Talk CXO Life

This is the HIGHLIGHTS episode of our conversation with Ayon Banerjee, Managing Director & Partner, Boston Consulting Group is at the very core a trek into the mind of a carpe diemist – one who lives in the moment, unfazed, unrattled be it tackling unforeseen situations on his trekking expeditions or helping scores of mammoth companies tackle the unexpected. In this episode Ayon speaks to me about his love for the mountains and how since 2006 he’s almost always kept up his ritual of doing a Himalayan High Elevation Trek a year in spite of his crazy hectic schedule. We also speak of his first love – slide photography apart from conversing about some things fun in the Funfacts section, some stuff serious like pandemic lessons and outlook of consulting in the post-COvid era and some musings like taking the road less traveled. In fact to keep going undeterred even when there’s no road in sight.

Stay tuned! Happy listening and thank you for your support.

Ayon Banerjee, Managing Director & Partner, Boston Consulting Group speaks to Sunayana Nair about his love for the mountains and how since 2006 he’s almost always kept up his ritual of doing a Himalayan High Elevation Trek a year inspite of his crazy hectic schedule. We also speak of his first love – slide photography apart from conversing about some things fun in the Funfacts section, some stuff serious like pandemic lessons and outlook of consulting in the post-COvid era and some musings like taking the road less traveled. In fact to keep going undeterred even when there’s no road in sight!

In this unbridled fun segment you’ll know Ayon’s favourite holiday experience, a scary traveling incident and what a wild elephant and Ayon have in common among other lesser known aspects of Ayon.

Ayon Banerjee, Managing Director & Partner, Boston Consulting Group speaks to Sunayana Nair about his love for the mountains and how since 2006 he’s almost always kept up his ritual of doing a Himalayan High Elevation Trek a year in spite of his crazy hectic schedule. We also speak of his first love – slide photography apart from conversing about some things fun in the Funfacts section, some stuff serious like pandemic lessons and outlook of consulting in the post-Covid era and some musings like taking the road less traveled. In fact to keep going undeterred even when there’s no road in sight!

In this concluding segment Ayon shares tips on how one can follow a passion even with an extremely demanding career.

Ayon Banerjee, Managing Director & Partner, Boston Consulting Group speaks to Sunayana Nair about his love for the mountains and how since 2006 he’s almost always kept up his ritual of doing a Himalayan High Elevation Trek a year inspite of his crazy hectic schedule. We also speak of his first love – slide photography apart from conversing about some things fun in the Funfacts section, some stuff serious like pandemic lessons and outlook of consulting in the post-COvid era and some musings like taking the road less traveled. In fact to keep going undeterred even when there’s no road in sight!

Ayon speaks about his first love – photography - in this segment which began as a teen. He loves to capture landscapes and has some 5000 neatly catalogued slide photos he often watches with his family whenever possible.

Ayon Banerjee, Managing Director & Partner, Boston Consulting Group speaks to Sunayana Nair about his love for the mountains and how since 2006 he’s almost always kept up his ritual of doing a Himalayan High Elevation Trek a year inspite of his crazy hectic schedule. We also speak of his first love – slide photography apart from conversing about some things fun in the Funfacts section, some stuff serious like pandemic lessons and outlook of consulting in the post-COvid era and some musings like taking the road less traveled. In fact to keep going undeterred even when there’s no road in sight!

Ayon shares how it feels to live on the edge by recounting a thrilling trekking expedition. This is all about the mountains preserving its sanctity and exploring it with humility.

Ayon Banerjee, Managing Director & Partner, Boston Consulting Group speaks to Sunayana Nair about his love for the mountains and how since 2006 he’s almost always kept up his ritual of doing a Himalayan High Elevation Trek a year inspite of his crazy hectic schedule. We also speak of his first love – slide photography apart from conversing about some things fun in the Funfacts section, some stuff serious like pandemic lessons and outlook of consulting in the post-Covid era and some musings like taking the road less traveled. In fact to keep going undeterred even when there’s no road in sight!

In this segment, we speak of how Ayon began trekking 22 years ago in the US and how discovering that thrill made him commit himself to an annual Himalayan high elevation trek, a 3-4 month personal parallel project every year.

Ayon Banerjee, Managing Director & Partner, Boston Consulting Group speaks to Sunayana Nair about his love for the mountains and how since 2006 he’s almost always kept up his ritual of doing a Himalayan High Elevation Trek a year inspite of his crazy hectic schedule. We also speak of his first love – slide photography apart from conversing about some things fun in the Funfacts section, some stuff serious like pandemic lessons and outlook of consulting in the post-Covid era and some musings like taking the road less traveled. In fact to keep going undeterred even when there’s no road in sight!

Digital tools notwithstanding, we speak of the missing human element in this Covid-disruption segment from the inability to subtly gauge body language, to the void of being unable to huddle and problem solve together in a room – we discuss the new normal.

Hello there! Since we began TalkCXOLife series around three years ago, it’s been our endeavour to get you stories celebrating the smallest joys which when nurtured, grow to yield a treasure trove of happiness. To trace euphoria to its initial moments of trepidation or plain oblivion. To crack the code of maintaining a fine line between consistently working on a passion (‘coz it does require work) and infusing passion into work. Celebrating the journey rather than only the destination.

And as we approach the season finale of TalkCXOlife podcasts as we’ve known it, my conversation with Ayon Banerjee, Managing Director & Partner, Boston Consulting Group is at the very core a trek into the mind of a carpe diemist – one who lives in the moment, unfazed, unrattled be it tackling unforeseen situations on his trekking expeditions or helping scores of mammoth companies tackle the unexpected. In this episode Ayon speaks to Sunayana Nair, Editor, CXO Life about his love for the mountains and how since 2006 he’s almost always kept up his ritual of doing a Himalayan High Elevation Trek a year inspite of his crazy hectic schedule. We also speak of his first love – slide photography apart from conversing about some things fun in the Funfacts section, some stuff serious like pandemic lessons and outlook of consulting in the post-COvid era and some musings like taking the road less traveled. In fact to keep going undeterred even when there’s no road in sight.

