Downtime

Vijay Mehra, Global Chief Information Officer, Essar Group

Title: Global Chief Information Officer

Company: Essar Group

Industry Vertical: Diversified (Steel, Energy, Power, Communications, Shipping, Construction, Retail)

Age: 42

First Job: Software Engineer - Motorola Corporate Manufacturing Research Center, Schaumburg IL, USA.

Total Experience: 20 years

Biggest Career Influence: World-class Mentors at Motorola, the five years with McKinsey & Company, and my extensive academic exposure - starting with the Cathedral & John Connon School in Mumbai, and extending to Cornell University and MIT (USA).

Person who influenced you the most: My first boss Dennis B. Miller, the then VP at Motorola's Corporate Manufacturing Research Center. He had a philosophy of nurturing young talent and growing their professional capabilities - he would protect them in the public domain of the enterprise, while holding them accountable at the departmental level - a great combination of professional exposure, risk taking and accountability. He always said that one needs to learn to take the blows of one's own mistakes.

Technology you can't live without: My BlackBerry. I'd be completely lost without it!

What do you enjoy doing the most: Flying small aircraft, it's my passion

Your most memorable moment: The birth of my three children.

Favorite Movie: Gandhi by Richard Attenborough.

Favorite Book: Freedom at Midnight by Dominique Lapierre.

Your obsession: I'm a perfectionist and I strive for excellence in everything I do.

Biggest achievement so far: In addition to my extensive work at Motorola and McKinsey & Company, I'd rank the turnaround of IT at the Essar Group as the biggest achievement thus far in my professional life

One thing that you want to change about yourself: I'm still working on developing more patience.

One thing that you would never want to change about yourself: My drive, my passion - when I take something up I get it done. No excuses. It's done - period.

If not a CIO you would have been: Would've either been a commercial pilot or running one of our family businesses (which saw their demise while I was still in the USA).

— Rajendra Chaudhary