« Coffee with the CEO / Meetul Patel - Capgemini Consulting
Meetul Patel (Li) is the India Head/Vice President of the Transformational Consulting Practice at Capgemini Consulting, and one of the biggest names in the Consulting domain today. The workosaur team caught up with him and sought his words of wisdom for our readers.
In conversation with Meetul Patel on September 13, 2009
- Workosaur: Tell us about your career journey. How did you get to being where you are?
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Meetul Patel:
I have followed a fairly traditional consulting trajectory so far – moving from executing consulting engagements, to managing relationships, and then leading practices.
After completing my undergraduate education in Engineering Physics at Rensselaer in the US, I joined a Big-4 Consulting firm’s New York practice where I got my first lessons in helping businesses solve tough problems through the application of information technology. Looking to participate in the decision-making process that lead to the major initiatives I helped with, I pursued my MBA at Wharton, and then resumed down the consulting path, shifting gears to strategy consulting.
As I progressed down this path I gained an understanding of a variety of sectors, functions and even consulting firms. Over the years, I worked with clients in the Financial Services, Healthcare, Communications, and Computing sectors on challenges ranging from growth strategies to optimization of functions ranging from marketing to IT.
This breadth of client and consulting firm perspective allowed me to gain perspective on how clients can execute broad transformation agendas and also helped me learn the business of consulting. Capgemini has presented great opportunities to apply these perspectives to client problems and to the growth strategy of the firm itself. After leading the Transformation Consulting practice on the East Coast of the US for Capgemini, I took on the opportunity to build Capgemini’s management consulting business in India.
- Workosaur: Could you share 3 of the most memorable moments of your illustrious career?
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Meetul Patel:
I clearly remember the night my team celebrated the completion of the first major consulting engagement I participated on. After dozens of us worked for many months, we delivered a solution that a client had been trying to develop for years without success. It was then that I saw the value of consulting services – and also the fun of working on energetic, ambitious teams.
Another memorable moment was when the start-up consultancy I had joined announced its merger into a larger public entity. That was the culminating event of 5 years of a challenging but exciting journey that saw our team rapidly grow from a handful of consultants to a competitive, successful, profitable firm through one of the most difficult market environments our sector had seen.
More recently, I remember the day I came to India just over a year ago to assess whether I should move my family to India to build Capgemini’s business here. In the many discussions I had that day, and even in the trips through the airport, hotel lobbies, and Mumbai itself, I sensed ambition, excitement, and energy that made it clear that India was on the move and that it was a market that I wanted to engage with.
- Workosaur: What advice would you give to someone who aspires a top management/CxO profile?
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Meetul Patel:
I think there are at least 5 things to keep in mind as you strive to take on executive management responsibilities:
1. Execute what you are assigned to deliver: Your success here will gain you recognition and open opportunities to move up and across organizations.
2. Strive to understand the broader context of decisions and assignments: This helps you develop key decision-making skills that are called upon almost daily from top management. It also helps you learn about how all the various parts of an organization come together to deliver on objectives.
3. Keep an even keel: There are ups and downs and many hurdles to overcome on the path towards executive management. Learning from setbacks rather than defending or rationalizing them will help you grow and move forward.
4. Keep in mind that it can take time: Experience is valuable and necessary to build the breadth of perspective that helps one make effective decisions as a leader. Strive to gain experience quickly, but also keep in mind that “skipping an important lesson” can come back to haunt you down the road.
5. Remember the team: Success in organizations (especially complex ones) comes through the contributions of many. Strengthen relationships through the journey - you will need them!
