Balaji Ganapathy
Global Head, Chief Social Responsibility Officer, Diversity and Inclusion Executive Leader
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
Headquarters: New York, New York
Industry: IT Services & Consulting
CEO: Rajesh Gopinathan
Website: www.tcs.com
His Credentials: BTech, mechanical engineering, College of Engineering, Trivandrum; post grad, human resource management, XLRI Jamshedpur
His Philosophy: Organizations today need an intersectional approach to diversity that reaches all facets of an individual’s identity, not just their representation as a member of a specific group.
In 2019, Balaji Ganapathy and his team launched the Lead Program–Leadership and Diversity, designed to support diverse talent and develop pathways for the individuals to access C-suite roles within the organization. They also added other focused learning programs, including Culture Shot, which offers opportunities to learn about the 35 countries where TCS maintains its largest presence; Globe Smart, which provides cultural learning content for more than 90 countries; and TCS Without Borders, which seeks to establish inclusive interaction among global teams and teaches the key skills needed to communicate across cultures.
In 2020, Ganapathy’s goal is to build Inclusion from the behavioral lens-indigenous model of change and integration. TCS has partnered with organizations like the British American Business Council to create events that explore opportunities to embrace and adopt true diversity and inclusion, and provide broader access to opportunity. The company’s most recent event focused on intersectionality, because an individual can be part of a number of different demographics, and efforts to expand diversity and inclusion must acknowledge and embrace that.
