Leadership Insights With Prashant: Recent Episodes
Prashant Handoo
Leadership is a lot like love, it's the little things that matter the most.
With this belief as the foundation, this podcast hosts candid conversations with leaders and believers from all walks of life, sharing their perspectives and insights about leadership at work and in life.
A new episode, new conversation, new perspective, every Every Thursday, 11 am. 😊
An accomplished business leader with over 30 years of experience in managing and coaching young leaders and getting things done by delivering strategic customer experience initiatives, driving operations excellence, and re-imagining products & services in the airline and airport business.
He effectively manages medium to large workforces to deliver outstanding service and operations excellence. He has worked at the top 2 best airlines in the world (Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways) as well as India’s Jet Airways. Currently, he is the Chief Operating Officer of Bangalore International Airport Limited.
Throughout my career, he has effectively blended the 3 P’s of Customer Experience and Operations Excellence- People, Processes, and Performance - to create value for the companies that he has worked with. He engages in a people-oriented management style because he has witnessed its ability to increase employee engagement and drive them to provide outstanding customer experience.
He is also passionate about coaching and mentoring young leaders as he loves teaching and it's also what I am very good at.
He has extensive experience and skills in the following areas:
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Getting Things Done
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Customer Experience Strategy & Execution
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Service Process Redesign
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Customer Journey Excellence
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Aviation Commercial Strategy
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Marketing and E-Commerce
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People Development and Training
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Performance Improvement
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Delivering Results
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Mentoring & Coaching Young Leaders
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Building and Nurturing High-Performance Teams
He has consistently achieved his company’s business objectives through high-level competency, reliability, and focusing on strategic execution. His scope of work encompassed both B2B and B2C interactions and business dealings.
Working overseas and managing multi-cultural teams in the United States, Russia, India, Middle East, Europe, and the Asia Pacific has given him extensive hands-on experience in Customer Service & Customer Experience Innovation, Operations Management, Business Strategy, Sales, Marketing, Human Resources, and Financial Administration.
As a leader, he is self-aware with strong personal values and integrity. His leadership focus has always been on results achievement, relationship-building, and creating a vision for teams to strive for. He has spent a lot of time on creating a community of leaders, cultivating collaboration, and encouraging individuals and groups.
He has held several senior-level positions, including Chief Commercial Officer and Chief Operating Officer.
Senior Vice President and Global Head of HR and other enabling functions at CIGNEX Datamatics. Ankita has over 22 years of progressive experience in managing and leading various aspects of Human Resources spanning across high-paced business domains of ITES. In addition to all functions of HR, Ankita overseas other enabling functions like Administration, Travel, and Resource Management.
Ankita holds a Ph.D. in Management and is a Gold Medallist in BBA as well as MBA. She has done HR and Business Strategy-related Executive Management Programmes from IIM-A, ISB- Hyderabad, and XLRI. She is a certified PPA (Thomas Profiling) Practitioner.
She has excelled in establishing innovative and competitive initiatives and institutionalizing a strong performance-driven culture at CIGNEX Datamatics which has resulted in the company being certified as a “Great Place to Work 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 & 2020-21”.
Recently, she has been awarded amongst Forbes India’s Top 100 Great People Manager by the study conducted by GMI India. Apart from this great recognition, Ankita Singh has also successfully completed one of the most prestigious certifications from Harvard Business School Online – “Sustainable Business Strategy”.
Her expertise includes transformational change management and M&A initiatives. She has extensively worked in all facets of HR with a special interest in the field of leadership Development, Organizational Behaviour, Culture Building, and Employee Engagement.
She has been recognized in different prestigious platforms for her contribution and excellence in the field of HR and leadership. She was awarded “CHRO of the Year 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2017” “Women Personality of the Year 2019 and 2018 by Femina”, “Business Person of the year 2020, “Most influential Corporate Personality-2019”, “Indian Business Woman of the Year 2019”, “Indian HR Champion of the year 2019”, “Women Leader of the year 2019”, “Inspiring personality of the year 2019”, “Most Influential HR Leader of the year 2019” “Best employee engagement project designer of the year 2019” just to name a few.
She believes in driving organizational culture and values through PEOPLE, not processes alone.
Apart from her professional excellence, Ankita is very active in supporting social causes by working closely with various NGOs’ on Child Education and Development. She is an avid traveler and passionate photographer.
In conversation with Atul Raja.
