Rajnish Virmani

 

Rajnish Virmani brings with him over 30 years of experience in multinationals like TCS, American Express, Aviva, Reliance and Colt Technologies. In his tenure, he has handled roles in General Management, Operations, Technologies, and Projects Management of New Setups, BOT (Build Operate and Transfer) contracts / Large Global projects.

His rich and varied experience comes from living and working in the USA, UK and India. He owes a great part of what he has learnt to his extensive travels across Europe, Australia and East Asia. He was privileged to be exposed to a multi-cultural environment, wherein he led European, American and British teams of over 1000 overseas staff. In addition, he has also handled multi-location teams as large as 14,000 staff in India. In his long career spanning three decades, he has witnessed Mergers & Acquisition – consolidating organizations into one legal entity.

Rajnish has played a CIO, COO and CEO role for last 12 years leading the BPO, ITO, KPO environment. He was voted the “Role Model” Leader by teams at American Express, Reliance BPO and Colt. He has successfully handled board level relationships and relationships with Media and Unions as well. He has conducted various Press Conferences, Media Events and has been a keynote speaker at various industry forums in India and Overseas.

A man of high integrity, Rajnish is action oriented and energetic – a keen sportsman. His love for sports is underlined by his discipline and composed countenance. He has the ability to drive learning and makes it enjoyable by his thorough research and insightful talks. His learners have deep respect and indebtedness to his genuine concern and whole-hearted participation in their journey of self-discovery and learning.

Owing to his vast experience in leadership roles, Rajnish takes great interest and specializes in conducting short term and longer term Leadership Development programs as well as Leadership Assessment and Job Evaluation. He considers it a rewarding experience where he can establish a new culture within a corporate. With his expertise and valuable insight, he is adept in mentoring CEOs and their senior teams.

Alumni of:
Delhi University B. Tech and MBA

The personal goal which I pursue through the training profession:
Having worked for over three decades, I feel impelled to share the knowledge that I have acquired during my career.

More specifically, I would like to see myself building leaders for a future Corporate India. I want to help India grow in the eyes of the world from an “instruction taker” to a “leader”.

My anchoring thought:
Make today your happiest day rather than waiting for that big event in life that will make you happy.

The scope of training as I see it:
Training is an essential process in the overall development and sustenance of individual competence. Technical training is important as it imparts specific skills. Equally important is behavioral training which creates a conducive mindset to maximize potential with the technical skills. The first is incomplete without the latter.

Further, I would say, there is a great need for coaching to enable higher performance through powerful and positive conversation. Similarly, mentoring is required to transfer practical advice. And from time to time, an individual may need counseling to focus on specific problems.

Building the bond of empathy with my learners:
Understanding the background of the learner and the various mental filters or prejudices they may have is an essential part of preparation. I use a combination of sight and sound, i.e. make a visible effort to dress as the learner and consciously use similar language. I establish personal connection by taking genuine interest, avoiding distractions when my learner speaks to me. I listen to every minute detail, hardly ever taking my eyes off!

My leisure pursuits and stress buster:
Sports is an immense stress buster and has been my mate through all my challenges. I love playing tennis and squash as it keeps my mind supple too! I feel everyone has a point beyond which they are no more productive, and that is when they must allow themselves positive and enriching recreation to rejuvenate their mind and body for another day’s demanding commitments. As a matter of fact, I consider play to have equal importance as work.

People I work with have always seen me keenly advising as well as practicing myself to Work Hard, Play Harder, Party Hardest!

My unique approach and method to make learning interesting:
For me, sports is not just a leisure activity; it is a metaphor for me to understand and interpret life. It is an excellent character builder. It creates a desire to win, the passion to succeed in achieving goals. It is a live lesson in teamwork. A sportsman is adept in maintaining his composure while facing victory and defeat. He maintains his high energy and enthusiasm till the very end. It is this spirit of a sportsman which inspires me, which I infuse into my learners in a very unconventional yet inexplicit manner.

I like to use experiential learning as often as I can – by doing an activity and co-relating it with the actual situation. I find it very satisfying when I can bring my learners into an interactive discussion. I enjoy the sharing experience very much. Also, I do a great deal of homework and like my participants to critically examine Case Studies and examples.

I keep the learner on the edge of his seat by asking lots of question during a learning session.

My latest reads:
Inside the mind of a Champion – Pete Sampras
Why should anyone be led by you? – Gareth Jones

My participants describe me as:
Approachable and composed, intense and effective, reassuring, genuinely interested in their development.

The principle I live by:
The 3 H’s of Corporate Leadership – Honesty, Hard-work, Humility

Experiences that brought a turning point in my life and outlook:
As I look back on my 30 years careers, the precious gems of memory that I cherish are when I was setting up a new organization, turning around an organization, turning around a department and turning around an individual. I have found myself most worthy when I have been able to leaving a legacy by making a difference to someone!

My inspiration:
Have seen the changing image of India in the eyes of the western world over the last 30 years, I want to see India as leaders in the corporate world.

My central message for the learners:
Have confidence in yourself. You can deliver much more.
If you don’t believe in yourself, who else would?
Stretch yourself outside your zone of comfort.
Sky is the limit.
Obstacles are things you see when you take your eyes off the goal.
Don’t be satisfied being just good. Be Great!