Gautam Mathur, Director of Product Business

Gautam Mathur

Director of Product Business, The Boston Consulting Group

Q. What are the key things you were looking from IPL’s workshop?

The idea was to develop a product oriented mind-set and start getting folks to think in terms of products instead of projects. A very well curated workshop that was able to deliver the idea across a team of 120 professionals. We have a great appreciation to Mr. Pinkesh for the way he executed the workshop. Since we were looking for more hands-on exercises to do, we got exactly the same from the actual practitioners. It was a great session for us to focus more on product curriculum through IPL.

Q. Why did you choose IPL?

I share a history with IPL which dates back to 4-5 years. We were looking for a group specialized in bringing a product perspective whether it was in terms of development, design, commercialization or operating model business. IPL was our natural choice because it has renowned faculty and has produced best Product Leaders. This is why we will continue to work with IPL.

Q. What is the before and after impact of the workshop on your team members?

At time, we were very project -focused and lacked fresh innovative thinking about why we are creating products in the first place. We did not have answers for what is the business plan we are trying to solve by creating this product or who are the users or our target audiences.

After the workshop, there was a huge difference in the body language of the team members. The whole perspective towards work changed as an element of curiosity developed among them. They started paying attention to understand the who-what-why of a product.

Highlights of the workshop:

Flexibility and contextualization. We did not want a cookie cutter kind of a workshop where theory is delivered. We were looking for a complete hands-on exercises workshop. IPL contextualized what BCG wanted and their activities were based on it.
It was not a standard power point presentation kind of workshop. It involved stories that created an impact from a product perspective among the team members.
Post workshop, language in the team changed as they started using certain frameworks delivered by the practitioners which certainly rendered as a positive note.

Q. What is your message to other corporate leaders looking to enhance their skills?

There is a shift in thought from service to product. It is important for every business to develop a product mind-set and to truly understand the user’s interaction with it. Developing a product sense is the key, as humans interact with them on a daily basis knowingly or unknowingly. Therefore, it is important to adopt for on-going changes by giving space for innovation to meet customers need.