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Building Strategic Leadership | Strategic Acumen Program @ Leading Financial Services Firm | 2025

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GlobalGyan Leadership Academy August 20, 2025

Program Overview

Growth in financial services requires more than operational excellence—it demands strategic alignment across all levels of leadership. Too often, mid-level managers become disconnected from organizational strategy, executing initiatives without understanding the broader purpose or how their decisions impact long-term success. This creates fragmented efforts, misaligned priorities, and missed opportunities for sustainable competitive advantage.

A leading financial services firm recognized this challenge and sought to strengthen strategic clarity and execution alignment among their mid-level managers to fuel their next phase of growth. The Strategic Acumen Program was designed not just to communicate strategy, but to actively involve managers in (re)articulating organizational aspiration, exploring external market forces, and aligning key teams around a unified strategic roadmap.

The challenge was multifaceted: these managers needed to understand how external trends would reshape their industry, develop the capability to make strategic choices rather than just operational decisions, and build the confidence to take ownership of strategy implementation within their functional areas. Most importantly, they needed to see strategy as a shared responsibility rather than something handed down from senior leadership.

2 Day
 Workshop

20+
Participants

Mid-Level
 Managers

Group Activity
 /Discussion

Key Themes Covered

The program addressed the complete spectrum of strategic thinking and execution through carefully sequenced modules that built comprehensive strategic capability.

  • Vision and Purpose: Defining collective aspirations and visualizing the organizational future, while clarifying purpose, mission, and vision in ways that connected emotionally with team members and provided clear direction for decision-making.
  • Market Intelligence: Understanding external trends, industry shifts, and competitor movements that would impact business success, developing the capability to translate market insights into strategic opportunities and threats.
  • Strategic Decision-Making: Identifying key strategic choices and understanding their implications for business operations, learning to evaluate trade-offs and make decisions that balanced short-term performance with long-term sustainability.
  • Value Creation: Crafting sustainable value propositions and understanding the key drivers that would differentiate the organization in competitive markets, while identifying the capabilities needed to deliver superior customer value.
  • Strategic Planning: Building comprehensive 3-year strategic plans with clear assumptions, priorities, and success metrics that connected strategic aspirations with practical execution roadmaps.
  • Cross-Functional Alignment: Aligning cross-functional initiatives, dependencies, and success metrics to ensure strategic coherence and eliminate organizational silos that could undermine execution effectiveness.

Program Impact

Throughout this intensive two-day strategic journey, participants transformed from functional managers executing assigned tasks into strategic leaders capable of making decisions that advanced organizational goals while building collaborative relationships across business functions.

  • Strategic Roadmap Clarity Participants developed a clearly articulated strategic roadmap with functional implications directly aligned to broader business goals, enabling more coherent decision-making and resource allocation across all management levels.
  • Execution Readiness The program generated prioritized initiatives that were immediately ready for execution, with clear success metrics and accountability structures that ensured strategic plans would translate into measurable business results.
  • Strategic Ownership Culture Mid-level managers gained significantly greater ownership of strategy implementation within their roles, moving from passive executors to active strategic contributors who could adapt plans based on market feedback and operational realities.
  • Cross-Functional Strategic Collaboration Participants developed enhanced cross-functional understanding and collaboration capabilities essential for driving complex 3-year strategic plans that required coordination across multiple departments and business units for successful implementation.

Srinivasa Addepalli

Director, GlobalGyan Academy; Ex-Tata Group

Suman Addepalli

Director & Faculty Partner GlobalGyan Academy, Author

Semira Khaleeli

Founder, Imagenation;
Ex-InterContinental Hotels

Priyanka Sahay

Senior Leadership Coach, GlobalGyan Academy

Ashok Korwar

CEO Coach; Former Dean, IIM-A, Ex-Polaris Consulting

Gagandeep Singh

Leadership Coach;
Ex-Tata Group, IIM-A & ISB

Dipesh Mohile

Consultant, IIA Ventures;
Ex-Cisco

Chandramoulee P.

Management Coach; Ex-HSBC, Citi, HDFC

Sanjay Yashroy

Adjunct Professor, IIM;
Ex-Accenture (UK), Star India

Vijay Makwana

Founder, Genevraye Consulting; Ex-Blue Tribe, Whirlpool

Usha Rangarajan

Founder, UnLEASH, Leadership Coach; Ex-Tata Tele

Sonali Gera

Certified Leadership Coach;
Ex-Tata Motors, EXL Services

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Srinivasa Addepalli

Srinivasa Addepalli is the visionary Founder & CEO of GlobalGyan Leadership Academy. A former Chief Strategy Officer at the Tata Group and ex-IIM Ahmedabad faculty, he blends 25+ years of real-world leadership with a deep passion for teaching. Known for turning complex business ideas into simple, actionable insights, he inspires professionals to think like CEOs and lead with purpose, clarity, and courage.

