11.02 Nandan Nilekani - Early childhood wiring

NUGGET CONTEXT The first few years often shape a big part of who we are. Nandan talks about the significance of having spent 6 years in a small town in shaping his independence and cultural adaptability. He also refers to the role of his family in terms of shaping his choices around social service. GUEST Nandan Nilekani is an Indian entrepreneur, bureaucrat and politician. He was part of the founding team at Infosys and held several leadership roles with the company including being the CEO and Co-Chairman. In 2009, he moved from Infosys to serve as the Chairman of UIDAI and in the five years there, enrolled about two thirds of the country. He subsequently contested the 2014 Lok Sabha election and post that has moved onto a portfolio of initiatives that includes Ekstep and other philanthropic initiatives, India Stack evangelization and working with start-ups.

In this conversation, he shares his perspectives on leadership especially in a start-up and a scale up context. He also shares his insights around what it takes to transition effectively across different domains and why he has done what he has done at various points in time. HOST Deepak is a Leadership Advisor and an Executive Coach. He works with leaders to improve their effectiveness and in helping them make better decisions specifically around organizational and career transitions. He currently runs Transition Insight (www.transitioninsight.com) and works with leaders to handle phases of transition thoughtfully. He has worked as an Operations Consultant with KPMG in UK, Strategy Consultant with McKinsey in the US and as a Leadership Consultant with EgonZehnder (a Swiss Leadership Advisory firm) where he helped companies recruit CEOs, CXOs and Board Members and worked on Leadership Development. Deepak is a certified CEO Coach and is an alumnus of IIT Madras, IIM Ahmedabad and London Business School. His detailed profile can be found at https://in.linkedin.com/in/djayaraman DISCLAIMER All content and opinions expressed in the podcast are that of the guests and are not necessarily the opinions of Deepak Jayaraman and Transition Insight Private Limited. Views expressed in comments to blog are the personal opinions of the author of the comment. They do not necessarily reflect the views of The Company or the author of the blog. Participants are responsible for the content of their comments and all comments that are posted are in the public domain. The Company reserves the right to monitor, edit, and/or publish any submitted comments. Not all comments may be published. Any third party comments published are third party information and The Company takes no responsibility and disclaims all liability. The Company reserves the right, but is not obligated to monitor and delete any comments or postings at any time without notice.