IIT-K was a period of transformation for Ghosh. “I look at it now and think I went through two phases: a dark and a light phase.” Saty, a topper at school, came to IIT expecting to be top of his class. However, he met up with students who were equally bright, and many far brighter than him. “I was humbled. Yet, it was a good thing for me. I think it taught me to manage expectations, in fact, it taught me more about managing the unexpected.” The challenge to excel was peaked. “Coming from a small town, IIT-K was a culture shock. I was lucky my room mate was also from Udaipur and had been my classmate at school.” In four years, Saty emerged a confident graduate in Civil Engineering. “IIT builds self-confidence and the attitude to examine issues at a deeper level, and engenders the desire to complete a task. Nothing seems impossible.”
After IIT, it was a natural move to come to the United States. In 1980, Saty joined the University of Pennsylvania, on a National Science Foundation scholarship. Learning to live and study in the U.S was a major life experience. Ghosh strongly recommends all who come to work in the U.S to attempt a graduate program. “The education system here is one that helps a student learn, not for the sake of learning, but to learn for oneself.” He went to work with a company that built nuclear power plants. But it did not last long. Building systems and facilities for power plants did not augur a great future. New technologies and changing policies only helped to size down a flagging market. “It was time for me to move on. And I think I did the best thing in my life. I went back to school.” After a second major in computer science from Drexel, Saty joined what is now Telcordia.
As his career developed, so did his personal life with his marriage. “For my time and from where I come from, I think my marriage was a modern one. We knew the family of my wife, and I knew her from my school days.” Ghosh thinks his wife adapted far better to an American life than he did. While he enjoyed his time at Telcordia he was driven to seek out other opportunities. “I wanted to get into UNIX and future technologies. I rekindled the interest Bell Labs had shown in me.” Bell Laboratories, in transition, was aligning the research-based labs with business units.“Set time-frames for projects, a new experience, was the turning point in my career.”
“Techies are on the south side of the business-technology divide. Unless you learn why you do what you are doing, you will not evolve.” This, he feels, is critical in a career path. Aligning personal ambitions with corporate ambitions is the best way to perform. His ability to understand the “big” picture and build teams led Saty to be selected as a member of a task force set up to reduce the operating expenses of a major business unit. “From programming, I was now handling business-critical processes: costs of operations, business models, risk management. It was a great career move for me.” To better understand the business issues and framework, AT&T sponsored Saty’s MBA from Columbia Business School in 2000.
“I think having children taught me patience. You can’t argue with them. And that taught me to cope with unreasonable thinking.” Saty has managed to develop a great relationship with his son and daughter. “We are out skiing in the winters and summer is time for tennis. And when you have a team of two teenagers up against you, you’d better be good.” Any challenge gets Saty to show his true form. “While I can accept failure, I don’t like it. If you can’t solve a problem right away, be willing to spend time on it and solve it. Else, there is no point in life.”
Now Satyajeet Ghosh is the Internal Audit Director for AT&T’s corporate CFO and his team addresses financial, operational, investment, legal and execution risks, using a multi-disciplinary approach to risk management that can be adapted to the changing operating model of the company.
In his spare time Saty enjoys movies, music and reading. “I think Kurusowa and Satyajit Ray have done some great films in exploring the human persona in inclement times.” His taste in music leans to classical English and Hindi, and “Rabindra” sangeet. Saty has also managed to keep up with his reading. “I read to keep up with the times, in technology and business. But I also manage to read beyond these.” Straight from the gut, The Death of Vishnu, The Alchemist, Teachings of Buddha are some that feature in his latest list.
When asked about the best advice he would give, Saty says: “Know where you stand and stand up for what you think is right. In the end, your belief in truth will prevail.” And what does he want to do next? “In time, I would like to work with a World Bank or the UN. I want to work in policy development and support projects that help in human development.”
