Following his graduation from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore, Sudarsan Chakravarthy, intended to establish a career in the banking and finance sector.
As luck would have it, he joined IBM soon after graduating and 18 years later is still working in the IT sector as regional manager, IBM Systems and Technology Brands Group, Gulf Business Machines (GBM)
“I have seen the industry come full circle – from mainframe centric computing to client-server distributed computing to web enabled computing and now back to consolidated and virtualised computing that is much like the mainframe model. Over these years, I have seen IT evolve from a business supporter to a business enabler that impacts every facet of our life and living,” Chakravarthy says.
He describes himself as a enthusiastic, resolute, honest individual who is resourceful and creative. “I enjoy achieving a win-win long-term partnership built on a foundation of trust, credibility, competence, mutual respect and inter-dependence,” he says.
Happily married with two young children, he adds that while his role at work is demanding of his time, he is family oriented and manages his time accordingly.
He says, “I strongly believe in the saying: the Past is history, the future is a mystery and this moment is a gift. That is why this moment is called “the present”. I maintain work-life balance through the practice of acting in the NOW. When I am at work, I give my 100% attention and focus to the job on hand with no distractions from my personal life. Similarly after work, family time becomes sacrosanct and I give 100% of my attention to my personal life without any burdens of work pressure.”
Chakravarthy says that his role and tenure in the channel has taught him the art and science of building synergy. “The channel is all about understanding people and establishing relationships. Over the years, I have found myself to better understand and accept the perspectives and opinions of other people. It has also helped me respect and accept people for who they genuinely are,” he says.
According to him, while time management can be tricky, disconnecting himself from work pressures isn’t really as difficult a task. “I can easily switch on and switch off from situations and events. I always compartmentalise my work life and my personal life so that the boundaries are clear and not compromised,” Chakravarthy adds.
A typical day in his life begins with readying his children for school following which he relishes his morning with a spot of meditation before heading out to the office. “Work usually begins with a customary catching up with the team on quickly summarising the actions needed for the day. Then it’s typically a busy schedule; working straight for more than nine hours. I prefer not taking too many breaks so that I can be home in time to spend some quality time with my family,” he says.
I am keenly interested in ancient wisdom, contemporary science, psychology, philosophy and spirituality.
Also, as a family we are connoisseurs of music, dance and drama and we all indulge in actively participating and conducting cultural programs like music and drama.
Another passion of mine is to conduct free empowerment workshops for children to foster nobility and greatness.
Chakravarthy hopes to one day run a global non-profit program that is aimed at reaching out to schools across the globe and offer a structured complementary education (free of cost) to create the noble citizens of tomorrow. “Through a series of workshops, children of the world will be inspired to live larger, better and noble lives and will be empowered to dream, dare and do so that they may re-define progress for themselves and for societies and nations at large,” he says.