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Suman Addepalli

Suman Addepalli is a leadership educator, author, and former COO (Thriive Global, Radio Mirchi, Reliance Ent.) with 20+ years in media and communications. As Director & Faculty Partner at GlobalGyan Leadership Academy, she empowers professionals through impactful storytelling, executive presence, and persuasive communication. Her bestselling book, “Supercharge Your Executive Presence,” has helped many advance their careers.

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Semira Khaleeli

Semira Khaleeli is a seasoned trainer, coach, and facilitator with 22 years in hospitality marketing and sales. Founder of Imagenation, she specializes in selling skills, communication, personal branding, and executive presence. Certified in NLP, DISC, and Emotional Intelligence, she has trained industries like Godrej, Siemens, and Vodafone. Semira also coaches executives remotely with Peakperformer and uExcelerate, empowering leaders globally.

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Priyanka Sahay

Priyanka Sahay is a seasoned leadership coach at GlobalGyan, with a rare blend of corporate acumen and human insight. Backed by 20+ years across banking, entrepreneurship, and academia, she empowers mid-career professionals to lead with empathy, clarity, and strategic intent. A certified counselor and ex-Axis Bank leader, she’s deeply passionate about unlocking human potential through reflective and immersive learning.

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Dr. Ashok Korwar

Dr. Ashok Korwar

Ashok is a management consultant based in Pune. His passion is to help SMEs grow to the next level. His focus is in the IT and engineering industries. Ashok was a strategic advisor to the Chairman of Polaris Software, where he actively engaged in strategic initiatives. He was also a professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, where he has served as the Chairman of the PGP, the MEP, and the International Management Group.

Gagandeep Singh

Gagandeep Singh is a Director at Reflexive Lenses Consulting and collaborator at GlobalGyan Academy. He specializes in organization development, focusing on transformation, leadership, and culture change. With expertise in behavioral labs, psychometric tools, and coaching, he partners with senior leaders to drive alignment and growth. He also teaches at IIMA and ISB, blending deep academic insight with practical leadership development.

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Dipesh Mohile

Dipesh Mohile is a seasoned startup advisor and investor mentor with 20+ years of experience, including 12 years at Cisco in sales strategy. Founder of IIA Ventures and Think Beyond Numbers, he helps startups scale, raise funds, and execute growth strategies. He partners with incubators, accelerators, and GlobalGyan to build strong leadership and reduce startup failures, focusing on practical, impactful solutions.

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Chandramoulee Palani

Chandramoulee Palani is a banker-turned-edupreneur with 25+ years in global finance, including leadership roles at Citibank, HDFC Bank, HSBC, and more. An expert in corporate finance, strategy, and cross-cultural stakeholder management, he now focuses on executive coaching, strategic consulting, and teaching at premier institutes like IIM and IIT Madras. A marathoner and author, he blends structured problem-solving with people skills to empower future leaders.

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Sanjay Yashroy

Sanjay Yashroy is a dynamic leader and educator with a rich background in strategy, innovation, digital tech, and venture capital. An MBA from London Business School, he has held leadership roles at Reliance Jio, Pixion, and co-founded Right Angle Digital. Currently an Adjunct Professor at IIM, he blends global insight with Indian philosophy to drive transformation in business and education.

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Vijay Makwana

Makwana Vijay is a PE/VC investee firm operations expert and growth strategist. With experience as CEO, consultant, and marketing leader, he specializes in P&L leadership, GTM strategy, brand building, and sales growth for consumer goods. An INSEAD MBA, he’s worked with global firms like Whirlpool, Rio Tinto, and Standard Chartered. Vijay now leads Genevraye Consulting, helping businesses scale through sharp execution and strategic insight.

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Usha Rangarajan

Usha is a transformation strategist and founder of UnLEASH, driving customer experience-led business change, strategy deployment, and culture transformation. With 30+ years across hospitality, IT, and telecom, she has led impactful projects for airlines, hotels, real estate, and startups. A certified coach, Six Sigma Black Belt, and NLP practitioner, she mentors entrepreneurs and empowers women leaders. Usha also serves as an Independent Director at Sterling Holidays and engages with GlobalGyan.

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Sonali Gera

Sonali Gera is an Internationally Certified Leadership Coach and Global HR expert specializing in Women Leadership, Diversity & Inclusion, POSH, and Trauma-Informed Coaching. With 15+ years in global corporate leadership roles at Tata Motors and more, she now empowers leaders worldwide through coaching, leadership development, and complex change management. Passionate about feminine leadership and creating inclusive workplaces.

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