Atul is a marketer, brand builder, and strategist with 28-yrs high octane cross-industrial experiences across some leading organizations like Bharti Airtel, Tata Teleservices, Shaw Wallace, Videocon, Bennett & Coleman, Biocon, and Daewoo Motors. Specializing in business planning, strategic marketing, branding, product management, and marketing communications, he has launched and managed leading FMCG brands like Airtel, Royal Challenge, Daewoo Matiz, Tata Indicom, and Kenwood, and his long marketing stint is marked by success stories on corporate branding and product marketing.
Equipped with a Management degree, he has honed my marketing & branding skills at Marcus Evans, London, Indian School of Business (ISB), Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB), and Tata Management Training Centre (TMTC). He is an avid writer and a regular columnist in leading publications. Frequently warded for marketing initiatives, He is a member of the US-headquartered International Association of Business Communicators (IABC).
In conversation with Neeraja Ganesh.
After a successful career in the Information Technology industry managing large teams, delivery of IT projects, Operational excellence, and customer delight for large banking captives for 25 years,
She switched her career to work in the space of gender diversity and headed the JobsForHer Foundation. In the 18 months that she single-handedly headed the not for profit foundation, which was set up to bridge the gender gaps in India, she built a unique brand, numerous partnerships, and a large community of women who experienced a variety of learning interventions through workshops, conferences, trainings and hands on projects. While she was able to bring about a positive mindset shift among the women, she turned her attention to the need of the youth of the country. She went onto serve as the Director – Relationships at National Education Society of Karnataka. Her focus in that role was to work closely with the industry veterans to build the industry-academia connect to ensure the curriculum of the institutions was relevant to the current and future industry needs.
She is now a freelance consultant, and conduct various training programs and workshops on leadership and behaviors. She also coaches people to progress in their careers.
Awards received -
2017: TEDx Women award by the Dayananda Sagar Institutions for my 25 years of achievements in the corporate world
2019: JobsForHer HerRising award in the Women Professionals category for my contributions to the work of gender diversity.
2020: HerRising Award in the Women in Education category, Women’s Web Orange Flower Award for Writing on Women at Work
2021: HerRising Award in the Women in Impact category
In conversation with Kanishka Sinha.
Kanishka is a Leadership development, Executive coach, Former ISB Professor of Communication and Ethics.
In conversation with Jaya Bhateja.
A student of a life dedicated to creating tangible results for organisations, teams and coaches.
Her journey of self-accountability, reflection, self-coaching, education, learning, unlearning, building the expertise and creating an entrepreneurial setup as a first-generation entrepreneur has created more passion in me to support others achieve their best potential.
Received recognition from several corners of the world, That's what passion does to you :-) some of the prominent ones are the 100 Best Global Coaching Leaders Award by the World HRD Congress (Feb 2017) & second was the Young Leader Award (International Coach Federation) in 2019.
She runs a boutique Executive Coaching and Coach Education firm with the name Abhyudaya. Abhyudaya is a sanskrit word Abhay = Sun, daya = rise. Through Abhyudaya Global Coach Circle, I along with a talented team, support organisations to build coaching cultures, discover innovative solutions, for the employees to have the best of corporate experiences, inspire them for greater self-confidence, output, leadership, peace & mindfulness.
With methodologies, interest networks, we lead teams effectively with CARE being our core thought for the programs. An acronym that summarises the kind of cultures we create through Abhyudaya by promoting positive Conversations, Accountability, Reflection & Empathy through our work.
She has worked with renowned corporates like BCG, Flipkart, TATA Group, PWC, Microsoft & more promoting our leadership coaching expertise across the world.
In conversation with Dr. Saumya Badgayan.
Corporate Human Behaviour Strategist in the corporate (20 yrs plus experience)along with teaching experience (10 years plus )both online and classroom model in various business schools.
Corporate Strategy professional with over 20years of experience in Corporate Strategy and Business Development. Currently working as VP-Corporate Strategy, HR & IR.
Known for delivering innovative marketing concepts and strategies. Demonstrated abilities in communication; image and brand training, growing & managing associates and customer relationships and employee relationships.
Adept at devising and executing result-oriented strategies for manufacturing operations to achieve Culture and Organisational Goals and achieve desired delivery.
Knowledge about organising several promotional activities/events and escalating business, profitability and market coverage. Possess strong skills in Corporate Communications, Strategic Planning and Development, Brand Building, Corporate HR. An out-of-box thinker with a flair for charting out corporate strategies.
An MBA with dual Specialization in Marketing & International trade from SIMS & PGDPM (HR -Gold Medal).
A full-time Corporate Professional, passionate about teaching & training. Part-time trainer to some of the well known MNCs with over 1700 hrs in training & development & over 12 years of Teaching in various B schools as well as IIM
Mentored students from IIGJ (Indian Institute of Gems & Jewellery) for Career Guidance. An honour in itself in the Gems & Jewellery Industry. Have been an active mentor for MBA students of Kalinga University in making them future-ready to face the corporate world.
