With 20 years of industry experience behind him, Dr A.S. Prasad is currently head, product and marketing, India, Emerson Network Power. His mandate is to promote the company’s low voltage power solutions for the telecom and power sectors. Talking about his focus areas, Prasad says, “The key challenge before the telecom industry today is reducing power consumption. Therefore, the focus is on developing efficient and high power density products like lithium-ion batteries, high efficiency rectifiers with low form factors, as well as solar-led solutions to help players reduce their power and diesel consumption.”

A key challenge before Prasad is to ensure continuous innovation in products and services. According to him, the Indian telecom market is highly competitive, with its biggest challenge being offering customers innovative products at reasonable prices in the shortest possible time. He feels that gauging customer needs is the key to overcoming these challenges. To this end, he and his team, along with other company verticals like engineering, procurement and manufacturing, engage with potential customers at the early development stages of a product.

Prasad is an engineer by qualification and has a Ph.D in management from the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun. Early in his career, he was involved in purely technical roles at companies like Asea Brown Boveri, and Chennai Petroleum Corporation. Over the years, he developed core competencies in project management, instrumentation and automation. He also developed people and leadership skills, and was keen to take on a more industry-facing role. He got this opportunity a year ago, when he took on his current role at Emerson Power Network. Prior to this, he had led Emerson Process Management and served as director of its solutions business. “I believe disruption keeps an individual energised. My current assignment has given me the opportunity to leverage and put to test the management, strategy and leadership skills I have cultivated over the years,” says Prasad.

Prasad believes that the era where leaders got things done through authoritative commands has passed. He compares a leader’s role to that of a cricket team’s captain, who has to play different roles like that of a wicketkeeper or a batsman in a crisis situation, and lead from the front.

Prasad unwinds by reading and spending time with his seven-year-old daughter.