions on investments. Iftikhar shares valuable insights on the importance of discussing life insurance, the pros and cons of ULIPs, the principles of successful investing in stocks, and the power of compounding. Additionally, he sheds light on real estate investment, navigating economic downturns, and the significance of goal-setting methodologies like OKRs in personal and professional life.Iftikhar also explores leadership qualities and the making of leaders, concluding with profound advice for future leaders. This episode is a rich source of financial wisdom, aiming to simplify finance for the audience and encourage informed decision-making.Timestamps:01:03 The Importance of Discussing Life Insurance02:46 Navigating Insurance and Investment Choices04:03 Understanding Asset Allocation and Mutual Funds05:03 Insights into Stock Market Trading06:26 The Power of Saving and Investment Strategies09:26 Real Estate Investment: Timing and Strategy12:35 Navigating Post-COVID Economic Challenges15:07 The Dubai Experience17:40 Implementing OKRs in Personal and Professional Life19:58 Leadership: Traits, Development, and Advice21:22 Final Thoughts and Takeaways for Future Leaders
Pls note that all views shared are his personal ones and by no means reflect his current or any past organizations that he's worked with.
In the 89th episode of "Brain Box", we have an amazing chat with guest Nimisha Morkonda, who has extensive experience in AI and data science from working with large corporations. We discuss the history, misconceptions, and current trends of artificial intelligence (AI), where she elaborates on AI's roots dating back to the 1950s, its parallels with sci-fi literature & early prosthetics development, highlighting that the ideas of manipulating devices with brain signals are not recent. The conversation shifts to the hype around AI in modern business, addressing the oversimplification of AI's capabilities and the emerging issue of AI overload, especially in education and startups. Nimisha advises startups on the practical considerations of implementing AI and discusses the ethical and privacy concerns raised by AI applications. The role of AI in manufacturing and corporate adoption is also discussed, emphasizing the need for leadership to foster AI understanding and integration. Lastly, Nimisha shares her involvement in women's empowerment through scholarships and mentorship for disadvantaged women in India, showcasing the transformative power of education and technology.Timestamps:00:35 Demystifying AI: A Historical Perspective04:01 The Hype and Reality of AI in Today's World05:56 AI Overload and Its Impact on Education and Startups08:32 Ethical and Privacy Concerns in the Age of AI11:44 AI in Startups: Challenges and Advice16:36 AI's Role in Manufacturing and Leadership Adoption20:27 Bridging Academia and Industry: The Future of AI22:13 Empowering Women Through Education and Mentorship
In the 89th episode of "Brain Box", we have an amazing chat with guest Nimisha Morkonda, who has extensive experience in AI and data science from working with large corporations. We discuss the history, misconceptions, and current trends of artificial intelligence (AI), where she elaborates on AI's roots dating back to the 1950s, its parallels with sci-fi literature & early prosthetics development, highlighting that the ideas of manipulating devices with brain signals are not recent. The conversation shifts to the hype around AI in modern business, addressing the oversimplification of AI's capabilities and the emerging issue of AI overload, especially in education and startups. Nimisha advises startups on the practical considerations of implementing AI and discusses the ethical and privacy concerns raised by AI applications. The role of AI in manufacturing and corporate adoption is also discussed, emphasizing the need for leadership to foster AI understanding and integration. Lastly, Nimisha shares her involvement in women's empowerment through scholarships and mentorship for disadvantaged women in India, showcasing the transformative power of education and technology.Timestamps:00:35 Demystifying AI: A Historical Perspective04:01 The Hype and Reality of AI in Today's World05:56 AI Overload and Its Impact on Education and Startups08:32 Ethical and Privacy Concerns in the Age of AI11:44 AI in Startups: Challenges and Advice16:36 AI's Role in Manufacturing and Leadership Adoption20:27 Bridging Academia and Industry: The Future of AI22:13 Empowering Women Through Education and Mentorship
In this podcast episode, Shashi Kumar, the Founder and CEO of Akshayakalpa Organic, discusses his journey from a technology professional to revolutionizing organic farming in India. After a 15-year career in the IT sector in India and the U.S., Kumar returned to India, driven by a desire to change how farming is perceived and practiced.
He, along with 27 ex-Wipro colleagues, founded Akshayakalpa - a crowdfunded initiative focused on organic farming and technology solutions like Stellapps to address challenges in agriculture.
Shashi elaborates on the inspiration behind Akshayakalpa, the emphasis on soil management, dairy farming for consistent cash flow to farmers, and the importance of organic practices.
The discussion also covers the economic, technological, and ecological dimensions of farming, the role of consumers in sustainable agriculture, and Akshayakalpa's future vision.
Shashi's story is a testament to leveraging technology and innovative practices to enhance farming sustainability and profitability.
Timestamps:
02:00 Inception
03:28 Driving Force
05:20 Learnings So Far
09:47 Farmer Entrepreneurship
11:59 Future of Farming
13:53 Selection Criteria
15:26 Consumers
18:20 Vision going forward
In this podcast episode, Shashi Kumar, the Founder and CEO of Akshayakalpa Organic, discusses his journey from a technology professional to revolutionizing organic farming in India. After a 15-year career in the IT sector in India and the U.S., Kumar returned to India, driven by a desire to change how farming is perceived and practiced.
He, along with 27 ex-Wipro colleagues, founded Akshayakalpa - a crowdfunded initiative focused on organic farming and technology solutions like Stellapps to address challenges in agriculture.
Shashi elaborates on the inspiration behind Akshayakalpa, the emphasis on soil management, dairy farming for consistent cash flow to farmers, and the importance of organic practices.
The discussion also covers the economic, technological, and ecological dimensions of farming, the role of consumers in sustainable agriculture, and Akshayakalpa's future vision.
Shashi's story is a testament to leveraging technology and innovative practices to enhance farming sustainability and profitability.
Timestamps:
02:00 Inception
03:28 Driving Force
05:20 Learnings So Far
09:47 Farmer Entrepreneurship
11:59 Future of Farming
13:53 Selection Criteria
15:26 Consumers
18:20 Vision going forward
Welcome to Episode 87! In this special face-to-face interview, our guest, Sudarshan Sarma, former CEO of Carz on Rent and a seasoned leader with experience in Flipkart, Google, and GM, shares profound insights into the auto industry's future and essential leadership traits.
Join us as we delve into the intersection of AI and automotive innovation, discussing how AI is reshaping driving experiences, maintenance, and production logistics.
We also explore the electrification landscape, debating the future of EVs and the critical considerations surrounding infrastructure, sustainability, and market dynamics, especially in India.
Additionally, Sudarshan shares invaluable leadership lessons, emphasizing empathy, clarity of vision, and customer focus as essential traits for effective leadership.
He underscores the importance of customer-centricity and cross-functional collaboration in driving business growth and adaptation to evolving market demands.
Discover how marketing strategies have evolved from placement-based buying to audience-based targeting, leveraging AI and data insights to deliver more relevant and impactful brand experiences across diverse platforms.
Tune in for an engaging discussion that traverses the realms of technology, leadership, and industry dynamics, offering actionable insights for leaders and enthusiasts alike.
Don't miss out on this enlightening conversation! Subscribe now and stay tuned for more thought-provoking episodes.
In the Season 18 curtain raiser, our host, Kaushik Bose talks with Pallavi Jha, who is the Chairperson and Managing Director of Dale Carnegie Training India, with over 21 years of experience leading their India operations.
