A tribute to a wonderful manager! Guide, friend and coach...

 I first spoke to Mala over phone from US. I got introduced through a common friend saying she is a great leader and this was soon proven beyond doubt..

Leading up to a quick interview with Dell, after we decided to move out of US for good was an offer from Dell. As we were in a hurry to move to India for personal reasons, I had back to back interviews. Mala was my hiring manager and she helped me quickly close the process as well.

When Mala called me to inform that I had been selected for that position, I had a much bigger update awaiting her. I had just visited my doctor as I was losing weight to be told I was pregnant with my second child. When I interviewed, I had no idea and while still trying to wrap my head around shifting continents during pregnancy - I decided honesty was the best policy.

I haltingly told Mala that I did not want to hide anything and that I was 6 or 8 weeks, a time usually no one gets informed about pregnancy! At the same time, Mala was hiring me from over seas so I thought I owed it to her and shared my news...

Mala did not miss a beat, she congratulated me and said, "My offer stands Ramya, we would still be glad to have you in our team!". There are few times in one's career when you feel touched by a genuine gesture. This was one of those times, and I ensured that for the next 8-9 months I did all I could to deliver for Mala's team.

Thanks to my daughter coming much a month early, I was working until the last day I delivered. 

Even after moving teams, and companies - I stayed in touch with Mala. She will remain a leader we all look up to and continue to strive to reach her level's of perfection and expectation :).

Mala left all of us due to a dreadful disease, however the impact she has left behind, lessons that we continue sharing/ implementing will keep her alive in all our memories..

Comments

  1. KarthikMarch 27, 2025 at 3:12 AM

    Mala is a wonderful leader. I was looking for an opportunity to relocate from Mumbai to Bangalore and Mala as hiring manager made me very comfortable from very first time I had telephonic conversation with her that made me to join Dell. We will be missing her, world has taken away such a good human being so fast, she will be always remembered in my heart

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Back to Corporate

 Great to be back after a vacation that always feels short and hectic :)  Anyway, here is the update that I had promised after I get back and here it is - I have decided to move back to the corporate world after a brief stint at the start up world.. which btw if fascinating.. So why don't we come up with a list of how both these environments score against certain parameters... as I have been asked upteen number of times, how it is working for a startup and what is different, etc. Category Startup Environment Corporate world Customer Interaction I loved that I got to talk to customers ALL the time. Got constant feedback and really understood customer problems It was not easy to reach the customers admist multiple layers, and mostly problems were assumptions, and feedback non-existent Team work Everyone is vested, and being small team really helps bond Existed in pockets and I have some great teams in most companies Product Being close to customer, we delivered exactly what th...
Read more

Career journey so far..

  As I look back at my career, or discuss with anyone about my vast experience - one of the questions I get is "Soo many changes/ Companies?" I thought it would be a good idea to address this.. Initially this post was a list of pointers to remind me of the rich journey and experience gained from my last 20 years in the corporate world. Typical human nature, we tend to remember the negative experiences so I wanted to create this reminder for all the wonderful memories I have created in the past 2 decades! HP Labs - In the spirit of starting from the very beginning, HP Labs was the reason I moved to Bangalore and got a taste of corporate life. Thanks to wonderful mentors like SriGanesh, Ajay, and other wonderful PS mates (Ash, Naj, Dabba, Ramya, Prabhu..). I got exposed to AI - handwriting recognition, multi-model interfaces! All big words for a 20 year old me :)  Dell (1st Innings)  -  For all practical purposes, Dell is where I learnt my trade and a lot of things abo...
Read more

Magical GenAI world in a startup setting

After decades of working in a corporate setting, honestly startup atmosphere was a shock! And the smallest company I had worked was a family owned food business with branches in over 2 states in the US... and boasting of a customer base across 10 states in US! (Anyway that is for another blog) However, I would like to talk about GenAI first and there is only one word to describe it - Magical. Of course, much before the startup stint I had started using chatGPT. I have used it for any email and even my farewell emails... It showed more empathy and sympathy than I ever could. When I joined Alltius and started using chatGPT "officially", I was amazed what little changes with prompt engineering basic skills you could accomplish in GenAI... I could never tire of the constant back and forth, experimentation to get chatGPT to "behave" :)  Alltius boasts of high accuracy and zero hallucination, thanks to our dogged testing and determination to provide the correct answers ba...
Read more