You served the Government as CEO of the National Intelligence Grid. Is that project complete? How has it helped so far and what are the long term advantages of such a grid?
Can’t talk about the NATGRID.
If you were to describe yourself, how what would that be?
I have been fortunate to have a set of experiences that is extremely rare. I had the honor to serve in the Indian Armed forces for a decade, then in the corporate world for another decade before serving in the government in a premier security establishment for five years. Those experiences have taught me a lot and given me a unique ensemble of friends & colleagues that no single man could ever have in a lifetime. They say you are shaped by your experiences. If so, I guess I’m a soldier, CEO, technocrat and author somewhere along the way!
What have been milestones in your life? What could be your next milestone?
I guess the move from every world of mine into the next has been a milestone. Every world had its own culture, its own style of leadership, its own rewards and its own pains. About the future milestones I really don’t know. I believe in serendipity and also believe nothing happens by accident. In the past whenever I have attempted to be the ‘planner’ of my milestones and dreamt up possibilities of the future – fate has put me in a place which I never even remotely imagined. So while I am not fatalistic sometimes the traveler seeks the milestones, and sometimes milestones beckon the traveler.
Who has influenced you most in life? Why?
Many many people. Parents of course for building the foundation. Teachers and instructors for shaping me, my dreams and aspirations and setting standards. Great bosses for teaching me what to do. Bad bosses for what not to do. Peers for challenging me, subordinates for teaching me and forcing me to do better. But most of all people all around us who seem to have far, far less and yet seem far happier than us for constantly reminding us to keep relooking at what we seek and whether it is really what we want or what someone else wants us to want.
Are you ambitious? If yes, have you chalked out your life? Does planning help?
Yes I am ambitious. Nope I have not chalked out my life. I have a general idea of some direction, some certainty of what I will not do and an open mind about exploring any door which life opens – especially if it is an unusual one.
Plans are a general guideline, a sort of North Star to check your alignment. But no plan survives first contact with reality and so to be bound to plans is a recipe for failure and disappointment. So planning helps, but only so far.
Capt Raghu Raman has possibly one of the most unique career profiles of over 25 years – spanning over from the army to the corporate. He has spent eleven years as an officer in the Indian Armed Forces, followed by another eleven years in the corporate sector before joining the Government as CEO of the National Intelligence Grid.
How have you tackled setbacks in life?
Of course many many setbacks. Many ‘failures’.
What keeps you going?
Two things. After the ‘mourning’ for the setback or loss is done, you have to pick the pieces and move ahead. And some of those losses/setbacks are ordained for a larger purpose which we may not understand at that point. The other thing is that if I ever look at the highest points of happiness/achievements in my life – I have discovered to my surprise that the origin of that high point lay in some setback or sad occasion. I know this sounds brilliant in hindsight and when you advise someone else but very hard to remember when going through the setback… but I am trying to…
Have you ever wanted to give it all up and do something else?
Oh several times… and have done it a few times too.
India has a multitude of talent. And yet, we are unable to make rapid strides like China. How do we harness talent in India and channelize it?
Firstly I don’t think this China comparison makes sense. China has made strides and also paid the costs for those strides. They controlled their population and eventually so did we. But we still have our uncles, aunts, cousins and siblings and they don’t. They made millions of sq kilometers of cities, but I think ours have more soul. They take a decision to build a road drawing a line on the map and getting everyone on the way to move out or else… and that sounds fine until it is your ancestral house on the line in which case you might want to live in a country where you can force the government to take a detour.
There are many things we can learn from China but we need to understand it’s a package deal. Would you want to make those strides paying those costs? I am not so sure…
