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Ramya Ranganathan

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Ramya Ranganathan

Vice President

Goldman Sachs

Ramya Ranganathan is a member of:

- Expert

My Introduction

I passed out from my undergrad college during the recession and it took some effort to find the first job. I changed another job in Chennai before I moved to Goldman Sachs in 2005. After spending some time at GS I could see a promising career path with tremendous growth opportunities and I consciously worked towards these goals. I was lucky to have colleagues and family who supported me through thick and thin and advised me through important decisions in this journey.

Role I Play in My Company

Goldman Sachs needs no introduction. I work with the Securities Services Technology division of the organization in Bangalore where I lead the technology team that develops reconciliation system for the listed derivative business of the company. This is a very crucial function we own here that helps the firm have controls on the operational risk. In my daily work routine, I liaise with counterparts across the globe and plan and execute large scale projects.

Making the Right Career Move During the Journey

The most important decision from career perspective was to leave my home city, Chennai. I felt the working culture in Bangalore was much different. The healthy competition that I found myself in motivated me to work hard and make continuous improvement in my skill set.

My Personal Leadership Vision.

My vision as a leader is to first be best at what I do and set examples for my colleagues that motivate them to give out their best for the organization. I believe in team work and think that an organization’s success lies in leaders with strong teams behind them.

Ways to Maintain a Healthy Work-life Balance

I think I have learnt this one through experience. My husband works in Mumbai and is only at home during weekends and I do not have any family support in Bangalore and have been managing our 2 year old alone for past 1 year. This has taught me to multi task and optimize in a lot of things, be it preparing food for the child or changing travel schedule to office to avoid traffic jam.

The Challenges Faced Being a Woman

I feel I have been lucky to not really find any negative atmosphere at my workplace. But at times I have felt challenged because being a woman I have to balance things at home and office. I have learnt to become more efficient over time.

Ways of Doing Things Differently if Given a Chance to Start from Scratch

One thing that I would like to do differently is to start my work life from a different set up in terms of organization and location. I guess I was not very sure of my career path at start and I think I would have done better with a different approach to the job at that start of my career.

“Women leaders are a driving force for powering business” Explain

I think women bring very different perspectives at work place because of their diverse experiences that shape their world views. They are multi dimensional by nature and are able to think out of box. They especially excel in areas such as client management because they are able to understand and balance expectations of different stakeholders. Modern organizations recognize this and that is why we are seeing a growing number of women leaders in diverse businesses.

Learning Process During my Career Days and Achievement Gained.

1.   Know your strengths and weaknesses early and work on them
2.   Know your competition but be helpful to others
3.   Sometimes opportunities are few and far between so be on the lookout for right opportunities

Couple of Years from Now

Two years down the line I see myself with a greater responsibility at Goldman Sachs in terms of the number of programs and team I am leading. I also hope to take additional responsibly in terms of work in Women India Network.

Career Accomplishment that I am proud of

I had a severe case of cerebral thrombosis during my engineering studies days. Doctors even threatened that it could lead to permanent damage to my vision. I was hospitalized for more than 30 days on multiple occasions, including during my semester examination. But my family supported me through all this and I was determined to be patient and strong. In the end I was able to come out relatively unscathed and completed my undergrad with good grades. It was the most difficult time of my life and reaching success overcoming the difficulties makes me feel proud about it.

Advice/ suggestions

• Have balanced goals at both at career and personal front and track them as you progress every year. It helps to measure yourself and take corrective action if necessary before things can turn bad
• Time management can be best done by better advance planning and leveraging delegation/outsourcing as much as possible. Understand your limitations, options and preferences. E.g., if your focus of the year is on career, delegate as many responsibilities at home to others as possible, say by hiring a cook, driver, or a nanny. Similarly at work, talk to people and set the expectation right when there are life changing events such as marriage, childcare, or eldercare etc. involved. It would help people around you appreciate your concerns and maintain smooth relations at work too