Being a man who shapes the fortunes of one of the world’s leading data & cloud companies is a lot of responsibility and requires not just professional skills but also personal integrity & character to succeed. Get up close & personal with Samuel John Varghese, the Vice President of Marketing for CtrlS & Cloud4C as he talks about his life, journey, and personal attributes that help him succeed on the professional front.
- Can you briefly talk about your work & career?
I lead the marketing efforts for a data centre and cloud managed services company – CtrlS & Cloud4C. The first part of my job is creating brand awareness for CtrlS & Cloud4C across 25 countries where we are present. While the second part involves lead generation across these countries to fuel revenue growth for these two companies.
To accomplish these, I am involved in the setting of up a full-scale marketing centre of excellence, which has a listening centre, a story telling centre, a content factory, a design studio, and a digital marketing & amplification engine.
Prior to this role I worked in various industries such as Pharma, Real Estate, Market Research, and Strategy Consulting with brands like Nicholas Piramal, Dr Reddy’s, Deloitte, and Lanco.
- What inspired you to pick this career option/path?
I had a passion for marketing and used to love watching ads and understanding the mechanics involved in influencing the target audience. To evangelize a brand came naturally to me. And thus, I pursued MBA from IIM Calcutta where I took more of strategic marketing courses to help me sharpen my marketing skills.
- What is your everyday motivation to do your best in your work life?
My daily dose of inspiration and energy comes from the Bible. As I read and mediate upon the scriptures, it inspires me to become more and more like my role model, Jesus Christ. Jesus gave His everything, to accomplish His Father’s business here on earth. And likewise, I believe that each one of us also have a specific purpose for our lives.
The purposes and plan that God has for each one of us is unique and we have to strive to accomplish the same.
My work gives me an opportunity to love and glorify God and it also provides me an opportunity to love my fellow workers who are my neighbours at work. To be able to accomplish each of these and become like Jesus is my motivation each day.
- What has been the most challenging phase of your career thus far?
I believe that each role comes with its own challenges and God trains you accordingly to manage the greater scale of the challenges. The greatest challenge I face in each role is to do make my work transformational than just transactional. It’s very easy to do transactions. As a believer we have to integrate our faith with our work to achieve transformational results.
- Can you give us an insight into your childhood & formative years?
My childhood was highly influenced by my Sunday School at church and parents at home, they were simple and honest people trying to do their best to raise us, and this greatly influenced not just me but my brother as well.
Both of us brothers indulged in our share of naughtiness and mischief, but always realigned ourselves to our personal relationship with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
- How much of an impact do they have on your career?
The base that we lay in our childhood gives us a strong foundation to rely upon when we face the future storms. If our foundation is on the rock Lord Jesus, then we will not be shaken. We become resilient, full of hope amidst adversity
- What keeps you grounded in life, and what is the significance of being grounded?
The fact that we consider others as valuable as we are helps me be grounded. The fact that we have so much to learn from others keeps me humble. As I look back on how I did overcome challenges of my life, I know that the strong hand of the Lord was with me, without which I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish anything.
The fact that we survive and thrive on His grace keeps me grounded each day.
- What according to you makes a good leader in today’s world?
A good leader is always a servant leader. We are stewards whom God has entrusted us with power, wealth, influence. And we are supposed to use our talents to serve others. If we are having an attitude to serve, then we will become like our role model Jesus who conquered the hearts and minds and soul of the mankind.
- How do you deal with mistakes?
The first part is to recognize and acknowledge that we have made a mistake. And the second is to correct it. If there is a second or third-party involved or impacted by your mistake, then one has to take measures to restore the relationship not just in mere words but in action.
- How will you describe your journey of life so far?
My journey has been full of discoveries. Discoveries about myself, about people whom God placed in my life, and discovering I can solve a problem with the help of God.
Also, discovering how imperfect we are and then discovering each day as to how much more we need His grace and have the glorious hope of resurrection to have an eternal life with our beloved saviour.
