Microsoft Executive Shares Her Leadership Secrets | Pooja Sund

On this episode of The Artists of Data Science, we get a chance to hear from Pooja Sund, a technology leader who has over two decades of global technology and financial experience delivering business and organizational impact across a variety of roles.

Her contributions and expertise have led her to be a powerful leader and energizer, and she currently serves as the Director of Technology and Analytics at Microsoft.

She gives insight into her journey into working for Microsoft, her tips to becoming more self-aware, and how she energizes her teams.

Pooja shares with us his powerful journey from switching career paths and landing her dream job at Microsoft. This episode is packed with advice, wisdom, and tips about cultivating a growth mindset.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
[10:29] Desirable qualities of a data scientist

[17:38] Why mindset is key

[24:32] How to develop self-awareness

Find Pooja Online
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pooja3p/

QUOTES
[7:03] "You need to really look at the things that are in front of you and decide what are the things that excite you…"

[12:42] …"Rather than jumping in, take time to understand the problem."

[24:42] "I have seen people, including me, thinking that… I need to keep on learning…there's nothing wrong with it but at times you'll need to really look at the arsenal that you have created for yourself."

SHOW NOTES
[02:47] The introduction for our guest today

[04:57] Pooja talks to us about the path she took from finance into data analytics and shares some tips for those making a similar transition

[08:43] She shares some things that aren't taught in school about leadership, how to think outside the box so that you can align your team goals with the greater organizational goals, and tells us about the "mindshare mindset".

[10:17] Pooja talks to us about the things we can do to cultivate the qualities of a good leader within ourselves, and what she is looking for when she's interviewing candidates.

[11:54] She talks to us about her philisophy that insights aren't useful without understanding the key question to be answered and gives us tips for how we can cut through the BS to get to the heart of the question and find out the key question to be answered.

[15:10] Pooja gives us her take on what it means to be a thought leader in data science and how one would be a thought leader even if they're operating out of an individual contributor role.

[17:14] We talk about how to go from the "impossible" to the "i'm possible" mindset

[20:55] We discuss the importance of the growth mindset, the nearly unlimited potential of human beings, and how the pursuit of skills is never time lost.

[24:32] Pooja gives us her definition of executive presence and how important it is to be self-aware.

[26:16] Pooja talks to us about servant leadership and why its so important. You're only a leader if people want to follow you, and everyone get's a bigger piece of the pie if we all work together to make the pie bigger.

[27:24] Pooja talks to us about her experience being a women in tech, and that you need to be assertive and bring your ideas to the table.

[27:45] The one thing Pooja wants all of us to learn from her story.

[28:55] The lightning round