Leaders in REM: Sandeep Dadlani

For those who are new here, every week(ish) I'll share various topics that I think are important for the modern leader in Retail Ecommerce Management.

Every so often, I get the privilege to speak with inspirational leaders through my podcast Leaders in REM , and I’d love to start regularly sharing some of my favorite lessons learned from these conversations.

I'm thrilled to share with you some amazing insights from Sandeep Dadlani, the brilliant EVP and Chief Digital & Technology Officer at UnitedHealth Group. Before joining UnitedHealth, Sandeep held the role of Chief Digital Officer at Mars, where he drove some truly impressive digital transformations. But here's the most exciting part: Sandeep and I both hail from the same city in India!

As we chatted about his journey, I was struck by his unwavering commitment to innovation and leadership, and I just had to share some of his wisdom with you. Here are my key takeaways from our chat:

1. Powerful stories can make people want to deliver. The big secret in life, according to Sandeep, is that people don't deliver because they're asked or paid to - they do it because they want to. It's up to leaders to inspire their teams and motivate them to achieve their goals. Sandeep learned this lesson early in his life, as he watched and analyzed public speeches with his father. According to Sandeep, the human connection that stories create can't easily be replicated by AI and algorithms. It's all about that personal touch.
2. Put high empathy, learnability, and experience in scaling on your radar. Sandeep values these three qualities most in potential hires. He seeks individuals who listen well, are curious enough to find out what others are doing and to learn it as well, and are familiar with the opportunities in the space and demonstrate a drive for growth. According to Sandeep, it's the young at heart who have the latitude to possess these attributes.
3. Take only three steps ahead. Take them back if needed. During Sandeep's time at Mars, no project would exceed 12 weeks. In his view, we simply can't predict the distant future with any real accuracy. What we can see are the few steps ahead of us, so it's better to take those first instead of predicting too far ahead. While this approach doesn't immunize him from committing huge mistakes, it empowers his team to take back a few decisions and adjust quickly to avoid costly missteps.
4. The key to digital transformation is speed. Mars' initial approach to digital transformation didn't follow any conventional framework. When they learned that speed was hindering them from scaling in this direction, they decided to frame digital transformation as going 100x faster. They broke it down into three simple steps: find the problem, solve it, and scale the solution with the help of technology, data, and analytics. While this approach may sound experimental, Sandeep noted that it's actually a proven formula that industry leaders like Amazon and Walmart have used to get to their positions today.

I had a wonderful time revisiting Sandeep's insights for this week's newsletter. If you haven't already, be sure to check out my full interview with Sandeep Dadlani on the Leaders in REM podcast, available on Spotify and Apple .