Prakash Rao, Senior Director, Quality, Clarivate, discusses his career so far, how his Clarivate journey began and the lessons he’s learned over the last five years.
Prakash joined DRG, Bangalore, India in September 2015 as an Operational Excellence Director, working extensively on setting up productivity and quality management practices within the organization. The role then took him to Burlington, Massachusetts, in the United States to work with the executive leadership team in 2017, before project managing the DRG technology transformation project in 2018, and building new operations excellence practices in 2019. In this article, Prakash explains how his previous years of experience helped him adapt to a new role after the DRG acquisition by Clarivate in 2020 and gives his top tips for those looking to develop their careers.
During the last five years of my career, major change has been a constant, with my time at DRG consisting of roles across Transitions, Transformation, Operational Excellence and Program Management. While it’s certainly been a roller coaster ride, these roles have brought tremendous learning opportunities that I am truly thankful for, helping me to grow professionally and personally. I consider myself fortunate to have met talented, inspiring leaders who are committed to excellence and have worked closely with me to drive amazing initiatives that I am proud of.
A new opportunity with Clarivate
My role transformed again at the start of 2020 with adoption of operations support management, providing me with a new challenge. The first quarter of 2020 then saw the announcement of the DRG acquisition by Clarivate. With this news came a focus on consolidation, while taking on a new aspect of DRG procurement, which my team was able to adapt to quickly. Not only did they adopt this process, but they also took a fresh look at the whole workflow and were able to identify some improvement opportunities!
With the Clarivate acquisition of DRG Insights complete, June 2020 provided me with an exciting opportunity to take up an internal role within Clarivate Life Sciences and Healthcare to be part of the Quality team. This allowed me to learn about quality management systems and the wider areas of auditing and compliance. I started the role on August 1, 2020, and it’s been a great experience.
Learned lessons
To commemorate my transformative career journey of the last five years, I’d like to share five key pointers for those looking to grow in their careers and adapt flexibly to new opportunities:
- Be open to change – Always keep an open mind to change, whether it’s organizational or with a new role. Taking a small step can make all the difference.
- Keep on learning – Every day can present a new learning opportunity, so develop yourself by reading new things and attending insightful training sessions and conferences/webinars.
- Explore and meet new people – It’s vital to move out of your comfort zone and try something new. By doing so, you’ll expand your learning horizon and build on your existing circle of influence.
- Remember that opportunities don’t happen, you create them – Look for the positive in any change, be it a new path, life lesson or networking connection.
- Be thankful – Life can be uncertain. Celebrate the positive moments and keep going when things get tough.
Due to the many transformations within my role and wider organization over the last five years, it has often felt like a marathon. (I can speak from experience here as I took part in my first Bangalore Marathon in 2019!) In a similar sense to a long-distance race, by pushing ahead I’ve achieved an immensely gratifying feeling by continuously crossing that finishing line.
Clarivate has provided me with an amazing and exciting working experience. The culture of the organization is truly built on transparency, collaboration and the continued drive to solve problems that matter. While my experience has already been transformative, I feel that the best is yet to come.
To find out more about working with Clarivate and our current opportunities visit: https://careers.clarivate.com/.
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