They discuss a lot about leadership (including introverted leaders), AI, and their impact on organizations. Overall, the discussion offers insight into developing strong, ethical leadership amidst technological transformations.
They begin by discussing how perspectives on leadership have changed globally and in India over the past two decades. Pallavi notes impacts from globalization, technology advances, workforce demographic shifts, and India's emergence on the global stage.
She debunks myths that leaders must be extroverted visionaries and says leadership is situational - we can all lead in different contexts.
The discussion then touches on identifying high-potential leaders.
The focus then changes to the effects and opportunities of artificial intelligence. Pallavi sees both risk and opportunity for leaders in AI's disruption of businesses and jobs.
For employees, she advocates addressing fears through education, reskilling and psychological safety in change processes.
For HR leaders facing new tech demands, Pallavi recommends clarity on AI uses and change management support.
Our host, Kaushik, has an insightful discussion with Sudeshna Basu Roy, CEO of Marg Business Transformation, around her journey in leadership development and change management, what drives success or failure in organization, and considerations around diversity, collaboration and flexible leadership styles.
They have an insightful discussion about how they started with change management, but quickly moved to business coaching and leadership training, which helped them expand pan-India.
They partnered with ProSci, an organization that provides a robust, methodical approach to change management focused on both professionalism and science.
Empathy and collaboration are also emphasized as increasingly important traits for leaders to enable change. Command and control styles are less effective.
Diversity, equity, and women in leadership are discussed. The need to better understand different talents and make the workplace more inclusive is noted.
Allowing flexibility, work-life balance, and adapting to different needs is important for retention and effectiveness. Gender norms and stereotypes are still challenges to address.
In Episode 84, I have a very interesting chat with Sean Linehan, who is the Managing Director for the UK operations of Blue Helion, a boutique consulting firm. He has over 25 years of experience in sales, leadership, and mergers and acquisitions.
Some of the key points we discuss are:
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His methodology for taking sales teams from 70-110% achievement
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How he tackles "Underperformance".
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Organic growth vs Acquisitions
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How & why cultural fit is critical post-acquisition
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Micromanagement
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Large / SMB customers with the intent to being acquired
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The right time to hire M&A consultants
In one of my most interesting chats, I have with me Blake Hutchison, the CEO of Flippa, the leading global marketplace for buying and selling websites, online stores, and digital properties.
Some of the topics we discussed:
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Criticality of sales
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How valuations are data-driven based on extensive transaction history across different business types and metrics; Factors like revenue, growth, costs, category are considered.
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Why founders should focus on product-market fit without investor funding initially.
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Traits needed for a startup founder to be successful
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How mindset differs within regions globally
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Managing cross-functional teams to build high-performing teams
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Branding to be a very effective tool for sustainable growth through organic traffic and referrals.
One of the most interesting chats I had, where Dr. S.P. Mishra of India Career Centre, asked me vey insightful questions which actually got me thinking! This is a long one... but it's super insightful! Enjoy
This is the second webinar of the "Brain Box" Gurukul series, this time with the theme of Sustainability.
In this episode, Sravan, the CEO of iGo, discusses their electric three-wheeled scooter called the BeiGo X4, designed to address sustainability beyond just emissions, focusing on safety, family needs, and women riders.Key features include active balancing assistance and a narrow tilting bridge for unprecedented stability.
Sravan envisions providing the comfort of a car in a small footprint vehicle. He discusses how mobility needs to shift from private vehicle ownership to shared utilization given space constraints in cities.
Sravan also talks about iGo's vision to be a technology supplier rather than OEM, enabling hundreds of brands to build vehicles on their platform for both domestic and export markets.
On the Season 16 finale & what was also our first webinar, Raymond Yeh, whose latest venture is with AI, talks about how this technology is set to disrupt life as we know it.
The Evolution of Marketing: AI, SEO & Influencers.
In this episode, our host, Kaushik Bose, deep dives with Dipti Agarwal, a seasoned marketer with a track record in integrating strategy with creative and content.
They delve into areas such as how to increase website visits, the power of branding, and the impact of AI on the marketing industry.
Dipti offers insights on the transformation of SEO with AI and her entrepreneurial journey with Little Food Diary. She also shares her experiences working on numerous campaigns, including the award-winning Project Streedhan.
Finally, the discussion sheds light on the changing dynamics of working with influencers in the social media landscape.
Timestamps:
00:17 Increasing Website Visits: Strategies and Experiences
02:26 Project Streedhan: A Viral Campaign Success Story
04:53 The Reality of Viral Videos and Their Impact on Business
07:50 The Role of AI in Marketing and Job Security
11:24 Is SEO Dead? A Discussion on the Future of SEO
15:25 Entrepreneurial Journey: Founding Little Food Diary
17:56 The Evolution and Future of Influencer Marketing
Episode No. 78 is out & the guest is a serial #entrepreneur, #cio & a #cmo combination - Aka Praveen Pinto!
Praveen's career is a testament to the power of adaptability and perseverance in the ever-changing landscape of #technology and #business.
With over 24 years of experience, Praveen has navigated through various industries, leaving a mark in each domain he ventured into - be it Jacky's Electronics or RAKBANK or DAMAC Properties in #dubai!
On today's show, I have Justin Breen, who after 16 years as a sports journalist built his own company, authored an international best-seller & an Amazon Bestseller across 6 countries!
He's currently the CEO of BrEpic Network, an invitation-only premium connecting platform which connects the visionaries on the planet.
In the opening episode of Season 16, I had the pleasure of speaking to Shyam Kesarwani, an industry veteran with two decades of experience in technology and banking.
We discussed how technology has transformed over the years from starting his career in the early 2000s. Key evolutions highlighted included the rise of the internet, AI/ML and cloud computing.
In banking specifically, Shyam noted the shift from solely branch-based services to fully digital and mobile banking. Emerging technologies like blockchain, cryptocurrencies and more recently chatbots like ChatGPT were also explored.
It was fascinating to gain insights from Shyam on his technology journey and views on where industries may head in the coming years. The podcast provided thought-provoking discussion on both the promises and precautions of rapidly advancing technologies.
Niiamah hosts a podcast for high-performing unconventional leaders and entreprenuers (aka Outliers) who use what makes them different to make a difference.
"It takes something different to lead what is coming."
So, what happens when you put together two podcast hosts who want to be the change?
You get one heck of a 75th episode!
Niiamah & Kaushik have a completely unscripted chat where they discuss leadership through hiring, biggest leadership mistakes, criticality of failures etc. Don't miss this one!
On the latest episode from Brain Box Media's TECH TITANS, Kaushik hosts Akhil Minocha, a seasoned tech leader with over two decades of experience.across CAST Software, Persistent Systems, Intel and more.The discussion dives into the technical topics of #application modernization, #cloud migration and assessing applications' readiness for the cloud.He also provides insightful explanations of important emerging technologies like #AI, machine learning, large language models, and how APIs power many aspects of our digital lives.They discuss the promise and challenges of generative AI tools like #ChatGPT and what may come next.The role of AI in jobs and careers is also covered.For technical leaders looking to stay on top of the latest trends, this #podcast episode provides valuable perspectives on strategizing for the future of #technology.
On the first episode of "Tech Titans" by Brain Box Media,
Alka Selot Asthana shares her inspiring career journey
in the telecom industry spanning over 25 years.
where she helped lead the 3G revolution in India as DGM of MTNL.
We discuss:
- Why CDMA technology lost market share to GSM.
