We had the fortune of interacting with one of DSE’s finest – Mr Gagandeep Pahwa, of the ’12 MIB batch. From being selected among the top four for the prestigious Tata Administrative Services out of over a thousand candidates to his current office as Senior Product Manager at Salesforce, our interviewee has carved out a distinguished career path. His journey spans diverse leadership roles in product management and sales before focusing his passion and expertise on cybersecurity and cloud security. Driven by a desire to build impactful products and committed to mentoring, he offers a unique perspective on personal growth, leadership, and navigating the evolving tech landscape.
Okay, sir. The first question that we have for you is, from being among the top four selected for the Tata Administrative Services out of over a thousand to now mentoring cybersecurity experience, what has your journey taught you about personal growth and resilience?
I think personal growth is fundamentally driven by a constant desire to learn and grow. My motto is to remain open to new opportunities and evaluate them based on how they contribute to my personal and professional development. This journey inevitably involves challenges, and navigating them while upholding core values like ethics and integrity is crucial. Learning itself is a key value I espouse. By maintaining a strong ethical compass, a commitment to continuous learning, and focusing on leveraging one's strengths, it's possible to overcome any situation. My past experiences, including the Tata Administrative Services selection and my current role in cybersecurity, have reinforced this belief. They've built the muscle that shows having your values in place, a learning mindset, and a drive for results empowers you to achieve anything. This is the core of my personal motto.
That's great to hear, sir. We'll surely try to learn from that. The second question that I have for you is that you have held leadership roles across product, security, and sales domain. What has helped you stay agile and relevant while navigating such diverse spaces, given how much change is going on in the recent years?
Staying agile and relevant across diverse domains like product, security, and sales relies on recognizing that certain skills are constant and transferable. Communication, stakeholder management, aligning people, and building relationships are foundational skills that are applicable everywhere. As industries evolve rapidly, especially with technological advancements, adaptability is non-negotiable. My approach has been to lean into my strengths – strong communication, relationship management, and people alignment – as these have served me well across different roles.
Equally important is maintaining a persistent learning mindset and actively seeking opportunities to acquire new skills. These opportunities arise constantly, whether they involve hard skills, functional expertise, or soft skills. You shouldn't shy away from them. It's vital to keep your long-term career direction in mind. For instance, if you aim to be technology-aligned, take challenging and rewarding opportunities within that space, even if they differ significantly from your current role, as long as they align with your broader goals. These bold calls are necessary for growth and agility. By embracing opportunities, prioritizing learning, and consistently upskilling yourself in both functional and soft areas, you can achieve significant success. A large part of my success can be attributed to this continuous learning and adaptability.
Right, sir. It is said that if you get the right mentorship on the right time, then your journey in your career becomes relatively easy. What role has mentorship and community played in shaping your own career?
Mentorship has played a significant role, and my view on it is quite broad. Mentorship doesn't always have to come from a formal guide; it can be derived from a person's values and principles. You can learn from someone you've never met by understanding their core values and considering how they might approach a situation. This allows you to emulate their principles.
Beyond that, I've learned from both good and challenging managers. Mentorship is a two-way street; you choose mentors, and potential mentors also look for individuals who demonstrate a hunger for growth, knowledge, and learning. If they see genuine effort, many people are willing to offer advice. The key is to seek out individuals whose values, skills, and growth goals align with yours. Learning doesn't always require a structured program; informal interactions can be highly valuable. You can learn from people across different age groups, domains, and levels of experience.
I believe the ability to benefit from mentorship is fundamentally linked to your mindset. It's about being open to learning, regardless of the source. I've learned from CEOs of the Tata Group and from junior colleagues just starting their careers. Your positive approach to learning from others, understanding your own goals, and actively seeking knowledge is what facilitates mentorship, not just the availability of potential mentors. Individuals with fewer resources can still find valuable mentors if they have the right mindset, while some with abundant access may fail to absorb the guidance. Your mindset is key to obtaining that valuable advice and leadership insight.
Very well said, sir. I really like what you said about it being our mindset other than the mentors. Now, we would like to ask some questions that are more about your corporate experience. We start with, in today's AI-augmented tech landscape, how do you see the role of cybersecurity leadership evolving, especially when it's difficult to draw the line nowadays?
The current AI-augmented tech landscape is characterized by massive and accelerating technological change. It's evident that individuals and organizations that fail to keep pace and upskill will struggle to survive. This has always been true, but the speed of AI-driven disruption makes it acutely visible now. Cybersecurity, as a domain deeply embedded in the technology landscape, is directly impacted. Leaders in this space must cultivate an open mindset towards change. I recently discussed this idea of "gatekeepers" – individuals or systems that resist new technology versus those who embrace it. The openness to adopting and experimenting with new technology is a clear differentiator for future success.