Chronicles Real life Experiences and Turns them into Real LifeLessons through her youtube channel #snippetswithsaumya
In conversation with Oakland McCulloch.
Retired Lieutenant Colonel Oakland McCulloch is the author of the 2021 release, Your Leadership Legacy: Becoming the Leader You Were Meant to Be. Based on 40+ years of leadership in the U.S. Army and subsequent civilian positions, Oak highlights principles that will benefit today’s leaders and inspire the leaders of tomorrow. Oak is also well-known speaker who gives presentations on a variety of topics including leadership, success, military history, college preparation and others.
In conversation with Kiran Verma.
On a mission to end any kind of death due to lack of blood in India by 31st December 2025.
Providing last mile support using Simply Blood, a virtual blood donation platform.
Saved 25,000 potential lives so far and counting.
In conversation with Vikram Vij.
People's person is the phrase that the world would use to describe me, but it's too cliché. Inspiring, connecting and interacting with different people in a way that I become a part of their journey, help them grow and figure out the right approach for them, would probably be a better description of what I love doing professionally and personally. On the former front, I'm currently working as a part of the Talent Acquisition - Campus Recruitment & University Relations Team at Infosys.
The ideas of growth, self-improvement, investing in the future, and aiming to master the art of getting better by 1% each day excite me and have inspired me to come up with an initiative "Win with V", wherein I connect with you for a one on one interaction to help you with interview preparation, resume building, and laying the right foundation for a long term approach.
In conversation with Praggatti Rao.
Praggatti supports middle and top-level Leaders & Business owners to implement their best Personal Growth & Transformation plans through proven tools of Positive Psychology, Behavioural Economics & NLP. Praggatti is the Principal Consultant at Educoncepts India Initiatives for more than a decade now. With a competent team of clinical Psychologists and L& D mentors, they are the pioneers for Personal growth & Emotional Resilience Training. Educoncepts India Initiatives are pioneers in counselling and Training solutions Consultancy supporting Youth, Entrepreneurs, She-prenuers and Corporate professionals with Personal Growth models and Professional Relevance milestones employing comprehensive Personality profiling, Psychometric testings, EI tools and NLP based interventions and help create best choices and shift them from #Pieces of mind to #Peace of mind. Being a pioneer in NLP based leadership & Skill Development programs- 'ExceedYourself for Entrepreneurs and 'GRIP for corporate professionals', I have been engaged in actively Discovering Intelligence and Building Talents across age groups and verticals.
In conversation with Anita Lawrence.
Leaders without influence will never be able to lead and inspire their teams, organisations or even their families - even with the best intentions.
Working with different leaders proved the importance of leadership in the growth of our nation - more so during this recent crisis where bad leadership causes a faster fall while good leadership offers steadiness and perseverance.
Venturing into the leadership space, I notice many organisations struggle from a lack of strong and healthy leadership. Reflect with me:
⭐️Are your organisation's leaders equipped, trained, and coached to lead with influence?
⭐️Are they uniting the team to perform with excellence while aligning with the organisations' values?
⭐️Do you see continuous growth in their character and leadership, resulting in increased organisational performance?
Your organisation needs:
✅Community, coaching, and accountability which are important pillars in sustaining transformation.
✅A strong relationship between leaders and team members that inspires growth within a team.
✅Leaders that constantly grow and help organisations move towards their vision and goals.
I'd love to help you and your leaders reach greater heights, personally and professionally! Let's co-create great leaders, teams, and organisations.
🌍 Let’s be the Voice of Change in our world.
In conversation with Sujeet Pai.
Currently Managing Director / CEO at Linde Bangladesh Limited (formerly BOC Bangladesh Limited). Leading a Team of 300+ Employees. Responsible for delivering overall Financial and Non-Financial targets (P&L, Safety, Quality, Regulatory Compliance, Customer service KPI’s, TWC, etc.).
