Prashanth TK
Toastmasters member since : 2018
Education: Masters PGP in Marketing and Sales from IIM Calcutta,MBA from ISMB, Bachelor of Science in Maths and Computer Science
Path Completed – Dynamic Leadership DL5
Toastmasters offices held and terms of service:
AD – 12 months + 7 months (presently)
President – 12 months
VPE – 9 months
VPPR – 4 months
Treasurer – 12 months
SAA – 6 months
Toastmasters honors and recognition:
- Serving presently as Club Coach
Relevant work experience and how it relates to Toastmasters and your role as a District leader:
I presently work at Dell Technologies and have been there for 21 years now. I am presently serving as Sr Consultant/Director for Client Services Group leading Projects on Strategy & Transformation. My role is highly focused on collaborative efforts with global & cross-fucntional teams, set up strategy & finacial plans for my BU, help execute with the team, Build a strong and positive working culture for people.
If I look at my corporate role, its very similar to being a Division Director in Toastmasters. Its about the cultivating the right culture, the right opportunities for people to expand thier minds and help them deliver to thier full potential. As a DvD, my role will be to grow the business (members) and help the exisintg member acheive thier personal goals in Toastmasters.
What experience do you have in strategic planning?
I have been involved with Global roles for nearly 8 years. The strategic planning efforts I lead are purely focused on Cost-Out for my organization, where I need to define the opportunities the company has, set clearly the short-term & long-term objectives to deliver. I ahve excelled in performing activities such as product strategy and analysis, product positioning to target consumers, competitive analysis, and product differentiation among others. I have focused extensively on growring the revenue streams of APJ market while helping on the Cost Optimization to balance. I ahve done roles in Services and Product Roles in the Optimization efforts leading APJ & Global markets. Over 4 years of my role, I have contributed thru strategic plans, collaboration, drive for results to $30M cost savings for Client Services direclty in the P&L.
What experience do you have in the area of finance?
I dont have a Finance background but due to work nature I have acquired te necessary Finanial Acumen skills to manage a Team, a Org, A Project. My role in APJ Product Team was focused on the Sales P&L Cost optimization. I have exteentively worked on India and China market P&Ls to assess the opporutnities to explore the gains and losses. More importantly, in the 2023 Area Contest held in District 92, I was the PM who managed the budgets, costs, events. I had a team who supported the execution.
What experience do you have in developing procedures?
To be able to make procedural changes, one need to be an SME. I am genenrally the person who gets into indepth knowedge to make the right decisions or changes. Secondly the importance of CHANGE is from a structure – like being a good PM can help. Third Communciation – Articulating the change of a policy or procedure needs a clear vision. I have all the 3 necessary skills for a CHANGE MANAGEMENT.
I have had various roles which has challenged me to make necessary policy & procedural changes to accomodate the need of customer or business. I have personally sat with product teams or service teams to make policy changes in the right interest.
What lessons did you learn from previous leadership positions?
4 Important Things I learnt from my past leadership positions – 1. Be transparent. 2. Be Adaptable. 3. Take risks (Calculated) 4. Build the right foundation with people as a culture.
Why do you want to serve as a District leader?
I want to serve as a change agent to make a difference to people who are as passionate as I am in the voyage of art of leadership and be better communicators. I wish to expand my potential and in the journey help others to accomplish theirs.
In your opinion, what are the District mission’s major objectives and how would you work to achieve them?
D121 major mission is to help grow new clubs – grow the member base, expand the community to be receiveing the best in class learning and leadership opportunity from Toastmasters. Every individual has a potential, and we as District Members or Officers are giving a platform to help acvheive that individual mission.
My first mission will be to focus on “exisitng members” – Giving a better quality of learning, feedback and opportinity to lead – help acheive thier potentail
Second would be grow new clubs. Targetting exisintg members in community and captilizing thier work force to check the opportunity.
Third, Look at Corpoate and conduct CORPORATE DRIVE events to reward, retain and attach new clubs.
Fourth – Mentorship and Guidance – Look at atleast 50% of the members hvaing dedicated mentors.
Additional information about yourself:
I am also a Six Sigma Certified individual & Black Belt trained. I have had the opportunity to work in many International locations as Singapore and Manila and have acquired different work cultures, different leaderships styles. It has also helped me build better network and bond with multi-ethnic individuals with a common goal.
I see the potential in my self to take up more seniorr leadership roles. As a new comer in TM in 2018 to now serving as a Distrcit Officer and having served to 2 Distrcit D92 and D121, I have the exposure to different circumstance, challenges to overcome. I am a very data driven person, analytical in nature, a very visual person. I put all my plans, actions in writing to track, report, measure. I have the ability to influence people in the right way, guide people. I am confident in both my verabl and written communication. Finally, with my work role – I have the opportunity to be strategic and have a 360 deg view of challenges to overcome. These 4-5 skills are my strenghts which makes a suitale candidate and help me serve the members and officers of D121.