Women Of The C-Suite: Nancy Ramamurthi of Proper On The Five Things You Need To Succeed As A Senior Executive

CEOs set the company vision and lead and guide strategy to achieve that. You’re a coach who guides your team to success. It’s not just about your ideas — it’s about getting the best ideas out of the group and pursuing the right path to that shared vision. Other leaders are responsible for setting a clear vision for their team — your job as the CEO is to help those leaders understand the total picture and thus shape their strategies & plans to support that.

As a part of our series about strong women leaders, we had the pleasure of interviewing Nancy Ramamurthi. Nancy Ramamurthi is CEO & Co-founder of Proper. They are on a mission to improve people’s health and happiness by offering a holistic sleep wellness solution — grounded in truth, science, and data.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

My “backstory” in short — didn’t really fear doing the unconventional or following my own path. Very comfortable with change and ambiguity. Leaned into opportunities I thought were making consumers’ lives better — even in small ways — and where I could learn, grow, and be surrounded by smart, humble, and high integrity people. Traveled and moved a great deal — from Asia, to the US, Germany, India, Singapore, and back. The world and its people are incredible — I encourage people to travel as much as possible to experience it.

I grew up loving to read and watch science fiction. As silly as it sounds, I dreamt about “seeking out new life and new civilizations” and “boldly going where no man has gone before.” While I may not be able to visit and live in another galaxy, that optimism and hope for a better world inspired me then and today.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

It’s been quite a journey building and launching a new company before, during, and through a pandemic. Everything from hiring, to team building, to supply chain, testing, etc. was different. It is a very good thing I am comfortable with change, because being CEO of Proper has been about adapting to constant change and newness.

It’s hard to think of one interesting story in particular — there are lots of smaller funny stories — but I guess the macro theme is that being able to evolve and adapt quickly to changing circumstances is so critical. Many things I expected to be X were Y and making decisions quickly with the absence of time and information was critical.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

One of the funniest mistakes I made early in my career — this was in the military as a new 2nd lieutenant — was a lack of attention to detail. I published an itinerary with names and ranks of all the instructors and made a relatively large mistake in the ranks. Someone called my attention to it and I vaguely remember rolling with the punches and playing it down a bit. The lesson from this: if you make a mistake — as bad as it feels at the time, roll with it, keep it in perspective (this was relatively small), and don’t sweat it — the good will persevere and win.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I have been blessed to know so many amazing people who have helped (and continue to help) me along my journey. It may be a phone call, an email, a LI message, maybe they gave me their POV on one decision or a thought. All these smaller trusted interactions have and continue to play a very important role on my success. I think sometimes it’s less about the one big impact occurrence or individual and it’s much more about the fabric of interactions, decisions, and choices along the way.

In my work, I often talk about how to release and relieve stress. As a busy leader, what do you do to prepare your mind and body before a stressful or high stakes meeting, talk, or decision? Can you share a story or some examples?

For a high stakes meeting, talk, etc. — outside of proper preparation the best thing to do is pretty simple. Take care of yourself. Exercise, nutrition, and most importantly — sleep. I’m thankfully maxing out on the value of my sleep thanks to Proper. But if I can combine good sleep with at least a 2 mile run — that’s perfect for clearing the head and getting fresh ideas.

As you know, the United States is currently facing a very important self-reckoning about race, diversity, equality and inclusion. This may be obvious to you, but it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you articulate to our readers a few reasons why it is so important for a business or organization to have a diverse executive team?

Having a diverse executive team — or diverse team, period — is so essential to success and simply doing what’s right. In addition to racial or gender diversity, I’m also thinking about diversity in perspectives at the broadest level. New ideas, different perspectives, etc. serve to make any decision and team stronger.

At the simplest level — how can you expect to understand and compete in a diverse community if you & your team don’t reflect or understand that community around you? It’s pretty much impossible.

As a business leader, can you please share a few steps we must take to truly create an inclusive, representative, and equitable society? Kindly share a story or example for each.

