Sanjay Deshpande is a senior business executive with more than three decades of experience driving business growth across diverse industries and global markets. In his current role, he serves as Executive Vice President and Americas Business Head for Banking, Financial, and Emerging Industries at Virtusa. Throughout a distinguished career spanning four continents, Sanjay has built a reputation for transforming complex businesses into high-growth engines and cultivating highly cohesive teams. As a trusted advisor to C-suite executives and a hands-on player-coach for his teams, he has successfully expanded markets and unlocked new revenue streams through a relentless focus on scaling growth and reducing structural complexity. Prior to joining Virtusa, he served as Chief Sales Officer for the Americas at Polaris Software. His entrepreneurial and corporate background also includes establishing a successful technology startup and leading global initiatives for prominent organizations in the ICT sector.
Recently, in an exclusive interview with CIO Magazine, Sanjay shared insights into a leadership journey shaped not by one inflection point but by decades of operating across many different geographies, diverse business cultures, and uncomfortable situations that forced constant reimagining and reshaping. On talent, he believes high-performing teams in five years will be defined by incessant learning, granular micro-domain expertise that goes ‘inch-wide, mile-deep’, passion for technology-enabled problem solving, comfort working with both humans and agents, and adopting new metrics of measurement, a shift his organization is already preparing for through custom training academies. Finally, for intrapreneurs in large enterprises, his advice is to stick to conviction, take the road less traveled, focus on the future and disintermediation, build high quality collaborative teams, and measure the impact quotient every single day. The following excerpts are taken from the interview.
Hi Sanjay. You’ve built and scaled businesses across multiple continents and industries — from startups to global P&L roles. Looking back at that global journey, what single inflection point most shaped the leader you are today?
My leadership style is not defined by a single inflection point, but rather a culmination of various journeys spanning global geographies, distinct business cultures, and cross-functional teams. I approach leadership as a “people-first” leader, leading with empathy and prioritizing my teams over upward management or client demands—an intentional inversion of the conventional corporate model. Being repeatedly put into unknown and uncomfortable situations in my career has shaped me and helped build key leadership traits. Reflecting on my journey, I believe I learnt a lot, whether it was starting businesses in entirely new geographies, unifying disparate teams across continents and mentoring them to drive profitable growth despite difficult business environments. This continuous cycle of unlearning and learning helped me transform into the change agent I am today, always focused on challenging the status quo.
What do you love the most about your current role?
I thrive on the opportunity my current role offers to engage diverse customers and prospects and help them problem-solve their complex challenges by blending technology, process re-engineering, ways of working, and strategic people management. Equally rewarding is my commitment to leadership; I find deep fulfillment in guiding my teams through their professional journeys, particularly when navigating adverse circumstances. Additionally, my career has allowed me to travel extensively. Having visited more than 60 countries, I am a firm believer that immersing oneself in different places and cultures teaches you far more than any traditional medium.
Emerging sectors often signal the next disruption. Which emerging area are you watching most closely right now, and what makes it a game-changer?
I think all of us are closely watching the rapidly evolving business landscape, driven by the enormous possibilities offered by Artificial Intelligence. From Agentic AI, Embodied AI and SLMs to Multimodal Models, and Post-Quantum Cryptography – the sheer impact these technologies can create is unfathomable! The true gamechanger, however, lies in how we manage potential risks associated with AI—such as discrimination, drift, privacy breaches, hallucinations, and security vulnerabilities. Just as critical is addressing AI’s resource-hungry nature in powering and cooling data centers, alongside building sustainable hybrid environments where humans and AI agents can seamlessly co-exist. As we strive for this balance, it is imperative that we actively neutralize any detrimental impacts on environmental and social causes. At my current company, Virtusa, this is precisely how we are shifting our AI strategy. By prioritizing responsible AI-led engineering, we help organizations accelerate productivity, augment revenue, and reduce costs—all while maintaining strict guardrails to mitigate AI risks.
Talent is now global and fluid, yet domain expertise still matters. How will the profile of a “high-performing team” change in the next five years?
To thrive in a rapidly changing business landscape, a high-performing team must relentlessly focus on continuous learning and unlearning, embracing the AI-led art of the possible while adopting new ways of working. Domain expertise will become increasingly granular, requiring an exclusive, ‘inch-wide, mile-deep’ focus to responsibly utilize and monetize AI. Essential ingredients for these future-ready teams will include a strong intrinsic focus on micro-domains, an unwavering passion for technology-enabled problem-solving, strong drive to test new solutions for both familiar and emerging problems, adaptability to new measurement metrics, and the evolution to seamlessly engage with both humans and agents. At Virtusa, we have made significant investments to AI-enable our teams. By providing access to the right environment and tooling, as well as domain and tech upskilling through custom training academies – we are helping our teams embrace the cultural and operational shifts needed to adopt new ways of working and take a quantum leap.
Leaders are shaped as much by what they read as what they do. Which book has stayed with you the longest, and what idea from it do you apply most often?
The novel Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts is the book that has stayed with me the longest. A true cult classic, it is filled with profound lessons on leadership – from forging your own path and challenging the status quo to building resilience, leading with empathy, and navigating ambiguities with confidence. The philosophy that I apply most often (not from this book) stems from a quote I embraced early in life. “When was the last time you did something for the first time….?”. This quote pushes me every single day to step out of the comfort zone, reject complacency, and embrace new learnings and experiences.
Many professionals aspire to global P&L roles. What are the 2–3 capabilities they should deliberately build in their 30s to be ready?
To prepare for global P&L roles, professionals must first learn to read between the lines. Identifying unstated needs is a vital trait that every leader should possess. Beyond evaluating direct and indirect influencing factors, leaders must anticipate both technological and non-technological disintermediation trends—that could impact the business. Other critical capabilities include maintaining tight fiscal discipline, developing resilience and fostering a people-first approach. Leaders must lead with empathy, take audacious yet calculated risks, and, most importantly, always measure the impact of their actions.
Diversity and inclusion are personal passions for you. Who is one leader, historical or current, whose approach to inclusion you deeply admire?
I deeply admire Nelson Mandela for his approach to inclusion. His unwavering focus and courage, despite years of adversity and incarceration, set a gold standard for translating one person’s vision into a reality for humanity and driving the global inclusion agenda.
What is your biggest goal? Where do you see yourself in 5 years from now?
I do not set five-year goals because of the sheer market dynamism and the continuous need for reshaping and rebuilding. Instead, my focus centers on creating sustained value for my organization, clients, teams and the community. Strategically, I aspire to apply advanced technologies to complex human challenges, while focusing on team mentorship and social impact initiatives like education and healthcare. On a personal front, I intend to continue my journey of doing things that I have never done before, traveling to many more countries and dedicating quality time to writing about meaningful reflections.
With your background in both startups and large enterprises, what’s your advice to intrapreneurs trying to drive change inside big organizations?
My advice is to always stick to your convictions if you strongly believe an idea can drive positive change and challenge the status quo, even if it requires taking the road less travelled. Remember, no idea is a bad idea because either you win or you learn and grow, so do not worry about winning a popularity contest. Instead, focus heavily on what the future holds, what will remain relevant, potential disintermediation zones and the “jobs that need to be done”. Equally important are building high-quality, collaborative teams and, most importantly, consistently prioritizing your Impact Quotient.