Dr. (h.c.)Kumar Visvanathan
Achiever's Success Story
Dr. (h.c.) Kumar Visvanathan’s determination towards his profession makes him stand different from the crowd
Dr. (h.c.) Kumar Visvanathan’s philosophy is to lead a full life and believes in making an impact around him. He looks for opportunities to make a difference. He is driven by the belief that all of us can make a difference. His success formula is to keep things simple and sticking to the basics. He has experienced the power of small incremental steps taken daily resulting in big impact over a period of time. Dr. (h.c.) Kumar Visvanathan is fond of learning for unusual sources. He feels that to be successful, one should have clarity of thought first. Once the goal is set, it should be made visible to the eyes so that one is constantly reminded and never loses focus. Passion, hard work and constant tweaking are mandatory but more importantly one should enjoy the journey. The journey is the true reward. He has a natural inclination towards attempting something that has not been tried before. So, he is wired to challenge the status quo. Over a period of time, he has learnt to compartmentalize the various facets of life that he is part of, to live in the present and provide 100% focus on what is required to be done now. This is why he believes clarity is so important.
Dr. (h.c.)Kumar is a Leadership Coach and a Human Resources Professional with a Master’s degree in Management and was awarded an honorary Doctorate for People Management by a New York based University in 2019. With over 30 years of experience in the HR space in the IT industry, he is a founding member of Conference Board’s Asia Pacific Shared Services Council. In 2016 he was awarded as HR Superstar by HRO magazine, Philadelphia, USA. He also happens to be a member of India’s NASSCOM Steering Committee on Background Checks providing thought leadership and direction. He is a member of the Academic Council at St. Joseph Institute of Management, Bangalore.
Dr. (h.c.) Kumar joined Mindtree in November 2013 to setup and run a multi-functional Global Shared Services organization that handles processes in HR, Finance and Procurement. After bringing the processes to a steady state, he is currently spearheading Artificial Intelligence (AI) initiatives like Chatbot and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) for some of the key internal processes. He conceived an out-of-the-box inclusivity drive that has never been attempted by any Corporate by taking the Shared Services work to Prison inmates in Bangalore Central Prison. This instilled hope and contributed to the much-needed transformation of life for the prison inmates, who are first-time offenders serving life sentences for the crime they committed. He also spearheaded the inclusivity drive by hiring transgenders in his organization for the first time. His automation work in Mindtree is now a case study at Harvard University, US. He was recognized for his leadership competency and automation of shared services processes for the purpose of teaching management to MBA students in Harvard. This is his contribution to Management Education to create future Managers based on his work experience.