We need to increase fair access to quality educational and economic opportunities for all in this country.

A living wage, infrastructure support for working parents, safe housing, quality education for all children, and further opening up economic opportunities for all by educating and providing access to the right jobs is critical.

We’ve made progress as a country in diversity, but there is still a very long way to go.

I’m proud to have been a part of the technology industry, which in many respects, has been about democratizing access to information.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Most of our readers — in fact, most people — think they have a pretty good idea of what a CEO or executive does. But in just a few words can you explain what an executive does that is different from the responsibilities of the other leaders?

CEOs set the company vision and lead and guide strategy to achieve that. You’re a coach who guides your team to success. It’s not just about your ideas — it’s about getting the best ideas out of the group and pursuing the right path to that shared vision. Other leaders are responsible for setting a clear vision for their team — your job as the CEO is to help those leaders understand the total picture and thus shape their strategies & plans to support that.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a CEO or executive. Can you explain what you mean?

Myth: your ideas are the best ones. Or that you’re the Steve Jobs of X area. Being a CEO is not about being the lone ranger — it’s about inspiring and getting the best from your team and working with them to make your vision happen. Being the CEO is like being the conductor of an orchestra — you help keep everything moving and cue certain departments at different times, but ultimately, it’s the collective that shines.

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women executives that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?

Female executives face certain unique challenges which are changing with time. Biases are largely that women aren’t as skilled from a hard or soft skill perspective. As the world changes and evolves, I’m thrilled to see this changing — but we still have much progress to make. In my mind, the more I can do to support women the better.

What is the most striking difference between your actual job and how you thought the job would be?

One stereotype I heard about the startup CEO role was the constant focus on fundraising. I really thought that was a myth — highly exaggerated. It is true, folks. :)

Certainly, not everyone is cut out to be an executive. In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful executive and what type of person should avoid aspiring to be an executive? Can you explain what you mean?

If you’re not a believer in servant leadership, you shouldn’t be in an executive role. If you like to make all of the decisions yourself, you shouldn’t be in an executive role.

If you like to solve tough problems, are a team builder, are a fundamental optimist who sees the possible, and aren’t derailed by change or unexpected issues — please consider it. :)

What advice would you give to other women leaders to help their team to thrive?

Have confidence in yourself and have enough confidence to be vulnerable. You don’t need to know everything to succeed in this role — don’t be afraid of asking for help and getting it. Your job as the CEO is to create an environment by which you & your team can be successful in creating real value. Don’t be shy about getting help. It will make you stronger and better.

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

At Proper, I’m grateful to be working on a really tough health challenge that impacts almost everyone at some point — the challenge of getting better sleep.

Better sleep = better health and at Proper, we literally have the opportunity to help people live longer.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)

• Build your culture authentically and live it.
• Speed is so key to startup success. Don’t be afraid of going faster with the less than perfect decision or execution.
• If you’re too comfortable with a tough decision, maybe think a bit more about other alternatives.
• Use a balance of your vision, insights, and data to guide you. Don’t be so arrogant that you think your gut is always the right call.
• Have an open mind and take the call with someone who has a different perspective on your business. You may be surprised with the goodness that results — a melding of your own thoughts with the new inspiration you get.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

If I could inspire a movement — it would be for every company to truly recognize that it’s critical to their success to be as diverse as the community, they serve.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

I haven’t had one life lesson quote that has guided me, other than to perhaps “dream the impossible dream. “ I’d like to think of myself as a pragmatic idealist. High or impossible ideals, but someone who spends time thinking about how to make it happen — vs. getting lost in why it’s not possible.

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them

I would want to meet Bill Gates. I love that he took his wealth and energy, time, and intelligence to solving the world’s largest fundamental problems. He didn’t simply rest on the laurels of creating a massively impactful company — he went on to set yet that higher goal for the positive impact he would have on the world around him.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.