And we usher into a new era …
Earlier today, I was reading the book ‘The Ride of a Lifetime’ by Robert Iger who served as Disney’s CEO from 2005 to 2020. Robert became the CEO in Disney’s troubled times and completely turned around the company with major acquisitions such as Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm(Star Wars) and 20th Century Fox. One could possibly say that he has had an inspiring career spanning 45 years that started with running errands for ABC Company(Disney acquired ABC Company in 1995). Leading the world’s largest entertainment company in its most successful decade in recent times demands peculiar leadership traits. It is hard to resist and not pick those traits while reading the book.
One of the leadership tenets in the book is to have a succession plan. Nobody should stay in position of control for too long. Robert says people do not realise the way a leader’s voice booms louder than every other voice in the room and a leader gets used to people withholding their opinions until they hear what the leader has to say. Instead he recommends to value ability more than experience and to put people in roles that require more of them than they know they have in them.
I believe that is where we are today. It is an inflection point in our community. I would like to announce that I will step down as the organiser of GDG Cloud New Delhi and it is my pleasure to introduce Swati Singh as your new organiser. Swati is not new to the ecosystem and is one of the most reliable faces we have had around. She has aced her time as DSC Lead for Amity University and has continued to make waves such early in her career at Cisco. I could not be more happy about handing the mantle to anyone else.
The tech community ecosystem in NCR has never been traditional. We do not intend to be. GDG Cloud New Delhi is no different and over the course of years, we have been able to bring innovative angles to how we approach our community.
- We have had events with 100% female audience, organised completely by female organisers.
- We have had events with 100% professional audience.
- We have collaboratively organised one of the largest DevFest in history that spanned 8 tracks and brought 35 external communities.
- The Indian Google Cloud community ecosystem would not be mistaken if Google Cloud Community Days become a tradition and we are proud to have contributed towards that spark.
- Our reach is spread across 11 platforms that range from LinkedIn and Twitter to Github and Medium.
While we are certainly not the ‘best’ per se, we are innovative. Swati would be the first female lead organiser for any GDG Cloud community in India. She would be accompanied by Amen Tyagi — a UX professional.
We here at GDG Cloud New Delhi do not want the organiser’s ‘seat’ to ever be felt as ‘taken’. As always, we have no intentions of giving into conventions of what it means to organise a tech community. We want our community to be a platform where people can grow and move forward and simply let community be a means to an end. This goes for both, the members and the organisers. Swati and I share these values and I would not be surprised if the community keeps seeing new organisers for GDG Cloud New Delhi time and again. It is a reminder to us that it is not about what we have done in the past but rather about what is to come in the future.
While I will certainly miss writing that annual letter on May 24 and the Department of Memes during DevFest, I am grateful to each and everyone of you who trusted in me and gave me the opportunity to serve. In a way, while nowhere comparable, it has been ‘A Ride of a Lifetime’ for me as well and I hope someday Swati and the community will give me a chance to share my story. I look forward to seeing you around and seeing you grow.
Cheers,
Pranay
