Professional & Personal Update

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Today marks my last day at Goibibo and MakeMyTrip. It has been an eventful journey of 4 years. I was very fortunate. I worked with the smartest people on the earth, built multiple lines of business and learnt lots during the course.

Here were my top takeaways:
  1. Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish: When I had heard this line at Steve Jobs commencement speech, I only understood its meaning metaphorically. Over the last 4 years, I have worked in at least 6 different lines of business of Goibibo, more often than not working at 2 of them simultaneously. Every time I started leading a team, I learnt something new there, about product management, leadership, managing teams and being productive. Leaders like Ashish and Rajesh at Goibibo and MakeMyTrip taught me to keep looking forward and keep creating a vision of “Think about the way it’s going to be.” instead of “Remember, how it used to be?”
  2. Always be ready to unlearn: When I joined Goibibo, I was already one of the experienced PMs in the country. So much so, that it was easy to dismiss the heavy tech-first approach of Goibibo. It was unique for me in the Indian context and yet very gratifying. Working with leaders like Ashish and Vikalp helped me discover the fact that it is okay to have technology drive your roadmap, as long as you can help them steer the path.
  3. Interleave strategy with execution: This is a no brainer. At the same time, this is one of the most difficult things to do, esp if you want to do it consciously. The time working with Anshuman, at Goibibo helped me refine my strengths at Execution while teaching me to interleave Strategy by being conscious about it. This way you already know the end-state, before you take your first steps, while at the same time, not being rigid about it.
  4. Ideas are stupid: You are only as good as your execution. It helps to have great ideas. What ultimately feeds the product-led growth, though, is product execution.
  5. Your legacy is what happens after you leave: As a manager, your primary responsibility to build great teams and empower them. I knew I have learnt to build great teams when consistently customers were happy and the team were happy. Whether they come on time or not is none of my business. And I knew I am leaving a legacy when the team members stepped up in when I decided to move. It helped that I smoothened the transition in a way that no one will miss me not being there.
I will soon be sharing more about my new adventure. Till then Adios!

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