Jamshedpur : Another chapter of XLRI PGDM-GMP leadership series unfolded with the visit of Naveen Gulati and Rakhi Gulati. This husband wife duo is the owner of Open Mind Services Limited, a niche and a very successful KPO firm based in Gurgaon, Haryana.
Gulati is the director and CEO of the company whereas Gulati dons the role of managing director and COO. Open Mind provides outsourcing services in health care and HR shared services. It has various multinational clients including Walmart, Bharti Retail, Baxter Healthcare, Cloudnine and many more.
Gulati shared his journey of entrepreneurship with the audience by narrating his experiences in establishing a firm which he started off with a seed capital of Rs.50. He said that learning from mistakes and not repeating them again helped him over the years in turning around the business.
He advocated the need for taking tough decisions when faced with harsh situations. He stressed on the importance of prioritizing tasks, which he did by segregating his operations into small, important and essential. He lamented the fact that in pursuit of success, people tend to compromise on honesty by looking for shortcuts in life.
Throughout his career, honesty is one thing, which he has stuck to through thick and thin of times. The result was that he never had to spend too much money on marketing as his customers did the job through word of mouth publicity. He further added that route of honesty may take some time, but will definitely pay in the long run.
With many aspiring entrepreneurs in the audience, Gulati shared some pointers for running a successful firm: 1) Skill to survive is very important. 2) Be a step ahead than your competitors. 3) Keep upgrading technology. 4) Keep your running shoes on your shoulder and 5) Be a team player.
While Gulati was more formal in his approach, Mrs. Gulati actively engaged with the audience at the outset. She too shared her journey and emphatically focused on the need to provide excellent services to the customers. She stressed on the importance of promising less while delivering more to the customers.
With a current workforce of more than 150 individuals spread across 3 different locations, she ensures to have cordial relations with every single employee and considered them to be her children. She also reaffirmed the need to have a positive outlook in life in order to love and respect others.
The leadership talk concluded with a brief Q&A session. In a nutshell, it was a very interactive and captivating session, which kept the audience engrossed for more than an hour.