Navigating Leadership: Jag Nagendra on Innovation and Resilience

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Narrator

We're in an era of rapid change where resilience is vital. The dude for that podcast dives into the most important topics in government and technology today. Our host, Davood Ghods, sits down with his vast network of colleagues to dish on the tech challenges that affect us all. Follow this podcast on your favorite platform and join the conversation by sharing it on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook.

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Davood Ghods

Hello, everyone. Welcome to Direct acknowledges the Food for Thought podcast. I'm Davood Ghods and I will be your host today. The way I stay up with the pressing topics of tech and government of today is to tap into the panel of experts I've had the honor of connecting with over the years. Today we have Jag Nagendra on the podcast Jag is a multi-skilled business and engineering professional with over 30 years of experience in organizational leadership, management and entrepreneurship in both the private and public sectors.

00;01;02;01 - 00;01;28;27

Davood Ghods

For the past decade, Jag has been working for the California Department of Water Resources as Office chief, leading three branches of 80 plus engineering and I.T. professionals. He has held various leadership roles with the PMI, Sacramento Valley Chapter Board, and earlier this year he started a two year term as president and CEO of the PMI Sacramento Valley Chapter.

00;01;28;29 - 00;02;16;04

Davood Ghods

Congrats, Jag. Jag has a degree in electronics and telecommunication engineering and he holds several significance in leadership management and effective communication. He's also a certified project management, professional change management, professional and emotional intelligence life coach. In addition, he has earned a Distinguished Toastmaster Award, a high honor that can be earned by a member of Toastmaster International. Jag, thank you for being on our podcast and congratulations on your new role as the President and CEO of the PMI for the Sacramento Valley chapter with your diverse background in public and private sectors. We want to learn more. Please tell us about yourself and what are some of the things you're currently working on. Welcome. Thank you.

00;02;16;06 - 00;02;47;04

Jag Nagendra

It's an honor and a privilege to be part of your podcast and also thank you for the introduction. If you ask me about my background as a two word summarized my professional career of 30 plus, and if you're wondering what those two words are, much more than problem.

00;02;47;06 - 00;03;32;11

Jag Nagendra

Second word is solve the problem solver. That is where you find all of my professional work for the last 30 years. Everything I've been doing is related to solving problems by I both five years of my career, solving problems in the manufacturing industry, trying to increase productivity for the next five years by solving commitment problems. When I did the start up in engineering company the next ten years, I solved control and operations problem.

00;03;32;13 - 00;04;09;09

Jag Nagendra

My water and wastewater treatment plant at both the county and the county point in the last ten years, solving problems for the State Department of Innovation and Technology people. And that's the career that defined 30 years of my profession and continue to solve. But I do have a second career, which may be interesting to note, is I call myself a serial volunteer leader.

00;04;09;12 - 00;04;41;12

Jag Nagendra

For more than a decade, I am bridging the gap in leadership wherever I find in the community and in the nonprofit. Hopefully that gives a broad picture and as a take away, I look at my background to work and remember. Problem solved. Thank you. If you don't mind, talk a little bit about the PMI chapter also. How long have you been with them?

00;04;41;12 - 00;05;25;29

Jag Nagendra

What roles have you had? Absolutely. The PMI, the Sacramento Valley chapter, is a 30 year organization established in 1989. I have been with the chapter since 2004 when I first started my project management professional certification since 2004 until the beginning of 2000, while I volunteered and led a new program for the chapter. And since last six years I served on the Sacramento Valley Board and two terms of finance and one term as chief Financial officer.

00;05;26;01 - 00;06;06;27

Jag Nagendra

Starting in 2022 and ending in 2023. I am currently leading and haven't spent more than eight of them and prepping for future management and that offering and the Sacramento Valley. What I am really, really inspired by the new PMI. Both my family and the vision that they created for the next five years for us. And the reason is pretty much simple as empowering people to make in reality such a powerful vision.