Core Competencies & Strong Business Skill Sets in:
o Strategic Business Unit Management & P&L
o Sales, Marketing, CSCM (Supply Chain), NPD & Business Development Function.
o Managing a Team size of over 150+ pax
o Packaged Gases Supply Chain Management System
o National Key Account Management
o Major Project Tracking, Winning & Successful Execution
o White-space analysis & executing the appropriate Marketing Strategy.
o Sales Team Motivation & Mentoring
o Recruiting & Staffing Initiatives
o Managing Distribution Network
o Change Management
o Monitoring Return on Net Asset Deployed.
o Safety & Visible Leadership
Achievements:
o Won the Regional Sales Excellence Award for the Linde India Country Sales Team in 2017 & 2018
o Executive member of the Country Leadership, HR Council, Safety Council & POSH Team at Linde Gases
o Inducted into the Board of Directors at Linde Bangladesh Limited in 2019 ( listed in DSE)
o Doubled the business in three years to Rs 760M at Emerson
o Selected to the coveted India Junior Board (IJB) at Emerson
o Selected to the Asian Leadership Team at Emerson
o Fast Track promotion from Regional Sales Manager to Sales Head within 4 Years
o Best Employee of year Award in 2005 and 2007 at ASCO Numatics
o Helped smooth transition of the Sales team from Sanmar to Emerson
o Honoured as “Very Good Performing” employee in L&T
o Travelled extensively to Europe, China, ASEAN & South Asian countries for Product & Leadership training
"27 + Years of rich experience in Industrial Sales & Marketing, Process Control, Fluid Automation, Non-Ferrous Metals, Process Valves, Nuclear, Gases & Chemicals "
In conversation with Monte Pedersen.
The CDA Group is a unique leadership training firm that specializes in strategy execution management. A completely operations-based system and process that helps leaders achieve their strategic initiatives and get better at them every year.
✔Their expertise lies in building a framework for effectively managing your business by embedding the discipline of execution into your team's daily pattern of management. The result of which is;
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a more aligned and collaborative workforce,
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reinforcement of organizational values and core behaviours
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streamlined communications and operational clarity,
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greater levels of accountability, and
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aggregated data for better decision making,
They meet every client and their teams where they are at, providing "Leadership through the Lens of Execution" utilizing a cloud-based software application that collects the "actionable intelligence" necessary to build the support structure and communication processes necessary to manage each team member on an individual level. They instruct and build upon your company's ability to be "emotionally intelligent" creating greater self-awareness and social relationships between team members, partner companies, clients and customers.
In conversation with Inderjit Singh.
Inderjit was earlier the Head, Aviation India/South Asia of the Scott Wilson/URS.
Prior to that, he was the Senior Vice President (Airports) in Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE).
He was the Airport Director (Chief Executive) of Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), New Delhi, and the Chairman of the Committees dealing with Airport Security /Facilitation/Environmental issues. Actively associated in the AAI’s airport consulting assignments in Bhutan, Maldives, Libya, Algeria, South Yemen, Tanzania, Nigeria, and Sudan.
Member-Secretary of the Core Management Group (CMG); the highest decision making body of the AAI.
Executive Director of Airports Authority of India (AAI). He has progressively held the posts of Head of the Departments of Planning, Overseas Engineering Consultancy, and Commercial Services.
Served as a Sector Consultant/Project Leader with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in the development of airport infrastructure projects in Mauritius; Ethiopia; and the Republic of Suriname, South America.
Member of the World Economic Standing Committee of the ACI, Geneva representing South-East Asia region.
Authored several articles on infrastructure development related subjects in national & international trade journals and the International Correspondent for the Airports International magazine UK.
Addressed many international conferences on airports and is a visiting faculty to several universities.
A first-class first engineering graduate from the IIT, he is a recipient of the Thomson Memorial Gold Medal for his thesis on airports. A Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Delhi, he pursued his Senior Management Course at Henley – The Management College, Oxford shire, U.K. He had an attachment with the University of California, Berkeley, California, the USA for studies in airport planning, design, and management of airports.
In conversation with Prosenjit Mukherjee. Prosenjit comes almost 16 years of Global HR and Talent Acquisition experience in mass recruitment, executive search hiring, employee engagement, policymaking, 360-degree Appraisal Mechanism, Trust Index Performance Management, Learning & Development, Virtual Performance Dashboards, Talent Certifications, Change management, Social media management, and Marketing. During his career, he has handled wide geographies across the Indian subcontinent, US, UK, APAC, and Eastern Europe. He has designed high-level executive policies related to People & Productivity, created a niche employee competency framework so do trust experience model practices across Globe which has helped organizations to optimize their skill level and ensure smooth revenue progress. He has taken part in many CEO and HR conclaves globally whereas he has shared my views on leadership and growth. He has coached and mentored HR managers on managing business operations, HRBP role, operations, and financial growth management. He has also played a role of a principal consultant of executive search forums where he has personally handled and managed to closed senior-level positions like Managing Directors, CEOs, COOs, CFO’s and Senior VPs, Execs across the Globe. He is an esteemed member of NHRD, got multiple honorary certificates at top B schools in India, and is a SCIKEY MindMatch® certified professional (a psychometry test analyst). He has also played the role of a Learning Coach who can use Metacognitive Induced Learning techniques to regulate the thinking techniques of people via cognitive (brain) skills. He can create thinking & learning strategies among freshers, trainees, and interns of an organization which helps to enable the high performer and high potential altitude across all levels. Such learning strategies can help an organization to optimize its succession plan at a low budget range. During his career, he has worked with top fortune companies, renowned BPOs of Globe, premier IT organizations. He has received several rewards and felicitations from CEOs and MDs for extraordinary achievements. He has had the opportunity to share stages with TedEx speakers.
