On this episode of The Shape of Work podcast, our guest is Razat Gaurav, CEO of Planview Inc. that enables the transformation journey as organizations rewire strategy to deliver in today’s fast-paced, highly disruptive market.
With more than 20 years of experience in the enterprise software space, Razat brings proven leadership in scaling and growing businesses globally. Most recently, Razat served as CEO of LLamasoft, where he was driving an expanded product vision for AI-based supply chain design and decision making. This vision enabled the company to more than double its revenue in three years and resulted in a successful $1.5 billion acquisition by Coupa in November 2020.
Earlier in his career, Razat has held leadership positions at giants like Blue Yonder, i2 Technologies, and Ernst & Young’s management consulting practice. He also served on the Board of Directors of Sparta Systems.
Top Takeaways
Episode Highlights
Changes After Coronavirus Swept the World
The evolution in leadership style is going forward. The change had started even before 18 months. We already saw shifts caused by generational change, technology, etc.
The pace of change took a different trajectory, and the rate of change got turbocharged in the last 18 months. An example would be retailers. They were experiencing a lot of change with online shopping. During the pandemic, the business model and consumer shift from in-store to online just quadrupled. The change that people were expecting in 4-5 years happened quickly.
Change Varied Depending on the Industry
The physicality changed, and the impact changed depending on the industry. For example, companies still had to find ways to get the workers back on the automobile shop floor or metals companies. They had to ensure that workers had PPE equipment and they were safe.
The more fundamental issue beyond physicality is how teams come together to work. In the backdrop of the change, the number of initiatives companies took quadrupled. Innovation, which was a nice thing, has become a necessity. Digital transformation accelerated.
Prioritizing Change is Essential
There was a need for different changes. Some changes were consumer-specific, while others were process changes, digital changes, etc. Companies did not have the resources to make all of those changes. Prioritizing change was essential.
Plainview Inc. use a framework by thinking of change initiatives as a portfolio of projects and tie into those specific ROI – expectations and business case metrics. In this framework, one goes through playing out different scenarios and figuring out what one wants to execute.
Problems in Executing Changes
Razat says how Plainview found the exacerbation of misalignments with functioning silos interesting. According to him, the magic happens when one syncs these functions. A lot of change initiatives require cross-function alignment. So, there is a worsening of the disconnect that occurs.
The Importance of Offline Interactions
One of the most amazing innovations is whiteboards and napkins. It provides dialogue, discussion, and ideation. It brings people together, allowing them to brainstorm and come up with new ideas.
The pandemic has given us the awareness that we can work across geographic boundaries.
Follow Razat on LinkedIn
Produced by: Priya Bhatt
Podcast host: Abhash Kumar