Within cybersecurity specifically, AI is transforming capabilities. I think about this through a framework I call "with AI, against AI, and for AI." "Working with AI" means leveraging AI tools to enhance cybersecurity practices, solving problems faster, and improving defense against attacks. "Against AI" addresses the reality that attackers are also using AI, necessitating defenses specifically designed to counter AI-powered threats. "For AI" focuses on securing AI systems themselves – protecting AI infrastructures, LLM models, and AI-built services from harm.
Cybersecurity leadership in this era requires understanding this multifaceted impact of AI. Leaders must manage the integration of AI into security operations, develop strategies to combat AI-driven attacks, and ensure the security of AI deployments. The pace of change is the key challenge, and leaders need to learn how to effectively manage AI within their teams and organizations. Building systems that encourage and reward the use of AI is vital because it offers a significant boost to productivity and enables new ways of thinking and operating that were previously impossible. This understanding of the AI-augmented landscape is essential for cybersecurity leaders.
Absolutely, sir. That was a very well-thoughted answer. Now, just talking about your experience at the Tata Group, you assumed a lot of responsibility at a relatively early stage of your career. We'd love to hear your experiences, what major challenges you faced and how they contributed to your growth.
Taking on significant responsibility early in my career at the Tata Group presented unique challenges, primarily due to having high responsibility with relatively low experience, especially in a hierarchical structure where seniority was often linked to age. It was challenging to convince more experienced colleagues and superiors that a young person, a fresher compared to many, could genuinely add value.
Overcoming this involved several things. Firstly, it demanded significantly more effort and longer hours. Working harder was a given, a necessity when you are being doubted and questioned. Secondly, maintaining a sober and ethical approach was crucial. Despite temptations and potential shortcuts, upholding integrity and ethics meant often taking the longer, more difficult path, and accepting that this was necessary. Thirdly, while innovation and thinking differently were encouraged, it was vital to ensure that innovation wasn't pursued just for the sake of being different. If something is unconventional, there's often a reason why others aren't doing it. Innovation needed to bring genuine value, not just novelty.
Balancing the need to bring differential value by doing things differently with the importance of aligning stakeholders was a constant challenge. There was friction and clashes. Sometimes, you are brought in specifically to create a "storm in a teacup," but judgment is needed to decide which battles are worth fighting to achieve the desired results. There were instances where my capabilities were questioned, even when I knew I was right, and I had to use judgment to not engage in that particular fight. Similarly, there were times I was given responsibilities I knew I couldn't fully fulfill, and accepting that was also part of the learning process.
This judgment develops over time. I'm fortunate that I was given the leeway to make mistakes. Crucially, my hard work often compensated for those errors. If I made five mistakes but achieved ten positive outcomes, the net result was favorable. The key is to compensate for less experience or age with hard work, integrity, and strong values. Striking this balance while continuously moving forward was essential.
You have to keep proving yourself again and again, is what I understand from this.
Yes, proving yourself is a constant in any career. But in that specific situation at Tata Group, the burden of proof was particularly heavy. Being given the same designation and pay as colleagues with a decade more experience meant you had to actively stand out and outperform them. That created a uniquely demanding environment.
Right, sir. We're fortunate enough to be able to call you our alumnus. Just looking back, what advice would you give your younger self during the time that you were in DSE?
Looking back at my time at DSE (Delhi School of Economics), I see that we initiated many new things – like setting up the IISAC committee and starting the Symposia. We also improved and increased the frequency of batch visits. While at the time it sometimes felt like these efforts lacked support or immediate benefit, seeing that initiatives like IISAC and Symposia are still active and built upon by current students is incredibly rewarding.
The advice I'd give my younger self is twofold. First, get involved in as many activities as possible. The exposure gained through participation in committees and functional activities at DSE is unparalleled and something you won't experience again in your career. For instance, being part of a committee allows you to interact with alumni in ways your peers don't. Subconsciously, you gain skills and insights valuable for the future. Be patient and trust that the effort you put in will yield long-term benefits. While balancing the academic grind and social life is important, actively combine it with committee work and other activities. These experiences build character, provide exposure, and help you explore your personality. I participated significantly, but if I knew then how beneficial it would be, I would have done even more.
Second, this advice is more relevant now given the changed landscape compared to when I graduated, but it's crucial for today's students. As you approach graduation, understand that the job market is shifting. Functional expertise and domain knowledge are becoming increasingly valuable, while general management skills, as they were understood a decade ago, are less so. This is largely due to AI. AI can now handle a significant portion of basic functional and general management tasks. An MBA degree alone, especially from a tier 2 institution, is not a guarantee of success in the long term.
The key is to leverage your unique personality, skills, and capabilities, and crucially, use AI to augment them. You must learn how to use AI effectively to increase your productivity, acquire new skills, and contribute more than someone who isn't using AI or isn't using it well. Going forward, there will primarily be two categories of people: those who use AI well and those who don't leverage it effectively. If you're in the first category, focus on how to combine AI with your strengths and domain knowledge to maximize your contribution. As students from a data analytics background, you have a potential advantage as it signals technological inclination, but you must actively build on this by learning to effectively use AI. This will be a non-negotiable skill in the future job market.
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