About this episode
Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Sunil (SKG) Gupta, Senior Director in Cognizant and author of the book “Unlock Yourself” about creating a purpose led and fun filled life — a seasoned corporate leader with over three decades of experience spanning supply chain, IT-BPM, SaaS platforms, and now, marketing and influencer relations at Cognizant.Some highlights from the conversation has two major parts A Career Built on Transitions and Reinvention and making of the authorSunil started his career in the early 1990s in procurement, choosing the lesser-known path at a time when everyone else was aiming for sales, marketing, or R&D. His instinct for building structured systems began even then.By the late 90s, he was part of one of India’s earliest experiments with reverse auctions and e-procurement, trained on platforms like Ariba before they became mainstream — gaining domain expertise that would shape the next phase of his career.Sunil joined the IT-BPM world in 1999, sparked by a newspaper ad that challenged readers to rethink their role during the Internet boom. From there, he helped set up B2B digital platforms across multiple sectors, including food and manufacturing.One of his standout projects was setting up a fully hosted commodity futures exchange, offering not just software but an end-to-end platform-as-a-service (long before SaaS became a buzzword).At Cognizant, Sunil spent over a decade building enterprise architecture and consulting practices, including growing a team of 300+ technology and business architects. He played a key role in setting up frameworks that bridged technology with real business impact.He later moved to the Philippines, taking on leadership roles in BPO services and transformation, and now works in marketing and analyst relations, helping position Cognizant’s offerings with global firms like Gartner, Forrester, and IDC.The Making of an Author – Unlock Yourself:Sunil’s book is a blend of personal introspection, professional learning, and tools for self-coaching.He introduces the RADHA framework – Reflect, Ask, Decide, Help, Act – to guide people through change and self-discovery.A strong advocate for neurodiversity and learning with compassion, Sunil discusses how society needs to reframe what “normal” means in both education and the workplace.His approach to writing and s
