Piyush Srivastava - The Journey Is More Important Than the Destination (Corporate Counsellor & Entrepreneur)

During the Covid pandemic, I Co-founded a company “Internshape” with the sole purpose of making young graduates job ready. I ran the company for two years as its CEO and trained close to 1700 people to join various organizations as interns. Most of the interns landed up getting jobs in the same organizations.

1. Tell us about your background and journey.

After doing my master's in Economics with a specialization in Econometrics, I started my career as a lecturer teaching International Trade. After teaching for two years, I joined “The Times of India” in Mumbai as a journalist. My journey took a turn when I was selected as the management trainee in the Alembic group, an opportunity that gave me a chance to study management through IIM AHMEDABAD as organized by the Alembic Industries. 

I worked for Alembic Glass in Sales and Marketing for five years. My next move was to join NIIT Education in 1986. I stayed with the group for long thirty years and managed functions like Administration, Procurement, Infrastructure, Human Resources, Training, and finally the global operations for NIIT Technologies. 

After signing off from NIIT, I joined American Cyber System as their Director of Operations and stayed with them for two years. During the Covid pandemic, I Co-founded a company “Internshape” with the sole purpose of making young graduates job ready. 

I ran the company for two years as its CEO and trained close to 1700 people to join various organizations as interns. Most of the interns landed up getting jobs in the same organizations. I divested 100% from Internshape in 2022. Currently, I spend my time consulting a couple of SMEs and Startups. I also travel, write, and teach theatre to underprivileged kids. 

2. What led you to take up this career path?

Learning new things, working with people, and my intense desire to express myself created the career path I walked on. 

3. What are your tips for people who want to practice this profession?

When we fear uncertainty we get caged in one environment and never get out of the same routine all our lives but when we see uncertainty as a possibility to explore something new we create immense opportunities for ourselves.

4. Is work-life balance a myth or reality according to you?

In my opinion, the Work-Life Balance is the most misused, and misunderstood concept pushed by the service industry mostly driven by IT. The WLB can never be a process-driven activity, on the contrary, it is deeply a cultural issue. In a career sometimes we work continuously to create something, to achieve something. Does this mean we are robbing people of WLB? I think that’s not correct. 

A work culture can be evolved which touches the life of an employee 360 degrees, families, breaks, and fun can all be a natural part of our doing our jobs thus establishing a culture of a balanced life. I was part of many such initiatives at NIIT and I believe this culture became the glue because of which most of the senior leadership worked with the group for more than one or two decades.

5. One piece of advice that you feel would have helped you while starting out in this field?

I firmly believe that the journey is more important than the destination, and from that perspective, I feel my journey has been extremely rewarding and meaningful. 

Interviewed By - Mitali Jain