Q3 is here! ?Best wishes for driving growth and enjoying the festive season ?

This a letter to my team as we start our Q3 at Infosys. Sharing this after I was able to initiate and revive my connections from past and it was extremely enriching to hear multiple perspectives. I again feel that this has a broader appeal and that I should share for broader conversations. This was shared internally with my team on Oct 3, 2023.

Dear Team,

As we begin a new quarter, I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for your focus, contributions, and impact. I am so proud of what we have accomplished together, and I am confident that we can continue to achieve great things in the coming quarter and beyond. If you ask me what is one thing that I want us all to work on, it’s creating a more respectful, forthcoming, and inclusive culture. I know that we all have our own individual goals, but I believe that we are strongest when we work together as a team. When we support each other, raise our hand to help others in challenging times and share our knowledge and expertise, we can achieve anything we set our minds to.

?So, as we begin this new quarter, I challenge each of you to step outside of your current disposition & strengths (I do not believe in concept of comfort zone) and try something new. Learn a new skill, take on a new challenge, take a different type of vacation, connect with someone in family or friends whom you have been out of touch for long, bring home a pet, start a new hobby, try to see things from a different perspective, write more, read more, speak up or simply do something totally unexpected. I also challenge you to be supportive of each other. We all have different strengths and weaknesses, but we can learn from each other and make each other better. Be there for your teammates when they need help, and celebrate their successes in person, remote, online, or offline. When we challenge ourselves, we grow as individuals and as a team. The CHOICE is yours!

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The word CHOICE (Civilized, Healthy, Observant, Inclusive, Critique, Equilibrate) reminds me of a framework that I created long time back and I also follow myself. I want to share with you as well.

• C (Civilized) – We talk about being human, but that is the most difficult thing. I have seen in our business several people trying to interrupt peers in meetings, disrespect people when they speak and even keeping them out of loop of important updates. This is totally unacceptable. Your views are important and so is your presence. Be firm, be respectful and always ensure you do not let a wrong thing happen due to someone’s nature of bulldozing his/her/their agenda. Respect and expect the same.
• H (Healthy) – your physical, emotional, and mental health is the most important asset that you have. Guard it well, invest in it and make it compound year on year. All that we do is immaterial if we do not remain healthy. Seek support and interventions, talk to family & friends. There is no shame in case there is something that is bothering you, we all have moments in our life. I sure had mine. It's good to recognize, cos then only you can solve them – a problem unless defined can’t be solved!
• O (Observant) – We read, learn, speak, drive, control, coordinate, lead, and share thoughts thousands of times in a day. This cycle of consumption, assimilation and sharing is continuous, and we tend to miss pausing to reflect and correct the path. In the world of AI in future, I think it’s the ability to reflect which would make a difference and be the true epitome of humanness.
• I (Inclusive) – Inclusivity can be at many levels, it's not only the one we talk about in DEI sense. It goes beyond that as well. A simple thing as giving someone in team a chance to speak up or share their views is a sign of inclusiveness. Letting an elderly person cross the road in the mad rush of morning traffic is also inclusiveness, even letting your child, cousin, family member or friend explain their views in heated state is inclusiveness. ?In the corporates, unfortunately we have given a lot of importance to people who are boisterous, chest thumping, pseudo firefighter. There is a slow but steady realization of the malaise this has brought to business and lives. We can do our best in our capacity here.
• C (Critique) – People see this as a negative attribute, but it's not. There is a difference in between being critical (always) and to do a constructive critique. You can have a deeper view on things which can bring out possible challenges, help the team see forward and prevent adverse events from them happening in the first place. By keeping things to self and not speaking up, we can do more harm to things, tasks, and events. A fine balance is important. As you grow up to become successful managers and leaders, your focus on being “preventers” is more important in my view. (My post on this which was posted 6 year ago )
• E (Equilibrate) – the fine art of balancing the realism and idealism. It's important that our emotions never empower us. In day-to-day life, there are umpteen number of situations where we would be charged emotionally, and we would possibly act in that moment in a manner we regret later as well. I have done this many times, be it in form of participating in road rage, acidic emails to colleagues or making negative remarks about someone behind their back. However, over time I have learnt that none of this help anyone as every person we interact with acts in a way due to certain “reason” which we do not know, or we attribute our righteousness measure to it. ?So, better maintain that equilibrium in our thoughts & actions – easier said than done. But then, what is the harm in trying and as they say being 1% better.

?Please see if it makes sense to us as a team. Do share your thoughts back with me.

<truncated as this was internal to Infosys and my team>        

My best wishes to all of you! So, let's make this quarter our best one ever… (taking a cue from Apple and MS events ?? – the best iPhone ever or best Windows ever)

Also, best wishes for the upcoming festivals. Spend quality time with your friends and family. Cheers!

?Rgds, Sachin

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PS: Once again, if there are any thoughts, questions,?or?concerns on anything I have mentioned,?please let me know. I would be happy to discuss!