Molding students into prolific business professionals, the IIMs have emerged as the key drivers of the management education of our country and amongst them all, IIM Lucknow aces the list. As one of the premium educational platforms that have taken the responsibility of converting the students of today into the industry stalwarts of tomorrow, IIM Lucknow has nurtured many young minds to equip them with industry-relevant skills. One such phenomenon is Preeti Singh who is leveraging her years of industry expertise to coxswain her present organization CIMGLOBAL - a leading catalyst and key driver of innovation in the PCO industry. Positioned as the Director of Association Management of the organization, Preeti works with the associations that are looking forward to establishing a footprint in India, the Middle East, or Southeast Asia. A new-age leader with an exclusive knack for innovation and transformation, Preeti has been catapulting the success of the firm by designing and delivering strategies that build stronger leadership capabilities and business opportunities.

Below is an excerpt of Preeti’s interview with Women Entrepreneur Magazine.

What Are The Various Roles & Responsibilities That You Currently Shoulder At CIMGLOBAL? What Are Some Of The Most Pressing Challenges That You Face As The Director And How Do You Successfully Tackle Them?

At CIMGLOBAL, myrole comprises association management, which essentially means that I manage the associations that are looking forward to setting up a footprint outside of America. Owing to my expertise in functioning across South Asia, I have been working along with the associations as a strategic consulting partner.

So, in terms of challenges, nowa lot of associations are looking at India, because of the geopolitical situations that have arisen in the last couple of years. India is being viewed as a potential market for all the associations to set their footprint. In India, the government has put weight behind some of the industry segments, and associations pertaining to those industry segments are interested in the footprint to be able to capitalize on where the growth is. But the challenge I am currently facing is the mindset of India being not a favorable destination for business, though things have changed a lot in the last few years. I have set up my own business in India, and I am pleasantly surprised with how efficient the system is working. So, the challenge lies in communicating the same back to the associations to look for their footprint here in India.

As A Business Leader What Are Some Key Leadership Philosophies And Strategies That You Leverage To Ensure Business Success?

There are times when everything is going well, but you suddenly hit a rock bottom and that's a part of the leadership journey. So, I follow a very basic principle which is ‘circle of influence’, and then I try to figure out, whether the thing that's bothering me, is in my circle of influence? How does it really impact my business? Or does it impact the objectives that I'm hoping to achieve? And if it is outside my circle of influence and it is not directly affecting anything, then I move on. I think that has been one of the basic philosophies that have helped me to overcome some of the negative energies I have come across. Being greatly optimistic and persistent, I have had the pleasure of achieving my goals ahead of time.

 In Your Opinion What Have Been Some Of The Most Significant Milestones That You Have Achieved So Far In Your Professional Journey?

 I have the ability to share or pass on the knowledge that I have learned because I believe in consistent learning.You never know from whom you're going to learn something new and it is always better to keep

an open mind to be able to absorb what is happening around you. All the achievements that I actually have achieved in my career are not only because of me, but also because there was a team that was working with me, and we were able to do a lot of things together. For example, in YPO, the member retention in South Asia was the highest across the entire global community because the entire team was working very closely with the people. Amongst the entire team, we were the highest renewed region, year on year.

"You never know from whom you're going to learn something new, always keep an open mind to be able to absorb the happenings around"

All those 10 years, South Asia was always on top with approx. 99%, whereas the global average was close 90%, by taking into consideration all of the regions. We launched a maximum number of new chapters and there was a lot of membership development, all acrossbecause we were able to find the right kind of champions to deliver what we had as an objective. The key thing that I have learned is to always have smart goals in place to help you keep everything very tangible. And those are the results that you can really enjoy at the end of what you do.

How Do You Keep Yourself Well Aligned With The Periodic Evolutions Occurring Within Your Respective Field Of Work And The Tech Landscape?

Change is necessary to keep growing.In my entire span of 27 years, I think I have been fortunate to movein at the right time into something new. That has helped me to keep on evolving because whenevera challenge is thrown and you experience a little bit of change, you grow a bit. With a learning attitude, I ventured into many verticals to widen my horizonof learning and what I have learned over the years, I’m grateful that I can share that knowledge. Digitization has become the new norm and we are wondering what the future unfolds. The scenario has changed in terms of how you can transact; whether it is a digital transactionor a physical transaction. The key is to keep learning, growing and evolving, alongside staying flexible.

Preeti Singh, Director, CIM GLobal

An adherent professional with more than 27 years of experience in strategy development, strategy implementation, client management, business development, leadership hiring, working with C Suite, and managing teams, Preeti is currently driving innovation at CIMGLOBAL. Developing key relationships across the verticals of CIMGLOBAL, Preeti is currentlycreating positive business outcomes for the organization.