Feb 2023 – Jan 2024 · 11 mos · Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Sep 2019 – Feb 2023 · 3 yrs 5 mos · Bengaluru Area, India

• Its hard not to feel a FOMO of not working in the hot tech/start-up space in India's Silicon Valley, Bengaluru and some happy coincidences led me to join this poster boy of Indian start-up success stories, Flipkart - the market leader of e-retail in India and an inspiration to the entire eco-system and beyond (just google Flipkart mafia).
• For one, Flipkart or FK in short, is not one company, its an amalgam of seemingly disparate units from sectors like product tech, cosumer retail, supply chain & logistics. For another, FK is a unique blend of entrepreneurial energy of a start-up and scale of a large enterprise. From a people perspective, its a workplace with a paradoxical yet effective balance of being demanding and caring, both at the same time, making this place a talent magnet.
• And typical of the above introduction, my continuing stint here has also been an eclectic mix of challenging and interesting work whether it is about systemic solves for Career Development and experimenting with new ideas like the Internal Talent Marketplace, or leading org wide complex projects like Job Architectiure for sustainable Org Design and org growth, or institutionalising talent practices to build a future ready org.
• Add to this a chance to completely rethink how we work eg when working on Org Design and Talent management systems for new M&As (a routine feature as we grow inorganically as well) or through culture interventions.
• All the above has been intentional, thanks to leaders like Prajakta Kanaglekar, Chhavi Bajaj, CPO Krishna Raghavan et al who helped us define our North Star and work towards it as one function in an integrated, collaborative and People Centric manner and to an unmatched set of capable and wonderful colleagues.
• On a Sabbatical since May 2022 (enabled by FK policy) to focus on fitness, family and some free-spirited learning.

Jul 2017 – Aug 2019 · 2 yrs 1 mo · Mumbai Area, India

• SPNI, the TV broadcasting subsidiary of Sony Corporation of Japan, gave me the opportunity to kick-start the next phase of my corporate career in a new avatar - leading multiple CoEs viz Org Development, Talent Management, Leader and Leadership Development and org wide L&D.
• I was happy to work for an iconic Media company, a great mix of creativity and business acumen, as well as a very professional set-up - this bit was contrary to my initial assumptions.
• This was a ciritical time to be in the company and especially in HR as I got to work on building a future ready organisation amidst multiple BIG disruptions - the Digital disruption (both in terms of Ad revenues flowing toward Digital and an increasingly hot OTT space), fast changing consumer preferences with billions flowing into content for India, and the Regulatory disruption with TRAI forcing powerful tectonic shifts for the industry.
• Fortunate to work on some really satisfying work (both in terms of thought leadership and business outcomes), thanks to an inspiring CEO in NP Singh, and HR leaders like Smriti Singh, Sushmita Roy who believed in me to experiment with unique interventions across culture, leadership, change and transformation.
• I have always been inspired by ushering in systemic change which lasts and it was great to do some bit of it with a great team supporting me at SPNI. A stint with beautiful memories and a pivot-up for my career.

Oct 2014 – Jul 2017 · 2 yrs 9 mos

• The seed of working with Potentia was sown much before when I was with Axis Bank working with Potentia (Harish Raichandani, Prashant Parashar) on an assignment as a client. As a rookie to the corporate world, everytime I met them i would walk away wide eyed, amazed at how much I learnt from a single meeting.
• So when I started yearning for something deeper to satisfy my creative urges and mental stimulation during the last days of my HSBC stint, there was only 1 natural choice and fortunately, Harish and Prashant welcomed me to their fold - a unique bunch of wise people doing great work through this boutique OD consulting firm.
• Potentia was my second education in HR, and the first one to make me discover my passion for this field. I had a feeling that I would be good at Organisation Development and facilitation and Potentia gave me the freedom and guidance to actually learn the art and science of OD.
• Besides the opportunity to work for a range of companies (small scale to large domestic to international) across growth stages in a wide variery of projects (common theme being change and transformation), Potentia helped me develop a unique perspective to business.
• At Axis, I was part of CoEs and chased functional excellence, at HSBC i was representing the HR function so learnt about business and people as a whole. Both stints were as internal HR and in BFSI. As an external consultant with Potentia, I could finally learn the direct hard linkage between people interventions and business results across sectors.
• This stint built the foundation upon which the rest of my career has been built so far. In hindsight the bet to change my domain and getting into something very different, without a fixed salary, worked - ofcourse it was made possible because I had a supportive and earning partner. So when the time came to reciprocate the flexibility when we decided to start a family, i moved back to Corporate with Sony.

Dec 2010 – Sep 2014 · 3 yrs 9 mos · Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

• Early in my career, I was hungry for as much diverse exposure that I could gather within HR especially in the early phase of my career which led me to an HR Generalist stint with HSBC Asset Management - the mutual fund business of HSBC in India.
• And HSBC stood true to my expectations. I still levergae the wealth and depth of experience I gained from my stint with HSBC.
• After spending about 1.5 years as an HRBP, I was leading the HR function for the entity. Being part of the ExCo representing the function and juggling a highly matrixed structure (I was reporting to the entity CEO, India HR Head for Retail Banking and Wealth Management and Head of HR for APAC Asset Management) brought its unique set of learnings and maturity. The company also went through multiple transformations during this period from business restructuring to rightsizing (for the first time in India).
• Overall, a very different stint working for an international group. In contrast to my previous CoE stint, this stint widened my perspective about what the business wants & needs and what moves people. I learnt Change Management and how critical it is for anything of value, as well as the value of Communication.
• HSBC wisened me up pretty quickly and also accelerated an internal search for my True North. Life was on a fast treadmill and I started yearning for something deeper to satisfy my creative urges.

May 2007 – Dec 2010 · 3 yrs 7 mos · Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

• CoE stints in Compensation & Benefits and Performance Management. Learnt the nuts and bolts of both functions - thanks to very helpful seniors - and gained a wide experience from strategy formulation, policy design to implementation. Successfully conceptualized and delivered on critical org initiatives like moving to a transparent and objective performance management (led by the new CEO Shikha Sharma) and led cross functional projects like the GPTW Culture Audit, survey and actions.
• Working in a small team of 3-4 members and for a workforce of around 35000 full time employees back then meant that our planning and execution was to the T. It was also a great balance of thinking up new things as the Bank was evolving in its practices so had a pretty much blank canvas to paint on for many of such initiatives.
• At a personal level, pleasantly discovered new aspects within my personality, faced with big responsibilities at work early on in my career. A stint I will always cherish, especially for the people around me then.

Apr 2006 – Jun 2006 · 2 mos

• This internship has so many stories. Got to see the inside of manufacturing cars for the first time, got a sneak peak into the unique Japanese style of working, built the foundation for my understanding of competencies (thanks to Spencer and Spencer and my project), witnessed some truly masterful leaders in action (S Y Siddiqui who was Head of HR then and who gave us interns complete access to internal meetings and goings-on at the company), and had good fun overall with friend like mentors (Jarpum Gamlin, Praveer Kullu, Owais Altaf).
• Great respect for this dynamic and iconic organisation and getting to work with passionate people, could also understand why it is so.