06 November 2019

Anshoo Gaur, CEO, STL – Network Software

When was your big career break?

For me, a career is an evolving and continuous process. I don’t believe in big career breaks.

What is the best thing about your job?

Primarily, I consider the ability to lead and define the future solution for arguably the most dynamic industry in the world today – telecommunications – as the best thing. Secondly, my job allows me to unleash the talent of the youth and channelize it in the direction that can help change the world.

What is the hardest thing about your job?

Getting customers to acknowledge that the changed operating context requires them to adopt a different set of platforms, practices, partners and mindsets is the hardest thing. The customers know that something has got to change but are not able to figure out what it is. The challenge for them is identifying the best way to offload legacy platforms, practices and mindsets.

Who has been your biggest inspiration?

My paternal grandfather has been a big inspiration for me. He was a Gandhian who spent his life in prison during the freedom movement. He rejected many offers from the British to trade prison time for giving up the freedom struggle. His humility, integrity, hard work and patriotism were unlike anything I have ever seen. He passed away when I was relatively young, but he remains as an inspiration to look up to and emulate.

What has been your career high to date?

I am not clear about how highs and lows are quantified in a career. My career so far has given me a lot of learning opportunities and this continues to be the case. I look at highs and lows from the point of view of alignment with the defined purpose of my life. Good alignment with purpose means high and low alignment means low. And on this scale, the career and personal decision we made to come back to India 13 years ago for multiple reasons was a high. The ‘career’ might have been ‘better’ if we did not relocate, but the alignment with purpose would be missing and hence this was the right choice and we have never regretted the decision.

What has been your career low to date?

Again, the time at which we do things that are not completely aligned with the purpose is a low. Similar to the urgent-important conundrum, I sometimes find myself dealing with things that I am just not able to assess for purpose alignment. I just go with the flow and later realise that there was no alignment. I consider staying longer than I should have in my earlier job as a low. I was clearly very busy and had a lot to do but in hindsight, my alignment with purpose had taken a hit. The ‘important’ part is to be aware and not allow this to become the norm and the good news is that I did not let that go on for too long.

What is your biggest regret to date?

I don’t want to sound clichéd but I do not have regrets on the professional front at all. I’m a strong believer in ‘everything has a reason’ and I do not spend time looking back. Personally, not spending enough time with the kids is a constant regret. I have tried to make up in different ways, but it is not enough.

What would you say is the best technological advancement in your lifetime?

We are in the age of technology disruption. Technology is at the core of the digital wave. As per Singularity University, the technology change is exponential. In the next 100 years, we will experience progress equivalent to 20,000 years. If I look back, just when I have seen the greatest technological advancement, I get surprised by something amazing that comes along.

What is the best business lesson you have learned?

The harder you work the luckier you get. In the end, there are no short-cuts.

If you had to work in a different industry, what would it be?

I would remain in the technology industry since it is at the heart of what is changing the world, something that fascinates me, and more importantly, a big catalyst to help me be aligned with my purpose. I would consider spending more time investing and mentoring companies that solve complex unaddressed problems in the world. Healthcare and education are of special interest to me as those are probably the two industries that will look very different in the next decade than they are today.

What is the biggest challenge the industry faces at the moment?

The biggest challenge is letting go of the technology – products and practices - that got us here. These were good for the past but not good for the future. We are in a most dynamic industry and legacy is a burden.

Which competitor you admire the most and why? 

I find that a few of them have important attributes to admire and learn from them. Further, in today’s converging world, I admire and learn from other industries as well. I make it a point to attend at least one conference every year from an industry completely unrelated to me. Interestingly, these are the places of the greatest learnings that I have had. Closer to our industry, without naming any, I admire the delivery capability of one of our competition. It has a legacy to defend. So, it thrives on driving FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) created in the minds of customers. It does not necessarily put the customer first but they do get things done, which is important when we deal with mission-critical systems. From another competitor, I learned the importance of design and anecdotally I learnt a very important concept of WIDIWIG (What I Design Is What I Get) from them. When you apply it to any business challenge you usually realise that the problem was inevitably how things were designed. Design plays a critical aspect of the success of the product.

What is the best thing about working in this industry?

The pace of change is breath-taking. In 2018 we had bots & assistants, video streaming and IoT in home automation. In 2019 we are closer to 5G and all the hyper-data applications it will support.

What do you want to do when you retire?

I love work, I am sure the nature of work that I do will evolve but I do not intend to retire. I believe in the power of youth and what they can do to change the world. I will continue to help in unleashing this talent to help solve the complex problems that the developing world faces. n