In this blog post
1. Tell us something about your childhood. What values had been instilled in you that helped you excel later in your life?
My father is an army officer, so we had some defense discipline imbibed in our upbringing, and my mother is a housewife and has always been focused on values that ensure that we are ethical. Being honest, transparent, ethical, committing to an assignment, and making sure no efforts are spared to make that a success, were the values that were ingrained in me early in my life. My teachers too reinforced these values, especially integrity and ethics. These guiding principles are what make a person.
2. What have been some of the biggest challenges in your life and how that has shaped you?
Challenges have been many but during my difficult times what I’ve learned is that we have to be the best and give our best, no matter the constraints. Being a cut above the rest and demonstrating knowledge will lead to favorable outcomes. When I was faced with difficulties during my student days, I focused on achieving excellence and being truly educated.
The 2015 Chennai floods were a difficult time for society in general, including our family. I couldn’t communicate with my family and wasn’t aware of their whereabouts for 2-3 days. Our house had been destroyed and my family had taken refuge in a neighbor’s house. It taught me the value of resilience and the strength of our community when it comes together to help each other. I learned not to dwell on my disappointment, instead, I remained focused on moving forward and ensuring we secure our future.
3. How would you describe your leadership style? Do you believe leadership can be taught?
I don’t believe Leadership is a subject that can be taught through traditional teaching methods. Leadership can be learnt through observing leaders, on both ‘how to’ and ‘how not to’. In fact, leadership can be learnt from all around us, a person needn’t be designated a leader to demonstrate leadership skills.
I would say the most important trait of a leader is the visual demonstration of respect for everyone, followed by the ability to listen and be firm on decisions. I would recommend having a framework for decision-making. Most of the time while taking a decision, there are constraints and incomplete information, here a structure and framework help.
I believe it is important to ensure that the way I’m treating a person or the situation I’m putting a person in, is something that I can accept and live with myself. Just because the constraints are unfavorable, doesn’t mean that we should do the wrong thing.
Leadership is like a communicable disease, but it is a good disease to catch, considering we learn how to do the right thing.
4. How would you define success?
Success is something that is gratifying, and we have to strive to achieve it. If we feel what we attempted to do is making a difference to someone/something and has a positive impact on society then we can call ourselves successful. Irrespective of who you are, whatever position you are in, as long as we are striving for something meaningful, for the betterment of us as humans and our society, we term the outcome of that as success. It should bring happiness and joy to everyone impacted.
5. When did you discover your passion for technology?
During my college days, I was inclined toward math, physics, and engineering as it relates to electronics and communication technology. It came naturally to me, I found it easier to align with and that’s when I felt I was better suited to the tech field than others.
6. How do you think the COVID pandemic has changed the healthcare industry?
The pandemic has brought a unique perspective in deploying technology into the delivery of healthcare, capacity building from physical to digital, and delivering services in the not very physical mode while ensuring there is no lapse in the efficacy of outcomes. It has also brought in the need to ensure that empathy is not lost, even when services are not delivered physically.
It taught us a powerful lesson on how healthcare can be delivered to millions by not having physical premises and still ensure quality and desirable outcomes. Bringing in aspects of disruptive technology mixed with traditional technology and ensuring that the physical and digital worlds co-exist can create a force multiplier of positive outcomes.
7. Are there any upcoming areas of health-tech that you are particularly excited about?
What I’ve seen on Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality is promising. What I’m seeing in AI, ML, and analytics which leads to prescriptive and predictive analytics is exciting. Also, the improvements in user interface and usability techniques are going in the right direction, as it ensures that we are mistake-proof in our delivery of healthcare.
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