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Shekar Nair

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Shekar Nair

EVP, K7 Computing

K7 Computing

Important decision

1. To join a startup when I was very comfortable with a good paying job at a big company.
2. The decision I made to move to India considering family aspects
3. In general, to follow the heart even if the outcome of the decision may not look rosy at the outset.
I believe that decisions are never perfect. You take a decision knowing that there is going to be tradeoff , some give and take. I would always get uncomfortable when I get very comfortable. I would therefore move away from high paying jobs were the job was not challenging or risky anymore. Many of these may not have been wise decisions considering the opportunities I may have missed in larger companies. However, I consider these important decisions as they kept me happy along the way!

Thoughts on Education system of our country

I think the education system has more negatives than positives. The positive part about the education system in India is it helps groom students to be disciplined, hardworking and persevering. However it does this at the cost of losing individual creativity and the ability to relate a purpose to what you do. I believe the system needs to be fine tuned or even revamped bringing a focus on holistic development of the individual without loosing all the benefits it currently offers. As a specific measure, I believe changes need to be made top down. This can come only if the management of educational institutions see the need to change. Awareness building with proper data from successful education systems, with success defined as holistic development of the child, along with training programs for the school management is the first important step. The focus needs to shift from IQ to IQ EQ PQ SQ

Couple of years from now

I would like to give back in some form to the society. I have a few passionate areas that I would like to pursue. I would like to continue in the domain of information technology that has been my bread and butter but want to see how best I can use my knowledge 881984 skills gained to help a worthy cause. This could be projects for society that is aided by technology or mentor and work with people who do the same. If I had enough money, I would also like to start a true technology related fund in India to encourage and prove that Indians too can build successful technology companies that are world class.

My family background

I am a keralite born in Trivandrum. I grew up in Trichy Tamilnadu living in the cozy BHEL township where my dad used to work...in those days a public sector company wouldbe were one joins and retires...After college and 2 years of working in Chennai, I left for USA and lived there for 15 years. I am now settled in Bangalore. So overall a pretty nomadic life. However, as I child growing in Trichy, my roots was of a simple middle class family . With wonderful parents especially a great supporting mother, I grew to learn the value of life and it is really what has made me to be what I am. I have a brother who is in the silicon valley and a sister who is a doctor in my home town Trivandrum. I have a wonderful wife who has been a pillar of strength, support and love for all these years and she is also a keralite from Ottapalam. We had an arranged marriage just like many of us used to at that time (20 years back) and only happy I took that strange decision . I have two lovely boys in school

My achievements

There are some small professional achievements that I am proud of such as getting 100% in mathematics in the XII CBSE exam, a great job at Intel's software subsidiary through campus interviews, getting USA Patents in data communications; being part of the team from start of a company that had a successful IPO; being part of a founding team of some very talented minds in building a smart technology known as a multi-router system; building a team of 300 people at netapp; building a OEM business for NetApp in APAC and so on.
I am more proud off my personal achievement when I look at how I have been able to grow spiritually over time and be a source of positiveness to people around me.

Influenced by

My mother has been easily my biggest influencer in my life. All my values in life including honesty, trustworthiness, perseverance, humility, caring for the needy, have been instilled by her. I am truly what I am today because of her. And all the influence on me was done silently and gracefully with nothing forced upon me. She is no more with me but her memories continue to influence me.
In addition to my mother, there are lot of people who have left an impact on me both in my professional and personal journey. I used to look up to my father and wanted to be like him when I was young. A few of my teachers at school whose non-academic teachings have left an impact on me. My supervisors and some of my colleagues in the companies I worked with who have stunned me with their skills in business & engineering, from whom I have learnt a lot and helped me grow. My brother always encouraged me at every step of my life. My wife over the last 20 years has been a very positive influence on my life. I look up to people like Mother Theresa and others who unselfishly and wholeheartedly do so much for the society

My strongest skill

Strongest Professional Skills include:
Strong work ethics; Great team player; Good negotiation & selling of concept or value; quick & willing to learn; making decisions;
Other professional skills include:
Technical domain expertise; Management expertise delivering value to customers & organisation; global experience - USA, India and Asia Pacific; Entrepreneurial & large company experience

My role model

I am inspired my Mother Theresa as a role model. I need to admit that while she has been an inspiring role model for me and I went on a day's fast when I came to know of her end, I am not evolved enough to take a path of selflessness and contribute untiringly to the society concerned for the very very needy.
The reason she has inspired me is that everything she has done has always given me courage on how to think bigger
She challenged the impossible - albanian born, part of the Indian fabric; She went beyond any boundaries imaginable; She had a vision and went about achieving the vision tirelessly; Her actions were not based on any expectations - the results, rewards and recognitions was a natural outcome; She was truly selfless - the mission's interest was the highest;
So, her work combined a real vision; laser focus on goals; an outstanding execution with great leadership, thinking out of the box to break boundaries and more things that influence our day to day work.

