San Francisco Chief People Officer Leverages Her Strengths To Succeed In Business
A chief people officer is much more than just a company's human resource director, especially for San Francisco tech companies like GoodData. In today's competitive global business world, valuable leaders such as Divya Ghatak have multiple responsibilities, including landing talented individuals, employee retention and helping facilitate a company's growth. Despite a demanding position at a company whose clients include HP, Virgin America, Comcast and Target, she managed to find time to share her wisdom to students and job seekers hoping to find a rewarding business career in San Francisco.
What is your background and education?
"My mother was my biggest influence growing up. She worked two jobs while teaching me the value of commitment to my goals and how to work hard. I studied economics at Delhi University, thinking I'd pursue an academic career in defining economic policy for developing nations. My mother again influenced me as she recommended I consider an alternate career that would leverage my natural strengths more and she pointed me directly to the master's program in human resources at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. As I learned more, I was hooked and have never looked back!"
How has your degree helped you in your current position?
"The process of getting my master's degree helped me bridge my theoretical understanding of business and HR with its practical implementation. The program's uniquely combines coursework and experiential learning by assigning students to work directly with multinational companies, spending one to two days each week with the HR department. The program's academic focus dove into legal, psychology, business and organizational behavior, all important components of my current position."
What advice can you share to people interested in a business career?
"Technology is one of the most complex career paths you can choose today. To be successful, you need three sets of core capabilities. First, you need to be strong technically and have the drive to learn and refine your skills on an ongoing basis. Second, you need to be passionate about understanding the business that you operate in and care about the problems you are trying to solve for your customers and have that mindset. Last but not the least, you should be able to connect with people to build relationships and seek out mentoring opportunities."
Randy Yagi is a freelance writer covering all things San Francisco. In 2012, he was awarded a Media Fellowship from Stanford University. His work can be found on Examiner.com Examiner.com.