Stay tuned! Happy listening and thank you for your support.

This is the highlights of  Sunayana's conversation with Zac Hollis, Director Sales, Service, and Marketing, SKODA India.

Zac is Simply Clever as he obliges us with his spontaneity and wit in this CXO Fun Facts segment as we unravel so many layers of his wonderful personality.

We speak of Zac’s rather interesting venture as an erstwhile sports bar owner in Prague and the lessons it taught him. His meaning of success and why it is so important for this zesty leader-on-the-go to enjoy himself at any given time.

We couldn’t not have had a segment on Cars with Zac Hollis of course and here it is! We dwell on Skoda’s GreenFuture strategy, Elon Musk & attempt to demystify Cars rather our relationship with it (OMG did I just say that) in the Post-pandemic world.

Zac speaks about his love for cricket and fondly recalls his formative years raised on a poultry farm in England. He shares his experience of having been able to work from his home in England whilst helping his father with the bees on their farm and spending a day fly fishing with his dad after years.

Zac shares how he has maintained his runs, bike rides and his biking dates with friends checking all his fitness goals during this pandemic. He speaks of his initiation into running, his most memorable run which is running the London Marathon and doing the Ironman. And you don’t want to miss his formula of accomplishing every goal he sets.

Zac speaks on leading and managing one of the biggest auto players and keeping on track the Volkswagen India 2.0 strategy amidst the pandemic. He speaks about the many initiatives undertaken by Skoda to ensure the mental and physical wellbeing of the employees, taking tough decisions, working-from-home and dealing with the work-life balance conundrum during the pandemic.

In the concluding segment, Geoff Meyer MD Ironman Asia speaks of the ways he managed to remain fit during lockdown and shares some key lessons he learned through his experience of being at the helm of the Asian operations of the largest sports participation events platform in the world.

In this fourth segment,  Geoff Meyer MD Ironman Asia speaks in-depth regarding the changes implemented across stages for ensuring physical races and events organized by Ironman, although few and far between,  are safe and adhere to all the relevant government protocols. We also discuss the physical Ironman races which are scheduled to happen in the near future. Fingers crossed!

Imagine managing & conducting a globally renowned sporting event in a foreign country from the confines of your home. Geoff Meyer, MD Ironman Asia speaks of the challenges and initiatives undertaken to keep Ironman employees engaged & motivated, the support provided to local vendors in these trying times while we also touch upon the recent takeover of Ironman by Advance.

In this second segment, Geoff speaks about the various cost-intensive virtual races & training programmes having been developed and conducted by Ironman, provided for engaging and motivating Ironman athletes across the world.

In this first segment with we dive into the measures taken by Ironman globally for conducting the handful of physical races worldwide, the learnings from these very few Ironman events conducted so far & the status of the Ironman races to be held in the immediate future.

Hey! you are listening to TalkCXOLife. We bring to you a brand new conversation with Geoff Meyer, MD - Ironman, Asia.

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Hey! you are listening to TalkCXOLife.

Enjoy our Full Conversation with Padmakar Kappagantula. Chairman,  MD & Director HR, Bharat Petroleum (BPCL). 

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Chances are you wouldn’t but did you know that – Padmakar’s greatest fear if of being lost in a room without any openings. Well, not surprising for the man who loves his light and his colors. Listen to some more fun facts on Padmakar in this unmissable CXO Fun Facts segment!

So, what is success?  In this segment Padmakar shares how for him, it is about sleeping well without regrets and helping at least a few understand themselves better. He also shares how he moved past his difficulty of receiving, why that is important and his gratitude to God for his imperfections.

In this brief segment, we step into the play of light and darkness as we explore Padmakar’s love for photography, especially black and white stills. A passion inherited from his uncles, Padmakar shares how one’s hands need to be strong to capture shots and how he still doesn’t feel the need to use tripods. Street photography and nature, enthuse him the most. So let’s click away.

In continuation with my conversation with Padmakar on art and his love for painting, we touch upon, in this segment, an artist’s quest, influence of art on professional sphere, pearls of wisdom he received from an art connoisseur decades ago which he still abides by when painting, his post-retirement plans of traveling the world and perhaps setting up a studio.

In this segment, we unravel the mind of an artist. Padmakar speaks on how painting helps to process one’s experiences and the world around. How art bridges the gap between pragmatism and the utopian world one lives within as an artist. A self-taught painter, Padmakar speaks about the brief but significant training he received some years ago from Kashinath Salve, retired dean of JJ School of Art and how it helped him learn some technical rules, which he is prone to disregard. While Padmakar has participated in art exhibitions and shows, including in Paris and UK, they have been largely group shows. So we bring great news when we announce that he is currently working on his first solo exhibition on theme “Framework & Phenomena “ which will be exhibited in Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai in October 2020.

In the second segment, we briefly delve into Padmakar’s academic and career trajectory: from graduating in an unusual and interesting discipline - agriculture – to studying human resources in the renowned TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences) to working with Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) for over three decades. He reflects how one mustn’t typecast people and the importance of recognising the passions and interests of employees and encouraging them. BTW, if you haven’t yet already, do check our earlier released Keep it Alive podcast with Padmakar and his stellar initiative of rolling out iPassion platform at BPCL for building passion-based communities within the organisation and even the industry.