Business
Episode Summary
In this engaging episode, leadership coach Krishna Prasad hosts Rajan Prasanna, a seasoned leader with a career spanning automotive engineering, global consulting, and new-age digital businesses. From his early engineering days at Mercedes-Benz and General Motors, through his transformation with an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management and a Strategy consultant role in Bain & Company, to his leadership roles at Myntra and Flipkart, Prasanna shares an authentic account of constant reinvention.
The conversation highlights career pivots, strategic thinking, and the mindset required to lead in rapidly evolving industries. Prasanna offers a grounded view on navigating risk, staying flexible, and the importance of curiosity and optionality. His reflections span the evolution from hands-on engineering to strategic consulting and finally to leading digital-first organizations — revealing what it takes to thrive as a modern leader.
Key Leadership Insights
- Embrace Optionality and Flexibility — Every career phase should open new doors. The best gift a leader can give themselves is the freedom to pivot.
- Don’t Let Experience Become a Constraint — Energy and curiosity often trump experience in fast-changing industries.
- Earn the Right to Be at the Table — Go above and beyond your role. Think like an owner and act as an energy-giver.
- Comfort with Grey Is a Leadership Superpower — Mature leadership means operating with ambiguity and avoiding binary thinking.
- The True Value of Education — Deep learning and reflection foster strategic thinking and self-awareness.
- Speed over Perfection in New-Age Companies — Agility and responsiveness are the new leadership differentiators.
- Leadership in the AI Era — Stay curious, not fearful. AI is a catalyst for rethinking workflows and roles.
- Energy Givers vs. Energy Vampires — Be a source of enthusiasm, optimism, and possibility.
Quotable Knowledge Nuggets
“You must create optionality — every bold move opens doors you didn’t even know existed.”
“Never make career decisions by looking backward. Sunk costs can blind you to future possibilities.”
“Energy almost always trumps experience.”
“Flexibility is the new superpower — the best gift you can give yourself is the ability to pivot.”
“Don’t wait for permission to add value. Every unstructured workplace is an opportunity waiting to be fixed.”
“Just because you’ve been longer in a domain doesn’t mean you know it deeper.”
“In young companies, speed of decision-making matters more than perfection of decision-making.”
“Be massively energy-giving — people want to work with those who light up the room.”
“AI is not a threat to leaders who are curious. It’s an invitation to rethink everything.”
“Careers aren’t ladders anymore — they’re S-curves. Every pivot gives you a fresh slope to climb.”
Resources & Connect:
- Connect with Prasanna Rajan on LinkedIn
- Visit us at: https://www.pm-powerconsulting.com/full-stack-leadershipcast/
- Follow Full Stack Leadership Podcast on Spotify /Amazon music / LinkedIn / YouTube for more such leadership journeys
- Connect with the host on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/dr-krishna-prasad
Prasanna Rajan, Former SVP – Myntra | Former Consultant Bain Consulting
Prasanna is an experienced strategy and business transformation professional, with more than 20 years of experience across Ecommerce, Consumer Tech, Retail, consulting, Real Estate and Auto. Most recently, Prasanna was Senior Vice President and part of the senior leadership team at Myntra (Flipkart group) leading strategy, business analytics and technical programs, delivering market leading growth, profitability achievement and large-scale growth programs. Prior to Flipkart group, Prasanna headed Customer Strategy and Operations for Emaar group, focused on improving customer centricity for Emaar group companies in UAE, Egypt and India.
Prior to Emaar, he was an Associate Partner at Bain & Company, where he successfully partnered with C-level executives and private equity investors on strategy development, customer & marketing programs, operational excellence, business model redefinition, and commercial due diligence.
Prasanna has also worked in the auto industry (General Motors and Mercedes) on accident-prevention and autonomous driving technologies. He is an avid auto enthusiast and follows all latest technology developments in autonomous driving and EV closely.
Prasanna holds an M.B.A. from MIT Sloan School of Management, Master’s in Electrical Engineering from University of Ulm. Germany and an undergraduate degree from BITS Pilani.