What I learned from Mr. Deepak Kumar at Power Grid

Changing tracks from last week, this week I am sharing another lesson from my own days at Power Grid. This is a lesson from Mr. Deepak Kumar, who was in Corporate planning team. I had multiple chances to work closely with him when we were working on the “Diversification” Project. Let me share a little bit more about this project. I have been working on power system automation project and by 1998, we had built a great optical infrastructure, which was second only to BSNL. He and Mr Dasgupta were creating a business case to extend the last mile connections to make the best of the investment we had made so far and launch a telecom service. I was part of the technical team led by Mr. Dasgupta.

You must fill in the Gaps

Many times during the discussions, they would come to some conclusions. I would have many doubts, and I would raise them all as I was keen to get the clarity and get on with the task of building the techno-economic study. Mr. Deepak was annoyed with me, he encouraged me to manage the details myself. He said you must fill in the gaps on your own, as long as I had a plan to achieve the agreed upon objectives, I should not bother him with details.

This made me think independently, take lead and initiative as well be more responsible for the choices I made.

I wish all of you love the ambiguity and gaps. As they are not hurdles but opportunities to use discretion. I am sure each one will develop into a strong and confident leader as long as you keep on using all such chances to take charge of the situation.

Stay tuned for more next week.