My inspirations from life – Girish Rao, Head-IT, Marico

In an inspiring interview, Girish Rao, shares with us his lessons from early childhood, his upbringing and how he has learnt to learn something from every person, and to convert challenges into opportunities. Always looking at the bigger picture in life and in career, Girish’s career graph is an inspiring lesson to every person who wants to make it big in life.

Here is Girish Rao in his own words:

Born and brought up in Mumbai – the city with a ‘never-say-die’ spirit, there were several early lessons for me, that have shaped me into the individual and the professional that I am today. Just like the transformation of a cocoon into a butterfly – I have imbibed several qualities and traits that have helped me transform from a child born into a family with a never-say-die spirit, into an individual who sees every challenge as a stepping stone that will lead him to a bigger opportunity or goal in life.

Challenges have always encouraged me, rather than set me back. Some early lessons in life came from my immediate family, and these lessons have proved to be invaluable in the larger context of life – personal as well as professional.

Childhood was fun for us, but challenging for my parents who aspired and worked extremely hard to provide us a decent education. Though we stayed in a small house and had economic limitations, our parents ensured that our ambitions and aspirations were never suppressed. I have been fortunate to have parents who were forward looking and wanted to ensure that their children got educated in an English-medium school – even while realizing that it would impact their financial condition in a huge way. I was a little above average student academically, and Geography, Science and Maths were some of my favorite subjects.

My first big lesson in life came from none other than my mother – perhaps that’s one reason why the role of a mother is so important in a child’s life – as thoughts of your mother shape your life and your future too. Early on in life, I used to observe how my mother used to manage everything in the house with limited financial resources. I always used to observe how brilliantly she used to manage within the limited resources she had. This changed my thought process completely, and even today, when I am presented with a problem or a challenge, I look at how I can make the best out the constraints that are in front of me. ‘Doing more with less’ was a mantra I learnt from my mother years back, though today, this is a common mantra often repeated by management gurus.

DR or Disaster Recovery may be an often repeated term in management circles, and even a regulation today – but my first understanding of a DR plan came from my mother. Contingency planning came naturally to my mother, who used to always reserve and keep a backup from the minimal resources she used to have at her disposal. I also learnt some early lessons in ‘contingency planning’ from my mother, who used to make traditional savories at home to earn some extra money. This money proved to be useful for emergency purposes. I would observe and participate in preparing the same, even today whenever I feel stressed, I take to cooking to de-stress myself.

Music in the genes

We come from a family of musicians. My grandfather was a musician, and my father wanted me to be a tabla player. I started early and was well versed with playing tabla at the age of 9. I have played tabla with well-known Ghazal singers. As Indian music is all about improvisation and creativity, this helped me to ingrain a value of innovation and improvisation in whatever I do. I always feel that there is a better way to do things -- one has to just discover the same.

First touch of computers

When I was in the 10th standard, our school had organized a demo of what a computer looked like. Professor Narula of Abacus Computers gave us a demo. My first glance at the computer made me realize that it was an opportunity for me to do something different in life. Through Professor Narula, the school was conducting computer training classes. Though I was fascinated with the idea of learning computers, my only problem was the princely Rs 275 that was to be paid for attending the classes.

As money was limited, my family initially resisted the idea, and saw this more as a luxury. However, my persistence paid off, and I succeeded in convincing my father. I joined the classes, and learnt Basic – my first experience with programming. After completing the classes, I decided to do something in this field. At that time, though I never knew that this would turn out to be my career, I was nevertheless extremely interested, and patiently waited for opportunities that would help me explore the fascinating and interesting world of computers.

It is said that when you want something really hard in life – the whole universe conspires to make it happen. Though I wanted to learn computers, the odds against me were huge. Computer education was expensive, and I did not have the resources. I was nevertheless optimistic that an opportunity would come that would help me learn. An opportunity did come and I grabbed this with both hands.

During this period, I got an opportunity to work in a share registry firm called Sharepro Services. Though the job was of data entry, I saw this as an opportunity to make some money that would come in handy for my education that I wanted to purse in the field of computers. As I had good typing speed, I did not face a challenge in taking up the job. This was also an apt job for me, as it also gave me an opportunity to work on computers. There was an added benefit – the same company also had a training center which used to train people on computers.

While working for Sharepro, I realized the importance of upgrading my education. I wanted to do a course in COBOL – the dominant computer programming language then. However, doing a course was expensive – as I had to shell out a princely amount of Rs 2500.

My college started early, and after attending classes in college, I used to go to this firm to do data entry. Simultaneously, I utilized my skills in music to take tuition in music, and also for participating in concerts. My daily schedule was something like this – attend college in morning, go to Sharepro Services for doing data entry, and then finally, take music classes. I even found time in between to study the books given to me by my friend who studied in the Science stream.

While time management was extremely difficult – the objective was simple – save and generate money for my education. Money was extremely important – and I used to walk to about 45 minutes a day to save money. Through all these activities, I earned enough money to fund my own education. These initial lessons in life taught me some core skills which have helped me become more successful in my career. Everything I did at that time was aligned to the larger goal – i.e. to learn computers. Every small job or activity I did was essentially a step towards this larger goal in life.

Never say ‘no’ to any challenge or opportunity

While working for Sharepro, I learnt several skills. The most important thing is probably the ability to think clearly. For example, while I learned COBOL at a sister concern of Sharepro, I did not always have access to a computer to practice the commands. To address this challenge, I wrote problems on a piece of paper. This exercise gave me conceptual clarity – and gave me the ability to clearly think through any problem. This also gave me the capability to do a mental walkthrough of how things could be executed. I still have those written notes with me, and even today, I use the same approach when faced with a problem or challenge.

