'I Felt The Need To Become A Domain Expert Even After 25 Years In The Corporate Ecosystem', Says upGrad Learner Dr. Ramesh Kumar

~His passion for research and writing has helped him complete an extensive 36-month Global Doctorate program in just 10 months, with a strong research paper which was converted into a book titled ‘Cost of Poor Leadership’ ~

Dr. Ramesh Kumar, an upGrad learner from India's Silicon Valley, Bengaluru, is a distinctive example of how an experienced professional approaches LifeLongLearning. Having worked in the corporate ecosystem for about 25 years across diversified roles and from being a Mentor, Leadership coach, Visiting Faculty, and to Board Advisor, he has now achieved one of the highest terminal degrees - Global Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) with upGrad’s university partner Swiss School of Business and Management, Geneva. 

A certified leadership coach, Dr. Kumar in his previous corporate stints has been at the senior executive level for several years leading and transforming businesses into growth mode in India and overseas. Focused on leadership development, Dr. Kumar has spent years working with the best crop of leaders from India Inc. and trained them to become visionaries in their respective domains. He has also led global teams of ~5000 people and has trained them to drive concrete business results. 

Despite being an over-achiever and having donned multiple hats across domains, Dr. Ramesh felt the need to go a step further. “I felt the need to become a domain expert even after 25 years in the corporate ecosystem," said Dr. Kumar.

At the end of his program, he converted his research paper into a book under the same title, ‘Cost of Poor Leadership’. “Honestly, to become a ‘Doctor’ and enjoy the ‘Dr.’ prefix before my name was on my bucket list. Combining my years of experience along with research to create an impactful outcome was always a compelling reason for me and upGrad was indeed a sound decision. The global faculty support and learning assistance I received during the program were truly the plus points. While the journey of research is interesting and exploratory, the satisfaction from the accomplishment of creating something unique that could also guide future researchers is extremely fulfilling," he added.

Mayank Kumar, Co-Founder& MD, upGrad further added, “There is a common misconception that learning stops once you have attained a degree and have completed a number of years with an organisation. Even corporates globally need innovative leaders who can preempt business challenges and solve them through research-driven solutions. Therefore, Dr. Kumar’s journey is an encouragement for millions of such weathered professionals, who want to become experts in their desired domain but have parked the idea for a future date.”

An online DBA program which is rare to find, makes the learner stand out from the crowd of usual Master degree holders, thereby helping them earn better compensation for senior management or C-Suite roles. Professionals can opt for such global doctorate programs with upGrad’s university partners to reap the benefits of flexible online education without the challenge of loss of pay. These specially curated programs are at par with global education standards, offer international academic support, and one-on-one thesis supervision to help working professionals engage better with the content and chart out a rewarding career path for themselves. 

About upGrad 

upGrad - started in 2015 is a pioneer in the online education revolution, focused on powering career success for a global workforce of over 1.3 billion. It is one of the few Integrated LifeLongLearning Tech Companies in the world - spanning the college learner to the working professional from the age group of 18-50 years and across Undergrad courses, Campus & Job Linked Programs, Studying Abroad, short form to executive programs to Degrees, Masters and Doctoral - with a learner base of over 3 million across 100+ countries and over 300 University partners and a robust enterprise business with a client base of 1000 companies worldwide.upGrad’s Global Learning Engine rests on four pillars - (a) its large repository of original & owned content and IP, (b) its own best-in-class proprietary tech platform, (c) it's high touch human-led delivery service backed by coaches & mentors, and (d) an 85% course completion track record, backed by a further 80% career outcomes guaranteed performance. Already termed Asia’s higher EdTech leader it has offices in the UK, U.S., Middle East, India, Singapore & Vietnam, and with a presence in many more countries.