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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

TUSHAR GODBOLE

DGM – Global Program Management at
GVR Fortive Corporation-Danaher Group

If we go back to your Engineering days, what was development but I started looking at it from more
your career goal at that time? Was it always to be structured approach, the PMI-PMBOK approach. I
a manager or something else? How did you get worked in Emerson till 2010 & got opportunity to
introduced to the Project Management? work and head the program management function
Well, I can tell you about my career. After my for Eaton Corporation in India. My goal was to make
matriculation, I have decided to go for Diploma in career into R&D and Engineering. But the year 2009-
Mechanical Engineering. After that, I have 10 changed my track into the Program
completed my graduation in Production Management. It is true that right from beginning, I
Engineering from Bharati Vidyapeeth’s College of never wanted to be an individual contributor. My
Engineering-Pune University. Obviously I had choice goal was to be a manger, people’s manager. I’m
to go into the Operations. So I started my career managing a team though-out my career and this is
from Standard Batteries Ltd as a Trainee Engineer in what I really love.
Operations. I was not really happy to make my
career into Operations & decided to join Bajaj You’ve been involved in global engineering since
Electricals in 1996, as a part of New Product many years, what differences you see between
Development & R&D department and worked there Project Management in India and in foreign
for 6 years. Then I got the opportunity to join Sigma countries?
When I started working in project management in
Electric Pvt Ltd which is a 100% export oriented unit
headquartered in Raleigh, NC-USA. I handled R&D 2002, that time the maturity of Project
and Product Engineering department. In 2005 I Management in the US was pretty high. In India,
became a PMP & joined Emerson Electric, a US those days’ project managers were looked as a
multinational and started working for their EGS project coordinators and nothing else. (Not as
Electrical Group headquartered in Chicago. I manager) It means they were not having any
handled a team of 35 people. I would say, my real authority. Role was just to follow up with the people
and get the work done. You were not being able to
Project Management journey started from
Emerson. For 3 years, I was handling engineering make any decisions. But now as of today, I’ve seen
that maturity has been completely changed. Now in
and R&D part of it. At that time we made a decision
that Project Managers should also be based out of the industry Project Managers are respected. They
the same team since the majority of Product are seen as the controllers, the CEOs of the projects.
development teams are from India. So we hired 3 In our Organization, we consider Project Manager’s
program managers in the team. My inclination as CEO of their own project. It is up-to you (Project
Manager) how to run that project. Bring it in a profit
towards PM started from that point. During my
tenure with Emerson the project Management area or put it in a loss. This maturity has come as of
started attracting me and not really when I did my today. And most of the companies are looking for
PMP. I knew most of the things about product Project Management expertise in the industry.
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