About This Episode What does the shift from operator to observer reveal about the rooms you were in? In this episode, Mazarine speaks with Ashish Mahadwar, a global technology executive whose career spans Cognizant, Bain Capital, DXC Technology, and Microland, where he served as COO. Now an investor, adviser, and board member, Ashish brings a rare vantage point: someone who has led through transformation at extraordinary scale, and who can now see from the outside what was only felt from within. They talk about the gap between what leaders think is happening and what their teams are actually experiencing, what it means to lead across 30 years and multiple continents, and why the room doesn’t just remember what you said, it remembers how it felt when you were in it. About Ashish Mahadwar Ashish Mahadwar is an investor, board member, and adviser with over 30 years of global leadership experience across some of the world’s most significant technology organisations, including Cognizant, Bain Capital, DXC Technology, and Microland, where he served as Chief Operating Officer. He currently sits on the board of FORTYTWO LABS, a post-quantum cybersecurity company, and advises Micro Leaps, which brings life-skills education to underprivileged children. He is a long-time advocate for inclusive leadership and believes that inclusive organisations simply generate better ideas. What We Cover – What the shift from operator to adviser reveals about leadership and what you can only see once you step back – Leading across continents and cultures when the same decision, message, or room lands completely differently for everyone in it – What Ashish was actually looking for when he brought The Art Brewery in to work with his team in Washington DC post-COVID – What an inkblot exercise reveals when you put a room full of engineers in front of it – Silence in a global team - how to know when alignment is real and when it isn’t – What it actually takes to build genuine inclusion not as a policy, but as a practice – The two very different rooms Ashish is building now, FORTYTWO LABS and Micro Leaps and what draws him to both – What it feels like to lead when the room is someone else’s to hold – What 30 years of leadership has taught him to let go of – Whether we can ever truly train ourselves to see beyond our own lens Standout Lines “The room doesn’t just remember what you said. It remembers how it felt when you were in it.” “The most important work a leader can do is to make sure that feeling is one people want to return to.” “Inclusive organisations are simply better at generating new ideas.” “Perspective is the most underused resource in any room.” A Note on This Episode This is a personal episode for The Same Room. Ashish and Mazarine have real history; he brought The Art Brewery in to work with his North America leadership team at Microland in Washington DC, shortly after COVID. That shared experience gives this conversation a depth and candour that is rare in a leadership podcast. Ashish has experienced the Pareidolia Method firsthand, which makes the Art Brewery moment in this episode uniquely honest. Links & Resources – The Art Brewery: www.theartbrewery.com – Mazarine Memon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mazarinememontheartbrewery/ – Ashish Mahadwar on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashishmahadwar/ – FORTYTWO LABS: https://www.fortytwolabs.com/ – Micro Leaps: https://www.linkedin.com/company/micro-leaps/ Share This Episode Think about a room you’ve been in that you still remember. What made it feel that way? Follow The Same Room and share this with a leader who would appreciate this conversation.
