VOL. XXXXVI NO.4
OCTOBER 2020
CONTENTS
CHINA: Business, Technology & Economy in 2020
The Art & Power of Nudging M S Narayan
Partnerships in the Age of Covid Panel Discussion
Transforming India & Indian Businesses Pradeep Deshpande
Women Leader Series: Policing in Covid Times & Beyond
Lakshmi Venkatachalam
Panel Discussion
EDITOR Gp Capt R Vijayakumar (Retd), VSM EDITORIAL SUPPORT Gp Capt Dr R Venkataraman (Retd) LAYOUT EXECUTIVE D Rajaram
MADRAS MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION Management Center, New No.240 Pathari Road ﴾Off Anna Salai﴿, Chennai 600 006 Ph:044‐2829 1133 Email:mma@mmachennai.org | mandate@mmachennai.org www.facebook.com/mmachennai
RAMYAA RAMESH
T
he
career
of
Lakshmi
Venkatachalam is riveting and fascinating, especially her
uncanny
ability
to
embrace
opportunities that comes her way. It is not easy to forge a career in the US, especially when one does not graduate out of a university there; Lakshmi seems to have managed it very effectively. It would be interesting to follow the journey of this typical ‘Mylaporian’ girl who did her schooling in Rosary Matriculation and then completed her B.Com in Ethiraj College. She later completed MBA and ICWA and was all set for a great career in India with her first job at Pond’s. It was a job that was doubly exciting for her—as it was in Chennai itself, a city that was her greatest love. But matters of the heart took priority. Marriage to her classmate, who wanted to pursue his career in the US, took her to Silicon Valley, California. A finance and operations career in an all tech Silicon Valley seemed a difficult prospect for young Lakshmi as she began her career search. However, she believed in herself and has strived hard to see herself as a Vice President in the $40 billion technology giant, Oracle Corporation today. “Believe in yourself, work hard, do
Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
your best and you will be successful,” summer internship at Pond’s. I ended
to connect remote villages to ensure
she says with conviction. “It was not all
up getting my final placement in the
information on crops, illnesses, and
that difficult to decide what I would do
same company and that too in my
natural calamities was circulated so that
after my B.Com. I love numbers—I
hometown Chennai, an icing on the
the villagers could be better prepared,”
relate to them and understand the story
cake! It was my dream job; the most
she said.
they tell me. With my father being a
coveted place to work for and I was
Chartered Accountant, doing CA seemed
ecstatic to land this opportunity. Now,
The crossing
a natural choice. However, the challenge
as I look back, age just does not matter
Lakshmi met her husband in IIM (B), an
of getting into an IIM led me to take
as long as you enjoy doing what you are
engineer at heart, who went on to the US
CAT. Luckily, I got calls from both IIM
doing, but I was 21 when I got my job
for his grad studies and wanted to stay
Bangalore and Calcutta and I decided to
offer and it was an incredible
there. Marriage in 1997 took her literally
accept Bangalore as it was closer to
achievement for me at that time!” said
kicking and screaming to the shores of
home!”
Lakshmi. She believed Pond’s was home
the United States.
—a company that challenged her,
“We set up home in the Silicon
The lure of Chennai
pushed her, and also cared for her at the
Valley where almost everyone was a
“My new adventure of an MBA excited
same time. She joined the company as a
‘techie’ and very few really understood
me but I faced the rude shock of having
management trainee, and for 18
what finance and operations were,” she
to live away from home. I spent my first
months, she worked across various
said. “I would remember my initial
six months figuring out how to get home
functions and locations.
months in the US as one of the worst
every weekend. I found myself on
“One of the most interesting
periods of my life in terms of my career.
projects for me was working around the
I still remember sitting in a coffee shop
villages of Etah, UP, as part of our social
with a recruiter who looked at my
responsibility assignment. There were
resume and said, ‘If you get a temporary
villages with no electricity, yes, in 1994.
job paying even $20, I would be very
We spent our days interacting with
surprised.’ I went home extremely
villagers,
grassroot
dejected that day. My husband probably
problems and helping find solutions.
remembers the day even more vividly
Organizing child immunization camps,
for the amount of grief he got! I realized
Over the years, she learnt that
talking to the women about health
two things, a job rejection or failure is
everything is a transitionary phase and
issues or addressing cattle care—we did
not the end of your life. One failure does
one will go through many difficult
it all. The village doctor even indulged
not evaluate you, you just need to get up
phases in life and evolve to become a
me and allowed me to inject medicines
and keep going.”
stronger person.
for a buffalo. As part of a project, my
Brindhavan Express or Bangalore Mail more often than I was on campus. I learnt a lot of management principles during the two years in Bschool, but I also learnt the important lesson of how to live by myself, knowing that home and Chennai were not far away,” said Lakshmi.
