Palak Thakur

I think I am a people person, which is how I've been successful. My whole entire responsibility is to get both parties at a middle ground, at an agreement, where they're happier with their decisions and they do not regret a deal that they made with another company. So it's about aligning both ends. And more than that, because it's mergers and numbers and finance, it's about how much cost reduction I can bring in through multiple deals for these companies to reduce the cost and increase the product that comes out of this deal. Making sure that we're not jumping further and focusing on reducing costs while merging very different companies or handling an acquisition - that's the interesting and important part of it. Because companies don't care how and when you're doing it, they would - it's all about numbers from their standpoint.

I actually have a couple that have really stuck with me. One is from when I went to Kellogg School of Management - the motto is low ego, high impact. You could be the best one in your business, but if you are egoistic, that's not gonna work for you. The second was from one of my mentors, who told me to focus on the problem, not on the solution. Because when you focus on or get fixated to a solution, then you do not think about creative ways to solve the problem.

As women, we all know how different things are for us in terms of fairness and bias - it just sadly exists everywhere at every role. If I had to talk to young girls, I would ask them to dare it, dare and go with it. Just do not think about anyone and anyone's perspective at that point - do your work and focus on that. But take chances, do the grind, be a hustler. Do not give up, do not worry if you have to start from zero, because I have done that multiple times, and very recently I had to start multiple times to get where I am today. It's been pretty hard the last 8 months for me, but I think the only thing I kept focusing on was just keep going. Just keep your head down, you know it's not a good time, you know things are not working in your favor, just keep your head down, take opportunities, take chances on yourself, invest in yourself. Whether it's education or education loans or whatever it takes, right, to upgrade yourselves. And it's not just professionally, it's also personally.

I think the very first challenge is managing the integration part of it, because if two different companies get together - just as an example, they use a different technology backend - then you have to merge them and make sure both parties are now comfortable with a very new approach which they did not use before, or align with one of the company's policies and changes. Then there are the clients, stakeholders, and the financial aspect of it, because this all, at the end, is about revenue-driven deals and how do you optimize more revenue and less cost for them. So the numbers will be challenging to prove, along with the strategic changes and operational changes.

Listening is very important to me. It's a very common and commonly heard of topic, but we do not actually emphasize on it as much, and at times we are in high-stake meetings and under pressure, and we try to cut off people when they're talking. I think it's important to listen and to talk, because you never know what perspective or learning you're getting from your peers or people working under you. Being fair is also critical - irrespective of anything, if anyone's putting in the work, make sure you're taking your team up with you. Because you cannot climb the ladder alone. Mentors are important, but mentees are more important. Your followership defines you as a person - who follows you and who looks up to you is basically your own brand, and that is determined by your followership. So when you show up, remember that you should take people up with you wherever it's fair. Of course, not being unfair, but if somebody's putting in the work, just remember to take them with you.