Running Through Life: The 5 Cs That Define Pankaj Rai’s Journey
Saunter through the grassy expanses of Cubbon Park on a Saturday morning to encounter the metronomic thump of the BHUKMP runners, their feet synchronized like an acapella group. Zoom in to the blur of faces on those taut bodies to spot the wildly popular Pankaj Rai, a senior corporate veteran, data analytics and AI whiz, who also has an uncanny interest in people.
Known fondly as a “human LinkedIn”, Pankaj may feature among the rare few that disprove the evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar’s thesis on human friendship. In his book, Friends, Dunbar famously posited that human beings cannot maintain more than 150 “stable relationships” at any point in time. Exceed that number and you risk a cognitive overload. Pankaj can probably count a few thousands inside the IT City, and many more across the nation and globe. Ferrying this large, interconnected database inside his head, he rapidly links the dots – “She’s the cousin of so-and-so” and “He used to work at xxx” – while also jostling a myriad other factoids that fascinate him. With family, work and his expanding constellation of friends.
Curiosity and Conversations
He has the IQ no doubt – a Bachelor’s from IIT Delhi, an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad – but also what he terms a consuming “curiosity” in people. One of his favorite pastimes, besides running, is to listen to people, to engage with as diverse a set of talkers as life will allow. He’s one of those rare travelers who deliberately reserves the abhorred middle seat on flights, so that he can potentially listen to not one, but two strangers. He’s skillfully woven this ongoing fascination with humans into runs, forging what he calls “runversations” with folks across age groups.
Running has not just fueled this interest in fellow-runners. It has also facilitated a degree of self-reflection that might not have emerged sans the repeat jogs and cycling trips. Pankaj might agree with the Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami, who observes in his widely popular memoir, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: “No matter how mundane some action might appear, keep at it long enough and it becomes a contemplative, even meditative act.”
Such contemplation has led to fashioning a framework that Pankaj believes might have subconsciously guided his life decisions. With a candor that also partly accounts for his widespread appeal, he admits that many choices might seem goaded by others or serendipitous. But he’s arrived in his 50s at key drivers that propel him in certain directions, while also texturing his everydays. Ranging from his fitness routine to the “whys” of his work.
From Gorakhpur to the Pedigreed Greats
“Born on the day that Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon” – as Pankaj himself puts it in TEDx Talks or public interactions, with a questioning twinkle in his eye – he spent the initial nine years in the township of a fertilizer company in Gorakhpur. Moving to Delhi thereafter, he studied at the Modern School, acquiring a glibness with English that his father prized: “Papa was from a village, speaking primarily in Bhojpuri. He attended IIT Bombay, where he envied English-speaking peers.” For Pankaj and his brother, the English veneer would not suffice. Their Dad also wanted them to attend an IIT, which they did.
After IIT Delhi, Pankaj could have done a Master’s abroad, deepening his engineering knowhow. But he didn’t want to merely wrangle with algorithms and formulae. He chose to apply for the IIMs, where he was stymied by Group Discussions (GDs). Choosing to listen rather than shout over others, he cracked the GDs only at IIM Ahmedabad, where each candidate was given two minutes to speak. Later, landing offers from Wipro and Feedback Ventures, a smaller consulting gig, he chose the latter.
Riding Waves, Shaping Trends
Hopping from consulting to finance and banking, he found himself in GE Capital, when the late 90s’ wave of back-office outsourcing was sweeping across the country. “One trend I’ve noticed in my career,” says Pankaj, “is I’ve usually been riding industry waves and trends.” Drawn by serendipity – in this case, an ex-boss from GE Capital – to Dell, he was soon immersed in Big Tech.
Till he stumbled on a domain that would remake his professional identity: Data Analytics. Starting with Dell Financial Services, and later adding Marketing and Pricing, the analytics team grew under his watch from 15 to 500 number crunchers and visual thinkers. This was a buildout he repeated at Wells Fargo. Eventually he moved to his current position in the Aditya Birla Group, just when manufacturing seems to be swelling in importance world over.
