Why Cognizant India

Rajesh Nambiar, chairman and managing director, Cognizant India, was appointed as president of digital business & technology of the overall organisation earlier this year. An alumnus of Indian Statistical Institute and Harvard Business School, Nambiar talks about having multiple mentors and practising the concept of ‘psychological safety’ at work. Business leaders like Steve Jobs from whom I learnt that making your thinking clean and simple is hard work, and comes from conquering complexity; the Tatas with whom I worked for nearly two decades and learned that people are the greatest assets; Warren Buffet, who said risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing. I had worked with Amy Edmondson, a professor of leadership and management at Harvard Business School, and one of the things she works on is this notion of ‘Psychological Safety’ in the workplace, which I have been able to use effectively with my teams. As a mentor and a leader establishing a larger culture of 'Psychological Safety’ my emphasis is on creating an environment where people feel safe to speak up with confidence, stand up for the right thing, and own up to mistakes without the fear of being perceived negatively.