About the Book
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About the Author :
In 2016, Executive Director at Wiwynn International Corporation, Raghavan Venugopal lost his first and most important mentor--his father. The cause was a sudden and irrevocable heart attack. In the midst of this tragedy and the ensuing events that followed, Raghavan set out to distill the pain of this loss into lessons that had been imprinted on him since his childhood. Contrary to the typical ideal of a "leader," Raghavan's father was introverted, humble, pious, and decidedly risk averse. Almost diametrically opposite, Raghavan himself has been assertive, ambitious, and geared towards the exciting, risk-taking world of entrepreneurialism since he was a boy. However, rather than creating a competitive duality inside of him, the give and take of his father's relationship was to prove the foundation of Raghavan's own leadership style. This style can be best summarized in its two parts: Deficiency-based leadership attributes and growth-based leadership attributes. Raghavan defines deficiency-based attributes as those which are triggered by the need to respect one's culture, ethos, ethics, rules, and law. In comparison, growth-based attributes are those are triggered by nothing outside of oneself, but rather by the need of an individual to achieve his or her full potential. It is the combination of doing for others and doing what is most highly authentic to one's own self that has allowed Raghavan to reach the successful heights of which he dreamed as a boy.
To date, Raghavan holds 27 patents and has already twice been published. Additionally, he holds a bachelor's in engineering from Annamalai University, India, a master's degree in Electrical Engineering from Tennessee Tech University, and an Executive MBA from Jones School of Business, Rice University. What's perhaps most unique, however, is that throughout his career, Raghavan has orchestrated transformational changes within organizations via his customer centric approach. This has resulted in no less than a 250% increase in revenue, 40% increase in time to market, 30% efficiency in costs, 50% improvement in quality and 42 new patents in 3 new technologies.
The culmination of these and other professional experiences spurred Raghavan to seek out--and later to create--a legacy in the form of a unique management philosophy: the Philosophy of integrated Growth on the path to Unite with purpose to Serve (iGUS@TM). Raghavan's management philosophy finds its footholds in three key pillars: Integrated Growth of an individual as the Objective, Finding Customer value as the Path, with the Purpose to serve Oneself, the customer, organization, and the Company. These key pillars can be further summarized as follows:
Integrated Growth: We all yearn to grow, achieve, solve problems, and derive satisfaction out of this process. This growth and transformation need to be an integrated one along four vectors--Body, Mind, Intellect, and Soul.
Path to Unite: Where the individual becomes connected with his team and the extended organization. The connection is found in the path to find an outcome that is of value among a heterogeneous set of disparate disciplines. This path sets the positive customer outcome as both the team unifier and the end goal, respectively.
Purpose to Serve: The third pillar sets the growth of the individual along the purpose of service. First at an individual level where one is focused on self-development learning to harness one's own potential, then at the level of a leader, able to influence a larger set of people. In an organizational setup, the three stages can be seen as an individual contributor, mid-level manager, and an Executive.
Why is this philosophy important for business? The 3 Pillars of iGUS@TM act as the scaffolding structure for other integral business principles: Mindset, Differentiated Value, and Continuous Improvement. These principles, when used in conjunction with the sequential ordering of iGUS@TM, allow for businesses to achieve higher revenue, market share, and quality, while also ensuring superior operational excellence with shorter time to market and lower overall costs. These directly contribute to enhancing customer experience which ultimately leads to a loyal customer base that is supported by a purposeful and satisfied employee lineup.
To this current success, his management philosophy, and the future goals in which he still aspires to reach, Raghavan reverently remembers his father, and all the indelible memories passed between them.
