Perseverance Overrated With Deepthi Rajan

In this episode of the Perseverance Overrated Show, Deepthi Rajan speaks with Sukumar Rajagopal, Founder and CEO of Tiny Magiq, a company doing breakthrough work in Digital and Behavioural Transformation. 

Sukumar  has 30+ years of industry experience.  Prior to Tiny Magiq, he was at Cognizant for 19 years serving as the Global Chief Information Officer and the Global Head of Innovation and led several transformation programs. 

Prior to Cognizant, Sukumar spent 7 years at TATA Consultancy services. 

Sukumar won many prestigious awards and recognitions, including lifetime recognition for his work in IT through the 2014 Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leaders program and was also rated by Huffington Post as one of the Top 100 Social CIOs in 2014 & 2013.

Sukumar is a Tiny Habits ® Certified Coach.

Sukumar is also a prolific author, influencer and public speaker on Technology Innovation and Digital Transformation. He also runs a successful vlog, Three Minute Thursdays.

Sukumar is an alumnus of BITS (B.E.Hons. EEE), Pilani.

Key Points From The Episode

Sukumar narrates the origin story of Tiny Magiq [00:04:03]

Interesting problems solved by Tiny Magiq [00:07:22]

Sukumar shares proprietary techniques for internalizing behavioral changes for Digital Transformation to be truly effective [00:09:05]

On why most Digital Transformation projects fail and the skills for mid- and senior-level managers to lead Digital Transformation efforts at their organizations [00:12:27]

How senior executives can think beyond the standard proof of concepts [00:16:47]

Funny and Moving In Equal Measure - Sukumar on overcoming the biggest adversity of his career [00:20:44]

Sukumar's crucial advice on career success when it comes to climbing the corporate ladder [00:28:28]

From the C-Suite of a Fortune 500 company to starting his own venture, Sukumar on his toughest challenges as an entrepreneur [00:31:24]

Advice to aspiring entrepreneurs [00:35:53]

Sukumar on the one skill he places the most premium on [00:38:34]

On plans to disrupt himself again in the future [00:40:28]

In the very first episode of the Perseverance Overrated show, Deepthi Rajan chats with Prayukth K V, an emerging technology marketing thought leader and the CMO-IoT at Subex, about his journey so far.

Segueing from traditional marketing to building a career in emerging technology, those of IoT and IoT cybersecurity, Prayukth has demonstrated leadership in building successful corporate brands in the digital transformation space from the ground up, defining the business strategy, reinventing his own personal brand, and more.

His latest report on IoT cybersecurity, released last month, has taken the industry by storm with its research findings.

His report, which has been extensively covered by all the leading media publications, is the very first to link recent cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure to geopolitical tensions in the region.

Prayukth has been actively involved in productizing and promoting cross-ecosystem collaboration in the Internet of Things (IoT) space for over 5 years now.

A marketer by profession, Prayukth has, through his many roles, evolved a model for rapid introduction of IoT into different verticals by deriving custom use cases that can be deployed faster and are better aligned to business outcomes. 

In his current role, he has taken Subex’ IoT business to new geographies through a mix of custom messaging, market primed tactical interventions and by showcasing Subex’ product and research capabilities.  

 Prayukth has thus far established two brands ground-up, handled a complex M&A project for Oracle and delivered significant revenue traction for various businesses. 

With over a decade’s experience in technology marketing, Prayukth has a Bachelors degree from St Josephs Bangalore, a Masters in Science from Bangalore University and is a graduate of IIM Bangalore’s Executive General Management Programme.

Key Points From The Episode

What inspired Prayukth to write his well-publicized report "The State of IoT Security"? [00:03:26]

Overcoming challenges related to IoT security data in the public domain [00:06:17]

Flashback - From journalism, media relations, research to marketing [00:07:47]

Return to school experience after more than a decade [00:10:53]

Zeroing in on IoT [00:14:13]

Tips and tactics for breaking into emerging technology marketing [00:16:16]

Was it all smooth sailing once Prayukth got his new, shiny job in IoT Marketing? [00:17:35]

How is emerging tech marketing different from traditional marketing? [00:20:31]

How to deal with organizational obsession with short term goals especially when it comes to niche, emerging technology? [00:23:10]

Biggest achievement - rebranding India's first product success story [00:25:00]

Succeeding with building one of the first IoT brands in India and APAC [00:27:24]

Skills imperative to succeed not just in emerging technology but also in a hyper-dynamic world [00:29:45]

Links Mentioned In The Episode

Prayukth’s report "The state of IoT security - 2019" - http://bit.ly/36rBBdw

IIM Bangalore Executive General Management Programme - http://bit.ly/2RHrtJg

Slideshare - https://www.slideshare.net/prayukth1

In this episode of the Perseverance Overrated show, Deepthi Rajan chats with Srinivas Mahankali, one of the foremost authorities on Blockchain in India and the Principal Consultant - Blockchain at NISG, about his journey so far.

Srini talks about his many roles, from being a Sales and Marketing Manager, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Information Officer to heading the Blockchain CoE.

Srinivas is now leading the Blockchain efforts at the National Institute for Smart Government (NISG).

Srini has also donned the entrepreneurial hat.

Besides managing his professional responsibilities, Srini has also authored two books. His book, “Blockchain - The Untold Story” has got highly positive reviews on Amazon – check it out if you are interested to know more about Blockchain. His book, in fact, is the first book in the world to be translated into Chinese using AI bots in 30 seconds.

Now Srini has a ton of insight to share not just on his blockchain journey so far, but also about overcoming many personal and professional obstacles as he consciously kept taking up new challenges.

Srini is an alum of IIT Madras and IIM Bangalore

Key Points From The Episode

Srini elaborates about newest role, working at the intersection of public and private sector collaboration to promote emerging technologies such as Blockchain, IoT and AI. [00:03:49]

Interesting Blockchain use cases that are will be experienced by India's citizenry in the near future. [00:05:15]

The most pressing challenges when it comes hiring in, building awareness on and educating about Blockchain. [00:06:56]

Skills for mid- and senior-level managers keen to work in Blockchain. [00:09:36]

Srini shares his experience transitioning to Blockchain after more than a decade working in various other roles, unrelated to Blockchain. [00:12:38]

Speaking from experience on being an entrepreneur and pitfalls that entrepreneurs should watch out for. [00:17:01]

Srini shares a bleak, dark time in his life when he felt broken by circumstances and how he emerged from that phase, reinventing himself in the process. [00:22:07]

Srini on how he took his fascination for Blockchain to the next level, facing setbacks and eventually finding success [00:24:18]

Key takeaways from Srini's latest book, "Blockchain - The Untold Story. [00:27:30]

Links Mentioned In The Episode

Perseverance Overrated - https://www.perseveranceoverrated.com/

Amity University Post Graduate Program in Blockchain - http://bit.ly/2P7FzSH

Simon Sinek's book Start With Why - https://amzn.to/2E04JMA

Srini's book Blockchain - The Untold Story - https://amzn.to/2qCOpOR

How Srini's 300 page book was translated into Chinese in 30 secs - http://bit.ly/2P60CoF

Stanford Ignite Program - http://bit.ly/2LGsKfR