CEO Coach | Senior Leadership Advisor | Strategic Thinking Partner
 

When the answer isn't obvious, Shekar provides a trusted, independent space for CEOs to think, challenge, decide and act.

Shekar is a seasoned business leader and executive coach with over 30 years of senior leadership experience across large, complex and globally dispersed organisations. His career spans leadership positions in multinational corporations and prominent Indian companies, across industries including automotive, airlines, outsourcing, ITES, GCCs, retail,  agriculture, consumer goods, outsourcing, retail, technology and telecom.  He is equally at ease navigating the complexity of large, Fortune 500-type organisations and the entrepreneurial, founder-led dynamics of early-stage businesses. Having worked extensively across Asia, Europe and the Americas, he brings a broad business perspective and a practical understanding of the interplay between strategy, execution, people and organisational context.

Today, Shekar works with CEOs and senior business leaders as a confidential thinking partner—particularly when they are dealing with situations where education, certification, endorsements, credentials, intelligence, skill and past experience alone does not provide an obvious answer.

A DISTINCTIVE APPROACH
 

Shekar's approach is grounded in Contextual Leadership—the belief that effective leadership depends on understanding the situation, the organisation and the people involved, and then determining what the context demands of the leader.
He does not position himself as the person with all the answers.
His role is to ask relevant (sometimes difficult)  questions, challenge assumptions, bring a different perspective and help the leader discover the answers.
The result is not simply better thinking, but better leadership decisions and more purposeful action.

Context → Clarity → Conviction → Confidence → better thinking → Choices → better decisions → Communication → Commitment → Action → Results and Outcomes.

THE CONVERSATIONS THAT MATTER

Providing a sounding board to explore ideas, challenge assumptions, sharpen thinking and turn possibilities into coherent propositions.  Helping leaders step back from the immediate pressures of the business, understand the situation more clearly and determine where to focus. In short, a confidential thinking partnership for leaders facing consequential moments.  Conversations typically addressing leadership dilemas and questions like :

“I have an idea. How do I quickly test the validity and viability of the same ?
This is the difficult situation I am in. What should I do now? What should I do next?

“I have a difficult choice to make.”
Working through dilemmas, competing alternatives and consequential decisions—without imposing predetermined answers.

“Everything is changing. How do I respond?”
Helping leaders navigate volatility, turbulence and uncertainty while maintaining strategic perspective and organisational momentum.
“I know things are not working that well and that something needs to change. But what?”
Working with leaders to identify the real problem and talk about strategy, transformation, business model choices, value-chain redesign and new sources of value.

Do we know who our customer is ? Are we really seeking to address the customers’ problems clearly?  What defines Customer success ?
Helping leaders re-examine customer needs, value propositions and business models, and explore what may need to change to remain relevant to the customer with changing times and expectations.

EXPERIENCE THAT INFORMS THE COACHING
 

Shekar's coaching is informed not simply by studying leadership theory but by having personally operated in complex businesses and leadership environments — His experience in strategy, execution, transformation, business models and organisational change enables him to engage with the substance of the business as well as the leader navigating it.
His particular interest is in the intersection of business challenges and human behaviour—understanding what drives people, what gets in the way of change and what enables leaders and organisations to perform at their best.