10X Growth Strategies

In this episode our guest Sushma Malhotra, Founder, President & CEO of S5 Advisory, shares her life changing career transformation experiences, inspired by Dale Carnegie's classic, “How to win friends and influence people.” How can you build better relationships, and learn from each other to foster a win-win for everyone? How being a good listener instills a sense of importance, and inclusion? Let’s learn more about the 12 ways to genuinely win people, and become a great leader. 

In this episode our guest Raj Rajamani, CPO at SentinelOne, shares his experience with the Objectives and Key Results (OKR) goal setting framework.We discussed the book “Measure what Matters: OKRs, the simple idea that drives 10X Growth” authored by John Doerr, a Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist. What is the difference between dreams and goals? Raj shares that “Dreams become Goals when you write them down”. OKR is a powerful and collaborative goal setting protocol that helps organizations drive higher performance, engagement and results. Listen to this podcast to get a taste of OKRs and discover the 4 OKR superpowers for effective goal setting in an organization - Focus, Align, Track and Stretch.

We have all made resolutions like reading more often or exercising daily, only for it to fall through. We have all struggled to do something consistently and have agonized over our failed attempts. Atomic Habits is a book for just about anyone wanting to develop new habits or sustain old ones to achieve their goals.  In this episode, Madhavi sat with Saro Velrajan, Chief Strategy Officer, Ginkos India, to talk about the book Atomic Habits by James Clear. They discussed what they liked about the book and what were some takeaways they got from it. Saro got candid and shared examples from his life on how he had forged different habits like maintaining a fitness routine or becoming a writer.  Let’s listen to the podcast to know more about some strategies you can adopt to develop sustainable habits and pave the way for your 10X growth.

With the world rapidly changing around us, we have to constantly learn and adapt in order to stay relevant. Adopting a growth mindset (as compared to having a fixed mindset) pushes an individual to learn continuously, understand that effort is required to master a skill, and see failures as opportunities.  In this episode, I had the pleasure of talking to Benu Agarwal, President and Founder, Milestone Inc. We discussed the book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, by Stanford psychologist and Professor Carol Dweck. Benu shared her insights on how she embraced a growth mindset in her life and how it helped her grow Milestone and succeed as an entrepreneur, wife, and mother. 

Are platforms eating the world? How can entrepreneurs build a platform that brings value to their customers? Why are traditional monopolies despised and platform monopolies loved by customers? In this episode Dheeraj Pandey, industry superstar, Co-founder and CEO of DevRev and former CEO of Nutanix shares his insights about the book “Modern Monopolies”, authored by Alex Moazed and Nicholas L. Johnson. Listen to the podcast and discover the secrets to build successful companies and platform businesses.

The book The Hard Thing about Hard Things, by Ben Horowitz, narrates the trials and tribulations of a startup journey and the mindset required to be a founding CEO of a startup. Ben who is currently the Partner at Andreeson Horowitz shares tough learning lessons from his experience building several companies.   This episode features Jeetu Patel, EVP & GM of Cisco Security and Collaboration Business Units at Cisco, who shares key insights and deep admiration for the book The Hard Thing about Hard Things. An entrepreneur himself, Jeetu talks about wartime mode vs peacetime mode of operation, managing our psychology as a leader and the importance of setting up a communication framework across the company. Jeetu also elaborates an interesting 6 part stack rank of what a company needs for business success.

Nishant Saxena, CEO of International Markets at Cipla, shares valuable insights from 'The Leadership Pipeline' by Ram Charan. He discusses the common pitfalls that skilled employees face when transitioning to management roles. Nishant emphasizes the importance of mastering competencies to avoid stagnation in careers and the need for effective communication in high-performing teams. He also advocates for cultivating leadership from within organizations, highlighting the role of mentorship and personal growth in developing future leaders.

Phil Jackson, former head coach of the Chicago Bulls team, is popular for introducing the zen approach to the game. In his book, Sacred Hoops, he shares his  experiences of marrying sports with spirituality, and building  high-performing teams by being an invisible coach.   In this episode, Linda Tong, GM of Cisco AppDynamics, lifetime Bulls fan, shares how the book inspired her leadership journey. Let’s listen to the podcast and understand how to put WE before ME, how to visualize like a leader and mentally prepare for tough times, and how mindfulness can help you achieve 10X growth for your team.

Robert Iger, the former CEO of The Walt Disney Company, is considered one of the innovative and successful CEOs of our time. In his book, The Ride of a Lifetime, he shares his journey and pens down the values that ensured his success. One of the most exciting parts of the book is about Disney’s acquisition of Pixar, a move that re-establishes Disney in the field of animation.  In this episode, Arun Mani, Chief Revenue Officer, talks about what he loved about the book, some principles he related more closely with, and shares some examples of innovation, failures, and the lessons learned from his own life.

We had the pleasure to connect with Ash Seddeek, Chief Excitement Officer at Executive Greatness Institute, formerly with Deloitte Consulting, Oracle and Cisco. His book “Road to Success” outlines 3 strategic steps for career development - Own it, Win it and Crush it. Let’s listen to the podcast  and understand how  strategy, excitement and energy can pave the way for your 10X growth.