Skip to main content

Woman Achiever: Sridevi Koneru

Sridevi Koneru, a woman with a competitive spirit and courageous outlook, who drives the career of 120 employees as Director of Wireless Networking Business Unit at Cisco.

To succeed we first must believe we can.” Sridevi Koneru at Cisco corroborates these words of Michael Korda. “Always believe in yourself and follow your instincts, be true to yourself and you will achieve your goals.” she asserts. Today, her self-belief has paid off, as she leads the wireless technology business unit driving critical product development and business decisions at Cisco. As the Director of Wireless Networking Business Unit at Cisco India, she drives the careers of 120 employees, enhancing their performance and productivity while developing wireless networking solutions.

Her thirst to learn more motivated her to pursue a Master’s degree in Computer Science after her graduation in the same discipline. “No one pushed me to take up Computer Science. I was good at mathematics and very analytical by nature, so it came to me easily,” she says. Filled with vigour and impatient by nature, Sridevi was rearing to start her career and joined her Professor’s start-up and then later a company called ‘Compression Labs’, a video conferencing solution provider, while studying for her Master’s degree. Once out of the university she joined ‘Stratacom’.

“I view every change as an inflection point”, she says. Sridevi, who was married by the time she finished her Master’s degree, found that she needed to adapt to the demands of raising a family, after sometime. For a while she was caught in a dilemma, faced by a lot of women, on how to strike an optimum work life balance. She had begun to work part time but felt that she was not doing justice to her career. During these times, she felt she was given projects as they required less expertise and she couldn’t demonstrate her capabilities through them. The zeal to establish her career and to build her own identity dawned on her only with the birth of her daughter. “The birth of my daughter was the turning point in my life and career. I realized the need to be an individual, the need to identify with my own life and the need to manage my career. After her birth, my mere job turned into my full-fledged career,” Sridevi expresses nostalgically. With the help of her supportive family she returned to work full time. She also managed to disprove the preconceived notions of others who questioned her ability to be a good mother and managed to achieve the much desired balance in her roles as a wife, mother, and a career woman.

The acquisition of Stratacom by Cisco was the silver lining in her career. She went onto to lead Cisco’s wireless networking business space. From then onwards there was no looking back for this spirited lady.

Her competitive spirit, her courageous outlook and ability to take risks are traits that she attributes to her active interest in sports which ranges from volleyball, hiking to adventure sports.

While change is constant in most of the realms, technology is one realm where change takes the fastest, and this makes Sridevi, who welcomes change, ideally suited for this domain. Her quest for challenges and constant improvement in everything makes her a catalyst for change, for the better, in every aspect of her life and career. It didn’t take her much time to bring in changes within Cisco that helped improve the efficiency of the processes she was responsible for. Even in the regular work environment, which mainly involves customer interactions, she makes as effort to instill changes for the better, every day in small ways. Sometimes, this could be building new strategies to help the sales team with information to support their sales efforts, while at other times it could be efficient resolution of product support issues.

Her experiences have helped her analyze her team’s aspirations better and guided them well. And at times, she has even opened up opportunities for the people who showed interest in exploring territory in their respective careers. “There was a situation where one of my engineers expressed interest in customer facing projects. So when an opportunity came up, I asked her to accompany me to a customer conference and conduct the workshop and interface with the customer and partner audience. That helped her exposure and built her confidence and over time, she transitioned into a customer support engineer and now excels at it!” says Sridevi.

While Sridevi started her career in a technical role, she opted to pursue an MBA from Wharton, University of Pennsylvania to allow her to venture into the business world as a leader that would use the combination of her management experience and business skills. At Cisco she is involved in managing the different technology areas for various customer segments.