- One of her favorite projects 'Housing for All'
- Smart city projects in the private sector.
For all the future women #leaders,
she encourages them to believe in themselves
and not second guess their potential or abilities based on gender.
Don't miss this 20 minute episode
& follow us for more such #leadership #podcasts
Vandana Tolani, one of the top women leaders in wealth management, sat down for an insightful discussion on her 25+ year career in venture capital and startups.
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We had a very inspiring discussion on her journey breaking barriers as a female leader in the VC world.
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We discussed how dramatically the startup landscape has transformed from the 1990s, when it was still uncommon, to today's global innovators across industries.
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Vandana shared her perspective on the differences between startup ecosystems in India vs. Southeast Asia, where she was based (in Indonesia) for 15 years.
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When assessing founders and ideas to invest in, she emphasized the importance of the "horse before the cart" - focusing first on a founder's traits like resilience over just a promising concept.
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She's also launched her new angel investment network Avinya to support underserved founders at the seed stage with small tickets and mentoring.
For the Season 15 curtain-raiser, Kaushik hosts Jon Davids, who is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO of Influicity, a company that builds brand communities through influencer marketing, social media, podcasts etc. His early entrepreneurship was displayed when as a student in 2004, Jon made $300,000 by building a website with blogs on various topics and getting traffic from MSN, AOL and Yahoo portals by promoting the content. He monetized through Google AdSense.
In 2009, Jon discovered the power of influencers/YouTubers after seeing someone get views in the tens of thousands for fashion videos. He worked with influencers to promote products and drive sales. Jon believes the future is in building communities and using influencers/one's own community to promote products and businesses, not just celebrity endorsements.
His latest ventures Influicity and Demand Scope help clients build communities and also use performance marketing like paid ads to drive shorter term revenue. Jon thinks newsletters, podcasts and owned channels are important to build direct connections with audiences into the future.
In the Season 14 finale, Kaushik talks with growth expert Anuj Mittal about how to achieve exponential scale through a thoughtful approach to sales.
Anuj discusses how he helped P&G (FMCG), Healthians.com (B2C), Zovi.com (D2C) grow massively by redesigning their sales process to eliminate friction and focus solely on meeting customer needs.
He talks through the multi-step process they implemented to naturally upsell customers at each touchpoint.
Anuj shares insights on how to structure an inside sales team for scale without needing extensive training, and how focusing on attention and value over transactions is key.
This discussion provides very useful perspectives, you wouldn't have considered on sales strategy, leadership, and building systems for sustainable growth.
Today's guest is a top entrepreneur and investment leader who has been recognized as Entrepreneur of the Year and Business Leader of the Year in investment management.
With over 20 years of experience ranging from the Big Four firms to being CFO of a $200 billion company, he shares valuable insights on startup success.
In this discussion, he addresses the critical factors investors examine, such as the importance of a compelling value proposition over ideas alone.
We also have very interesting chats around "mindset" like embracing failure and the significance of resilient founders over educational backgrounds alone.
All the way from Canada, I have the Founder of "The Curious Coach" with me on today's show. With his B2B SaaS expertise, we discuss about:
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Importance of Product Market Fit (PMF)
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Scaling in the US markets as compared to Indian markets
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Criticality of failure in achieving success
Check out this 17-minute episode!
While we would have heard about #worklifebalance
Have you heard of Work-Life harmony?
I certainly hadn't.
And I heard it first in Part 2 of my chat with Amit Gupta on #wellness.
(Part 1 was focused on #leadership, #startup #funding)
It's not surprising since he's a serial #founder
And I have decided to use it in my own lexicon 😉
Btw, he had a very logical and thought provoking view on #influencermarketing too!
In one of the very interesting chats, here are some of the key insights from the episode, with his global experience for nearly 3 decades:
• Retail and brick and mortar businesses can be successful, but they are harder to scale exponentially with technology compared to tech startups, thus leading to the conundrum of VCs preferring tech. However, we also delve into why omnichannel is the strategy needed for the brand.
• The actual TAM (Total Addressable Market) and buying behaviour of the "Real Bharat".
• Value-of-money vs affordability, esp. in India (vis-a-vis US).
• How a company he co-founded garnered a 70% market share in just 6 months!
• Leadership traits he looks for in founders while investing / working with them.
• How Leadership differs when scaling from 0 to 1 versus 1 to 10.
• The actual "Scaling" process.
Leadership Lessons from Navigating an Unpredictable Career
For the Season 13 finale of "Time Capsule", the interview with Jagdish Belwal explores how unplanned careers can be - he went from working in excavator field service to holding leadership roles in Tata Motors.
We discusses how his curiosity and learning mindset, focus on people, and looking outside for inspiration have been key leadership traits throughout his career.
He emphasizes the importance of teams being open about mistakes in order to build a culture of continuous improvement, and fixing issues rather than trying to fix people when there are politics in the team.
When hiring, Jagdish looks for honesty, resourcefulness, and how well candidates deal with people.
Pioneering Digital Transformations with Passion and Focus
Sourav Das, the Chief Digital Information Officer of Essel Mining (Aditya Birla Group) shares insights on driving digital transformations and building a technology enabled organization.
Few key takeaways:
• Passionate people who can withstand challenges are the most important hire for digital roles. Focus and can-do attitude are key.
• To win people over, have a belief in the ideas and demonstrate results that match your vision. Trust and credibility come with delivering value.
• The CDIO role requires technical knowledge, behavioral skills to socialize ideas, and business acumen to show how technology benefits the organization.
• Emerging technologies like AI, blockchain, AR/VR and robotics will disrupt lives and businesses in the next decade but analytics and cybersecurity will remain vital.
•If advising his younger self, he would say "Do what you love and love what you do. Follow your dreams and believe in yourself."
The greatest gift of #leadership is a boss who wants you to be successful.
I'm really excited to be hosting Savio Monteiro, who's been my last corporate boss (in GBM, #dubai) for a massive 6 years! (the next is 1.5 😉)
This 17-minute podcast of the "Time Capsule" Series (Season 13) is not just packed with #leadership mantras, but also around his candid views on work-life balance (which brings back fond memories of the chats we used to have in his office!)
On today's episode of Season 13 (Time Capsule), I host Rajesh Shewani, the Customer Engineering Head at Google Cloud. He's the best #technical #leader I have ever worked with and therefore his leading #teams for 15 years comes as no surprise. To all my #startup CTOs.. this is an episode you don't want to miss!
Childhood and Early Career (00:00:00) Choosing Information Management and Analytics (00:04:00) The Importance of Data-Driven Decision-Making (00:07:00) The Future of Analytics and Insights (00:13:00) Leadership in Technical Teams (00:14:00) Hiring for Technical Roles (00:16:00) Adaptability and Being Scrappy (00:08:00) Adding to Your Culture (00:09:00) Qualities of a Leader (00:10:00) The Importance of Credibility and Trust (00:12:00) Experimentation and Long-Term View (00:13:00) VR and AR in the Enterprise World (00:15:00) The Evolution of Data Warehousing and Analytics (00:16:00) Data as Part of the Core Business (00:19:00)
“Industry without talent is useless. Talent without industry is exasperating.
The two together can make an artist.”
To kick-start Season 13, "The Time Capsule", I have one such #leader who has been an artist across industries to share his views on #leadership & #mentalhealth.
Dulles Krishnan is the Managing Director of Coursera & had APAC leadership roles across IBM, AWS, Salesforce & SAP in the past.
