I support organizations in achieving their strategic goals through digital and people led transformation. 

I partner with leaders and teams to foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

I lead the Service Operations practice for South East Asia, delivering impactful solutions for clients across various sectors and markets.

I also have a passion for sustainability and a vision for creating positive social and environmental impact. 


Maybe I’m old-school, but nothing replaces an in-person conversation. 

The tone, the pauses, the expressions, that’s where the real meaning lives.

The energy is the message.

Everything else feels like a compromise.

#Communication

Surya Sharma

Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company | Top Voice 2024 2025 | Leadership | Sustainability | Transformation

We throw around the word "Operating Model" far too casually.

Most people picture boxes, lines, and reporting layers and assume that’s the whole story.

But an organization is so much more than its org chart.

As per McKinsey & Company, an operating model is the backbone of how a company creates value: purpose, processes, leadership, governance, talent, behaviors, tech, partnerships, twelve interconnected elements that work as a system, not a structure. 

When these elements align, companies close the strategy-to-execution gap, move faster, build stronger teams, and unlock real performance. When they don’t, even the best strategy struggles to lift off.

Why it's important? 

Cos even top-performing companies achieve only about 70 percent of their strategies’ full potential, due in no small part to shortcomings in their operating models.

In today’s environment, redesigning your operating model isn’t an exercise in reorgs, it’s an exercise in clarity, speed, and commitment.

Lines and boxes don’t transform an organization. Alignment does.

Read this insightful explainer!

#Leadership #Mindset
-------------------
I write regularly on People | Leadership | Transformation | Sustainability. 
Follow Surya Sharma.

Operating Model

A few years ago, I presented a difficult set of findings to an executive team. When I finished, the room went completely still. No questions. No reactions. Just tight shoulders and silence.

My instinct was to jump in, to fill the space, soften the blow, “clarify” what I had just said.
But something told me to wait.

Fifteen seconds later, the CFO leaned forward and said quietly, “I needed that moment. Now I see what this really means for us.”

That one pause shifted the entire tone of the meeting, from defensive to constructive.

And since then, I’ve understood silence differently.

Research actually backs this up.
→ Communication studies show that when people get even a few extra seconds of “wait time,” their responses become deeper, sharper, and more honest.
→ Teams think better collectively.
→ People process more clearly.
→ And conversations move from reaction to reflection.

It's not cure for all but silence only works when it’s intentional. It’s not absence , it’s space.
→ Space to think.
→ Space to feel.
→ Space to finish a thought instead of rushing to the next one.

A few small habits I try to practice:
↳ Name the pause: “I’ll hold for a moment.”
↳ Count to five: long enough for someone to breathe, gather, and speak.
↳ Let the next words come from the room, not from me.

Consulting teaches frameworks, timelines, and crisp answers, but sometimes the most impactful thing you can contribute is simply not speaking.

→ Silence isn’t awkward.
→ Silence is respect.
→ Silence is depth.
→ Silence is where clarity lands.

And often, the real conversation only begins after the quiet.
#Leadership #Mindset
-------------------
I write regularly on People | Leadership | Transformation | Sustainability. 
Follow Surya Sharma.

We hate tough conversations.
We run away from them.
We treat them like taboo.

In consulting, that instinct shows up everywhere, with clients, with teams, even with ourselves.

In reality, the toughest conversations are almost always the right ones.

I’ve tried avoiding them before, hoping the issue would fade, resolve itself, disappear quietly.
But the only thing that ever disappears is time.

And time is the one thing every client, every team, every project is already short on.

We delay these conversations thinking we’re being considerate or keeping the peace.
↳Telling a client their pet project isn’t viable.
↳Telling a team member they’re slipping.
↳ Admitting to myself that a model, a plan, a promise, we made, needs to change.

But deep down, we already know the answer.
We just don’t want to accept it.

Every time I’ve postponed the truth, the problem returned bigger, louder, and harder to solve.

Whether we agree now or later but this is what it means.....Tough conversations don’t break trust, avoiding them does.

In this line of work, clarity is not harsh.
Clarity is respect.

#Leadership #Mindset
-------------------
I write regularly on People | Leadership | Transformation | Sustainability. 
Follow Surya Sharma.

What is that one thing that can change the course of a project, a career, or even a life?

We love to believe we can identify it upfront, one decision, one moment, one bet that will flip everything.

But if it were that simple, we’d all be walking around with perfectly optimised careers, flawless projects, and life scripts that never go off-track.

Reality?

↳ You almost never know the “one thing” when you’re in it.
↳ Sometimes it’s a conversation you didn’t plan.
↳ Sometimes it’s a risk you didn’t overthink.
↳ Sometimes it’s a failure that quietly shifts how you show up.

And sometimes it’s simply showing up, again and again, long enough for the right moment to find you.

As Rilke said, “Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart… try to love the questions themselves.”

We can’t predict the inflection points. We can only stay in motion so they have a chance to happen.

#Leadership #Mindset
-------------------
I write regularly on People | Leadership | Transformation | Sustainability. 
Follow Surya Sharma.

It’s funny how even a one-hour time zone shift can throw your whole system off.
You don’t notice it at first, but your body does.

In consulting, we get used to moving fast, adjusting, powering through. New city, new hotel, new schedule… repeat. But over time I’ve realised something simple and uncomfortable:

Your body doesn't overlook, never forgets and always keeps score.

