Meet the judges: Dr Menon

Continuing our global working video competition ‘meet the judges’ posts, offering a deeper insight into why we chose our expert panel of judges and what they’re looking for. Today: DR. VINAY RAJ MENON

Can you introduce yourself to readers in one sentence, please:

I am: a good natured, focused, results-driven professional keen to make a difference in whatever I do with a passion to share my knowledge and experience with my team members and youngsters joining a big global multi-cultural organization like ours.

What persuaded you to agree to judge the global working video competition?

I have worked closely with Global Integration over the past 12 months and have been very impressed with their philosophy, methodology and the courses they deliver.

I have also personally attended some of the sessions and have benefited from the learning. So, when the proposal came to be a judge for this competition, I gladly agreed for three reasons:
a. I wanted to give back something in a small way to Global Integration for being a true partner with us
b. I wanted to use this opportunity to share my experience on ‘working globally’ being a judge and evaluating various entries
c. To learn from the various entries and expand my knowledge base on cultural diversity.

What’s been your own experience of global working?

I have had the wonderful opportunity to work in a truly global company – today, we at Cognizant are in five different continents, have 50 different development centers (across 15 cities and nine different countries) across the globe – and I have had the opportunity to visit and experience diverse cultures.

Today, I also manage a distributed team (based out of North America, Argentina and India) servicing our associates across North America, Argentina, Brazil, UK, Continental Europe and India and it has been a wonderful experience thus far.

What will you be looking for in the entries you judge?

I am interested in the truly global nature of today’s workforce, cultural diversity, the drivers that motivate teams to stay continuously engaged, and how cultural diversity challenges are overcome.

Ed: We think it only fair to add about Vinay that he’s also very modest about his achievements in Cognizant where he spurred the Cognizant Academy outside of India.

Previous meet the judges posts: T.H. Ong