00;06;06;29 - 00;06;39;15

Jag Nagendra

And I am committed to that vision and that aligns with my life and my purpose. And I am going to lead this chapter in making sure that everyone who comes with IBM, we will help them.  

00;06;39;16 - 00;07;15;13

Davood Ghods

Very good. Excellent. We wanted to get that perspective of the president of PMI chapter for Sacramento Valley. And we appreciate, again you being here. So in that role and the important role that you play, say, Department of Water Resources. What emerging trends are you seeing in the I.T. and business fields that we should all be paying more attention to these days?  

00;07;15;16 - 00;08;10;08

Jag Nagendra

Excellent question. I think I look at the field of IP and business more tangible as well as in I can divide the trends in the field in three different categories. Number one is obviously the the trend in the technology related to cloud computing, related to Internet of Things. And more importantly, what we can do do to combat whether Department of Water Resources of the PMI chapter. We are concerned about the cybersecurity attack and what disruption that can bring to the operation and also the subsequent complications that can damage the really iconic and we looking for technology upgrades in the area of cyber security, constantly looking for guidance from the federal government in terms of the standards and the requirements that we need to meet as an organization.

00;08;10;11 - 00;08;43;02

Jag Nagendra

And I am completely committed to making sure that wherever I work, they infrastructure, the technology infrastructure is safe, secure, and that is available for the next generation to work. The second part of the field I am certainly to talk about is the future of work. The pandemic has changed how we work and it has impacted and we want to not let anyone.

00;08;43;04 - 00;09;45;27

Jag Nagendra

The question here is, yes, the teleworking is here to stay independent of big government or private organizations, but there's going to be some element of work that is here to stay and it is not going away. What it really means is the perspective that we as an organization support that. However, there are things we may be missing. Mike Teleworking as an organization, really, how can we ensure that what being left and be fulfilled, even though someone who has worked, for example, building the biggest thing that they've seen working in the in-person work environment is as likely to be filled now with the great resignation comes with new employee.

00;09;46;00 - 00;10;17;01

Jag Nagendra

And if everybody's working from the law, we will miss that. However, recognizing the fact that teleworking and save a lot, we and organizations need to figure out how can we what can we do to ensure that the employees continue to recognize the value of building relationships and continue to find ways, even in a hybrid type of environment as we establish a type system for all employees?

00;10;17;04 - 00;10;53;18

Jag Nagendra

And finally, finally, I would say that we need to be taking a look at the leadership with COVID, with hybrid and digitization progressing, and leadership is tending to set that is no longer that I can see people to embody our work, our need on our in my mind as a leader. We have focused on 30 plus skills to be highly.

00;10;53;21 - 00;11;15;04

Jag Nagendra

We have been told that I really know you need to communicate you to solve problems. To make the future you need to be able to present very well. And we are changing all that individual skills that we want to get better at. As a leader, I think the focus, my belief and the trends in the leadership is we need to get back to the roots.

00;11;15;06 - 00;12;05;15

Jag Nagendra

We need to get back to the fundamental aspect of any of this. We need to get more and more leaders and emotionally intelligent, bring and develop emotional intelligence capable of the everything that is tied to we live. So as we are going into the future, as we need to keep an eye on the emerging trends in leadership and concepts and also what the neuroscience is going to tell us about the leadership crisis and how can we develop our emotional intelligence and agility that is going to help us to be better leaders and be able to serve the community, the employees in that new world of hybrid.

00;12;05;17 - 00;12;48;27

Davood Ghods

Excellent. Thank you for covering all parts of the question. Plus some. And it's great to hear that someone like you is at the helm. The Sacramento Valley PMI chapter to bridge the gap in leadership. Excellent. You know, you kind of covered my the answer to my next question, but I think there is more to talk about. I think you would agree that adjusting to the pandemic was challenging for many organizations and now everyone is thinking of what the next major disruption is going to be and how can we be better prepared for it.

