CEO SPECIAL.....................Nilaya Varma Managing Director , Health and Public Service, Accenture

My First Year at Work 'Education not enough for success'

Nilaya Varma Managing Director , Health and Public Service, Accenture





The brief I was given, and what I did in the first 100 days at work

ON MY FIRST DAY at work at IFCI, I was told one of the AGMs was proceeding on long leave and that I needed to take over his portfolio. I had exactly two hours for the hand over. The first 100 days were possibly the most chaotic, but the best learning experience. I realised my education was not the most important thing to succeed. The ability to work through ambiguity and managing people was far more critical.
The best leadership lesson I learnt

I HAVE, over the years, learnt to delegate a lot of my work to my team in order for them to learn and free up my time. However, the biggest leadership lesson I follow is that such delegation should never be accompanied with an abdication of responsibility.
I always maintain that the buck stops with me. This provides the team with the confidence to go for growth and do the right thing rather than look back.
How I managed my work-life balance

CONSULTANT'S life is demanding; a lot of the time, priorities are set by clients, but I love my job and therefore, it's not a pressure. It is important that the family understands the pressure, or for me to be available for the family and spend a peaceful weekend with my children and wife. The biggest innovation I did WITHIN THE ambit of a well-defined financial appraisal methodology, I found ways of bringing in an additional focus on “management appraisal“. I felt management capacity and outlook had a greater influence on project success (certainly in terms of a financial institution recovering its loan) than business alone or a financial spreadsheet.
The worst mistake I made

I GENUINELY believe peo ple have to make mistakes to learn, irrespective of levels. If one is not making mistakes, it means they are not taking tough decisions or taking risks.
I appreciate people asking for forgiveness (for a bonafide mistake) rather than permission to cover possible failure.
The best friend I made on the job

 I DON'T think I make friends at the job, because I do believe in keeping work and personal life separate.
What does fun at work mean to you

 I MAKE the work environ ment very informal. Very often, it is about a spontane ous break from work in terms of a short getaway with teams.
-As told to Rica Bhattacharyya

ET140606