An Interview with Senior HR Leader of AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals

Ravi Sathyakumar
​HR Director, AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals

1. Challenging aspects of your Job… 
Aligning the interests of individuals with the organization and ensuring the long-term career growth of each individual.

2. One thing that makes you passionate about HR
HR helps to bring out the best in human beings and turn, helps to contribute to the society better-cultured people.

3. Your significant achievements…

• Executed 13 long-term win-win settlements with the union. 
• Won the Company's Regional Award, Regional VP Award, Country President's Award, and CEO Awards.
• Hired people from various parts of the country and developed them to take up critical positions in the Company.

4. Your secret of success…
Expect less and deliver more. Remember that only your results will become your success mantras.

5. As a leader, what do you think you have as a leader that sets you apart from other leaders?
Focus on ROI and Internal & External Customer Experience. Being available to the team when they are really needed.

6. What is Self-Leadership?
Self-leadership is a strength, which I demonstrate in my role to achieve my personal and professional goals in line with my team and organizational goals. Self-leadership helps me realize my accountability and responsibility from the perspective of others.

7. How do you sustain your passion for HR?
I am not just curious about HR, I am curious about business strategies, business challenges, and how HR can make significant contributions to the business. This attitude is helping me to sustain my passion for HR.

8. What is more important Experience or Attitude?
Obviously, attitude. The right attitude can help you get the right experience. In the selection process, I give first priority to attitude and next to experience. 

9. What is the future of HR? 
The future of HR will be… 
- Using data to make strategic decisions. 
- Moving from General HR strategies to Individual-based strategies. 
- Time-based salary revisions to result-based salary revisions. 
- Service-provider to Solution-provider. 
- Focusing on culture fit rather than technical fit. 

10. Employee Satisfaction or Employee Experience… 
Employee Satisfaction and Employee Engagement are a part of Employee Experience. The Employee Experience is the sum of the various insights employees have about their organization. 

11. What is the art of becoming a Human Resources Director?
- Understand the business of the organization as owner.  
- Understand and deliver what the Board of Directors expects from HR. 
- Reach colleagues and develop healthy rapport. 
- Think globally and act locally & strategically. 
- Have strong USPs. 
- Be a solution leader than only an activity leader.

12. Have you failed? 
It is impossible to find a person who is never failed.  Several times, I have not met my targets, missed deadlines, made big mistakes, and could not handle things as expected by my superiors. Nevertheless, all these failures have made me stronger and stronger. I thank all those failures for teaching me great lessons.
My failures have made me who I am today....!

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Interviewed by
​Shekhar Ganagaluru
HR Professional and Author 

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Leaders Talk-An initiative of Niruta Publications. www.nirutapublications.org

Ravi Sathyakumar Interview
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