About the Series – For Your Insight
This feature is part of For Your Insight—a thought leadership initiative by SDA Bocconi Asia Center, the pan-Asian hub of SDA Bocconi School of Management. The series brings together perspectives from our students, alumni, faculty, and industry experts, showcasing stories that reflect the value of an SDA Bocconi education and the excellence we strive to deliver. Through real-world narratives and career journeys, For Your Insight explores how business leaders are navigating transformation, innovation, and responsibility in a fast-changing world.
In an era where specialization often dominates career conversations, the ability to navigate multiple domains with depth and agility has become a rare and valuable leadership trait. For professionals like Anand Jha, Vice President of Product Development at Hero Cycles and International Executive Master in Business – batch 8 alumnus at SDA Bocconi School of Management, this multidisciplinary journey isn’t just about collecting experiences—it’s about building what he calls “cross-sectionality,” a unique vantage point shaped by curiosity, creativity, and value creation.
With over 18 years of leadership experience spanning automotive design at General Motors, healthcare innovation at 1mg, and consumer robotics at Miko, Anand brings a rare combination: deep expertise in design paired with strong commercial acumen. His career exemplifies what it means to lead across diverse contexts—from designing vehicle interfaces for Chevrolet Volt to scaling diabetes subscriptions from 6 to 1,000 orders per day, to achieving significant e-commerce turnarounds at Hero Cycles.
Anand’s journey also reflects the transformative value of pursuing an Executive MBA with SDA Bocconi Asia Center—a decision that has shaped not only his strategic thinking but also his approach to leadership and community building.
In this conversation, we explore how Anand’s multifaceted career has shaped his leadership philosophy and what it means to balance creativity with commercial objectives, maintain a learning mindset, and build lasting connections through community.
1. You've worked across diverse industries—from healthcare to mobility. What has guided your career choices over the years?
My choice of domains has always been shaped by three underlying threads: curiosity, technology, and value creation.
Curiosity has been a guiding force throughout my career. Understanding why a product or service is used, who uses it, how it fits into their lives, and what creates lasting value has brought me immense satisfaction. This curiosity has also enabled me to transfer skills across categories—applying learnings from one domain to another. Working across diverse segments and roles provides multiple lenses through which to view the same problem, leading to a more well-rounded and nuanced perspective.
A multidisciplinary, multi-domain journey builds a kind of cross-sectionality that becomes uniquely your own. It sharpens your ability to generate insights drawn from varied experiences. Curiosity sustains this process—it allows one to think from first principles and maintain a beginner’s mind. In a rapidly changing world, balancing deep experience with a sense of fresh inquiry is a valuable skill. It also prevents fatigue; the mind stays fresh when it is constantly learning.
I’ve always been drawn to technological inflection points that redefine how society functions. The transitions from analog to smartphones, and now from smartphones to AI, have each represented opportunities to ride powerful tailwinds. Being part of such shifts enables one to grow inorganically—professionally and intellectually—as the world around transforms.
Finally, my professional choices have consistently followed a value-creation vector. Moving from product research to product management, and eventually to managing P&L, has been an intentional progression—each step designed to deepen my understanding of what truly makes a business tick and how to create greater value at scale.
My choice of domains has always been shaped by three underlying threads: curiosity, technology, and value creation.
Curiosity has been a guiding force throughout my career. Understanding why a product or service is used, who uses it, how it fits into their lives, and what creates lasting value has brought me immense satisfaction. This curiosity has also enabled me to transfer skills across categories—applying learnings from one domain to another. Working across diverse segments and roles provides multiple lenses through which to view the same problem, leading to a more well-rounded and nuanced perspective.
A multidisciplinary, multi-domain journey builds a kind of cross-sectionality that becomes uniquely your own. It sharpens your ability to generate insights drawn from varied experiences. Curiosity sustains this process—it allows one to think from first principles and maintain a beginner’s mind. In a rapidly changing world, balancing deep experience with a sense of fresh inquiry is a valuable skill. It also prevents fatigue; the mind stays fresh when it is constantly learning.
