Ajay Kela comes from a lower middle-class family inhabiting in the suburbs of Mumbai. His father was a cashier in a government bank and his mother was a home-maker. His father was not highly educated but would spend a huge amount of his income on Kela’s school fees. His parents’ passion for education and their sacrifices for the same became his biggest inspiration. Stepping stone
Most of his education was done in Mumbai. He did his bachelors from IIT-Mumbai. Subsequently, he went to the US in 1981 to do his PhD in Computer Graphics from the University of Rochester. His affinity towards maths and engineering seemed like a natural choice.
Repeating the third grade because of his poor performance was a transformational event in his life. “The shock of being left behind while my friends moved on was both embarrassing and saddening; not to forget the financial burden it had on my family. This made me not want to repeat the experience ever again. Subsequently, throughout school I was amongst the toppers. Failure was the best thing that happened to me early in life,” Kela recapitulated.
The journey
His first job in 1986 was with GE Corporate R&D Center in Schenectady, NY. After completing PhD, his mind was geared towards research and publications; however, his heart was in software product development. He eventually followed the mind but the work there did not ignite his internal passions.
In 1989, he pursed his passion to build software products for large scale commercial organizations and joined Autodesk in California. He started as a line manager and within six years became the VP of AutoCAD, a division of Autodesk, and steered it to high success. Post Autodesk, Kela worked as an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) with NEA, a Silicon Valley venture capital. “During the EIR stint with NEA, I visited India in 2003 and met Dr. Romesh Wadhwani, Chairman of Symphony Services. I was enamored by their vision which motivated me to make a dramatic and swift decision to join them. I could foresee that the dotcom bust would create a market for more efficient R&D activity,” explained Kela.
His degree at IIT and then the subsequent PhD degree trained him to be a good engineer but not a good business manager which posed as a challenge initially.
Shouldering responsibilities
His strive is to acquire the number one status for his company in its particular genre. Being the key executive and having given the best at Autodesk and consistently striving at Symphony are his biggest achievements. “The greatest motivation comes from fuelling a passion within each employee that drives them to excel in their responsibility and helps them contribute towards the success of the organization. Associates describe me as someone with a silent brewing passion,” stated Kela. Once he is passionate about an idea, painting a vision and the path to get there follows naturally. Being a good team leader, he thus forms a team that believes in the vision and imbibes the drive to achieve it.
He encourages out-of-the-box thinking. Also, for engineers, physical presence in office is typically not necessary. As long as commitments are met, it doesn’t matter where employees work from. He readily encourages the concept of ‘work from home,’ if the employee so desires. Similarly, engaging employees at the grass-root level in strategic and business decisions is his preferred modus operandi as this brings in the benefit of a total buy-in and generates a feeling of ownership within the employees.
His biggest dream for the company is to create an organization where individuals would swear by the company and cherish their time spent. This typically comes from providing individuals an environment to excel, treating them as equals, conferring them with utmost respect and operating at the highest level of integrity. His personal dream is to create such a company and leave behind a legacy.
Close to heart
Kela loves nature. His family vacations are typically in the mountains—hiking. He is particular about his morning workouts and exercises religiously four to five times a week. His family gatherings are usually associated with singing and dancing where he actively participates.
According to him, the greatest quality in his wife is that she forgets the negatives of life very quickly. His two kids are aware of their responsibilities and have a good balance between sports, cultural activities and academics. When they were new additions to the family, Kela took two years off to spend time with them, which have been the most memorable years of his life.
Kela encourages and drives non-traditional and non-conforming thinking within his kids. “In India, education is a strong focus. I believe children under 15 are naturally inclined and passionate about non-academics such as sports, drama, dance, etc. After 15, they tend to intrinsically draw themselves towards academics. I encourage my kids to pursue their natural instincts at their age,” opined Kela.
Kela believes that sports is a great teacher in life. To excel in any sport usually takes many failures. This repeated failure is a great teacher and drives one to excellence, he claimed.
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