Early on in my sales career, I used to think (just like most other people) that “Sales” has a very negative connotation & used to personally prefer “Business Development”. It took me a few years before I realised that I’m genuinely proud to be a Sales guy.
So, today’s guest is Melanie Boucarut, from Sweden, who teaches coaches how to sell without feeling dirty! She's the Founder & CEO of Yes Mistress and I can promise you that her sales insights will absolutely blow you away.
Timestamps:
00:03: Conversation on the Mindset of a Salesperson
00:06: "The Benefits of Having the Right Mindset When Selling"
00:08: "The Mindset of a Successful Sales Conversation"
00:09: Understanding the Sales Mindset: Motivation Beyond Money
00:12: Conversation on Financial Targets and Critical Traits of a Good Salesperson
00:13: "Cultivating Vulnerability and Willingness in Sales Calls"
00:15: Exploring the Journey of Starting a Life Coaching Business
00:17: Conversation on B2C Sales Strategies
00:23: Biggest Myth in Marketing and Advice for the 20 Year Old Self
Ravi Nair, an LLP coach and author of Amazon's bestselling book Weekend Miracle, is the first Guinness World Record holder on Brain Box.
Very interesting discussions ensue - like:
"Can leadership be taught or if it is something that is simply innate", or for that matter "Emotional intelligence?" "Importance of personal belief systems when it comes to becoming a great leader." "Importance of self-reflection and personal beliefs in leadership."
Lastly, everyone operates from two zones: looking good and avoiding looking bad; how this can create issues in communication and relationships.
Timestamps:
00:03: Conversation on Leadership Development and Overcoming Self-Limiting Beliefs
00:04: Exploring Traits and Belief Systems
00:06: Exploring Self-Limiting Beliefs in Leadership
00:09: The Benefits of Being a Good Leader: Setting Realistic Expectations
00:11: Conversation on Achieving Team Synergy and Motivation
00:12: Exploring the Different Types of Personality Traits in the Workplace
00:16: Exploring the Benefits of Teaching Sales Strategies
00:17: Exploring the Benefits of Introversion in Sales and Leadership
00:21: Exploring the Power of Knowledge Transfer & Guinness World Record for Participating in the Toughest Ultra Hill Marathon in India.
00:25: Exploring the Mind's Relationship to Pain and Pleasure
00:26: The Importance of Physical Health for Leadership Success
00:28: Advice for the 20-Year-Old Self
A serial entrepreneur, Saurabh founded his first startup in the Ed-tech space in 2009, while still in IIT Bombay!
The second one in 2015 in the Agri-Tech space (after his corporate stint).
He then instrumented Swiggy's growth from six cities to 500 in a span of just 6 months!
And then in 2020 worked very closely with Sachin Bansal (Flipkart fame) as CEO of Navi Mutual Fund.
He's now the Co-Founder of Stable Money.
We discuss about hiring, building & getting the best out of teams, scaling from 0-1; 1-5 & 5-10.
Don't miss this episode.. the pearls of wisdom are right there!
In a very interesting chat with the CEO of Vosmos (aka Virtual Cosmos), we discuss a plethora of topics:
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Understanding the Metaverse (or meta-commerce, as he likes to call it) better
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Balancing innovation with risk-taking capability;
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Criticality of trust in culture;
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Importance of marketing & branding;
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Customer experience & how it could be the biggest differentiator.
I had my first guest, Ashish Wattal, in Episode 6 on October 11, 2021. He was then MD at Cisco.
Fast forward exactly 18 months: April 10, 2023.
He returns after exactly 50 episodes as Country Director at Google Cloud to kick-off Season 12!
We discuss in detail around the traits that make him a great leader of multiple high-performing teams:
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Empathy & Compassion
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Criticality of Trust in getting results from the team
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Why communication is the key in achieving aspirational goals & how to go about achieving them
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Team-first mentality
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Individualism within the team
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Importance of Diversity in the team (Not just gender, but also in age)
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How failures set you up for success
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WFH or hybrid
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Importance of discipline & how sports inculcates leadership
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Importance of 'Orzuv' (Wellness in the Kashmiri language)
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How IT & tech has transformed in the past 35 years
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Where he expects India to be going in the next 10-15
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What advice he would give the 20-year old him
I couldn't have expected a more from-the-heart leadership mantras in under 26 minutes!
Transcript: https://share.descript.com/view/zD6NIO1vTxU?t=0.05
On the Season 11 finale, I'm delighted to host Darshan Shetty - currently the General Manager at Continental, who has worked with conglomerates like Bosch in the past. He is also my batchmate from RVCE over 2 decades ago.
Having been in a whole variety of roles - right from R&D to Project Management to Sales - he shares his leadership mantras on how to develop high-performing teams.
Being an avid sportsperson as well, we also have a brief discussion about the importance of physical health in leadership.
Abhishek Gupta has some of the best credentials there are: He's the CEO of Turbotic, ex-Partner of KPMG & a Board Member.
My conversation with him is around some of the hottest topics today:
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Leveraging AI in Self-Driving cars
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Utilising AI & Blockchain in HR
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Fail fast-fail safe in startups
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His 5th & 6th Ps in Marketing!
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How to build an innovative startup (He invests regularly in them)
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Importance of Feedback in Leadership
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His love for ‘polo’
If you have read any of the viral posts about “How all the sharks except Aman Gupta are suffering major losses” .. I have the source.
He's Ankit Uttam - an author, LinkedIn influencer & a solopreneur.
There’s a reason, though, that Brain Box is an award winning show by Spotify - we will be digging into the other facets of his life, which aren’t too commonly known - yet are very remarkable!
We delve into "power of series", how he directed rage to something productive .. to how "Minimum Viable Product" can be applied to any product / service, what it takes to be an influencer .. all the way to his reasons for having 11k+ subscribers on his newsletter!
Customer Experience (CX) is defined as the customers' holistic perception of their experience with your business or brand. It's one of the biggest differentiators to stand-out in a crowded market. So in today's episode, our guest is an expert in CX in both B2B and B2C - Kavitha Ashtakala.
She also talks about her solopreneurship journey, Individual Social Responsibility (ISR) and how career breaks helped shape her - both professionally and personally.
After 51 episodes, it gets more and more difficult to have FIRSTS. Anyone who knows me though.. knows I somehow make it happen. On today’s podcast, I have the first Lawyer on my show! He’s one of the leading lawyers in Gurgaon - Advocate Pradeep Kumar Khatana!
If you are like me.. and want to know more than just what-you-see on TV about the legal system, you've got to listen to this!
On this landmark of launching the 50th episode of Brain Box, on this very special episode - I host someone who is a 2-time entrepreneur, a Certified Yoga Instructor, a Certified Nutritionist & an accomplished Interior Designer, who's delivered projects in Dubai & India.
She's also been in the Corporate jungle in Dubai & India for over a decade, before starting her own startup as a first generation entrepreneur.
Oh.. she's also my wife .. and these chats don't get more unscripted and from-the-heart than this!
I love psychology - and it was indeed a very interesting conversation that I had with Mark Fernandes. He's been recognised as a Global Thought Leader by LinkedIn in 2022; he's the Senior Vice President of HR in Kotak Life, has 17 years of consulting experience across the Big 4 & is a behavioural therapist. Some of the very interesting topics we discuss:
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Why some entrepreneurs succeed?
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How to go from a victim mentality to a victor mentality?
