Prepare the Next Generation
The Story
When it comes to mentorship, Stephen has always taken the “mosaic” approach. Early in his career, there wasn’t one specific mentor who left an impression on him. Instead, he found that every leader he worked with had an exceptional, unique quality that he admired.
At Booz Allen Hamilton, he respected his boss Alan Durling’s sense of humour, wit, and ability to take risks. At Infosys, he considers the company’s co-founder, Nandan Nilekani, to be the best leader he has ever worked for because he was fearless, very fair, and supportive. There are countless others over the years who have influenced him in some way.
As a leader himself, Stephen feels responsible for preparing the next generation of leaders. He always makes an effort to pass down the lessons he has learned, while infusing some of his own advice.
When working with future leaders, he works to instill a sense of purpose in them, and emphasize the importance of how they treat each other, their customers, and their societies. At Noodle, he came up with a set of company values – and how he wanted staff to conduct themselves – that encompasses his theory for successful leadership: B CHILL.
B stands for “bring” the whole self. People spend a lot of time at work, and oftentimes, companies expect them to be corporate robots. Stephen wanted Noodle’s staff to bring their creativity and expressiveness to the job.
C stands for “connect” with each other. Make an effort to focus on building relationships with colleagues, society, and customers.
H is for “help” people be successful. This one is Stephen’s personal favorite, because he believes that a strong leader is one who helps the people around them achieve success. If a leader can make that happen, people will want to work with them.
I stands for “intention,” which means aligning goals with the company’s intention. For example, Noodle’s purpose was to create a world without waste. Therefore, the team aligned everything they did with the intention of waste reduction.
L stands for “learn.” If someone is not learning, they’re going backwards. Whether it’s reading, or listening to podcasts, Stephen believes that it’s important to try to learn something new every day.
The final L stands for “live.” Recognize that life consists of working many hours, which is why it is important to set up a good foundation for a happy life. Also, allow future employees to live their lives -because in the end, people are more important than companies.
The Impact
Throughout his career, Stephen has always tried to instill these values in the leaders of tomorrow.
While teaching at Stanford Business School, he shared his expertise and advice with students as they embarked on their business careers. Through organizations like The World Economic Forum, he often connects with young people who are driven to create change – and encourages them to pursue their passion to make the world a better place. At Deloitte and Infosys, Stephen always strived to mentor the companies’ budding consultants who showed great promise in the business.
For Stephen, it has been very rewarding to see the young leaders, who he’s mentored, find success in life. Ravi Kumar, who used to work for him at Infosys Consulting, is now the CEO of Cognizant. Jeff Alpert, who he worked with at Noodle, has gone on to start his own company, Pillar AI. Jen Gamble, one of Noodle’s early data scientists, has also pursued entrepreneurial work.
There are many others who Stephen has guided over the years, and continues to mentor, who are emerging leaders that will make an impact on the world. His hope is that he is part of a mosaic that makes an impact on future leaders – and that they pass some of his lessons, as well as their own, to the generation that follows them.