She came to Tampere, Finland in November 2003, with her spouse Gaurav Khullar for a three-month consultancy project at Nokia. Seeing the dark and cold spell of Finnish November days, immediate thought was not to stay a day more. Now the family has been living in Finland for over 20 years.
Adapting was familiar to the Indian couple. They both come from entirely different backgrounds by culture, cuisine and language. When they met, they could not speak or read each other’s native language. Saji is from Kerala in Southern India and spoke Malayalam. Punjabi-speaking Gaurav is from Chandigarh at the foothills of Himalaya mountains. They started off in English, but now their common language is Hindi.
Khullar believes that reinventing yourself is the only way to progress.
Every time living conditions on earth changed, the plants and animals which survived are the ones which evolved and adapted to the change. The same is true of the economy: If you look at the S&P500 or Fortune 500 companies, those who have held their position long have shed their skins many times.
Reinventing yourself is the only way to progress.
"Why shouldn't that apply to people too?"
Khullar claims that this idea of ‘reinventing to stay relevant’ can be applied to everything: personal relationships, hobbies, health, professional development.
In the natural sciences, this is called evolution, in economics the S-curve of innovation and productivity.
Khullar found the joy of learning at Aalto MBA
Khullar can see three S-curves in her career so far.
The first curve evolved when she took three months to learn computer programming in multiple languages with no background in the field. At the turn of the millennium IT companies did mass recruitments for programming jobs attracting Indian engineers from all fields. This was the first time Khullar experienced what she calls ‘the growing pain of learning’.
"You feel the pressure and feel helpless. You feel agitated and overwhelmed. But at the same time, you sense a special positive energy and fulfillment within. That’s the S-curve," she describes.
"My understanding of, and how I interpreted information changed after the MBA," says Khullar who was photographed at her home in Espoo.
When Khullar's S-curve in IT consultancy started flattening, she moved from IT to the business side of the corporate. Her ten-year career at Nokia was a journey of accelerated growth. After certain time, she started to feel that she was rising too fast: she wasn’t mastering or learning new things as she should.
"I no longer felt the pain of learning. Although my job titles were getting more and more impressive, I wasn’t understanding things deeply enough. Of course, you can get by like that, and it feels safe to stay in a familiar workplace."
The second curve emerged when Khullar left Nokia to a consultancy start-up called Sininen Polku (Blue Path).
At Sininen Polku, everyone did everything and for the first time, she experienced growing pains in tandem with her employer. Khullar gained profound experience of working in the unstable VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) world.
"For me, MBA education helped me notice what I couldn’t see before."
At the same time, she enrolled for an MBA at Aalto. Khullar first tried two modules from the Aalto MBA program to see whether she could work, study and take care of family priorities at the same time.
"I found the joy of learning!"
Learning in the MBA program came with a positive surprise: Khullar experienced what unlocking felt like in real life.
"My understanding of, and how I interpreted information changed after the MBA. In Hinduism, a Guru is described as a torch bearer who shed light on their students’ path. Students are then able to see what was always there but that they couldn’t see before. For me, MBA education helped me notice what I couldn’t see before."
"Now is the right time"
Another steep S-curve was the career phase at McKinsey & Company. Regardless of 20 years of diverse experience, there was a lot to learn. A colleague with a similar background gave her some advice.
"It was very, very valuable advice because it's so true. He said, ‘Forget you're experienced. Start as a fresher. It's the only way you can learn new things quickly.’
You won't lose your eyes when you add more new lenses."
Saji Khullar practices classical Indian dance and she shares the passion with her daughter Aanchal.
Khullar is now on her fourth S-curve, leading the communication and media industry in the Nordic Technology and Strategy unit at Accenture.
"The way we use technology in daily life is changing rapidly and companies need to reinvent what they offer and how they operate. For example, digital transformation, business model change, cloud migration, process redesigning etcetera," Khullar lists.
"I started off with my roots deeply set in technology. Then I shifted to operations and business management, and now returned to technology closing the loop. Technology strategy is an area where I can use both my business and technology skills hand in hand.”
She says it's never too late to learn something new, and never too early to start something new.
"Now is the right time."