“Back in the 1990s the avenues to receive mentoring at work were limited, unlike today, where you are spoilt for choice” says Sridevi, who now ensures that her team has the mentoring opportunities that she did not have. Although customer interactions and developing product roadmaps keep her busy most of the time, employee development is always a priority for her. She spends time to understand the members of the 200 person team that she manages, each of whom has a personality different from the other and she reacts accordingly. The strength of any team lies in realizing the diverse skills of each member and using those skills for a common goal. Being honest and transparent with her employees also helps her build a better team. “I want to share more of my professional experience with the larger community. For example, every year I visit rural schools in India to talk about the benefits of education in general and Cisco certification in particular, because I know this will give students a way to help uplift their family and community, at large,” she says.

Sridevi who opted for the career she did because it did not involve much hard work for her and came to her easily, today maintains that there is no substitute for hard work. She believes that luck happens when opportunity meets preparation.

The versatility that is enabled by technology makes it a good career option for capable women and Sridevi embodies this aspect. Technology today gives her the flexibility to determine when and how she works and enhances her productivity.

Talking about work-life balance Sridevi asserts, “One could be career oriented and still maintain a work-life balance as personal life is of prime importance to any professional. An organization like Cisco also gives me the flexibility to do so”. In case an emergency at home requires her intervention she does not have to think twice about voicing her concerns and leaving office, even in the middle of an important meeting. She expects and gives the same level of understanding and flexibility to everyone in her team, without compromising on work.

It is determination that helped her achieve success in her career; but till today Sridevi owes her career to the one person who inadvertently set her on course to achieve her goals in life, her daughter. She also states that “I am always guided by the early ingrained ethical values and principles by my dear Father who has taught me everything I am today.”

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Padma Shri T. N. Manoharan former president of ICAI

Padma Shri (CA.) Thotala Narayanaswamy Manoharan is an Indian Chartered Accountant and a former president of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). Manoharan was born in April 1956 in a freedom fighter's family in a small village near Vellore, with agricultural background. He obtained a post graduate degree in Commerce from Sri Venkateshwara University and a law degree from Madras Law College. He became a Chartered Accountant in 1983 and set up his public practice in the same year. He is the founding partner of the accounting firm Manohar Chowdhry & Associates, Chennai. He was elected to the central council of ICAI in 2001 and its Vice President in 2005. He remained as a Central Council Member till 2007. He has also chaired various committees of the Institute. In 2006, he was elected as the President of the ICAI (for a one year term). He is also a notable freemason. In 2009, Manoharan was one of the four members (as representatives of Government of India)...

Kamma Cine Heroes

1) N.T.Rama Rao 2) Akkineni Nageswara Rao 3) Gattamaneni Krishna 4) Sobhan Babu (Uppu Sobhana Chalapathi Rao) 5) Gummadi Venkatwsara Rao 6) Maganti Murali Mohan 7) Manchu Mohan Babu 8) Kongara Jaggayya 9) Giri babu (Yerra Seshagiri Rao) 10) Sridhar Surapaneni  11) Madala Ranga rao 12) Nandamuri Bala Krishna 13) SaiChand Tripuraneni 14) Akkineni Nagarjuna 15) Daggubati Venkatesh 16) Gadde Rajendra Prasad 17) Raja Sekhar (Kasukurthi) 18) Daggubati Raja 19) Bhagya Raj 20) Nandamuri Hari Krishna 21) Veeramachineni Jagapathi Babu 22) Meka Srikanth 23) Vadde Naveen 24) Tottempudi Venu 25) Gattamaneni Mahesh Babu 26) Junior. N.T.R 27) Sivaji Sontineni 28) Nandamuri Taraka Ratna 29) Nandamuri Kalyanaram 30) Yarlagadda Sumanth 31) Tottempudi Gopi Chand 32) Manchu Vishnu Vardhan 33) Manchu Manoj 34) Edara Naresh 35) Edara Aryan Rajesh 36) Ram Pothineni  37) Myneni Sarvanand 38) Daggubati Rana 39) Akkineni Naga Chaitanya 40) Nani (Ghanta Naveen Kum...