I also realized quite early in my life to always look at the bigger picture. For example, you may be given a small task and you may refuse it without realizing the long term benefits. For example, when I was working in Sharepro as a data entry operator, there was an opportunity to do print related administration jobs as a person who was doing the print related job had left the organization. Similarly, when an opportunity came for managing backups, I took up this opportunity too. In short, I took every opportunity to learn everything I could in IT. Later on, when a key faculty member who used to teach COBOL left, I put my hand up and stepped into the role of a trainer. This period at Sharepro taught me the importance of looking at every challenge as a big opportunity to learn something new in life. I also used to pick up magazines from shops that sold used computer books. I learnt programming language ‘C’ by looking at old books.

As you may have realized, life keeps on offering us many opportunities. A small opportunity may turn out to be a major career change for you. If you have the passion and the interest for a certain field, you should leverage every possible opportunity to ensure that you are well connected and well read on that domain.

The big leap

If you wait patiently and hone your knowledge and ability, you can take a big stride in your career. For me, a turning point in my career came when I joined Garware Paints as a management trainee. Traveling from home to office (Khar to Ghodbunder Road at Thane) was a big issue due to the distance. While I was working at Garware Paints, I received a message from one of my students who had joined Marico. Marico had a pertinent and challenging problem. One of its PCs was not booting and the importance of that PC can be gauged from the fact that this PC was the only PC then in the whole company.

I realized at that time that every skill counts – many small and mundane jobs may turn out to be exactly what you need to solve the big problem. For example, using the hardware and software skills learned during my stint at Sharepro, I managed to solve the problem and helped Marico recover 4-5 months of data.

Subsequently, when the vacancy came up, I was offered a role in their IT department. I started my IT career as a developer-cum-administrator. In those times, there was no systems of automated backup, I took upon myself to do the same as well as other jobs like cabling, crimping, solving hardware issues on the servers.

Gradually, as applications we being built , I started expanding my scope of work and started understanding functions like finance, materials and supply chain.

I was part of the core team which evaluated a host of ERP solutions to get the right fit for Marico. We evaluated close to 14 ERP solutions, and finally zeroed in on SAP. This exercise gave me an insight into how business works from a managerial perspective and key aspects of decision making and solution selection.

I cut my teeth in playing a big part in the SAP ERP implementation. My role in leading all the technical aspects of the SAP implementation gave me a wider perspective of the impact that IT can have on business objectives and deliverables. Despite huge challenges, we managed to complete the implementation, six months before the go-live date. This experience changed my perspective completely, and gave me the experience to learn and plan for big projects.

Advice for the younger generation

Today, a lot of youngsters make short term plans and career moves, without looking at the big picture. I believe youngsters must always expand their scope of work – and look at ways to learn something from every situation, opportunity and challenge.

During the SAP implementation, we did not have a reference case in India, and no peer or industry leader to look up to. We did our entire SAP implementation in just 9 months – and we took a stretched goal. As a team, we realized that if you have to progress, you have to stretch yourself.

Technologists must also learn to present their technology solutions to business in a way that the business understands clearly. For example, during the SAP implementation, while implementing the technology solution was a challenge, the bigger challenge was change management and encouraging users to use the solution. We handled the ‘change management’ issue by communicating extensively with our employees, as some of them had the impression that they would lose their jobs because of the ERP implementation.

Move out of your comfort zone

It is also extremely important to move out of your comfort zone, and look at ways to challenge yourself. When you are in a field like IT, you cannot stay stagnant. You will have to learn to challenge existing perceptions and accepted notions. For example, can you use the experience and knowledge from other sectors and apply it to your sector? For example, can I use CRM that I use in my B2B environment and use it for my distributors? Another example is the usage of SMS. Most marketers were using this medium for one way communication.

We used SMS to take service quality feedback from customers of our subsidiary, Kaya Clinic. This simple application has helped us retain our customers as customers feel that the company cares for them.

CIOs also need to broaden their horizon beyond IT. In other words, IT has to move beyond IT. For example, in this era of Smartphone’s and robots, should the knowledge of a CIO be confined to IT? If robots can be deployed in factories to automate processes and boost productivity, can a CIO be oblivious to that fact?

It is critical to network. IT people restrict themselves to their own peers and to their own set of challenges. Exposing yourself to diverse people and diverse skills help them to adapt faster and also anticipate challenges in other domains. It also increases their versatility and ability to look at solutions beyond IT. Be a part of several forums to start with. This will also hone your time management skills.

Do not develop a love for your own ideas and solution. It tends to be restrictive and growth becomes incremental rather than disruptive.

In short, I would advise anyone planning a career in IT to have a long term aspect. One should also learn to pace himself or herself in life. This could be in five year intervals. Whatever you do should complement your long term vision or goal. Think big, but act small. Short-term results are also extremely important, as they are the means to a bigger goal. Short-term failures are also equally important for long-term success. The final truth is – there are no shortcuts in life.

Keep yourself grounded and your focus should be on ‘need’ vis-à-vis ‘greed’. This has its roots in spirituality as needs are limited, but greed is unlimited. One needs to be conscious of how much is enough!

In the long run, I would like to be known as a ‘business leader’ than a technology leader. Though IT has made great progress, there is still a perception that ‘IT’ is an enabler. I would like to change that perception to position ‘IT’ as a direct business contributor.