That’s why I’ve become almost protective of my routines. I now pack my gym gear for every single trip, no matter how short. It’s my little anchor. Even 30 minutes of a workout helps my mind find its footing again. 

And I try, genuinely try, to keep my sleep timing steady, because the days I don’t… I feel it. In my energy. In my patience. In my work.

These aren’t productivity hacks, They’re survival habits.

Consulting can be incredibly rewarding, but it also takes a toll, quietly, gradually, and often you only notice when it’s already accumulated. 

If you’re one of thosem constantly traveling, constantly switching gears, constantly adjusting…

Be kind to yourself.

Hold on to the routines that keep you grounded. And treat your health with the same respect you give your clients.

Because at the end of the day, the work will always be there. But you need to be there too.

#Leadership #Mindset #Consulting
-------------------
I write regularly on People | Leadership | Transformation | Sustainability. 
Follow Surya Sharma.

“Random” isn’t always random. At least not for me.

Every time I travel, there’s a moment I’ve come to expect.

I’ll be walking toward security, minding my own business, and, without fail, I get that tap on the shoulder.

“Sir, random screening.”
“Sir, this line is for Business Class, are you sure you’re in the right queue?”
“Sir, could you step aside for a quick check?”

After years of this, I’ve realised: maybe randomness has a personal bias against me. 😄
Or maybe it’s just part of the invisible stories we all carry.

What used to annoy me has now turned into a quiet reminder.
👉 You don’t control how the world perceives you.
👉 But you do control how you show up, in every line, every queue, every “random” moment.
👉 And sometimes, the best response is a smile and a calm “Yes, I’m supposed to be here.”

#Mindset #Travel

“The essence of leadership is essentially taking the responsibility of trying to interpret the future to the present.”

– Paul Keating

You see it every day, a grand transformation launch event.
Big lights, big speeches, everyone buzzing with excitement.
And then… the real work starts.

Slowly the energy dies down, the buzz fades, and what’s left is the part no one talks about: the boring stuff.

Don’t get me wrong, that initial splash matters. You need it to grab attention, signal intent, and rally people.
But it’s never the splash that makes a transformation succeed.

What really moves the needle is everything that comes after, the routines that aren’t glamorous at all:
→ A weekly check-in that people actually show up prepared for
→ Leaders showing up consistently, not just on “big days”
→ Teams choosing steady follow-through over dramatic heroics
→ Processes that run even when nobody is pushing

The transformations I remember, the ones that truly worked, didn’t rely on fireworks.
They relied on rhythm.

I’m starting to appreciate that real change isn’t a moment.
It’s a habit.

The splash gets attention.
The routine gets results.

#Leadership #Mindset #Transformation
-------------------
I write regularly on People | Leadership | Transformation | Sustainability. 
Follow Surya Sharma.

Consultants aren’t magicians.

On Day 1 of a big engagement, one of client leaders looked at our team and, half-joking, asked: “So… when does the magic start?”

We smiled, it was clearly a joke. But the expectations were as real as it gets. Rightfully so, they were paying for a future they couldn’t yet see, and that weight sat in the room like a quiet question.

For the first few weeks we ran the usual playbook: workshops, interviews, slides. Nothing felt magical. 

What changed was human, small, and stubbornly ordinary.
↳ Someone on their team stayed late to show us an Excel nobody else knew existed.
↳ A junior analyst on our side refused to accept a timid answer and kept digging.
↳ A week of awkward, honest conversations where people admitted what they didn’t know shifted the tone from polite theatre to shared urgency.
↳ Slowly, “my task” became “our outcome.”
↳ The work stopped being a transaction and became companionship — messy, vulnerable, relentless.

That’s when the outcome stopped feeling like luck and started feeling like craft. Not because we pulled a rabbit out of a hat, but because both sides chose to trust the process and each other.

But you know what real magic looks like?

→ When someone who was silent in every meeting suddenly steps up and owns the toughest part of the problem.
→ When a client leader defends a decision we co-created, as if it was always theirs.
→ When two teams stop arguing about roles and start finishing each other’s sentences.
→ When the breakthrough looks so obvious in hindsight that no one remembers how hard it was to get there.

Consultants aren’t magicians. But when trust meets steady effort, when people drop their guard and lean in…

That’s the closest thing to magic I’ve ever seen.

Video: America's Got Talent
#ConsultingLife #Leadership #Mindset
-------------------
I write regularly on People | Leadership | Transformation | Sustainability. 
Follow Surya Sharma.

taplio

Surya Sharma's Linkedin Analytics

Surya Sharma

Performance ScoreSurya Sharma's LinkedIn Performance

What is Surya talking about?

Surya Sharma's Best Posts (last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

.css-6ytdur{background-image:linear-gradient(284deg, rgba(39, 43, 72, 1) 0%, rgba(33, 47, 183, 1) 100%);color:transparent;-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;}Surya Sharma's Linkedin Analytics

Surya Sharma

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Surya Sharma's LinkedIn Performance

What is Surya talking about?

Surya Sharma's Best Posts .css-1emoo84{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:400;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);}(last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Surya Sharma's Linkedin Analytics

Performance ScoreSurya Sharma's LinkedIn Performance

Surya Sharma's Best Posts (last 30 days)