Kamma Movie Directors

List of Kamma Movie Ditrectors 1) Gudavalli Ramabrahmam 2) Akkineni Lakshmi Vara Prasad (LV Prasad) 3) Kovelamudi Bapayya 4) Veeramachineni Madhusudhana Rao 5) Kovelamudi S.Prakasa Rao 6) Kolli Pratyagatma 7) G.Sambasiva Rao 8) Tammareddy Krishnamurthy 9) Mannava Balayya 10) Tatineni Prakasa Rao 11) Tatineni Rama Rao 12) Tatineni Prasad 13) Kovelamudi Raghavendra Rao 14) Gutta Ramineedu 15) Kolli Hemambaradhara Rao  16) Uppalapati Visveswara Rao 17) Tripuraneni Maharadhi 18) Tripuraneni Gopichand 19) Tottempudi Krishna 20) Madala Ranga Rao 21) Siva Nageswara Rao 22) Uppalapati Narayana Rao 23) P.Sarat 24) A.Mohan Gandhi 25) Bezawada Gopal 26) T.Kranthi Kumar 27) Maganti Vijaya Bapineedu 28) Tammareddy Bharadwaj 29) Akkineni Kutumba Rao 30) K.Vasu 31) Edara VV Satyanarayana 32) Muppalaneni Siva 33) Yalamanchili VS Chowdary 34) Theja Jasti 35) Sreenu Vytla 36) Koduri Srisaila Sri Rajamouli 37) Vemulapalli Srikanth 38) AS Ravikumar Chowdary 39)...

Munu Adhi: Former Speaker Tamilnadu Assembly and 4 times MLA

Munu Adhi (Born 4 September 1926, Died 21 June 2005) born at Tambaram near Chennai - Tamilnadu.  Mr Munu Adhi started his political career as a member of the Socialist Party in 1945. He joined the DMK in 1953 and was elected to the Tamil Nadu Assembly for four consecutive terms, in 1962, 1965, 1971 and 1977.  Having begun his political career with the DMK, the four-time Member of the Legislative Assembly, switched his loyalty to the AIADMK in 1972 when M G Ramachandran founded the party, after breaking away from the DMK.  For the fourth time, he was elected to the state Assembly in 1977 when the AIADMK, headed by MGR, came to power for the first time and Munu Adhi was made the Speaker of the Assembly. He held that post till 1980. He continued his loyalty with the AIADMK till 1996 after which he sided with S Thirunavukkarasu, a former AIADMK minister, who floated his own party which subsequently merged with the BJP.  The Adhi College of Engineering ...

List of 30 Kamma Billionaires and rankings

The IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2021 shows that India has more than 1,000 individuals who have a net worth of  ₹ 1,000 crore or more across 119 cities. The cumulative wealth in the country has gone up by 51 per cent, while the average wealth has also increased by 25 per cent, the report by Hurun India said. 30 Kamma business and industrialists finds place in the list from AP, Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra. 14. Murali Divi Rs76,000 crores Divis Laboratories 179. Venkateswarlu Jasti 9,600 crores Suven Pharma  190. Veeraiah Chowdary Nannapaneni 9,100 crores NATCO Laboratories  209. Chava Satyanarayana 8,400 crores Laurus Labs 264. Satya Nadella 6,200 crores Microsoft 368. Mandava PrabhakaraRao 4,300 crores Nuziveedu seeds 377. Ella KrishnaMurthy 4,100 crores Bharat Biotech 384. Doppalapudi Bhaktavatsala Rao 4000 crores Privi Speciality Chemicals 398. Galla Ramachandra Naidu  3,900 crores Amara Raja Batteries  398. Chinta VisveswaraRao 3,900 crores...

A road named after Veerasamy Naidu in Singapore

Veerasamy Road - Little India/ Singapore Veerasamy Road was renamed twice in its history; it was originally called Inche Lane, and was renamed Jalan Tambah in 1910. In 1927, the road was renamed again as Veerasamy Road, in honour of Dr N. Veerasamy Naidu (1865-1926), one of Singapore’s first Indian doctors and a leader in the local Indian community. Dr N Veerasamy Naidu was born in 1864. He was the son of Narayanasamy Naidu and Ramanuja Ammal. He learned Tamil from the age of four from his grandfather, Kuppusamy Naidu. He studied English at the Raffles School in Singapore and first worked at the lawyer’s office of Mr Cook. Unsatisfied in his job and drawn to the study of medicinal herbs, he decided to pursue an education in medical science and eventually worked in a hospital owned by Govindasamy Naidu. He set up his own clinic called Indian Dispensary in Rochor Road and derived effective scientific and traditional treatments for a variety of new diseases. He was the Presid...

