Emerging leadership series - In conversation with Gyanesh Ojha

How would you introduce yourself?

I am Gyanesh Ojha. Some people miss the “y” in my name and call me Ganesh. I know it's difficult to pronounce names but I’d prefer people pronounce my name correctly 🙂 . I am from India but am currently living in Singapore with my wife and daughter. I work at Thoughtworks and am currently responsible for South East Asia (SEA) InfoSec. I am passionate about Information Security and spend time sharing my knowledge with others to make them InfoSec savvy. I have been continuously honing my Infosec skills for over two decades now.

Can you tell me a bit about your career journey? What inspired you to take on the leadership role?

I started my IT career as a developer more than two decades ago but soon transitioned into the security domain out of curiosity. Early in my career, my focus area was application security, vulnerability assessment, penetration testing and audit. Those were my consulting days when we used to test government websites, private organization’s applications and used to audit banks and private organizations against IT security standards. Gradually I moved towards compliance and internal information security management.

My mentor, Dr Deoraj Bhanu Murthy inspired me to think out of the box to solve real world problems and in the process made me take on the leadership role.

What were the top challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them?

I am a person who doesn’t like to say “no” and the reason is simple. I want to help whoever comes to me with a problem. When I worked as an individual contributor, this would result in a constant backlog that I found difficult to clear. But when I started to lead a team, I had to decide where my focus should be and prioritize my tasks. So, I started to filter and focus on high priorities looking at my team’s bandwidth and, in the process, I learnt to say “no”. Though it is still not that easy for me, I have made quite a good progress. 

What motivates you every day?

The satisfaction I derive on solving a problem, no matter how big or small; the joy I feel on seeing a colleague being more infosec aware and the responsibility my seniors trust me with, motivates me every day. 

In my personal life, the support and unconditional love of my family push me to outperform in every aspect of life.

Do you have a role model in your life? Can you name a few people who you look up to?

I look at the positive side of all the individuals I have connected with so far, both in my professional and personal life. But Dr Deoraj Bhanu Murthy is the one I truly Iook up to. I feel blessed to have had the chance of working with him early in my career.

What does leadership mean to you?  How would you describe your leadership style?

Guiding team members in the right direction, taking ownership and responsibility of the team’s work and making the team believe in themselves is leadership according to me.

Simon Sinek says, “Leaders are the ones who are willing to give up something of their own for us.” This pretty much sums up my style of leadership because I believe true leaders don’t think their team works for them, instead they work for their team.

What would be your advice to other leaders?

There is no perfect leadership style. So don’t stick to just one style of leadership. You might have to change your style to better suit a situation. So, be open to change and bring out the best in you without compromising on the values. Also remember that being a manager is not the same as being a leader