Ensuring success

I introspect and reflect to identify areas of development and growth. This is not a one time process but more continuous in nature. I work on the identified developmental areas both professionally and as a person. I keep my appetite to learn and to be curious very healthy. I use online information to keep myself abreast of things worthy of knowing. TED is one of my popular watch lists. I also read non-fictional books. I attend self development programmes. Other than my normal work, I also get involved with startups that help me keep thinking and learning. Even at work, I take up challenges that help me do things that I have not done before and help me in growing and developing.

Qualities needed to become a successful leader

Many people have different answer to this question. Having seen different leaders in my career, I believe a successful leader must have:
1. Ability to have a vision or mission and be able to rally his/her team behind this.
2. Empathise well with the people who he/her leads
3. Take risks when necessary
4. Inspire the team under difficult situations; when the road ahead is not clear
5. Practice what he/she preaches - good work ethics

Important lesson learned

Here are some lessons I can share to people who are much younger than me:
1. Don't be too comfortable where you are and what you are doing; break the shackles and be ready for changes. It is uncomfortable changes that you make that will help you achieve what you never thought you could.
2. Always go by your passion and not follow what others are doing; In the latter you will have to be lucky to win but on the former you will be doing what you enjoy and what you are proud and the chances of winning is greater.
3. For technology enthusiasts, do not build exciting technology and then look for the market; always spend more time on what the potential customer's pain point is; how well your technology and solution addresses those pain points better than existing solutions & why & how much will they pay for addressing the need in a better manner.
4. Find a mentor or a role model that you can look up to, to bounce your ideas and to push you to go beyond;
5. Increase hapiness quotient all time

Degree that I recommend

I would always recommend that a degree in business along with a degree in technology is ideal. Having said that I don't believe degrees and certifications are the key. While the college training makes you more ready for the industry, it is all about the attitude of the individual. The jobs most people do are not rocket science. It is about influencing the people we work with to get them to work at their highest potentials and to achieve desired results. A person's EQ is more important than degrees 881984 certifications.
So, I would recommend that whatever degree one may have, continue to learn and add more business skills to the already acquired domain skills, and then focus on attitude and self development skills to be more suitable as you continue to grow in your career.

Brief description about me

Living in Bangalore India for last 8 years after having been in the USA for over 15 years. Family of 4 with 2 boys. Basically an engineer at heart having done BE from NIT Trichy and MS Comp Science from CSUN USA. Trained myself to be a business executive taking an executive MBA from IIM Bangalore and working at senior management positions at Xylan, Allegro, NetApp and ELina. I was part of the inception team at Xylan, part of a great team, had a very successful company IPO in 1996 and was sold to Alcatel in 1999. Was a co-founder at Allegro Networks where I had the opportunity to be part of an outstanding team and excellent technology. Sold Allegro India operations to Juniper Networks. Joined NetApp India to build its operations in India as head of NetApp India, grew team to about 300 people and later was responsible for the OEM business of NetApp throughout Asia Pacific. Most recently was CEO of Elina Networks in Bangalore; continuing as a company Director; currently with K7 Computing

Initiative to develop a country

The features of India as an under developed country that is relevant here are degree of unemployment, scarcity of capital and social peculiarities such as lack of entrepreneurship, fatalistic attitude and illiteracy.
The ideal way professionals can help is by becoming involved with government and governing bodies and helping make changes on all facets of these problems.
A more realistic approach is to have professionals do whatever little they can for their country (little drops of ocean makes a mighty ocean). Why not have more companies started in India to help with unemployment? Why not make technology available in India at lower prices to address the scarcity of capital and allowing India to adopt advanced and newer technologies? why not create more effective entrepreneurship programs with or without government help to address the lack of entrepreneurship at the grass root level? why not invest more into educational institutions to address illiteracy in rural areas?

Anything more you want to share

Successful people are successful because of their attitude to success. Luck can give a chance to a person to achieve first level of success. However, most people fall from that position because luck is accidental and will not be with the same person all the time. It is the attitude towards success that makes the person actually successful. Youngsters should consider the position they are in as the first step in their success ladder. If they display a winning attitude to this success, then will go further to become really successful. If the attitude is that of complacence or hopelessness more success does not follow. So, while luck is a part of success, every one is lucky, it is just that the successful ones realized their luck and displayed a winning attitude to take them further. As some smart person put it "success is a progressive realization to a worthy goal". The measure of success is not by others yardstick only. It finally depends a lot on how you feel about it.