Hardwork & Passion—The only Mantra to Success Date:   Wednesday , June 10, 2009 As she quickly grew to a project manager at her first organization, Madhavi Singala was presented with another exciting, but more challenging opportunity to move up the corporate ladder. Recognizing that the job prospects offered by Keane, was in sync with her long term career plans, she was quick to seize the opportunity that was beckoning her. Today, Madhavi is the Vice President of Insurance and Banking vertical at Keane. An MCA from REC, Warangal, Madhavi always had an inclination towards computers and decided to follow her dreams in this field. “Those were the days when a job in the public sector, Medicine/Engineering was looked upon, but I was keen on joining the IT sector,” says Madhavi, who can not be much more content with what she has achieved today. Madhavi who started her career with TCS says, “It was at TCS that I learnt my initial lessons and tricks of the trade in software engineering and project management. From understanding different domains, projects and technologies, the exposure there was quite beneficial”. She worked on different types of projects and various domains, especially in Insurance, Financial Services and Transportation. The opportunity to have closer interaction with customers and gain an understanding of what the users were looking for had a profound impact on her work. She also considers this, the turning point in her career. After five years with TCS, Madhavi joined Keane in 2000 and has been with Keane ever since. Due to her hard work and dedication she has grown consistently in the organization from a Project Lead to a Vertical Head handling multiple accounts, marking a 100 percent growth in the last 2-3 years, through organic and inorganic means. She, currently, not only heads a team of 600 in India but also deals with an equal sized team onsite across the accounts. Completely a people’s person, Madhavi enjoys interacting with her team and believes in hard work, teamwork and ‘leading by example’. Nevertheless, she is a hard taskmaster who expects commitment and focus from her team. She has a simple rule that holds true for everyone in her team, who wants to grow in their career, ”I believe that a result oriented approach, integrity and discipline at every individual level with a desire to excel in their respective roles will automatically bring success in to one’s career”. At the same time she believes in keeping one’s work interesting and enjoyable. “Apart from personal growth, whatever one does must also add value to the organization and contribute to the growth of people around oneself. This will be possible only if one has the desire to bring about a change in what every one does”. This is why she emphasizes on developing a flavor for the business along with technology. “For a customer, more than the technology that you use, it is the value that you add to his business which is important”. She attributes her growth and success to following these principles. Looking back at her career, Madhavi feels, it is her ability to work with people and maintain a keen eye on learning new things that have been her greatest strengths. “Being in the software industry people are the most important asset of our organization. I have always noticed that people respond with positive energy and commitment to bolstering their strengths, where as we’re bound to face resistance if we try and eradicate their weaknesses. So, by creating a positive environment where people are passionate about their work, they are more than willing to go beyond the call of duty to help achieve the goals of the group and in turn the organization. Throughout my career, I have had the opportunity to work in diverse roles and responsibilities. From handling financial service accounts for customers operating in the areas of wholesale banking, retail banking, investment management and mortgage processing to heading multiple verticals like Insurance, Banking, Financial services and Public Sector, I have explored many challenging situations that have well rounded my knowledge of the business domains as well as the customer perspective across the industry. During these years, by interacting with customers in India and overseas, I also learnt a lot about handling cross-cultural environment. This opportunity to communicate across various geographies and technologies not only increased my knowledge but also helped me enhance my people skills, allowing me to head a large onsite team,” Madhavi explains. Though she attributes all that she has learnt to the various opportunities that came across, the main drive has been her zeal to learn new things. Unlike some, who seek change and growth in a position every two-years or so, Madhavi laid more focus on the opportunity at hand and the commitments to the customer. “For me it was more important that we meet the commitments to the customer from an organization perspective. I firmly believe that the customer’s trust built over a period of time through consistent delivery, is the only means to a sustainable business. Ultimately it’s all about customer satisfaction and in turn customer retention that leads to the success of the company,” Madhavi explains. At work, she is actively engaged in mentoring young women who join the company. “I not only guide them on work related problems but also keep my doors open to discuss any other problems, work or personal, they might have”. My mentors have played a very vital role in my career growth and now I would like to pass on the same guidance to others who seek it. Though Madhavi has seen a tremendous change in the number of women opting for a career in IT she feels there is still more that needs to be done. Though there are many who join the industry, not many women reach the upper echelons. She feels a lot of this depends on the support a woman gets from both her family and the organization she works for. “I have been fortunate in both accounts. As a child, my parents always made me feel important being a girl and that I am in no way inferior to the opposite sex! My family, especially my husband has always encouraged me when it comes to my career and has equally helped in juggling roles as both a homemaker and a career woman. Keane too, has provided immense supported by encouraging me whenever I have required it,” she tells. Outside work, she has a deep passion for reading. She loves to read leadership related biography/auto-biography books, action thriller and science fiction novels. Apart from this, she loves spending time with her family especially her young son and also enjoys travelling with the family. She has a strong flair for music and numismatics and pursues these hobbies whenever time permits. Though Madhavi has come a long way in her career, she still feels she has a lot more to achieve, and on the way she will just keep looking out for as many challenges as possible.