Dr. Amarnath Ananthanarayanan, CEO & MD, Bharti AXA General Insurance

Lessons from My First Job: Dr. Amarnath Ananthanarayanan, CEO & MD, Bharti AXA General Insurance

No Comment Posted by admin on Sep 20, 2013

Dr. Amarnath Ananthanarayanan, CEO and MD, Bharti AXA GI shares his first job experience with TimesJobs.com
Neha Singh Verma, TimesJobs.com Bureau
My First Job: I started out as a teacher at the age of 22 in the US. However, my entry into the corporate world was when I was 27, when I started working for GE Capital in India. My role involved identifying opportunities for private equity and joint ventures for the company in the Indian IT and BPO space.
My experience: I worked first with the Business Development team in GE Capital. It was a team of energetic and smart people, who were highly knowledgeable and motivated. They helped me get a better understanding of the profession. This was my first exposure to the interesting world of insurance and provided learning opportunities across multiple functions especially in the area of risk analytics.
Things I learnt:

• One of the major lessons I learnt is the importance of clear, open and continuous communication between the stakeholders. Whether the news is good or bad, it is essential to keep all the stakeholders in the loop. This helps the company in growing together as a strong team. This is one thing I strongly practice in Bharti AXA General Insurance too.
• Another aspect I learnt from GE is to have confidence in people and taking calculated risks.
• Focus on the bigger picture: Try to look at things from a holistic perspective and come out with solutions that will bring about the best result for the organisation as a whole, rather than concentrating on small hurdles.
• Teamwork is a very important factor in any organization. To work together in a team towards a single objective is very important.

Skills I acquired: Two of the main tenets I approach work with are communication and openness. I maintain an open-door policy and encourage my colleagues to walk in and talk to me at any point in time. We also have a structured system called ‘Meet the Top’ that enables me to meet employees from across functions and hierarchies in small informal gatherings. On the business side, a risk taking, entrepreneurial attitude are imperative for individual and organizational growth, and these are the qualities I encourage and try to develop in my team.
My manager’s teaching: My first manager taught the importance of an entrepreneurial attitude and the courage to take risks. His encouragement trained me to always think big and also plan big and to never inhibit my creativity. I learnt to give 100% of myself to everything I did and this came from his passion for his work. I follow his example of having a positive problem solving approach instead of complaining about things.
My biggest achievement: I think moving from a purely academic background to settling in in a business role in the corporate sector to me is a big achievement.
My journey so far: I have always tried to look for learning opportunities and taken roles where I have had no previous experience and may not be best equipped to do the job. The reason for doing this is that if one is able to do even an average job on something which is an area of improvement it gives a huge sense of confidence that one can achieve a lot more in life.
My most crucial step/assignment: My decision to take up a role in GE’s back office call center including night shifts was probably the first time I moved from being an individual contributor to a team leader. This is where I got a chance to manage a team and really see operations at the ground level, as well as to understand what makes both the people and the processes tick at the ground level.
My Advice: The first thing is to set the right goals, and to do this one needs to understand his/her capabilities. Being able to deliver on weak areas gives one a lot of confidence which is a critical success factor for growth.
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 Dr. Amarnath Ananthanarayanan, CEO & MD, Bharti AXA General Insurance

Dr. Amarnath Ananthanarayanan, CEO and MD, Bharti AXA GI shares his first job experience

My First Job: I started out as a teacher at the age of 22 in the US. However, my entry into the corporate world was when I was 27, when I started working for GE Capital in India. My role involved identifying opportunities for private equity and joint ventures for the company in the Indian IT and BPO space.

My experience: I worked first with the Business Development team in GE Capital. It was a team of energetic and smart people, who were highly knowledgeable and motivated. They helped me get a better understanding of the profession. This was my first exposure to the interesting world of insurance and provided learning opportunities across multiple functions especially in the area of risk analytics.

Things I learnt:

• One of the major lessons I learnt is the importance of clear, open and continuous communication between the stakeholders. Whether the news is good or bad, it is essential to keep all the stakeholders in the loop. This helps the company in growing together as a strong team. This is one thing I strongly practice in Bharti AXA General Insurance too.
• Another aspect I learnt from GE is to have confidence in people and taking calculated risks.
• Focus on the bigger picture: Try to look at things from a holistic perspective and come out with solutions that will bring about the best result for the organisation as a whole, rather than concentrating on small hurdles.
• Teamwork is a very important factor in any organization. To work together in a team towards a single objective is very important.

Skills I acquired: Two of the main tenets I approach work with are communication and openness. I maintain an open-door policy and encourage my colleagues to walk in and talk to me at any point in time. We also have a structured system called ‘Meet the Top’ that enables me to meet employees from across functions and hierarchies in small informal gatherings. On the business side, a risk taking, entrepreneurial attitude are imperative for individual and organizational growth, and these are the qualities I encourage and try to develop in my team.

My manager’s teaching: My first manager taught the importance of an entrepreneurial attitude and the courage to take risks. His encouragement trained me to always think big and also plan big and to never inhibit my creativity. I learnt to give 100% of myself to everything I did and this came from his passion for his work. I follow his example of having a positive problem solving approach instead of complaining about things.

My biggest achievement: I think moving from a purely academic background to settling in in a business role in the corporate sector to me is a big achievement.

My journey so far: I have always tried to look for learning opportunities and taken roles where I have had no previous experience and may not be best equipped to do the job. The reason for doing this is that if one is able to do even an average job on something which is an area of improvement it gives a huge sense of confidence that one can achieve a lot more in life.

My most crucial step/assignment: My decision to take up a role in GE’s back office call center including night shifts was probably the first time I moved from being an individual contributor to a team leader. This is where I got a chance to manage a team and really see operations at the ground level, as well as to understand what makes both the people and the processes tick at the ground level.

My Advice: The first thing is to set the right goals, and to do this one needs to understand his/her capabilities. Being able to deliver on weak areas gives one a lot of confidence which is a critical success factor for growth.

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