Ajay Pandey, Independent Board Director and Former CEO & Transformational Leader, ICT

“A large enterprise can never work if you don’t have a good team. And it is not just about a good team, but they should have a clarity of purpose as well as the right empowerment to hit the right button.”- Ajay Kumar Pandey In this episode, Ashutosh Garg engages in a conversation with Ajay Kumar Pandey, an Independent Board Director and Former CEO & Transformational Leader, ICT. Ajay is a senior corporate professional who has served on the board of NELCO. Ajay, in the first section, reminisces about the three most significant milestones in his life. The corporate professional talks about the contribution he made to the reconstruction of telecommunication in South Africa. Ajay shares his experience working as the CEO of the Prime Minister’s ‘Gift City Gujarat’. He describes briefly about the promising project and the PM’s aspiration of bringing back talent overseas to India. Later, he proceeds to talk about the smart cities in general and their unique infrastructure.  As someone who manages a project as big as the Gift City, Ajay opines on the magnitude of effort that goes into managing a large enterprise. The corporate leader then defines his leadership style of empowering people to deliver what they can deliver in a pragmatic way.  Ajay defines his leadership style and the core values he believes in. He elucidates what he looks for before accepting a board position and talks about his role as a board director. In the next section, Ajay defines success from his perspective and shares with us his sources of inspiration. Before concluding, Ajay advises young individuals who are starting their corporate journey.