00;12;48;29 - 00;13;25;07

Davood Ghods

So resiliency is a big topic of conversation these days. And I wanted to ask you, Jack, what are some examples or bold moves that you have seen in regards to resiliency in the past year? And what is the one thing organizations should be doing to improve resilience, in your opinion?  

00;13;25;09 - 00;13;49;02

Jag Nagendra

That's a great question. I can think of two things and the word is plan and prepare. We all know if you are in it, you are use the term to backup and recovery. So that whole strategy of backup and recovery, except in pants, if there is a disaster that to strike and we are unable to perform our function as an organization.

00;13;49;05 - 00;14;23;12

Jag Nagendra

So every organization must plant and prepare. And what can they do? They can look at the risks to the business. Someone can come to me and say, Well, we know what to expect then. Well, why not? And at the same time, let's not focus on that. Focus on what could we did the call with made on availability of staff at locations where we wanted them to be, whether in restaurants, airports.

00;14;23;13 - 00;15;06;26

Jag Nagendra

And so that's similar outcomes can be a result of another event which may not become. But that outcome as a result can come from anywhere. So we need to be prepared for the event like what we have experienced. One example from the project management chapter is when COVID hit, we had to move. All of our events work. As a chapter, we are very big in networking and we are very big in communication and engaging our volunteers and members as part of the.

00;15;06;28 - 00;15;10;18

Jag Nagendra

So we had to move everything.

00;15;10;21 - 00;15;42;14

Jag Nagendra

So we were able to do that thanks to the technology to support it. However, we feel that we haven't been that effective and in spreading the vision and also ensuring that our members are getting the most value for what they are signed up. Now, since the whole world is talking about and they call it an endemic, we as a chapter need to be prepared for return.

00;15;42;16 - 00;16;10;07

Jag Nagendra

And this is extremely important. And that's exactly what we're doing right now, is preparing ourselves when we are to come back into an in-person event. And how is that going to look? Every organization must evaluate MSF. The business met and we can go crazy in terms of thinking through the event and which may have a very, very, very low likelihood.

00;16;10;15 - 00;16;37;27

Jag Nagendra

But still we need to identify those so that we have litigation plan in place if that is ever supposed to happen. Right. Thank you. You're right. Know, it doesn't have to be the pandemic. It could be a natural disaster such as flooding, earthquakes, fires. Yesterday, I did a podcast with the CIO of a rural county, and he mentioned that they had severe weather recently.

00;16;38;00 - 00;17;08;17

Jag Nagendra

So that would have caused disruption. It could be a technology disruption like a widespread computer virus or a cyber attack. It could be a civil disruption. So we have to be ready. We have to plan and prepare for it and test our plan and make sure that they work in case a similar situation presents itself.  

00;17;08;20 - 00;17;43;11

Davood Ghods

Thank you. The next question Jag is really about motivation, but I'm going to ask it this way. A direct technology. We always talk about how we are going to get a project done, but we also ask ourselves, why are we doing what we are doing? In other words, what is your why JAG? What motivates you in your work?  

00;17;43;14 - 00;18;09;09

Jag Nagendra

Well, this is a fantastic question. And because I have an answer. My mission in life. In other words, my purpose is to help people achieve their fullest potential. This is the mission statement I created for myself, and it's been published for ten years now. Everything I do, I tied back to that mission. It took me probably 20 years to figure out my own purpose, and I had to go back as much as seven year old, and I will to remember what I was doing. What was inspiring to me was doing what I was doing.

00;18;09;16 - 00;18;38;16

Jag Nagendra

It was cool and kind of let me and it came back to that statement that I think I love helping people to achieve that work, community and nonprofit. That's my current focus. And again, everything I look at, whether I'm looking at a data we are currently, I think when I come to the work, I am helping people achieve that.

