CEO Insights India

Actions speak louder than words! Often we hear business leaders talking rainbows and butterflies about how much employees are important. However, there are only a few who strive to build a positive work environment where people perform to the fullest and stay happy. And that's exactly what Karuna Raghuvanshi has been doing. She is a people centric leader who strategizes solutions using the principles of behavioral and positive psychology. In contemporary organizations with dynamic, vivid, and customer centric goals, Karuna believes in unleashing the infinite human potential and making a big difference in their lives.

As a leader with remarkable attributes to lead the team into a high performing family, she is recognized as a maestro in the HR function and people factor. Today, as the Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Orange Radius Arts Private Limited, she is indeed building a brand where people stand before profits. To honor Karuna as one of the successful alumni of XLRI, Jamshedpur, CEO Insights engages in an exclusive conversation with her. Kindly peruse the following snippet to know more about her journey.

What inspired you to venture into the human resources domain in the early stage of your career?
Pursuing opportunities where I can express myself spontaneously and creatively has been the most important thing for me. Even before I chose a career, I was well aware of this, and figured out behavioural sciences is one such dynamic field where I can explore and learn about myself and others.

In fact, I can say that I chose Human Resources as a career before it chose me; because I was very clear that I wanted to work with people and contribute to their growth. This is the sole reason why my grounding has been in psychology and organizational behavior.

Take us through your early educational and professional journey. How do the previous experiences help you as an entrepreneur today?

I completed my Bachelor's degree in applied psychology, followed by a Master's degree with a specialization in organizational psychology. This gave me a strong foundation to understand human behavior at a micro level to work on an individual's potential development. Also, at a macro level to work on collective behavior and shaping organization cultures. Never letting go of any opportunity to learn, I completed Management Development Program from MICA. Subsequently, Executive Development Program in Leadership and Change Management from XLRI, Jamshedpur.

Over the years, I have been fortunate to gain diverse experiences in the people segment. My career began as a Talent & Career Management Consultant at Right Management and Senior Director OD & Leadership at Viacom18 Media, the journey was packed with learnings and positive changes. These transitions along with specific learnings gave me an indepth understanding of various aspects of business and changed my overall personality as a leader. It has given me the exposure and confidence to thrive as an entrepreneur today.

Throw some light on the learnings and experiences that you had acquired from XLRI Jamshedpur and how do you apply them in your current role?
The experienced faculty and industry practitioners indeed equipped us with immense knowledge. The learning was well guided with healthy discussions and business simulations, which gave practical knowledge about the concepts. Beyond that, my journey with XLRI helped me understand my own leadership style and how I can use my strengths to enable change in an organization.

Today, as an entrepreneur, I know that I am 100 percent responsible for my team's growth, well being, and success. I have realized that the way we lead is important. The program has also shaped my mind as a leader, especially to navigate through changes like new business models, rebranding, and coping with market fluctuations.

Give a brief idea about your company - Orange Radius. What are the company's greatest strengths?

While technology and digitization are making huge information available at their fingertips, people are becoming selective about what they read and watch. Today, the only way to reach people is with content that grabs attention and stays in the mind or creates an impact. Content is how the product makes its way into the minds of customers, irrespective of the industry. Without it, there is no reach and no sales to keep the revenue flowing in.

Brands today rely heavily on content to connect with their audience, educate them, and increase prospect lead conversion. This is where Orange Radius steps in to meet the growing content demand. We are a full service content creation company with a dexterous inhouse team offering design & video production services for brand communication, product marketing, employer branding, digital learning across multiple platforms. We work with client across sectors BFSI, Pharma, IT, Media, FMCG, Consulting and more to create compelling content across multiple platforms social, digital, print, and more.

Our strength lies in our ability to think out of the box and tell great stories about brands, products, programs, or initiatives. We dare to leap and try something new to break the clutter and deliver impact.

Reflect on your journey so far. What has been the driving force behind your career growth and success?
My 15 year professional journey so far has been ve always loved challenges and that's why I could pick newer roles in different industries and it has been quite evident from my career path so far. Being able to wear multiple hats and getting a well rounded view of business has been extremely satisfying. Today as an entrepreneur, I have a vast canvas to express myself. I believe that taking the leap to do something new is not the difficult part, staying the course is as it constantly reminds you of why you chose the new path in the first place.

Karuna Raghuvanshi, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Orange Radius Arts
An entrepreneur, content creator, psychologist, coach and a happiness advocate, Karuna is aligned to the promise of `Transforming Lives' and believes in nurturing teams towards sustenance and success. Apart from scaling Orange Radius globally and strengthening her own team, she wants to encourage and enable a legacy of strong leadership by coaching young professionals and leaders to realize their potential and thrive in their careers.