Rajesh Puneyani
Senior Director
Rajesh has been working in the IT field since 1996, making him a seasoned veteran of the sector. Rajesh has worked with multiple Gulf Cooperation Council(GCC) firms and has experience in a wide range of sectors. In addition to his work in India, Rajesh has extensive experience in the US, having worked for several notable firms where he was responsible for infrastructure development, business operations, and service management.
Below is an excerpt of Rajesh’s exclusive interaction with CEO Insights magazine.
How has your leadership journey been so far, and what drives you today?
I joined the current organization over four years ago in the role of Global Technology Operations Leader. In my role, I am responsible for overseeing the company's day-to-day operations, service management, and operational transformation following solid site dependability engineering practices.
I feel very fortunate to have such a strong team working for me in both the United States and India. In addition, I have a fantastic leadership team that has tremendous trust in me and my team across both regions. As for what keeps me motivated throughout the day, it's the value
addition we provide to the company and the projects I manage on both a technical and non-technical level.
How has IIM Kozhikode contributed to your rise as a successful industry leader? Could you talk about the learnings and experiences that you acquired from IIM Kozhikode?
In my time at the IIM Kozhikode I participated in what was termed the Strategic Leadership Program. Firstly, I met a lot of interesting individuals and gained a business person's perspective via networking with the other participants in the course. Especially if you work in technology and are based in India, you may not often be exposed to the way businesses operate in other countries. Maybe I know how to provide help from an Indian perspective, but your company and its clients are located else where. Thinking about how our actions will affect our bottom line in light of the realities of doing business in other countries is a necessary first step.
Learning the ins and outs of marketing and other aspects of running a company has shown me how many approaches we can take on any given situation. For the simple reason that a marketer, a CFO, and an IT expert will all approach the same issue from different perspectives. Naturally, this broadened my understanding of the fact that there is more than one technological perspective through which to examine an issue. And that the best approach to taking will vary depending on the specific needs of the party with whom you are discussing a solution.
How would you describe your approach as a leader? Define the principles and protocols you follow as a leader.
Assuming that employees you recruit for their impressive track records would replicate that success on the job is a common mistake for managers to make. All that's left to do is to coach and advise them as they learn the ropes
How has IIM Kozhikode contributed to your rise as a successful industry leader? Could you talk about the learnings and experiences that you acquired from IIM Kozhikode?
In my time at the IIM Kozhikode I participated in what was termed the Strategic Leadership Program. Firstly, I met a lot of interesting individuals and gained a business person's perspective via networking with the other participants in the course. Especially if you work in technology and are based in India, you may not often be exposed to the way businesses operate in other countries. Maybe I know how to provide help from an Indian perspective, but your company and its clients are located else where. Thinking about how our actions will affect our bottom line in light of the realities of doing business in other countries is a necessary first step.
As for what keeps me motivated throughout the day, it's the value addition we provide to the company and the projects I manage on both a technical and non-technical level
Learning the ins and outs of marketing and other aspects of running a company has shown me how many approaches we can take on any given situation. For the simple reason that a marketer, a CFO, and an IT expert will all approach the same issue from different perspectives. Naturally, this broadened my understanding of the fact that there is more than one technological perspective through which to examine an issue. And that the best approach to taking will vary depending on the specific needs of the party with whom you are discussing a solution.
How would you describe your approach as a leader? Define the principles and protocols you follow as a leader.
Assuming that employees you recruit for their impressive track records would replicate that success on the job is a common mistake for managers to make. All that's left to do is to coach and advise them as they learn the ropes
of working inside the system and adapting to the many shifts that will inevitably occur. Make sure they know how their contributions fit into the bigger picture of the organization's goals and critical out comes from a business perspective. Then, over time, keep an eye on them and give them a helping hand so that they learn to accept responsibility for their actions and the results.
On top of that, I avoid micromanagement at all costs since it causes me to stretch myself too thin. And I will lose track of the many other things going on around me. Furthermore, if I have to keep tabs on the work my engineer is performing around the clock, I am not doing a good job of valuing his or her expertise. Therefore, mentoring and coaching instill a high level of self-assurance and foster a cooperative atmosphere among team members. Within my dutiesroles and responsibilities are delineated amongst different groups of employees at different organizational levels.
Based on your experiences, what would be your advice to professionals starting a new in this domain?
The most important piece of advice I can provide is to always question the status quo, even if it seems unchangeable or has worked for a long time.Now if making this adjustment would only bring about a little improvement or bonus, what's the point? Instead larger-scale alterations and transformations in the environment will result from the accumulation of many little ones. For this reason it's essential to always question established practices and maintain doing so until you achieve a level of quality comparable to Six Sigma. There naturally, we need to keep the wheels turning.
Rajesh Puneyani, Senior Director, Lowes India
Rajesh has a PG Diploma in Operations Management from ICFAI, a PG Certificate in AI/ML from University of Austin at Texas, and has completed his B.Sc and MCA in Computer Science from Delhi University. Furthermore, in his professional journey, Rajesh has been part of various organizations like NIIT, ADP, Dell International Services, IBM, Mphasis, Oracle India, and Wells Fargo. Currently, Rajesh has been serving as the Senior Director for Lowe’s India, globally leading Tech operations, SRE practice and Service Management.
On top of that, I avoid micromanagement at all costs since it causes me to stretch myself too thin. And I will lose track of the many other things going on around me. Furthermore, if I have to keep tabs on the work my engineer is performing around the clock, I am not doing a good job of valuing his or her expertise. Therefore, mentoring and coaching instill a high level of self-assurance and foster a cooperative atmosphere among team members. Within my dutiesroles and responsibilities are delineated amongst different groups of employees at different organizational levels.
Based on your experiences, what would be your advice to professionals starting a new in this domain?
The most important piece of advice I can provide is to always question the status quo, even if it seems unchangeable or has worked for a long time.Now if making this adjustment would only bring about a little improvement or bonus, what's the point? Instead larger-scale alterations and transformations in the environment will result from the accumulation of many little ones. For this reason it's essential to always question established practices and maintain doing so until you achieve a level of quality comparable to Six Sigma. There naturally, we need to keep the wheels turning.
Rajesh Puneyani, Senior Director, Lowes India
Rajesh has a PG Diploma in Operations Management from ICFAI, a PG Certificate in AI/ML from University of Austin at Texas, and has completed his B.Sc and MCA in Computer Science from Delhi University. Furthermore, in his professional journey, Rajesh has been part of various organizations like NIIT, ADP, Dell International Services, IBM, Mphasis, Oracle India, and Wells Fargo. Currently, Rajesh has been serving as the Senior Director for Lowe’s India, globally leading Tech operations, SRE practice and Service Management.