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Why leaders don't seek feedback / take it the right way?
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Why even superhero movies are undergoing a sea change?
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Trait vs Type tools to assess people - and which is better?
One of the most inspiring LinkedIn posts that I happened to see on the New Year of 2023 & I decided I had to get Tamojit on the show! He's currently with PwC in Dubai & is ex-Accenture after completing his MBA from IIM Bangalore.
We discuss:
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Investing in humility & self awareness when the going is good.
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Criticality of self-awareness for leaders
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Don't lose hope when the going gets tough.
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Importance of networking
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Put well-being first
Don't miss this episode!
Today's guest is a Serial Entrepreneur, Amit Goel. He is the Founder of Prodigee Finance - one of the fastest growing NBFCs in the country. We cover aspects of work life balance, how he drives wellness initiatives in his own organisations, his focus on physical and mental wellness etc.
While the first 9 seasons focused on Leadership, Season 10 is the Season where the focus with my guest leaders is on "Wellness".
My intent this season is to get Leaders to share their honest experiences with Wellness and what we need to improve.
This particular episode is spun off from the Season 9 finale, which I felt deserved it's own episode by itself.. and here it is!
Most people think that if someone’s successful, they’ve had everything going their way... not true.
Successful people fall, but are able to get up to fight another day.
For the Season 9 finale, I have one of the most purpose-driven leaders I can personally vouch for!
He’s the CEO & Founder of two companies - both into sustainability. He’s an ISB Hyderabad pass-out and is without a doubt one of the sharpest minds I’ve come across & I personally love his leadership style.
In today's show we discuss:
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Criticality of premier colleges in shaping one's career
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The Product Manager role
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His bootstrapped startups
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Leadership
And wishing you all a Very Happy New Year 2023!
On the penultimate episode of Season 9 (& the year 2022), I have the "Entrepreneur of the Year, 2019", Indonesia. He's also been nominated for Forbes Indonesia’s Most Promising Growth-Stage Startup 2019. In today's show, we discuss:
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How he scaled his business from 0 to a $14 mn in sales in just 6 years.
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His practical experiences in doing zero-budget marketing!
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How critical culture is in a startup
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His leadership & hiring mantras.
As 2022 draws to a close, I am delighted to host Deepti Karthik, voted among “The Women Disruptors” & "Marketing Head of the Year”.
She’s the Senior Vice President of Marketing at DaMENSCH, ex-Nokia, HUL, SnapDeal & Wipro CCL.
Listen to the show to listen to her very interesting and lucid thoughts on #marketing, #leadership & #startups.
As today's host, Govind Kedia, (Managing Director of Arctic Invent) said "The hunter has become the hunted".
In today's session, the tables are turned - and Kaushik Bose is the one on the hot seat sharing his learnings on "Generating the first Sales as a startup".
On the first episode of Season 9, we have the opportunity to host Kosta Panagoulias on the show. He's a serial entrepreneur & has just recently made a successful exit from Web4Realty.
He is also a fellow podcaster, and is the host of the show "Founder Views", considered to be one of the top-rated business podcasts.
Here we discuss his views on:
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How to scale a bootstrapped company vis-a-vis a funded one
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Hiring
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Real Estate
For the Season finale, I have a very special guest, Mr. Sanjay Vidyarthi.
In his career spanning 34 years, he’s worked across industries, across the globe & even built a very successful services startup, iQor which went from 0 - 400 cr in just 10 years with 9 of them being awarded as "Global Best-in-class".
22 of his supervisors are CEOs of various Public companies in US & India.
For the past 5 years, he’s focused on the Agri space & is the Founder of Bharat-to-India Connect, & co-Founder of Agritech Enablers.
We discuss it all:
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How to build a Valuable company
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Importance of culture in a startup
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Why quality means lower cost
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Traits while hiring the team
A very focussed discussion around agriculture with Mr. Raghavan, who's been a Food & Agribusiness Leader with a 360 degree view of complex "Geo-Political, Environmental, Socio Economic, Techno-Commercial & Cultural" perspectives of Agri Food Value Chain in Asia Pacific.
He's a regular speaker at Agri Food industry events/ conferences having started off in the rural marketing space. He's currently the Head of Policy Advocacy & External Affairs at Samunnati.
In this episode, we discuss all facets of agriculture: marketing, why focus is needed in this space, why / why not to turn vegan, the role of technology etc.
Note: All views are his personal views only and not of his current / previous organisations he's been associated with.
It took me 8 seasons & 37 episodes before I found the first Marketing Person to feature on the show. Mr. Dhruv Talwar, GM of Corporate Affairs of the Godrej Group.
Being a branding person myself, I’ve finally got THE perfect marketer on today’s show which LinkedIn also validates - he's in the elite Creators Day & has over 50,000 followers on the platform.
He’s won a lot of accolades & awards - has spoken in diverse industries like consumer goods, real estate & hospitality sectors.
We discuss how Godrej differentiated itself to win 14 global awards, become #1 in the real estate industry, the very elite "Ambassadors Club".
We also discuss his takeaways from the 6-week Alt-MBA course by Seth Godin.
Today's guest is Pranav Sanghvi who’s a prolific investor. He’s the Managing Partner at Dot In Network, Principal at MABS Family Office & Managing Partner at Patronus.
What differentiates him from the rest of the investor fraternity is that he's also a DJ, a Music Producer & even an Electronic Music production designer!
If that's not enough, he's even a Certified Scuba Diver!
Listen to a very interesting show where he shares not only his investor thesis, but also his penchant for music & scuba diving.
On the first episode of Season 8, I have the opportunity to host Girish Aivalli - one of the most dynamic leaders I know.
He’s the Chairman, South Asia for AgTech Hub for Innovation; has authored 4 books & also has his own You Tube video series - Tata Katha!
Do follow the Brain Box LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brain-box-media/
In the Season Finale of the very special "Game Changers" Season, I’ve got a very special guest, Mark Kahn, on the show today. He’s one of the biggest names in the Venture Capital space & is the Managing Partner at Omnivore.
He set up India's first Agri-focussed fund way back in 2011 & is revolutionising this space.
Just last month, Omnivore won the reputed IVCA Award for Social Impact!
Today’s guest is our first guest from Sweden - Jamal Reimer. He is someone with who I share a common passion - closing large deals!
He closed his first mega deal way back in 2012 in Oracle- for a whooping $50 mn!
He coaches enterprise sellers & startup CEOs how to close mega deals in his workshops.
Not surprisingly, he recently authored the book “Mega Deal Secrets”.
On the third episode of the "Game Changers" series, we have a guest, who's been interviewed by the likes of ABC, CNN, BBC, Thomson Reuters etc.
He's Martin Stark, the Founder & CEO of World Gay Boxing Championships happening in Sydney in 2023.
We discuss about:
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How he had his first amateur fight at the age of 47 after suffering from 2 comas;
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Diversity & inclusion;
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How critical D&I is for small businesses as well;
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And his new found passion for boxing
Season 7, "Game Changers" is the season where I host trend-setters across industries who've redefined leadership.
Our second guest of the season is Mr. Hetal Sonpal, who is a proven leader in global MNCs like LinkedIn, Microsoft, Intel & Wipro across countries; then moved on to being a successful angel investor, a TedX speaker, a Half IronMan & even an author!
The quest continues & he's even pursuing his PhD from IIM Kozhikode.
We have a wonderful chat around his just-released book "Against All Odds"; his view points on "Influencing without Authority", and what drives him from one mountain peak to the next!