In conversation with Vikram Pandit.
Vikram has extensive experience in steering the functions of Strategic Business Development & Sales, Key Accounts Management, Value-based selling, Techno-Commercial Management and providing leadership & direction to cross-cultural teams. He is presently working with Sandvik Materials Technology as a Regional BD & Technical Marketing Manager-APAC. He is a firm believer in exploring possibilities out of challenges, strongly influenced by the “Never Say Die” approach and have a penchant for engaging in continuous learning endeavours for self-improvement and recognition. Through his entire career tenure, he has delivered mission-critical project outcomes by demonstrating my quick learning and adaptive capabilities, recommending analytical solutions along with strategic blueprints and adopting an inclusive approach for setting up and scaling ventures profitably at a global level. As a Business Leader, Vikram has headed strategic business development operations for the APAC region, created new avenues for new account development, deftly taken care of the techno-commercial nuances, cracked large deals and exceeded targets consistently by facilitating large teams through appreciative inquiry and aligning operational synergies for collaborative competency building. Accomplished breakthrough orders across segments like O&G, Petro-Chemical, Refinery, Automotive & Pharma segments Best known as an empathetic Leader with a high-level focus on team performance, a Coach, a Mentor, a prolific communicator and an amiable personality. he has been able to facilitate and build strong relations with the KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders), steered business partnerships that have had long term implications in terms of business growth and revenue generation.
In conversation with Debjani Roy.
Debjani is a Human Resource professional with 24+ years of Corporate experience, with an established reputation of providing transformative people leadership across. Debjani has handled all aspects of HR including IR, Recruitment, Learning & Development, Compensation & Benefits, Policy, Operations, Divestment, Cross-cultural workforce, Diversity, Gender & Inclusion and HR Shared Services. Have also been the champion for CSR in many of the companies she has worked in.
Debjani has widespread HR exposure and hands-on experience in diverse industries spanning Manufacturing (NALCO), Telecom (Bharti), IT and ITES (HCL Tech. & BPO, Bentley Systems & Bharti), Travel (Kuoni) and now SRL Diagnostics (a Fortis Group Company).
She believes in being honest and ethical, establishing credibility as well as visibility for HR at the workplace, and above all aligning with Business objectives in order to deliver HR goals. She has extensive experience in 'Strategic' and 'Tactical' HR, both.
Lead by example, she does. Practice empathy by choice.
In conversation with Gauri Das. We shall discuss her perspectives and insights on leadership through her life and leadership experiences and bring out learnings and insights for existing and aspiring leaders to reflect on.
Gauri Das is an engineer turned HR Professional with a keen interest in Human Psychology. She is a strategic HR leader with 15+ years of experience in crafting and aligning HR strategy with business goals. She supports business leaders and individuals in driving performance and improving capabilities.
She focuses on elevating employee experience by enriching careers, ensuring effective communication and thus creating an employer brand. She drives the right culture in alignment with organizational values.
She is a learner for life and business acumen, adaptability, resilience and digital and data mindset define her well. She carries a wealth of experience with both start-ups and well-established organizations. She loves high energy and a growth-focused environment.
Some of her achievements are
• HR 100 under 40
• Top HR Mind (India)
• TAPAI and Economic Times Young HR Leader – top 70
• WICA Luminary - Growth
• LinkedIn person the year 2020
• CEO recognition – EOQ
• Standing ovation from 300+ colleagues on the day of exit in the previous assignment
She is a passionate speaker and has spoken in multiple national and international forums. She loves sharing knowledge bytes and experiences on resilience, growth mindset, self-compassion and motivation. She is the Lead Membership for Professional Speakers Associations of India, Mumbai chapter (PSAI).
She mentors students and professionals and supports them through her motivational talks and guides them on being future-ready.
She is passionate about women empowerment and is leading a Leanin Circle called Leaders Lifting Leaders.
She loves networking and knowing people beyond their profiles brings her happiness and therefore she is a core committee member of Navi Mumbai LinkedIn Local.
Passion with Compassion is her mantra.