Question 1: What would be the key leadership challenges facing the Indian IT consulting companies as we ride the “upturn wave”?
The new group of IT service providers is developing the broader and deeper pools of talent that global clients are increasingly demanding. Our challenge at leadership level is to map the client requirement and the available talent pool. Consistently delivering value proposition to the client is the key, for which all organizations need to effectively manage and retain the talent. An Up turn after a long drawn global slowdown will be looked at cautiously; this could deter the organization from taking calculated risks. At this time the leadership challenge of any consulting firm is to redefine its offering strategy, bring in innovative practices and put the buyer at ease.

 

Question 2: As a leader and President at Fujitsu Consulting, what are some of the recent initiatives you have taken in making sure that your people remain fully “productive”, “engaged” and prepared for future?
Various aspects had to be integrated to arrive at our goals and objectives of next few years. We have changed our delivery models to suit the global value proposition, tuned our leadership to challenge conventional engagement methodologies. Empowered the Human Resource teams to disengage the designation based hierarchy and focus on role based growth for employees. Various initiatives have been introduced to ensure employee engagement is at its optimum.

 

Rajeev Gupta: President, Fujitsu Consulting India Rajeev Gupta is President, Fujitsu Consulting India. His present role encompasses building a robust and continuous growth for India operations. This involves making India a global delivery center for business across the globe and developing presence for Fujitsu in India and Gulf.   Rajeev has spent almost a decade and a half in the IT services industry and has an extensive experience in the areas of Business Application Management and Global Delivery business model during the different stages of its maturity. With a background of both strategic and operational roles, his contribution towards Innovative IT and new business strategies is significant.   Rajeev has a degree in Engineering and is an alumnus of Fujitsu’s Global Knowledge Institute (GKI) for Advanced Leadership Program

Question 3: What are some of the leadership traits and practices that you believe have worked for yourself and your leadership team at Fujitsu Consulting?

For me Belief, Passion and Commitment are infallible. We as an organization have undergone a flux of change in the past few years. Our ability as a team to drive those changes effectively to all employees and believing in our teams to deliver consistent results, is worth mentioning. As a leadership team we pride ourselves to be driven by our strengths.

 

Question 4: How would you describe your experience working with Dale Carnegie Training in the space of leadership development in terms of organizational impact?
The juncture at which we brought in Dale Carnegie was very crucial as we were ready to move from strategic to tactical phase. Both the layers of leadership underwent the eighteen month course and were made aware of the expertise that was to be required in times to come. Understanding our own strengths and aligning to the organizational goal has been the most positive aspect of this program to the participants as well as to the organization.

 

Question 5: Your role model or the leader you are inspired by most and why?
There have been certain principles and an environment which influenced my childhood. I grew with them and nurtured them through various phases of my personal as well as corporate life. These principles were imbibed in me by my parents. I was greatly influenced by the practicality of it thanks to my father. He walked the talk, so I have not seen anyone more appropriate than him who has consistently been my role model. To me leadership is about having the ability to ‘walk the talk’ and groom people to the best potential of their talent.

 

Question 6: Your favorite book. What is it that you admire most about the thoughts therein?

Result Based Leadership is one of the books I easily associate with. I believe in results, I also believe that results have to be supported by robust systems. This book clearly defines the four dimensions of results that make or break organization. I personally do not believe in individual performance, leaders have to be aligned to the success of the organization and share the results with their teams as these are a direct outcome of the team effort.