I’ve always been drawn to technological inflection points that redefine how society functions. The transitions from analog to smartphones, and now from smartphones to AI, have each represented opportunities to ride powerful tailwinds. Being part of such shifts enables one to grow inorganically—professionally and intellectually—as the world around transforms.
Finally, my professional choices have consistently followed a value-creation vector. Moving from product research to product management, and eventually to managing P&L, has been an intentional progression—each step designed to deepen my understanding of what truly makes a business tick and how to create greater value at scale.
2. Having transitioned from a design background to business leadership, how do you balance creativity with commercial objectives?
Creativity, in an enterprise context, ultimately serves commercial objectives. It is accountable for the value it creates.
That said, creativity engages a very different set of muscles than business thinking. Creativity invites a state of play—where one can suspend the fear of failure, simulate possibilities, think beyond convention, and take larger leaps.
Business thinking, by contrast, is analytical and grounded in the optimization of risk and reward.
When combined, these two modes can create immense strength for any business leader. As a creative professional, I can think non-linearly even in constrained situations; as a business practitioner, I understand those constraints and risks with clarity.
I find creativity and commerce deeply complementary—provided one learns to balance both faculties effectively.
In my current role, when I review category projections and growth, I’m effectively designing an earning roadmap—a commercial exercise. But when I develop innovative product propositions or craft compelling campaigns, I’m engaging my creative side. The key lies in deploying the right skill at the right moment.
3. What's one professional lesson or mindset that has been instrumental in your growth as a leader?
The mindset to learn and understand has helped me immensely.
When one is willing to learn, teachers and lessons appear every day—through people, situations, and experiences. Learning expands your world, humbles your ego, and keeps you grounded.
Professional growth often presents complex challenges that test both skill and emotional resilience. Choosing the path of growth means surrendering to what the journey has to teach. I’ve discovered that each challenge prepares you for the next one.
If you fail, you still learn—and you still grow. If you succeed, you’ve simply found one way to get things right within a specific set of variables, knowing there are others that might have played out differently.
When you commit to learning, you begin to view both success and failure with equanimity. That, I’ve found, is a beautiful state to be in.
4. In what ways do you think the SDA Bocconi alumni community goes beyond networking to create lasting professional and personal connections?
In my early 40s, I’ve realized how rare and difficult it is to build new friendships. What began as professional camaraderie has evolved into lifelong bonds. We call each other for advice, lift one another through tough days, look out for each other both professionally and personally—and, of course, share countless meals together.
It’s rare to find such amazing people. I wouldn’t have crossed paths with this incredible bunch on my own. Knowing each of them, and watching how they’re growing into kind, supportive, and strong leaders, feels like a genuine privilege.
Networking is just a small part of what the SDA Bocconi School of Management and SDA Bocconi Asia Center Alumni community offers. What you truly find is a tribe—one that continuously pushes you forward.
To summarize:
- A) You find advisors, mentors, and friends who nurture you.
The community provides a safe space to seek guidance, share vulnerabilities, and receive honest feedback from peers who genuinely care about your growth. - B) You find a sense of belonging that grounds you.
In a world where professional relationships can feel transactional, the SDA Bocconi community offers authentic connection—a reminder that you’re part of something larger. - C) You witness inspiring journeys that encourage you to reflect and shape your own.
Being surrounded by leaders who are navigating their own transformations—with grace, resilience, and ambition—becomes a constant source of motivation.
To all my IEMB 8 batchmates reading this—when are we finally planning that Kasauli trip?
About SDA Bocconi Asia Center
SDA Bocconi Asia Center is a pan-Asian hub in Mumbai that has been delivering Executive Education (International Executive Master in Business) and Postgraduate Programs (International Master in Business) designed by SDA Bocconi School of Management, Italy, since 2012. Recognized among the top International MBA colleges, we bring over 50 years of management education excellence to the Indian and Asian markets.
SDA Bocconi School of Management is ranked among the top business schools globally, recognized as the 4th best Global MBA Worldwide (2025) and 6th Best B-School in Europe (2024) by the Financial Times. With a legacy of academic rigor, cutting-edge research, and industry-relevant curriculum, we empower individuals and organizations through innovative managerial knowledge and a global perspective.