Fine-tuning the Soft Skills of Leadership
During his 25-year career, Praveen Akkiraju has advanced through leadership positions at Cisco and VCE, CEO of Viptela, and recently transitioned to Managing Partner & Investor at Softbank Vision Fund. Among the factors he credits with accelerating his success are the General Management Program (GMP), which he attended in 2008. In this interview, he describes some of what he learned in the program and how it prepared him to take on new leadership challenges.
How did GMP change your mindset as a leader?
When I attended GMP, I had just transitioned from a functional role to the position of general manager of a $700 million business unit at Cisco. Before then, my career progression was driven primarily on the basis of being a top performer in my function at every level, and that got me promoted to a leadership role. However, I was not prepared to tackle the cross-functional complexity of a corporate CEO role. I was focused on excelling at the tasks assigned to me and my team, and I didn't have the negotiation, team-building, and strategic thinking skills required at the next level. At GMP, I had the opportunity to interact with Professor Linda Hill, whose classes exposed me to what I call "higher-order leadership skills"—acknowledging my blind spots, hiring a team that complements my strengths, dealing with peer-level competition and dynamics, and thinking about the entire company instead of only my specific business. One thing that changed my mindset was Professor Hill’s coaching on how to deal with company politics. Her guidance to me was to view politics as a representation of people's interest and not as a malicious or personal attack. At that stage of my career, that one piece of advice significantly changed my ability to think through peer-level dynamics in a more constructive way and allowed me to grow into a successful two-time CEO, and now Managing Partner.
What unique value did you gain by attending GMP?
GMP gave me access to a wide range of professors, peers, and topics—from strategy to finance to negotiation skills. The experience challenged me intellectually, exposed me to scenarios and thought processes that I wasn't getting in my day-to-day work environment, and gave me a new set of tools for my leadership toolbox. To me, leadership is like a multilevel game in which the complexity and challenge increase as the leader grows. And the ongoing relationship I built with Professor Hill, who acted as my coach well beyond the GMP program, has helped me navigate these multiple levels of complexity and become a better leader and thinker.
How has GMP helped you meet your goals and be more successful?
As I grow in my career and aspire to higher levels of leadership, I find that there are no clear templates for what is needed to be successful. GMP gave me insight into how a leader should act in various circumstances, and it helped me build a mental model for defining the role and the required skill set. I entered the program thinking that I was going to hone hard skills such as finance and marketing, but I emerged dramatically better equipped with the soft skills that I need to truly succeed as a leader.