Alwyn Joseph, Chief Revenue Officer, FPT Software, Americas
I am the Chief Revenue Officer at FPT Software Americas. In this role, I am responsible for leading the P&L and driving significant growth in revenue, profits, capabilities, and people. I have experience leading cross-functional teams to build businesses and markets from scratch into multimillion-dollar portfolios successfully. Prior to joining FPT, I was with other technology firms, including ITC Infotech and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), leading P&Ls and market growth.
As Chief Revenue Officer for FPT Software in the Americas, a large part of my responsibility is to strategize and execute to grow our revenue, people, capabilities, and profit. I feel privileged to support FPT’s purpose-driven vision, which focuses on uplifting people and their standard of living. Much like the Indian IT industry in the 1990s, companies such as Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services pulled thousands out of poverty. Through contributions toward creating a healthy middle class, FPT has a laser focus on uplifting every FPTer and their families.
What do you like about your current role?
Through our first gen graduate hiring program, we intentionally hire first-generation graduates, invest in training their soft and tech skills, and provide them with global opportunities. It’s very fulfilling to hear testimonies of how FPT has changed their lives and the lives of their families. Even as a company of 60,000 employees, we have a workforce of 70% who are 35 or younger. Every day I experience the energy, hunger, and dream of these youngsters, and it’s a great motivation to help them fulfil their dreams. We are Southeast Asia's fastest-growing technology services company, and our purpose fuels our passion and growth. I strongly believe our customer centricity and our purpose are the primary driving force of our success.
What are your favourite books?
The most influential book in my personal life is the Bible. It is the foundation that taught me how to be a good person and the proper way to treat others.
Who do you most admire and why?
Dr Abdul Kalam is the first one that comes to mind. He was a well-known aerospace scientist, served as the 11th President of India, and, luckily for me, is an Alma Mater of my engineering school. I had the privilege of interacting with him many times. He stayed on our engineering campus and use to visit us in the student hostel. He was such a humble person. He is the one who gave me the confidence to dream big. Through various conversations and observing his life, I learned the importance of treating everyone with respect regardless of social, economic, or another status. He taught me how to stay humble regardless of achievements and how to be accessible to everyone. The way he motivated people to push themselves to achieve their fullest potential with just a smile and simple, polite language is simply unparalleled. Another name that comes to mind is Ratan Tata, former Chairman of Tata Group and business leader of the $200 billion conglomerate. His big focus was the importance of community, and he believed the enterprise only existed because of the people it served. He was able to provide so much value to the community. Tata Group was one of the first to employ women in India, provide retirement benefits and childcare for working women, and create opportunities for people to succeed in the workplace. When I joined FPT, I saw a lot of the same importance placed on the community. He greatly inspired me to view my work as a platform to serve my various communities and provide value in many ways.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
The best piece of advice came at a difficult time in my career at FPT. Coming from a large company (TCS) to FPT, a growing company with its own strengths and weaknesses, I struggled to accept the good and bad culture. For six months, I tried to create a TCS in FPT, ultimately failing miserably to acknowledge FPT’s own DNA or embrace it fully. I was on the verge of quitting and pursuing other available opportunities. I asked my mentor for a catch-up over lunch. I told him I was planning to walk away from the company. We discussed different angles and at one point, he asked me, “who are your customers?” to which I responded back with details of my customers and their business. He shook his head and asked again. After a few times back and forth, he questioned me on why I don’t acknowledge my manager, team, and colleagues at FPT as my customers. With my TCS pedigree, customer obsession comes naturally to me, which changed my perspective of my internal stakeholders as customers. I started paying attention to their problems, understanding why they do what they do and changed my view from frustration to a focus on helping them solve problems and mature together. I started embracing the company with its good, bad, and ugly. Becoming part of the solution instead of standing outside to point at mistakes, I adjusted my focus on the strengths of the organization and went full throttle to make progress.
What motivates or inspires you?
People and the sense of community are what inspire me. I’m passionate about using my platform to provide as much value to those around me as possible. Beyond my career, I’m very proud of the non-profit work I’ve been fortunate to support and the people I’ve been able to help. My passion for the community was ignited in my engineering days. A few of my friends and I started the “Hope India Foundation” to serve the community by fighting corruption through the Right to Information Act. Since then, I have always led, organized, and participated in initiatives to give back to the community. During COVID times, I gathered a small group of friends to help people who survive on daily wages and had no livelihood due to the full lockdown. I am working on forming a non-profit in the US to help feed underprivileged kids in India. The government feeds the kids on weekdays but many starve on weekends. Our vision is to find and support these kids to provide as many as 100,000 meals a day. I believe it’s quite addictive once you taste the happiness of making a difference in someone’s life.
What would like to highlight and share with our audience?
Treat everyone with respect and fairness. I believe a leader is a leader because they have people who willingly follow them. It doesn’t come because of ordained authority, role, or title. I believe people are inherently good, and they will align with someone who has their best interests and treats them with respect and fairness while keeping them accountable. In my view, that’s the best way to earn one’s credibility as a leader. Secondly, don’t be afraid to try, fail, and learn with the goal of making progress and ultimately perfecting the process. This is how humans are wired. There is no perfect decision, perfect solution, or nirvana. One’s openness to experiment and learn from failures is very important to both life and one’s career.