Yashwant Singh on Leadership, Overcoming Compliance Challenges, and Team Mentorship in the Financial Services Sector

In this engaging interview, StartupTalky talks with Mr. Yashwant Singh, a seasoned professional with over two decades of experience in the financial services sector. As a Compliance Officer, Singh shares his insights on handling complex challenges, his leadership style, and his dedication to team mentorship.

He also opens up about his motivations, future aspirations, and how he balances his demanding career with personal relaxation. Join us as we explore Singh's professional journey and gain valuable lessons from his broad experience and unique perspective.

StartupTalky: Could you share insights into your professional journey and experiences? Additionally, what drives and motivates your daily routines?

Mr. Singh: Being in the Financial Services Sector for more than 2 decades and having worked in different organizations and different departments equips me with the insight to navigate complexities effectively.

Throughout my professional career, I have gone through many challenges, but with my experience, knowledge, and teamwork, I have been able to overcome them.

Success is what motivates me to do a good job. Knowing the fact that my hard work and perseverance will help me achieve greater professional success is what keeps me going. I feel that aligning the company’s vision and values with my own is one way to achieve that. When I know that my efforts are following the correct path, it encourages me to push more.

Hence, for me, success is important both at a personal as well as at organizational level. Motivation is seeing the organization grow, which ultimately leads to personal achievement and success.

I always try to keep the hopes alive.

StartupTalky: Reflecting on your extensive industry background, what standout lessons have you gained, and can you elaborate on your distinctive leadership style?

Mr. Singh: As the famous quote goes “Teamwork makes the dream work.” An important life lesson is that working as a team can do wonders. So I emphasize this quote, I worked in a team and achieved my goals. I picked up plenty of skills from teammates which developed my communication and collaboration skills and I also learned how to effectively manage work.

I believe that great collaboration and teamwork are essential for successfully completing tasks. Whenever I start collaborating with the leadership board, including regulatory bodies, industry groups, or vendors, I always try to communicate my ideas clearly, listen to them patiently, and explain the requirements of the task. I am also open to accepting constructive feedback, which helps me improve the end result while collaborating.

StartupTalky: What is your approach to mentoring your team? How do you deal with learning and development?

Mr. Singh: As a mentor, I have the responsibility and the opportunity to guide, inspire, and empower my team members. I define my vision and goals to my team and myself.

Another key aspect of managing my team as a mentor is to know their strengths and weaknesses, their learning styles and preferences, understand their problems, and try to solve them. As a mentor, I have the responsibility to provide feedback and coaching to our team members. Feedback and coaching are essential for learning, improvement, and development, and they should be a continuous and collaborative process.

Open and honest communication is the foundation of a successful team. I communicate with them regularly, which helps me build the interpersonal skills necessary for effective teamwork, which ultimately helps in embracing improvements in their experience and capabilities. Sharing ideas, points of view, information, and expertise helps keep them informed and in loop. I always take feedback, brainstorm ideas, and listen to my team members.

I try to create an atmosphere where everyone feels comfortable learning and developing their capabilities.

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StartupTalky: In navigating your role as Compliance Officer, what significant business challenges have you confronted, and what strategies did you employ to successfully overcome them?

Mr. Singh: As a Compliance officer, I have confronted business challenges like making the company compliant in view of the regulatory framework vis-à-vis company business.

I try to create a healthy compliance culture for everyone, from leadership to frontline employees, that makes them understand what is considered “Right” in our industry and see how regulatory compliance upholds our organization's mission, purpose, and core values.

I use my knowledge, past experiences, and facts effectively to resolve the issues. I try to identify the root cause of issues, and according to that, I develop an action plan in order to resolve the issues and avoid recurrence.

StartupTalky: Envisioning the future, could you elaborate on the destination you are steering towards in your professional journey?

Mr. Singh: I envision myself as a successful compliance officer using my experience and innovation to make a positive impact on the industry and want to remain at the top always.

StartupTalky: What do you do to relax when you are unplugged from work?

Mr. Singh: Watching news channels, spending time with my 4-year-old daughter and my family, I have a little bit of interest in cooking (especially non-vegetarian).

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