After 6 amazing seasons, this 7th Season of the podcast promises to be the cherry on top. Aptly titled "Game Changers", this is the season where I host trend-setters across industries who've redefined leadership.
Our first guest today embodies it perfectly: Mr. Amit Malik, the CEO & Managing Director of Aviva.
He was selected as one of the “Top 40 HR Leaders” way back in 2014 & was the trend-setter for CHROs to be elevated to a CEO, along with the likes of Sunder Ramachandran & more recently, Leena Nair.
In the Season 6 finale, where we've interviewed HR stalwarts, I'm very happy to have a seasoned Talent Acquisition expert on the show.
He's Mr. Aditya Pal Singh, Director & Head of Talent Acquisition at Informatica.
He’s got over 19 years of experience, spanning the entire gamut of Talent Acquisition, having worked with Accenture as VP, Talent Acquisition before joining Informatica, one of the biggest names in the DWH space.
To wrap up the Women's Day Series, we present the "Leadership Snippets" of one of the strongest women in our podcast.
She has virtually done it all - changed industries (from Airlines to Hospitality to Career Coach to Author); changed profiles (Training to Sales to Marketing to Communications / PR to Entrepreneur) .. the constant is that she's never shied away from a challenge.
The Snippets essentially focus on what Leadership means to her & a very interesting take on what free-flowing advice she would give to a much-younger Sonnia.
Link to the entire episode: https://anchor.fm/kaushik-bose9/episodes/20--Sonnia-Singh-Managing-Director--HSMAI-India-Leadership-Coach--Author-e1ckra8
Today, on Women’s Day, we have the CHRO for iCORE, a global Business line of one of the world’s largest IT organizations - Wipro Limited.
She’s the home grown Wipro leader -Priti Kataria.
She is responsible for anchoring and leading “Wipro cares” Mumbai chapter, while passionately leading and partnering in the organisation efforts around inclusion and diversity. While given her various roles and global portfolios - she is also a student on weekends - where she continues to learn and pursue her PhD from IIM indore
This is the second episode of "Leadership Snippets", which is just a 9-minute version of the original podcast.
This Women's Day, we are proud to present the version where we had a candid chat with Ms. Sheela Nambiar (then Sr. Director with Oracle & now Digital Sales Leader with IBM in North America).
It highlights how difficult it is (at least was) for women in sales, how an introvert can blossom in a sales role & her key leadership traits.
While the full podcast is available in the link below, "Leadership Snippets" gives you an upto-9-minute "Leadership Recap" on what is needed to be a better leader.
Today's episode is the snippet of my first guest on BrainBox & is also my mentor for nearly 2 decades. He's Mr. Ashish Wattal, Managing Director, Cisco for India & SAARC.
Full episode:
https://anchor.fm/kaushik-bose9/episodes/06--Leadership-Ashish-Wattal--Managing-Director--Cisco-India-e18iodc
It's the 25th episode today & I have the privilege of having a visionary leader on the show - Mr. Ranjan Ghosh. I've known him for over 2 decades from the time he was Executive Director in GAIL for Corporate Planning & Strategy, but he's also very keen in Quantum computing & grey-space consulting.
Since we are focused on Leadership, though, this episode is a must-listen - where we discuss the key leadership traits, how to lead in large public sector conglomerates along with his hiring tips.
Having passed out of one of the premium HR institutes in India, XLRI - Mayank has been with behemoths like Asian Paints & RIL before taking a 'career break'. He finally embarked on his journey to co-found a startup.
Today we have a very candid chat on the latest topics - The Great Resignation (of course), Career Break & Motivating blue-collared workers!
I really wish I had spoken to him before I ventured into the startup world.. would have saved me a lot of heart-ache.. :)
Everyone has heard the saying “Data is the New Oil”. I have with me a very special guest today who has been at the intersection of both worlds! He used to handle data for one of the largest oil companies & figuring in the Fortune Global 500 list with profits of over $6.1 bn. He’s Mr. Alok Khanna – Former Executive Director of Strategic Information Systems at Indian Oil Corporation for nearly 4 decades! Having personally knowing him for over 15 years, he's the perfect person to talk about leadership & the very interesting topic of "Innovation in public sector companies".
With over 21,000 followers on LinkedIn & a pass out from XLRI Jamshedpur, my very special guest today is a person who puts Human in the Human Resources function. He’s Dhruv Dubey, General Manager of HR in Spencer Retail. With over 20 years in leadership roles across multiple industries, he’s an expert in making HR practices business driven, market aligned and data based. Check out his take on why HR Heads are getting elevated to CEOs, The Great Resignation & Diversity & Inclusion among other aspects.
I’ve had guests from a couple of countries outside India, a couple of fellow-podcasters, an author & even a Leadership coach – but this is the first guest who is - “All of the above” - Brandon Eastman, Founder of "Be Better Industries".
This is an exhilarating, from-the-heart chat around "Sales & Sales Leadership". Brandon helps performance driven leaders break through their limitations, perform at their peak and achieve their biggest goals.
This is the audio-only version of the LinkedIn Live event. If you like this podcast, please do Like the "Brain Box Media" page, where we share our Newsletter, Podcast updates, Mentza Channel & Twitter Spaces updates as well.
The first podcast of 2022 starts off as a "LinkedIn Live" event and this is the audio-only version.
My first LIVE guest is Sonnia Singh - She’s a Career Transitions & Leadership Coach, Managing Director of HSMAI India, an accomplished author & has also had a remarkable career in the hospitality space with behemoths like Oberoi Group, Taj Group, Park Hotels, Ibis, Accor - across both Sales & Marketing functions.
Subscribe to our "Brain Box Media" channel on LinkedIn where we also host our LinkedIn Live sessions, a Mentza channel & Twitter Spaces.
It's a great honour to host the ex-CIO of Tata Motors, Mr. Jagdish Belwal, on "Brain Box". He's a stalwart not only in Indian boardrooms, but also on LinkedIn with 15k+ followers & his own show "ClariTea".
He has been awarded "Cloud Icon" & "Automotive Icon" in the CIO Power List Awards.
We have a great heart-to-heart chat on Leadership, his career journey, leading teams & hiring among other topics!
My LinkedIN profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaushik-bose/
Today's guest is Mr. Arun Tewary, one of the most popular CIOs in India & Dubai - having worked with companies like Tata Steel, NTPC, Essar Steel in India & Al Futtaim, Emaar & 15 years with Emirates Flight Catering (EKFC).
He has a tonne of accolades to his credit - "Winner of Aviation Awards", Ärab Technology Award" & has been a keynote speaker in at least 6 events in as many years!
Enjoy the podcast where we discuss about the leadership traits & challenges even CIOs face, with a 'mantra' for successful implementation projects.
A deep dive into Marketing, Leadership & startup world with the person who’s made HUL his home for over 11 years! Very few know it better ..
it’s a huge honour to have Mr. Sourav Das, Chief Digital & Information Officer, Essel Mining & Industries Limited at Aditya Birla Group on teh show today.
He’s the IIT-IIM combo that parents swoon over & has a tonne of accolades to his name. He’s been awarded the Eminent CIO of India Award at the 19th Infotech Forum in 2021 … the CXO Excellence Award 2021 … The Transformational CIO Award of the Year Award 2021, the CXO Hall of Fame Award in 2020 among many others.