List of Kamma Cine Heroes (Updated)

List of Kamma Movie stars: 1) Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao 2) Akkineni Nageswara Rao 3) Gattamaneni Krishna 4) Sobhan Babu (Uppu Sobhana Chalapathi Rao) 5) Gummadi Venkatwsara Rao 6) Maganti Murali Mohan 7) Manchu Mohan Babu 8) Kongara Jaggayya 9) Giri babu (Yerra Seshagiri Rao) 10) Sridhar Surapaneni (Mutyalamuggu fame) 11) Madala Ranga rao 12) Nandamuri Bala Krishna 13) SaiChand Tripuraneni 14) Akkineni Nagarjuna 15) Daggubati Venkatesh 16) Gadde Rajendra Prasad 17) Raja Sekhar (Kasukurthi) 18) Daggubati Raja 19) Bhagya Raj 20) Nandamuri Hari Krishna 21) Veeramachineni Jagapathi Babu 22) Meka Srikanth 23) Vadde Naveen 24) Tottempudi Venu 25) Gattamaneni Mahesh Babu 26) Junior. N.T.R 27) Sivaji Sontineni 28) Nandamuri Taraka Ratna 29) Nandamuri Kalyanaram 30) Yarlagadda Sumanth 31) Tottempudi Gopi Chand 32) Manchu Vishnu Vardhan 33) Manchu Manoj 34) Edara Naresh 35) Edara Aryan Rajesh 36) Ram Pothineni 37) Myneni Sarvanand  38) Daggubati Rana...

Jr NTR's engagement with 18-year-old Narne Lakshmi

Junior NTR (27) will get engaged with one Narne Lakshmi Pranathi . Narne Lakshmi Pranathi is daughter of TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu's niece Narne Mallika and Narne Srinivasa Rao owner of 'Studio N' TV channel. The engagement will be held in last of Feb 2010, sources said. Interestingly, Narne is just 18-year-old and class 12th student of Nazar Junior College of Hyderabad.

Richest man in Andhra Pradesh

It is neither Reddy nor Raju. It is only Kamma .. According to the Forbes magazine, Lagadapati Madhusudhan Rao ( 41 ) is the richest person in Andhra Prades h stands at No- 33 among the richest persons in India . Also he is the youngest in the list, there is no Andhrite in the list. Lagadapati Madhusudhan Rao is the Chairman - Lanco Infratech Ltd , the Hyderabad-based diversified group. His net worth is 1.9 billion dollars., ahead of Vijay Mallya, N.R. Narayana Murthy. Divi Murali of Divi's Lab is narrowly missed the berth in the list. Murali, best of luck next year..

Pulipati Vaiyapuri Gopalaswamy (alias) VAIKO

Pulipati V. Gopalsamy also known as Vaiko , is a prominent politician in Tamil Nadu, in south India.  V Gopalsamy was born into a Telugu speaking Kamma Naidu family in Kalingapatty near Sankarankovil, Madras Presidency (now Tamil Nadu) on 22 May 1944 to Pulipati Vaiyapuri and Ravilla Mariammal   He is the founder and General Secretary of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), a political party active mainly in the state of Tamil Nadu. He is known for his vocal support of Tamil people in Sri Lanka and LTTE. He graduated with a Bachelor of arts degree in economics from St. Xavier's College, Palayamkottai and masters from Presidency College, Chennai. He obtained his bachelor's degree in law from Madras Law College. He received Gold Medal in Economics and Best Speaker Award in St. Xavier’s College in 1964 Vaiko was a part of[Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (D.M.K)] and was formerly seen as the ideological protege of former Chief Minister of Tamil ...