CEO’S
PRODUCTIVITY
SECRETS
(3)
6.
“Be
prompt in communication, engage in soft diplomacy“
SWARUP
CHOUDHURY, MANAGING DIRECTOR, FIRST DATA INDIA
“I
have a meeting with my direct reports every fortnight, but we also have a
system
of “war room“ meetings, which requires everyone to assemble with
one
hour notice. War room meetings are called when we have a big transaction
coming
up and they happen once a fortnight. I've set myself a standard of
responding
to emails within 24 hours and SMS and WhatsApp messages
within
two hours. As the country head of a MNC headquartered in New York,
I
often receive visitors from other countries. I've made it a habit to take
foreign
guests
out to dinner. Most Americans visiting India want to go shopping and
I
accompany them if they're looking for antiques and handicrafts.
If
they're looking to buy clothes, my wife steps in.“
7.
“Write
down everything“
RAJU
VANAPALA, FOUNDER, WAY2SMS
“I
do a lot of read ingnot books, but articles and blogs. These are mostly
articles
written
by startup heroes like Paul Graham of Y Combinator. These are very in
sightful
like how to manage macros and what kind of people you want to hire.
Another
guy, who I follow is Aaron Levie, cofounder of Box. I never miss his
blog
posts. The other habit I have is that I write down everything from micros
and
macros. My room is full of scribbling pads which I have used over the years.
I
finish one note pad every week. On Saturdays, I review my goals, which helps
you
validate. I also use the ColorNote app for drawing goal setting graphs.“
8.
“Ab
tum batao“
SANJAY
SETHI, CEO, SHOPCLUES
“If
you come to my office and speak to me, the phrase that you will most hear
would
be “Ab tum batao (now, you say).“ Now, this has become an office joke.
I
have a habit of making people repeat what I said in meetings. Through this,
I
am able to detect whether my colleagues have understood what I have said
or
not. Mostly, people get only 50% of what I just said. So, when somebody
is
late to a meeting, I don't repeat myself, but I make someone else repeat
what
I spoke for the benefit of the late comer. If something is lost in
communication,
I clarify. I have slight dyslexia. So, I listen to audio books
on
my way to office. When I reach the office, I am usually half way through
a
book. I am interested in astrophysics and quantum physics.It makes me
realise
that we are very insignificant in the larger universal scheme of things.
The
only time we have, is now.“
9.
“Use
social media to connect with people“
SWATI
BHARGAVA, COFOUNDER, CASHKARO.COM
“For
the past 7 years, I have been doing Yoga in the mornings. I am very active
on
Twitter. I have found that normally people who don't reply to you via email,
usually
respond quicker on Twitter. I connect with my teammates also on social
media
so that I can get to know my colleagues better.We even have a
WhatsApp
group in office. My husband Rohan (also the cofounder) and I have
lunch
with our colleagues every day.We have a kitchen in the office. So,
we
don't do any other lunch meetings.“
10.
“Meet
new people, stay updated“
VINEET
TOSHNIWAL, MANAGING DIRECTOR, EQUIRUS CAPITAL
“Our
business is all about new ideas. This can only come from meeting people
from
various walks of business like entrepreneurs, investors. I meet 710 people
a
week. This helps me in ideation. I try to remain updated about global business
developments.
I follow articles and blogs of Warren Buffett and Jim Rogers.
This
gives me a long term perspective. Mornings, I dedicate to tracking news
and
markets. I devote the first half of the day to meetings and second half for
internal
office work. I try to catch up with friends offline rather than social
media
sites. But I am very active on LinkedIn, which helps to connect with people in
the investment banking ecosystem.“
By Dibeyendu Ganguly & Dearton Hector
With
inputs from Priyanka Sangani and Moinak Mitra
CDET22MAY15
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