This is a discussion where we discuss a whole multitude of topics:
a. Is an MBA worth it
b. Criticality of Marketing vs the universally-loved Sales
c. Leadership traits
d. Hiring for Passion
e. What a CIO / CDIO role encompasses beyond just technology.
f. Fail-fast approach
g. Where IT is headed over the next decade
This is a must-listen podcast & do leave your feedback!
Today’s guest is the former Chief Digital & Information Officer & Global Head of Wipro HOLMES & I’m confident virtually everyone in Wipro India would know – ROHIT ADLAKHA. He’s a true leader – who exhibits true leadership by playing the infinite game driving the development, engagement and outcomes of his team. He currently serves as Executive Advisor to 3 companies and even co-hosts his own podcast “AR Talkies”. He doesn't feature on the "CXO Series" & Technology Evangelism without a reason - he's nailed technology in the past & has a very clear vision of where it will be going in the next few years! And his leadership and hiring advice, make this a must-listen podcast!
Today I have on the show .. Prashant Tewari. He's been one of the very few people I know, who has moved from IT behemoths like an IBM to one of the most exciting startups today - Acceldata. We have a free-flowing chat around leadership, working in the startup world vis-a-vis the large organizations, life in the Middle East etc.
This is my first-ever 2 part series with a single guest, and he is Samrat Kishor, a Technology & Strategy Consultant turned entrepreneur and investor.
I hope you liked the first part which was centred around “Leadership” focusing on his experience across the Big names in Consulting like Grant Thornton, KPMG, Deloitte & Accenture over 23 countries.
This podcast would be on “Technical Evangelism”. Samrat is presently on the board of 4 start-ups, is the Co-chair of Baseline Protocol & is also the Regional Head of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance. He has been dabbling with Blockchain & Artificial Intelligence for nearly a decade. Samrat is also a guest columnist for Economic Times.
We discuss cryptocurrencies, blockchain, the startup ecosystem & work-life balance. I'm confident you'll love this one as well!
I have a very special guest with me today. I had such an interesting chat with him that I am doing the first-ever 2-part series with a single guest. He is Samrat Kishor, a Technology & Strategy Consultant turned entrepreneur and investor.
The first podcast with him will be centred around "Leadership" focusing on his experience across the Big names in Consulting like Grant Thornton, KPMG, Deloitte & Accenture across 23 countries.
The second part would be on “Technical Evangelism”. Samrat is presently on the board of 4 start-ups, is the Co-chair of Baseline Protocol & is also the Regional Head of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance. He has been dabbling with Blockchain & Artificial Intelligence for nearly a decade. Samrat is also a guest columnist for Economic Times.
This is the First Part: "Leadership".
Being a seasoned sales professional myself, all my guests & most of my own podcasts have been around sales. However, everyone in sales knows that without the technical team, it would be impossible to consistently provide the levels of customer excellence that people expect from us.
Today’s guest is someone whose leadership I truly admire & consider to be a Technical Evangelist. I’ve known him right from my IBM days nearly 15 years ago. He has been leading the Google Cloud practice for the past 3 years. He is Rajesh Shewani.
On the final episode of the first "Leadership" series, I'm very happy to host Sanjay Deshmukh, Senior Regional Vice President, of Snowflake (Ranked 1st on the Forbes Cloud 100 in 2019).
We have a free-wheeling chat around him being an "Iron Man", his superlative presentation skills, leadership tips & life in Singapore (Both careerwise & quality of life).
ABOUT "BRAIN BOX":
The "Brain Box" podcast has a singular focus - Grow 1% daily & you're 37 times better in just a year.
This podcast has a common theme across a series of 5 episodes.
The episodes could be solo episodes or free-flowing, unscripted discussions with different successful people across different walks of life. We will cover a whole bouquet of ideas - entrepreneurship, IT leadership, CIO perspectives, writers, HR professionals.. the list goes on. I will be hand-picking the 100-200 people from my network, who would be candidly sharing their thoughts.
Episodes 01-05: "Solo" theme - So you know your host better :)
Episodes 06-10: "Leadership Series" - Interviews of highly accomplished leaders I can personally vouch for:
-
Ashish Wattal: MD, Cisco
-
Sheela Nambiar: Sr. Dir., Oracle
-
Dulles Krishnan: MD, CourseEra
-
Savio Monteiro: Dir, GBM (Dubai)
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Sanjay Deshmukh: Sr. VP, Snowflake (Singapore)
On the 4th episode of the "Leadership" series, I'm very happy to host Savio Monteiro, Director, GBM (Dubai) to discuss his leadership thoughts, which I've witnessed first-hand - since he had been my manager from 2011-2017.
We have a heart-to-heart on things around leadership principles, how Dubai is different from India, work-life balance & values.
ABOUT "BRAIN BOX":
The "Brain Box" podcast has a singular focus - Grow 1% daily & you're 37 times better in just a year.
This podcast has a common theme across a series of 5 episodes.
The episodes could be solo episodes or free-flowing, unscripted discussions with different successful people across different walks of life. We will cover a whole bouquet of ideas - entrepreneurship, IT leadership, CIO perspectives, writers, HR professionals.. the list goes on. I will be hand-picking the 100-200 people from my network, who would be candidly sharing their thoughts.
Episodes 01-05: "Solo" theme - So you know your host better :)
Episodes 06-10: "Leadership Series" - Interviews of highly accomplished leaders I can personally vouch for:
-
Ashish Wattal: MD, Cisco
-
Sheela Nambiar: Sr. Dir., Oracle
-
Dulles Krishnan: MD, CourseEra
-
Savio Monteiro: Dir, GBM (Dubai)
“Industry without talent is useless. Talent without industry is exasperating. The two together can make an artist.”
Today I have one such leader who has been an artist across industries to provide his views on leadership.
Mr. Dulles Krishnan has been Chief of Staff to Steve Mills in the US, overseeing a $50 bn IBM Software Group; had APAC leadership roles across IBM, AWS, SalesForce & now is the Managing Director of CourseEra, one of the biggest global names in the world's hottest industry.
ABOUT "BRAIN BOX":
The "Brain Box" podcast has a singular focus - Grow 1% daily.
The episodes could be solo episodes or free-flowing, unscripted discussions with different successful people across different walks of life. We will cover a whole bouquet of ideas - entrepreneurship, IT leadership, CIO perspectives, writers, HR professionals.. the list goes on. I will be hand-picking the 100-200 people from my network, who would be candidly sharing their thoughts.
"Brain Box" is conducted differently - they are conducted in a Series of 5 episodes with a common theme.
Episodes 01-05: "Solo" theme - So you know your host better :)
Episodes 06-10: "Leadership Series" - Interviews of highly accomplished leaders I can personally vouch for:
-
Ashish Wattal: MD, Cisco
-
Sheela Nambiar: Sr. Dir., Oracle
-
Dulles Krishnan: MD, CourseEra
-
Savio Monteiro: Dir, GBM (Dubai)
As another great woman leader, Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, famously said “You will be defined not just by what you achieve, but by how you live.”
Sheela Nambiar portrays these words to perfection. From the challenges, women face in sales; to leading with "assertion" rather than "aggression"; work-life balance; all the way to her philanthropic ways, this podcast is a must-listen if you want to be the leader-with-a-difference.
ABOUT "BRAIN BOX":
The "Brain Box" podcast has a singular focus - Grow 1% daily.
