“So when Santa Singh was required to fill in a response for ‘sex’...” chortles Ajit Singh, his penchant for the much-famed Sardarji jokes setting off guffaws in a group of his friends at a social gathering. President of the Oncology Care Systems Group at the Concord, CA division of Siemens Medical, Singh is known to drive his team and department to success within the global giant. His earlier stints were at the Siemens e-business and medical solutions services; unqualified successes that have won him the management’s respect.

On His Beginnings
It is a very typical Indian student’s start-off. Schooling at different cities in northern India, then engineering at Benares Hindu University and then the one-way flight to study in the U.S. I went to Syracuse for a master’s in electrical engineering and went on to do another master and a Ph.D. in computer science at Columbia. While at Columbia I was offered a job at Philips in Briarcliff, NY. I was working in robotics at that time, and call it serendipity, I met with some people from Siemens who invited me to join them. From industrial imaging I stumbled on to the medical imaging business, while continuing as a faculty at Columbia and then at Princeton. In 1996, I was asked to lead the consulting and information technology solutions business. With less than $100,000 in startup cash, we boot strapped this business and in 2000, the division was over $300 million in turnover. In 2000 we started our e-business division and it was another startup experience. I was then asked to lead the oncology products division. The common denominator in these responsibilities was that I was able to reinvent myself completely every two-three years.

On His Leadership Experience
In the e-business and medical consulting services business, it was a startup environment, while at the oncology business the responsibilities are to turn around and grow this division. The common factor in both these environments is that you need a deep-seated entrepreneurial ability to function well. In both cases I had to built the team from scratch.

What I have learnt from these experiences is that leadership works well when you view it as contextual. When a situation demands a certain set of skills and abilities, it is futile for one person to attempt meeting those demands. Similar to how a relay team coordinates, if the baton is passed on to the right person to handle that contextual demand, the situation is well handled and the leadership is intact and true. Finally, success is at times seen as an end in itself. It is not so. Success should be a catalyst to more success.

In the e-business and medical consulting, it was a very cerebral participation, while at oncology it is changing from heavy metal to software-enabled workflow systems. The teams vary in composition and the demands to lead such diverse teams have been extremely different.

On Motivating The Troops
The startup environment was relatively easy to lead, as you are doing something fundamentally new. The inherent innovation is a large driver in keeping the team motivated as the “sex” appeal of the end results is tantalizing. In a turn-around environment, you tend to discover numerous million-dollar “oh-my-god” situations, which aren’t exactly exciting. Murphy’s law tends to crop up at the most unexpected places.

To attempt to cross these hurdles and restart from scratch over and over again is very tiring. But informed intuition is a very deep-seated experience that could drive the team’s inspiration levels. When in doubt, it pays to be honest. At times of crises it is very well to brainstorm and create a platform for consensus, but in the end you have to take a decision that everyone must follow.

On His Management Style
In one word, “adaptive.” Adaptability has a correlation to survival and success. I am inherently a very optimistic person and believe that results are achievable, given the right situation, resources and abilities. If you are able to ask the question, “What’s the worst that can happen?” you are capable to understanding the situation in its true state and should be able to generate solutions.

In a business like oncology medical solutions, our work involves dealing with failures—people, equipment, treatments, science and so on. It is very important to keep the team aligned to the company goal and vision, so the individual can take failure in his or her stride and move forward.

On What Motivates Him
I view motivation as an innate quality—it is a cause. It is because I am motivated I am able to achieve what I set out to do, and not necessarily the other way around. The team is very intellectual, charged and able to go out and achieve goals. It is an extremely stimulating experience to go out and meet a customer—the possibility to excite a customer is addictive. If we are able to do this everytime, there are enough motivational drivers out there too.

What are my goals? I don’t plan out too far. Do I want to be on the board of Siemens? Yes. Is it the goal? No. The notion of adaptability that influences my management also works in my personal life. If your strategy is fundamentally right, you need not worry about it being specifically right. This has worked very well all my life so long. I read about 50 books a year, teach at the Sikh summer camps, and spend the rest of my non-business totally immersed with the three women in my life—my wife and two daughters. In all this, the key is to have fun.