00;18;38;18 - 00;19;24;18

Jag Nagendra

That's how I look at it. I'm not here creating technology product, but I am helping people. I think I work in the community in a leadership role so I can make a difference, so I can help people and other people do that. So this particular purpose and my mission is not specific to work or profession, but it is my life mission and that's what I do in some helping individuals approaching commencement leadership and just plain working on good managers like me, that's great.

00;19;24;20 - 00;19;52;09

Davood Ghods

Helping people achieve their fullest potential. That's a great motivator. Thank you. My next question Jag is about inspiring innovation, not just innovation, but you've had teams. You have a very large team right now at Water Resources. How do you inspire them to look for new and innovative ways of doing their work? How what inspires innovation on your team?

00;19;52;11 - 00;20;25;01

Jag Nagendra

Another great question. I want to begin by saying in there saying that if we are not growing, then we are dying. And similarly, I believe that if we are not innovating, we are getting closer to die. And innovation is not an option at all. Innovation is essential. Innovation is fundamental. And that innovation is so important. It doesn't matter whether it is private or public.

00;20;25;03 - 00;20;58;27

Jag Nagendra

There are two things that come to my mind working at BWR. One is we all know that that is never going to be enough resources to serve. We have our work on if we have to be successful, but given resources that we have, whether it is people, technology or even money, there is no way we can just keep innovating.

00;20;59;00 - 00;21;35;13

Jag Nagendra

What do I mean by that? We need to continuously assess our need to continuously that our solutions that we have, we need to continuously assess the risk and then come up with better systems. Our current practices that will help us to get closer to our mission and most important, thinking innovation. I have seen in the industry and to forget there is an element of willingness to embrace change.

00;21;35;15 - 00;22;10;26

Jag Nagendra

That's something we need to talk about when we talk about innovation. Why? Because any innovation will bring change. Guarantee. And now, if we do not have people who are going to embrace that change, then the innovation that is important that we as leaders, not only inspire innovation, but also work toward helping people and brands change and be upfront about it and not wait until the innovation effort brings out the change.

00;22;10;26 - 00;22;40;28

Jag Nagendra

And then without looking at, Oh my God, nobody is making it. Instead, we should be upfront. We should be talking about change and embracing the change ahead of time before we start doing any new way. Exactly. Definitely change and being a change agent and having the culture that allows change and innovation is going to be critical. Thank you.

00;22;41;00 - 00;23;08;19

Davood Ghods

Yeah. What is something that would surprise people about your background or interests? Background?  

00;23;08;21 - 00;23;45;25

Jag Nagendra

I mean, is one thing that can surprise people is that a very, very young age, Like you could go back almost seven or eight years now, ideal passion for leading and helping others. And that's something deep rooted in my time and that's something that I picked up yesterday or any other ago. And I can track back to that date that comes the interest somewhere. I think it is surprising. I'm a cook, I cook vegetarian, but I think time. I love cooking with copper and now speaking, coaching and mentoring young professionals to achieve them.  

00;23;45;26 - 00;24;16;29

Davood Ghods

Wonderful. Wonderful. We have a lot of foodies in our audience on our previous recordings, also, and it's great to have a born leader who loves to cook. That's great. Where can people find you and keep tabs on what you're working on? How can people support your work?  

00;24;17;01 - 00;24;51;11

Jag Nagendra

Good question. We can go to my website at w w w dot jack log the dot com and it can find all my work on the website and also on the same website. There are links to my social media post and the site as well. Like people can subscribe to my Twitter, link them on my Facebook or Instagram account to follow what they are. But instead of getting individual handles put on that best way to go tag and scoff at it and find all the information that.  

00;24;51;13 - 00;25;15;13

Davood Ghods

Thank you so much for joining us today, Jag. We want to be more aligned with the Sacramento PMI chapter and we will be contacting you from direct technology from our sister divisions and Companies Launch Consulting Group. And we will collaborate with you more. Thank you to all listeners out there also for joining us as well. We will see you in the next episode of The Food for Thought, Where we will shed more light on the human side of tech.

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