The episodes could be solo episodes or free-flowing, unscripted discussions with different successful people across different walks of life. We will cover a whole bouquet of ideas - entrepreneurship, IT leadership, CIO perspectives, writers, HR professionals.. the list goes on. I will be hand-picking the 100-200 people from my network, who would be candidly sharing their thoughts.
"Brain Box" is conducted differently - they are conducted in a Series of 5 episodes with a common theme.
Episodes 01-05: "Solo" theme - So you know your host better :)
Episodes 06-10: "Leadership Series" - Interviews of highly accomplished leaders I can personally vouch for:
-
Ashish Wattal: MD, Cisco
-
Sheela Nambiar: Sr. Dir., Oracle
-
Dulles Krishnan: MD, CourseEra
-
Savio Monteiro: Dir, GBM (Dubai)
The first podcast in the “Leadership” series with one of the finest leaders I know. If you are looking for Leadership nuggets, this one’s for you. We go behind-the-scenes all the way to his childhood to give you an inside-look into his leadership style and thoughts!
ABOUT "BRAIN BOX":
The "Brain Box" podcast has a singular focus - Grow 1% daily.
The episodes could be solo episodes or free-flowing, unscripted discussions with different successful people across different walks of life. We will cover a whole bouquet of ideas - entrepreneurship, IT leadership, CIO perspectives, writers, HR professionals.. the list goes on. I will be hand-picking the 100-200 people from my network, who would be candidly sharing their thoughts.
"Brain Box" is conducted differently - they are conducted in a Series of 5 episodes with a common theme.
Episodes 01-05: "Solo" theme - So you know your host better :)
Episodes 06-10: "Leadership Series" - Interviews of highly accomplished leaders I can personally vouch for:
-
Ashish Wattal: MD, Cisco
-
Sheela Nambiar: Sr. Dir., Oracle
-
Dulles Krishnan: MD, CourseEra
-
Savio Monteiro: Dir, GBM (Dubai)
The purpose of this episode is to give a detailed behind-the-scenes story of building my first entrepreneurial venture, "GadgetsKare" from scratch; the challenges faced; the amazing world of trying to raise money from Angels & VCs.. & eventually the reasons behind the exit.
Interesting Points in the Podcast:
-
"Lemons & peaches" as described by economists
-
Top four Lessons learnt while trying to raise funds
-
Why tech-based companies are preferred by Angels / VCs over others
ABOUT "BRAIN BOX":
The "Brain Box" podcast has a singular focus - Grow 1% daily.
The episodes could be solo episodes or free-flowing, unscripted discussions with different successful people across different walks of life. We will cover a whole bouquet of ideas - entrepreneurship, IT leadership, CIO perspectives, writers, HR professionals.. the list goes on. I will be hand-picking the 100-200 people from my network, who would be candidly sharing their thoughts.
"Brain Box" is conducted differently - they are conducted in a Series of 5 episodes with a common theme.
Episodes 01-05: "Solo" theme - So you know your host better :)
Episodes 06-10: "Leadership Series" - Interviews of highly accomplished leaders I can personally vouch for:
-
Ashish Wattal: MD, Cisco
-
Sheela Nambiar: Sr. Dir., Oracle
-
Dulles Krishnan: MD, CourseEra
-
Savio Monteiro: Dir, GBM (Dubai)
Why is it that the successful people are always focused? The key is to know what you are looking for. Listen to this podcast to get a quick story which will make you reflect on focusing on the important things in life. (Read this in my LinkedIn feed recently, so thought of sharing)
ABOUT "BRAIN BOX":
The "Brain Box" podcast has a singular focus - Grow 1% daily.
The episodes could be solo episodes or free-flowing, unscripted discussions with different successful people across different walks of life. We will cover a whole bouquet of ideas - entrepreneurship, IT leadership, CIO perspectives, writers, HR professionals.. the list goes on. I will be hand-picking the 100-200 people from my network, who would be candidly sharing their thoughts.
"Brain Box" is conducted differently - they are conducted in a Series of 5 episodes with a common theme.
Episodes 01-05: "Solo" theme - So you know your host better :)
Episodes 06-10: "Leadership Series" - Interviews of highly accomplished leaders I can personally vouch for:
-
Ashish Wattal: MD, Cisco
-
Sheela Nambiar: Sr. Dir., Oracle
-
Dulles Krishnan: MD, CourseEra
-
Savio Monteiro: Dir, GBM (Dubai)
Why, despite public opinion, Introverts are amazing at Sales. Get inputs first hand from the person who is proudly one himself.
For those who are on the fence about whether to dive into Sales (Business Development if you prefer the term!), this will clear nuances that you won't get to listen so candidly from others. For those of you are already in Sales.. I’m sure you’ll love what I have to say & it'll resonate 😊
ABOUT "BRAIN BOX":
The "Brain Box" podcast has a singular focus - Grow 1% daily.
The episodes could be solo episodes or free-flowing, unscripted discussions with different successful people across different walks of life. We will cover a whole bouquet of ideas - entrepreneurship, IT leadership, CIO perspectives, writers, HR professionals.. the list goes on. I will be hand-picking the 100-200 people from my network, who would be candidly sharing their thoughts.
"Brain Box" is conducted differently - they are conducted in a Series of 5 episodes with a common theme.
Episodes 01-05: "Solo" theme - So you know your host better :)
Episodes 06-10: "Leadership Series" - Interviews of highly accomplished leaders I can personally vouch for:
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Ashish Wattal: MD, Cisco
-
Sheela Nambiar: Sr. Dir., Oracle
-
Dulles Krishnan: MD, CourseEra
-
Savio Monteiro: Dir, GBM (Dubai)
For those who are on the fence about whether to dive into Sales (Business Development if you prefer the term!), this will clear nuances that you won't get to listen so candidly from others. For those of you are already in Sales.. I’m sure you’ll love what I have to say & it'll resonate 😊
ABOUT "BRAIN BOX":
The "Brain Box" podcast has a singular focus - Grow 1% daily.
The episodes could be solo episodes or free-flowing, unscripted discussions with different successful people across different walks of life. We will cover a whole bouquet of ideas - entrepreneurship, IT leadership, CIO perspectives, writers, HR professionals.. the list goes on. I will be hand-picking the 100-200 people from my network, who would be candidly sharing their thoughts.
"Brain Box" is conducted differently - they are conducted in a Series of 5 episodes with a common theme.
Episodes 01-05: "Solo" theme - So you know your host better :)
Episodes 06-10: "Leadership Series" - Interviews of highly accomplished leaders I can personally vouch for:
-
Ashish Wattal: MD, Cisco
-
Sheela Nambiar: Sr. Dir., Oracle
-
Dulles Krishnan: MD, CourseEra
-
Savio Monteiro: Dir, GBM (Dubai)
ABOUT "BRAIN BOX":
The "Brain Box" podcast has a singular focus - Grow 1% daily.
The episodes could be solo episodes or free-flowing, unscripted discussions with different successful people across different walks of life. We will cover a whole bouquet of ideas - entrepreneurship, IT leadership, CIO perspectives, writers, HR professionals.. the list goes on. I will be hand-picking the 100-200 people from my network, who would be candidly sharing their thoughts.
"Brain Box" is conducted differently - they are conducted in a Series of 5 episodes with a common theme.
Episodes 01-05: "Solo" theme - So you know your host better :)
Episodes 06-10: "Leadership Series" - I will be interviewing highly accomplished leaders (Managing Directors or similar roles) to understand whether "Leaders are born or made"; their stories growing up; leadership tips, etc.