Discipline, perseverance and commitment are some very important characteristics every leader should possess; everything else falls into place after this. Komal Goyal, Managing Partner at 6e Technologies, is a very disciplined person who never gives up on any task she puts her eye on. Komal truly believes that there are no failures but they are an opportunity to learn and a reason to try again and not make the same mistake. Explaining her outlook, Komal says, “Life is too short not to try what we dream of and it is given to us only once.” Komal is also associated with multiple non-profits where she talks about her journey and try to help other women entrepreneurs new to this world through mentoring.
Catering to a larger audience
Komal has always been a technologist, and used to sell technology solutions to her immediate user base in a very small setting. She always enjoyed this part of her work, talking with the users, figuring out their pain points and solving them. Komal had always wanted to provide her solutions to a larger audience and bigger clients, but she was just not ready to take that plunge to get in the role. All this changed in 2013 when Komal met with a car accident; this made her realise that there is only one life to live and fulfil your dreams. The incident made her understand that the burden of not trying is more than the burden of trying and then failing. So, she took the plunge. After her contract ended, she did not look for another contract instead she started looking for strategic partners who she would like to work with and provide solutions to a much larger audience.
Integrating experience in ERP and Cloud Computing space
6e Technologies is a solutions oriented system integrator, primarily providing solutions in the Enterprise Resource Planning space. They pride themselves with 90% customer retention and 100% referenceable customer base. The company is very active in Oracle ERP cloud implementation market and have completed multiple ERP Oracle implementations on their cloud and on premise offering. 6e Technologies have excellent relationships with their vendor partners and have a great sales team that is ready to take them to the next level. They are also planning to build their commercial and public sector practice parallelly.
Encouraging responsibility and accountability
Growing responsibly and at the same time making a difference in others life can be a balancing act. The most important prudent decisions that Komal has to take on a daily basis is to provide stellar support and service to her customers without burning her team out. This takes a lot of planning and juggling of resources to make sure that everyone is contributing and resting evenly. So far Komal has been able to maintain a personal connection with all her team members. She also makes sure that they get breaks from very rigorous delivery work and come back rejuvenated. Komal encourages telecommuting, because she believes responsibility comes with accountability and enablement. The reason she explains saying, “Everyone in our organization is responsible to get the work done and that happens only when we make them accountable along with enabling them to take decisions on their own.”
Instilling confidence
Talking about her role model, Komal singles out her father who has influenced her life the most. From early on in her life he instilled the discipline that is still helping her to this date. Komal’s father taught her to put her money where her mouth is and walk the talk by practicing. Her father taught her to meditate and instilled the confidence that made her realise that she can achieve anything she wants with sheer dedication. In those days in India and especially in a small town, this sort of upbringing was unheard of. Her father’s confidence in her was unprecedented and that has made her who she is today.
In her early 20s, Komal got married. Since then, her husband has supported her in everything she wanted to do and is continually doing so. For this Komal says, “He is my voice of reason and support for the challenges that I face as a mother/daughter/wife/entrepreneur.”
Changing global challenges
Talking from her own experiences on the most pressing challenges that leaders are facing today, Komal says, “Today’s leaders have many tools to support them in their journey but at the same time many distractions, for example fast pace of changing technology and the need to keep up to stay competitive.” She also mentions the lack of skilled labor and globalization are one of the major challenges in the United States. We are competing with a global workforce with very competitive prices and sometimes it is hard to create the value proposition when a competitor of yours is coming at 50% of your proposed price.
Insightful advice to improve yourself continuously
“Having a consistent and regular practice of something that can keep you centred, whether it is meditation, exercise or even reading. Spend time with yourself and have deep meaningful conversations inside. You will be amazed who you would discover. And then go ahead improve upon your own self as there is always some room for improvement. Before going to bed compare yourself with your yesterday, you should be able to say, I am a better person today. This is the method of self-correction that can help us make ourselves better every day.”
One thing Komal firmly believes is that there are learning opportunities everywhere, you just need to be open and take it in, and at times you can even learn from your kids!
Suggestions to new leaders
Confidence! Wear it on your sleeve. When you are confident in your actions that exudes from your personality. Integrity is another trait that actually propels confidence. And don’t forget to have fun while in the role. Don’t take life too seriously, work hard but also give yourself some slack; don’t expect perfection as it does not exist.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/komalkgoyal/
Twitter: @komal_goyal17
