Q1. Please describe your current role at Walmart Global as a Staff Product Manager

As a staff (lead) product manager at Walmart Global Tech India, I am responsible for creating a platform in the information security domain.

Q2. What drives you to succeed in your career?

The need to learn new things and being able to strongly contribute towards the business objectives of the company is something that drives me to succeed in my career.

Q3. What do you think are the key skills required to succeed in a leading Technology firm such as Optum, Walmart? What skills should management students be equipped with? *

A strong sense of business acumen, a good grip on technology and an unflinching need for value are the key skills that will lead to success in technology firms. Also, in times like these one should also have the ingenuity to try and see where they can contribute to companies’ revenue.

Q4. What significant changes has the Technology industry gone through during the Covid pandemic? *

Technology has been on the forefront during this covid pandemic and people are trying to use this opportunity to optimize their processes and technology in order to achieve scale. Due to this pandemic most of the companies are compelled to go online and are trying to do things online and technology has been on the front line to address these problems be in terms of cost, scale or operational efficiency.

 

Q5. How did your year at Great Lakes prepare you for a corporate career? Any interesting incident/experience you would like to share?

My one year at great lakes taught me how to handle pressure and how to consistently learn and deliver on the ground. As it is a one-year programme, it has a very tight schedule and that’s how you learn how to manage time. Also, you tend to focus on things that are important rather than doing a lot of things in one go. You pick up the things that are important and deliver on that. This has been my key learning.

Prior to great lakes, I didn’t have a good grip on many business aspects such as sales, marketing, finance and human resources. Great Lakes has helped me in becoming a well-rounded person with a business mindset.

Q6. What are some of the key skills you developed at Great Lakes that have helped you through your professional journey?

Financial management, operations management, presentation skills and problem solving are some of the key skills I developed at Great Lakes.

Q7. What does being a ‘leader’ mean to you?

Being a “leader” to me means trying to provide the strategic objective to everybody around me to really see value and also orientate them towards it. I really don't believe in managing people, you have to manage business and people will manage themselves.

As a leader you have to have that strategic vision, you will have to understand the business and market thoroughly so that you can propagate that vision to the entire organization and then people will do what they have to do.

Q8. What is your message to aspiring management professionals who are currently students at Great Lakes?

This is a great time to be in technology, I think technology is going to be at the front line for the next decade and it's going to be the prime operating field for management graduates. So, don't be technology averse and embrace technology. We are witnessing more technologists becoming the next gen leaders especially in companies like FAANG.

As you pick up your business skills try and pick up technical skills as well. Have a good understanding of technology and try to contribute to the business, with technology being the major driver. Technology will be the big thing for the next decade and will define growth of a lot of companies.