Over the few years, our team size in Vishwak has grown from less than 50 to over 150 now. This means as the CEO of the company, I don’t get to meet often, every team member individually, have a chat with them and get to know them better. So, a few months ago we experimented with a program titled “Coffee with Venkat”, obviously inspired by the TV talk show by a similar name. This is a bi-monthly event normally held on the First & the Third Saturday of every month.

Venkatarangan Thirumalai (right) talking to our team members in our Redmond (WA) office
I spend an hour or so with randomly selected team members over a cup of filter coffee. We discuss any topic. Only one condition – no work-related topics. I have done over half a dozen of these programs so far, and mostly the topics they choose to talk about are around their aspirations, ambitions, school/college days and future plans. After every session, I feel extremely energized and inspired. I highly recommend this to every business unit manager or organization head.