“I thought long and hard about this. I wanted to come up with one word to describe me and I finally settled upon “Empathy“. I believe and have been told by people that what they appreciate most about me was approachability, listening to them and even when their issue cannot be solved, being truthful about it and working my best to fix it.” – Venki Ramachandran
I asked a few of my friends, family and colleagues – 3 words to describe me. Below is the result from the word cloud generator …
What follows is a snapshot of what recommendations my peers, colleagues, and team members have kindly provided…
Director of Business Development:
“I have been working very closely with Venki from past 2 years. He is a great thought leader and solution evangelist. He has been a serial entrepreneur who has successfully created solutions/assets and liquidated at right time. In his current role,
Venki is leading multiple software development teams for cross xylem brands, Integrating the products, devices and solutions from past and newer acquisitions to create future solutions for Xylem. He has setup the software development team at Bangaore, India from scratch, Defined software lifecycle framework, processes and methodology. He has also worked very closely with me to develop the Smart cities and Smart Infrastructure solutions for India market.”
Manager of UX Team – Designer- Project Delivery:
“We meet many people every day, but only some leave a mark, and one of them is Venki. He is the kind of manager who will show what excellent project management should be. I’ve worked under his guidance for three years and completed many projects, and each time it shows a significant increase in effectiveness. His work ethic is pristine, and he is easily adjustable to a given situation. His unique ability to organize the working process and let employees demonstrate their professional skills’ full extent made Venki our favorite. A lot of us flourished in our careers under his mentorship. His ability to go out of his way to help others has made him stand out. A combination of humor and empathy helps to lift the spirit in stressful situations.”
Senior Test Engineer :
“Venki is a wartime people lead. In simple words, he is your best bet when you are in a high growth mode and need your people hired, coached and retained at a fast pace – which are 3 most important goals, as it all boils down to in any start-up organization. I admire his diverse work experience, which makes him uniquely positioned to lead an organization of any size .
He is an magnificent Leader, and is a rich source of inspiration and someone you can always count on for guidance and delivery under the most difficult of scenario/situation.
Brilliant Rock Star in the very true meaning of the word – greatly deserves and earns my highest positive recommendation!”
Senior Manager – Project Delivery:
“Venki is an accomplished technology leader, a mentor who played an instrumental role in growth for many at Xylem where he successfully navigated us through very challenging times during the foundational years of the technology center, and almost built the software division from the ground up. Venki brings in much-needed fun, energy & enthusiasm at work which reflects in his passion for building high-performing teams & nurturing raw talent for success, his technology prowess combined with empathy for people makes him a standout leader. One can never have a dull moment when Venki is around with infectious positivity no matter how difficult are problems. By far he is the best leader I’ve had the pleasure of working with and would love to work with again.”
Manager of Quality Assurance:
“I had the privilege to work with Venki when he was working as Director of India Technology Center- Bangalore India. He brought his strong software engineering expertise to the team and his guidance and strong leadership skills helped us to attract and engage the best talent, and to extract their very best, which is exceptional!!
Venki is passionate about the agile way of working and an extremely dedicated individual and always focuses on the outcome and discovering what works best for any individual. He had a clear view of what we were building and made sure to collaborate with the team to ensure everyone had an opportunity to contribute. His knowledge and more importantly, ability to practice, any new technology that fits best for the project, is noteworthy.
For the past 3.5 years, under Venki I learned a lot of things professionally and personally . When it comes to bringing in diversity in the organization, Venki is on top of anything it takes to make it happen. His career has been an inspiration for all of us and he is one of the strongest advocates of D&I.
Last, but not the least, Venki is a fun-loving person who always motivates one to work hard and party harder. I will always look forward to work with a leader like Venki in future.”
Senior Hardware and Firmware Engineer:
“I had the pleasure to work under the leadership of Venki in Xylem. Though we worked in different groups, he was always around for any kind of support and his empathy towards his coworkers is something that really stands out. An amazing leader, you can always place your bet on him to get things done on time; a true technology enthusiast at heart, the passion he shows in learning new technologies is definitely something to learn from.
Above all Venki is an amazing human being, warm and jovial; somebody who lights up the workplace!. Though I did not get a chance to work directly with him, really do hope I get that chance next time around. All the best Venki!”
A complete list of recommendations can be found in my LinkedIn Profile.