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Vinodh Chelambathodi: A New-Age Leader Inspiring the Futuristic Minds

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Vinodh Chelambathodi,CEO We are living in an incredible time. We would probably be the last generation before non-biological intelligence makes it to the driver seat, over and above the biological intelligence. The aggressive personality and hard-driving skill set that engendered so many leaders in yester-years, won’t keep working any more. With rising dynamics of business and changing temperaments of individuals, experience (in other words, the conditioning undergone) perhaps is one of the reasons why people render mediocre predictions of the future - perceiving only linear thinking and linear goals ahead.

Alongside new-age leadership skillset, ‘unlearning’ his 25 years of conditioning has been the diamond sword for Vinodh Chelambathodi to take background verification industry to a whole new level through his startup venture, Bactrak Pte Ltd with Offices in Singapore and Chennai and planning to open up US and Colombo Offices in the next 3 moths time - one of the first Indian companies that have introduced an AI & machine learning based verification protocol that analyses and provides an authentic 360 degree overview of potential candidates to its clients. A design thinker and a strong believer that ‘Talent is a False God’ and understanding efforts and contemplating effort-index would be more helpful, Vinodh makes sure to impart skillsets of user experience, diffused compassion, story telling, exponential thinking and deep learning to every person that he is capable of getting in touch with, and thus progressively inspiring their thought process. In Bactrak,he has courageously created non-judgmental ecosystems wherein people don’t judge each other for their hits & misses, but value effort & intentions. Shredding the typical leader-follower hierarchy, Vinodh thinks that the notion suits him today is that of a designer cum facilitator.

A Different Way to Leverage Experience
“The moment you call it as leadership, by default you put yourself in a higher pedestal and in the process you get into a superior positioning and lose out on learning,” says Vinodh. An MBA graduate from Madras Christian College and also holds a Masters in Personnel Management from NIPM, Kolkata, Vinodh took along with his degree certificates was this humble mindset of a student, which in turn helped him carve an unparalleled learning phase out of his career that spans across 25 years at heritage organizations like Flextronics, HCL, Capgemini and Polaris/Intellect.
Though the business world is no more linear, the impact of generations of linear thinking lives on mind-set of leaders. Well, deciphering this elementary fact & enlightenment to leave behind the 25 years strong aura of convictions has been the turning point of Vinodh’s life. With immense passion to create an authentic world, he incepted Bactrak in late 2016. Today, possessor of an unconditioned mind which is infused with optimism, curiosity, and loads of diffused compassion & emotions, Vinodh is an exponential thinker who believes that mentorship or any other scheduled program has its shelf-life, and the only thing counts is influencing the futuristic thinking mindset in people through ceaseless engagements and self-learning. “Self-learning is the endless path, especially as we are getting into the era of Digital Revolution with AI, Machine Learning, Nano, and AR/VR all over the places. In our company, we often pick-up random topics of common interest, whiteboard a story line, iterate, deliberate and debate on various ideas branching out,” elucidates Vinodh.

The moment you call it as leadership, by default you put yourself in a higher pedestal and in the process you get into a superior positioning and lose out on learning


Digi-Transformation is Much More than Technology
In fact, the way Bactrak applies AI & Machine Learning into motion in its Product is a collective outcome of these deliberations and discussions which persistently occur in an ecosystem devised by Vinodh. Conceiving this highly futuristic approach and vision, Bactrak has its own DNA, where everything is about the collective energy of the group (be it emotional, physical or spiritual energy), which in turn propels the company further towards its goals. Indeed, Vinodh has set a ‘Bactrakian’ definition for ‘LOVE’ with an acronym of Living On Vibrant Energy and with the ‘Flow’ of supreme creativity. Owing thanks to these out-of-the box methodologies and thought process, under the aegis of its CEO and driven by contextual Intelligence, Bactrak has built a platform, and with the existence of self-learning Algorithms and NLP techniques which are applied in an almost real-time basis, the capabilities of the platform satiate the efficiency in action. The unstructured information gathered is further filtered & personalized according to the time-bound and information-bound requirements of the client through advanced NLP techniques that segregate the data into insights, pointers for assessment and operational excellence.

Digital transformation isn’t just about technology; it’s about combining the power of technology with human originality to deliver the committed artifacts.
Comprehending this proposition in its intense, Vinodh believes that, atop of a state-of-the-art platform, his biggest asset is a bunch of passionate and energetic people who constantly strive to assemble a ‘Thinking Organization’. Within a span of six months, Bactrakians have already molded a strong & happy 30 plus strong customer base without a single escalation or an issue, which speaks volume about the perfection and passion. Vinodh explains, “We constantly brainstorm how to be dissimilar, dematerialize, demonetize and disrupt the way our Industry functions, alongside endeavoring to create a non-judgmental in-house environment that comprises of fearlessness, real time feedback, curiosity, thinking mindset, connectedness, group experience, celebration, and intimacy. To sum up, that’s our culture”.

Finding the Equilibrium
Needless to say, to pursue the purple patch and visualize the future world, it demands keeping abreast of the technology trends. Period. A regular presence at International forums like Asia HR conferences and Top Engineering and B-Schools as a speaker, Vinodh perceives this dire need and in turn re-equips himself with the advent of Google and MOOC, and by indulging himself in books. Well, when it sounds like a perfect equation for stress, it’s just the opposite what happens, as Vinodh finds a perfect integration of his personal and professional lives. Abreast of having discussions on myriad topics of interest, he hits out for parties with his colleagues, watch movies, concerts and crack jokes with the same energy, enthusiasm and involvement.

A fitness freak, Vinodh is an early riser who spends more than three hours for morning exercise that includes cycling, walking in the park and working out in the gym. He is also an actor by accident and done few movies in supportive role. He plays Harmonica during his leisure time. He loves to voyage around the globe with his family, and has a special endearment towards the aesthetic outbound destinations like Paris, Florence, Athens, Freiburg, while his favorite inbound destinations are Dharamshala and Meghalaya. A pure family man, he enjoys the short, but quality hangout time with his family in various restaurants and ice cream parlors, while even enjoying home made rice & sambar, and idly & chutney. “My family has played a pivotal role in my journey and they continue to be of immense support to me. My wife Kala has been all along with me in all my highs and lows, teaching me a lot of patience and perseverance, while my daughter Shreya keeps reminding me the entailment to stay agile and treat every individual without prejudice of the past,” Vinodh asserts with a gentle smile on his face.

However, as the world moves towards AI, Robotics and Automation, the background verification approach that Vinodh proffers is highly expected to make all the difference for clients in their quest to be informed and growth driven.