About

Guest: Dr. Seshu Bhagavathula, Co-Founder CityQ & Former CTO -Ashok Leyland

Episode Summary:

In this episode of the Full Stack Leadership Podcast, host Krishna Prasad sits down with Dr. Seshu Bhagavathula, a seasoned technology and business leader with decades of experience in the automotive and mobility industries. From his early days at Daimler Benz Aerospace to leading innovation at Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler, and beyond, he brings immense global experience in leadership having led departments and functions in EU, North America, India and China. Dr. Seshu shares invaluable leadership lessons on adaptability, vision, and the power of continuous learning. He delves deep into ‘Leading Self’ and how that can bring out the Leader in one-self.

Key Leadership Insights:

• Self-Awareness and Self-Inquiry: Dr. Seshu’s shyness and lack of self-confidence in childhood impacted his management approach until he addressed these through self-reflection. The importance of understanding one's own feelings, reactions, and behaviors, often rooted in early experiences, to improve self-management and leadership effectiveness. 
• Discipline, Focus, and Energy Management: Developing discipline through focus and attention, managing energy to handle multiple tasks, and the role of physical activities like running in enhancing mental and physical stamina. 
• Overcoming Procrastination: How one can develop a Marathon Mindset and Long-term planning, but pay attention to incremental progress (like marathon training) apply to leadership and business goals. Procrastination stems from discomfort with tasks. Writing down the discomfort and addressing it head-on helps overcome delays.
• Authentic Leadership & Vulnerability: Authentic leaders admit failures and challenges, which builds trust. Leadership titles are functional, but leaders must remain approachable and be human
• Leading Global Teams Effectively: Building trust, fostering diverse perspectives, and aligning teams towards a common vision. He stresses the importance of creating Psychological Safety for people to express diverse views. Remove emotions from feedback and directives to ensure clarity across diverse teams.
• Business Impact & Continuous Learning: He speaks a lot on the Importance of Understanding Company Goals and connecting individual roles and tasks to the larger company objectives, and the importance of continuous learning to stay relevant and contribute to the company's success. Leaders must understand interfaces beyond their assumed expertise (e.g., finance, sales) to drive company-wide success. At the same time how one needs to develop Industry awareness to stay relevant.

Quotable Knowledge Nuggets:

"The moment I described the discomfort in language, I recognized it’s nothing... Once I crossed this bridge, I became a free man."

"An authentic leader is vulnerable naturally... They loved it when I said, ‘We haven’t got it right.’"

"My title gives me responsibilities, but I as a person am different."

"Procrastination kills companies. People delay because something feels uncomfortable—describe it, and the discomfort vanishes."

"If you don’t learn, you become expendable. Companies are impersonal; they replace what doesn’t fit."

Resources & Connect:

• Connect with Dr. Seshu Bhagavathula on LinkedIn
• Follow Full Stack Leadership Podcast on Spotify / Apple / LinkedIn / YouTube

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About our Guest:

Dr. Seshu Bhagavathula is currently the Chairman of the Board, CityQ | former CTO – Ashok Leyland | former CTO – Apollo Tyres | former Director – Mercedes-Benz

Dr. Seshu carries with him, a profound experience in diverse set of Technologies in Aerospace and Automotive domain and has held CXO positions in large Automotive companies across the globe. He grauate out of IIT-Bombay and was one of the very early Doctorate candidates in University of Stuttgart, Germany. His career has spanned more than 4 decades and is still going strong. His strength has always been in leading very diverse technology and business teams in a truly global environment. He personifies a perfect blend of deep technical expertise and a very keen understanding of the Business.

Dr. Seshu is an Angel Investor and has a portfolio of companies predominantly in the Green Energy space. He is passionate about Marathon Running and Carnatic Classical Music.