A dream job in a company that was ‘home’
fellow management trainee and I designed a walkietalkie network across the villages. It was the premobile phone
“I was extremely excited to do my 52
understanding
OCTOBER 2020
era and it was considered the best way
At the right time, right place “Is everything orchestrated? I wonder at times. I was in a temple one day when I heard someone calling out my name.
Business Mandate fountainhead of excellence
It turned out to be a senior from school.
management processes. We just took
She told me that Bearing Point
over the entire finance operations and
Consulting was recruiting. I expressed
helped prevent insolvency and brought
interest, and thanks to her referral, I
the company to a cash positive state.
found my first job four months after I
We also set up ecommerce stores for
moved to the US,” she said.
companies, because the Internet had
This
first
job
of
hers
in
management consulting helped shape
gained prominence and was opening new channels for them.”
her in many ways. She, along with her
Though work was very interesting
team, working directly with CXOs, was
and exhilarating, after four years of
looking to solve problems that were
constant travel, and waking up some
crossorganizational and sometimes
mornings wondering where she was,
global. It trained the mind to quickly
Lakshmi decided it was time for a
filter down to the problem and make the
change.
changes required. She travelled from one end of the country to another and
My time in a startup
was exposed to multiple industries and
Change came in the form of an opening
cultures.
with a startup called Veloz Global
While most of her projects were interesting, a few stood out. She
“My first project was for a company that sold musical instruments and was looking for a plan to expand their stores across the country. We made a proposal for the probable locations based on census data, demographic and economic profiles of the areas. We also set up complex mathematical models that stock
holding
and
transportation costs and optimized warehouse locations. Another project was for a food coop that made canned food. Though very popular and successful, they were on the verge of bankruptcy
due
to
poor
workflow automation solutions. “It was local, a known team and an
enthusiastically spoke about them.
minimized
Solutions, which focused on creating
cash
opportunity for a stint that could make it big! We were less than 20 employees and I had the opportunity to do everything from process design to office space hunting to hiring to VC presentations. The founder and I have continued to share a great personal and professional bond—but I learned that I was not best suited for a startup life.” Lakshmi went on to explain. It was also the time when her son was born and she decided to take a year’s break. Career after a break “When I was ready to go back to full time work, I started the job search OCTOBER 2020
53
process. It was deja vu all over again. After several rounds of interviews, I was close to joining Infosys in the US when I received a call from a recruiter
about 40 to 250+ in a year and it is a key
exceptional people. And for you to
contributor to our consulting capacity
succeed, do your best and do better than
globally. It was new, challenging and
your best the next day!”
very gratifying for me personally. And of course, the attraction of visiting India
The best is yet to come…
and working with teams there cannot be
“My biggest achievement? That is yet to
missed. Having worked both in India
come. I cannot look back and think of a
and in the US, I was able to balance both
single achievement and say that it has
work cultures well. The work I did and
been the most important and valuable.
the lessons I learnt from my consultancy
I believe that at every stage we set a goal
days also came to my rescue. I have been
and achieving that goal seems like the
deeply involved in multiple acquisitions
biggest challenge at that point in time.
The Oracle sayeth...
and have integrated them into our
Then you realize there is a next step that
“Oracle is where I have spent more than
business. Every acquisition brought
you want to reach.” she says. So, what is
14 years of my career. I was part of the
unique needs and challenges which
Lakshmi’s next big goal—to become a
core team that managed the acquisition
required equally unique solutions.”
COO of a global company.
one day. I did not make much of it initially but on his persistence, I went to attend the interview at Portal Software and ended up with an offer letter. It was meant to be,” she said. It laid the foundation to her career with Oracle; Portal was acquired by Oracle in 2006.
and the integration of Portal into Oracle
Recently, she has taken on a new
As a woman who had the ability to
initially and this helped me build key
role in Oracle. As Vice President of
dream big, take up challenges as they
relationships within the company. I
Operations for the Communications
come without being overwhelmed by
work with a wonderful bunch of people
Applications Business Unit, she heads
them, we have bigger hopes for this
and have had progressive opportunities
endtoend
including
Chennai girl—that she joins the ranks of
with global exposure. I understand how
strategic planning, sales, engineering
Indianborn CEOs of global companies!
the company works and have a deep
and consulting operations and learning.
Best Wishes, Lakshmi!
network that sets me up for growth and success. In terms of assignments, I ran operations for the consulting business and as part of that, I got to build an offshore delivery center across four cities in India. We grew the team from
operations.
“I am often asked if there are differences between working in the US vs. India or in different companies. Probably, yes. But the fundamental truth remains that all successful companies in any country are driven by strong processes and
Ramyaa Ramesh, author, had interviewed Lakshmi Venkatachalam for this series.