When he looks back at his life, he moved with the tides no doubt, but there were always underlying eddies that might have tugged those decisions. For instance, when he was in Banking and Finance, he started feeling alienated from a crowd that seemed fixated on money. “I couldn’t relate to making money at all costs,” he says. While Dell ushered the excitement of Technology, he felt a similar discomfort with Consumer Tech, where customers were being urged to trade their old phones and laptops for new ones when they possibly didn’t need to. In his current role, he draws meaning from the manner in which manufacturing operations impact lives at the bottom, while staying cognizant of how the Gini Coefficient (a measure of inequality) needs to be inched downwards for wider wellbeing.
Embarking on Marathons
How did he start running? A friend’s wife’s 18-kilometer run pushed him into joining her one Sunday, and, to his surprise, his body responded: up to 8 kilometers the first time, 18 kilometers the next.
In 2005, when Pankaj had just moved to Bangalore, Dell sponsored the Lipton Marathon. Pankaj and a group of five or six friends decided to participate. Noticing how runners abroad often dressed in costumes, they thought, why not juice up a serious event? Dressed as Sadhus, they garnered more eyeballs than the winners.
Despite Pankaj’s legs cramping up on that first marathon, and having to walk after 20 kilometers, he was buoyed by the crowds and the buzz. Thereafter, marathons became his thing, not just for health, but also for the finisher’s euphoria. BHUKMP – an acronym for Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ultra, Kaveri Trail, Mumbai and Pondicherry – lists the marathons his running group participates in. Pankaj has run all these and more, and once all in a single year! Since then, he usually does the Bangalore and Mumbai marathons.
Along the way, Pankaj has gathered many stories, from people across geographies and all walks of life. Besides chitchats, he relishes physical exertion, whether it be running, cycling or playing badminton. Recently, he’s hooked to Audible and podcasts, to conversations that enable running alone.
Pankaj Rai’s S+3E Framework
People often ask Pankaj, “How do you find time to run?” His answer is – well, he’s a data analytics nerd! – another framework. He lives by what he calls the S + 3E framework. S stands for sleep, and the three E’s are eating, exercise, and expression.
He eats three homecooked meals a day, in small portions. For someone who’s so frenetically social, he’s learned to “unbundle” people interactions from food. He rarely accedes to dinner invites, eats healthily at buffets – sometimes choosing only desserts – and usually schedules meetings on weekend afternoons at cafes.
The third E, expression, is about keeping an overall objective in sight. “Why are you doing all this?” he asks. In a 24-hour day, Pankaj sets aside 8 to 9 hours for sleep. Beyond that, he doesn’t watch TV or follow televised sports like cricket and tennis. Some weekends, he indulges in one of his passions — movies. At times, he and his wife binge-watch three back-to-back shows in a theater.
He also fosters WhatsApp groups on topics that appeal to him: like running, badminton, the silver generation, women leaders, music et al. He builds guardrails around his own attention – by using his phone selectively at work while attending to folks in his vicinity.
His Life-shaping 5 Cs
All this meditative running and sweaty gupshups have led Pankaj to one more – you guessed it! – framework that captures the key drivers in his life. He imparts his “5Cs Framework” as life advice to nervy young adults starting out on career journeys.
- The First C is Curiosity: Keep learning, stay curious.
- The Second C is Compassion: Think of others and take a “long-term greedy” approach — considering not just immediate gains but sustainable success.
- The third C is Conviction: In a world with endless choices, knowing who you are and what you want to do is essential.
- The fourth C is Creativity: In today’s rapidly evolving world, it’s not just about continuous improvement, but continuous reinvention.
- The fifth C is Communication: Share your thoughts and ideas with others, get feedback and incorporate changes.
“The 5Cs,” Pankaj observes, “have a sequence and are circular.” Each trait leads to the next, and one fuels the other, creating a virtuous cycle like the flywheel diagrammed by Jeff Bezos to emphasize Amazon’s customer centricity.
Does Pankaj have regrets? Perhaps one: maybe he could have spent more time with his wife and daughters. Though he does that more consciously now. Overall, his advice to the younger generations echoes what his philosophical, atheist mother once told him: “Just be a good human being.” While realizing that “good” is a subjective term that each one has to define for her/him/themselves.