Malvika Jhangiani
CHRO at Faro
FARO Technologies
Episode 95
Future of HR: Embrace Discomfort, Become Business Bilingual for Growth.
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleJuly 23, 2025 · 13:09
Thesis
“Successful HR leadership in a dynamic, global environment demands agility, a willingness to embrace discomfort and 'scrappy' innovation, and a profound 'bilingual' understanding of both HR and core business functions to unlock human potential and drive growth.”
Show notes
Navigating Global HR Leadership with Malvika Jhangiani: Insights from Consulting to PE Growth
In this episode of the Built by People Podcast, we welcome Malvika, the CHRO of Farrow Technologies, who shares her expansive 25-year career journey across global HR roles. Malvika discusses her early career challenges in consulting, her role in driving growth and integration at Monsanto, and her transition to a PE-backed company during the COVID-19 pandemic. She emphasizes the importance of being adaptable, fostering digital fluency, and the significance of her 'three Bs' philosophy: Big Bets, Bilingual, and Breathe. Dive into her insights on leadership, cross-cultural navigation, and strategic change management.
00:00 Introduction to the Built by People Podcast
00:41 Meet Malvika: A Journey Through HR
01:45 Navigating Cultural Challenges in HR
03:39 Driving Growth at Monsanto
06:41 Transitioning to a PE-Backed Organization During COVID
09:19 Embedding Digital Fluency in Agriculture
11:58 Parting Advice: The Three Bs
13:33 Conclusion and Farewell
What you'll take away
- 1Growth often happens when you step outside your comfort zone; embrace discomfort and assert leadership.
- 2In hyper-growth or resource-constrained environments, 'scrappy' approaches coupled with strategy can be a powerful driver of success.
- 3HR professionals must be 'bilingual,' deeply understanding their HR domain while also becoming students of the business and technology.
- 4Take 'big bets' on yourself and others, paying forward mentorship and support to pull others along.
- 5In a fast-paced world, remember to pause and 'breathe' to maintain calmness and clarity as a leader.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Flipping traditional mentorship: Senior executives can learn valuable digital skills and perspectives through reverse mentoring from young professionals.
- •Successful restructuring: Restructuring a business, even massively, can lead to sales growth rather than a loss of focus, with the right covert planning and communication.
- •Scrappy as superpower: Moving from a process-heavy corporate environment to a resource-lean, PE-backed firm, 'scrappy' becomes an asset for hyper-growth.
In Malvika's words
“Quickly I learned how some of my best growth happened when I was put outside my comfort zone, right?”
This highlights the guest's belief that personal and professional growth often stems from challenging situations.
“So my learning was sometimes you delve deep and you've got to learn how to toggle up and down in an organization to truly deliver value.”
This quote emphasizes the dynamic and flexible leadership style required in various organizational contexts.
“Scrappy is sometimes your superpower, right?”
This phrase encapsulates the guest's view on leveraging limited resources and agile thinking in challenging situations.
“We said no one owns data, no one owns insights, It is owned by us as an enterprise.”
This illustrates a powerful approach to data governance and collaborative insight generation within an organization.
“Most organizations have senior leaders mentoring young talent. We flipped it and we were like, hey, there's an opportunity for our senior executives to go through this reverse mentoring experience and learn from them.”
This quote showcases a contrarian and innovative approach to professional development and digital fluency.
“He said, Malvika, you need to be a student of the business. And so everyone, every HR professional obviously needs to know their domain, but also get bilingual. Learn technology, learn the business, and you will be a much richer professional if you are bilingual.”
This provides actionable career advice for HR professionals to expand their impact and value by understanding broader business contexts.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Integrating a high volume of acquisitions (e.g., 17-18) post-merger without clear integration strategies, leading to fractured business units and sub-optimal value capture.
- •Restructuring existing business models and go-to-market strategies (e.g., shifting from siloed sales to single account managers for strategic clients) to enhance customer experience and drive growth, requiring significant internal buy-in and stealth execution.
- •Rapidly scaling a company fivefold in a PE-backed environment with limited resources, especially during unexpected crises like COVID, demanding swift establishment of leadership teams and robust HR practices (e.g., designing 401k plans from scratch).
- •Embedding digital fluency and a data-driven mindset across a large, established organization, breaking down data silos, and fostering innovation through internal funding and cross-functional collaboration.
- •Navigating cultural complexities and stereotypes in global projects, particularly when younger professionals or women are in leadership or advisory roles, requiring strong professional boundary setting and cultural understanding.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
Dave Gentry started his career in consulting with Andersen and Ernst Young
The Journey of Working Across Cultures
65% of Monsanto's commercial business went through 6 strategic accounts
Punishment for Corporate Inclusion
How did you adapt your leadership style to drive growth during challenging period
Leading HR at a PE-backed organization during COVID
At Monsanto, we wanted to embed digital fluency across the organization
How to Scale Up the Digital Economy at Monsanto
Navika shares her advice on leadership on Built by People podcast
Malvika's Last Words
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
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