Manage or Be Managed

Imagine having the minds of over two-hundred robust lawyers and technical engineers working together in a high-intensity, fast-pace office, around-the-clock, juggling dozens of extremely sensitive projects, corresponding with clients and outside counsels from all over the globe. Now imagine being in charge of managing all of them. This is my reality. This is what I do every day, and I absolutely love it.

While my title is “Managing Director,” I like to think of myself as a “Coach.” Coaching people is one of the most satisfying, rewarding and humbling jobs you can have. When you see the people you’ve helped coach grow and achieve their goals, it makes the job more than worth it, but really mean something more than just a job that pays the bills. Twenty years of experience in outsourcing should be a sufficient testament to this. Working with clients and people from all over the world, I am able to do what I love: coaching talented, smart and driven individuals to excel on a global scale. For me, working with Cobra is the incredible experience and opportunity to work with a team (in the true sense of the word) of passionate, diverse people who have serious fun with a unique purpose and common goal of making a positive impact on the lives and world around us. When you work in a culture of talented and skilled people who support and respect one another, it makes my job and what I love to do easy and fun, but most of all, exciting.
At Cobra, we don’t compare ourselves to anyone else. If eyes tried to talk instead of doing their job of seeing, they probably wouldn’t have a lot to say and you’d bump into a lot of things. Like the functions of eyes to the overall utility of the human body; each and every individual at Cobra has a purpose that utilizes their personal strengths and skills allowing the Cobra unit, as a whole, to operate on all cylinders, full-speed ahead. We focus on our own passions and talents, being the best in what we do. This makes Cobra, as a whole, the best it can be.
Transparency, integrity, and respect for one another are at the core of our values and culture. Personal talents and strengths are identified, nurtured and encouraged. We strongly believe in collaboration with the entire Cobra team; especially when you have some of the youngest, most innovative and creative minds coming together under one roof. My job is to take and grow these minds, channeling their energies into constructive, productive objectives that, while benefitting Cobra and its clients, also develop their careers and personal character.

Second life: At Cobra, we celebrate and respect that we only have one life to live; so we better live it to the fullest. It is my job to ensure a happy, productive and understanding work-place; that the team stays driven and motivated. People come from all walks of life, with different backgrounds, cultures, family dynamics and beliefs. We more than understand that we are all different and special in our own way and celebrate these differences! We respect each other and take pride in who we are and what we do.

We play to win: As stated earlier, we are all here for a unique purpose; we want to excel and exceed expectations, not just for “the client,” but also at individual capacities. Our competition is within ourselves; we have to strive each and every day to be better, to be the best self we can. Whether we’re working on a document review or on app development, contracts management or mergers & acquisition, system integration or training, data security or information security, or practicing for a company talent show; what makes us come together as a team is our shared belief to do the best we can at whatever we do . I make sure our team understands these organizational objectives, continually setting higher standards for success not just for Cobra, but for the legal tech industry and as a society. Almost all of our project and senior managers have been with the Cobra team an entire decade, establishing and evolving the Cobra system into the best in our industry.

Learning is an ongoing, unceasing process. The shared hunger of the Cobra team to experience and learn new things allow us to collaborate, grow and innovate together. The motivated exploration into new possibilities, services and technologies come naturally to us. We strive for innovation, to enhance the way of life for people, one client at a time. You cannot replace the human-element; caring, understanding, listening and respect are invaluable in life and at work. We work together, we learn together, we grow together, we win together: It’s about encouraging each other’s talents aimed at a common goal. Cobra is a 99% diverse organization, with 80% women, one of which is our CEO, Candice Hunter Corby. How well the team is able to work together is a testament in itself, we don’t follow generalized, typical procedures; we create our team based on who we need and the best person for the job. We respect each other and value each other. Everyone is a star here, if not a super star in their own right. Living and working from Cobra’s India office, I would never have guessed that people from Austin, Texas and Chennai, India would be so similar! People first; any day, anywhere, any time. Period! I remember once while visiting one of our clients, the client asked me: “How is Cobra different?” I responded, “How are we not?” Five years later, we maintained a great relationship working with the same client, so much so that she came to India to visit our offices in Chennai. It was my turn to ask her the same question: “So, what do you believe is different about Cobra?” Her response was the same mine had been five years before. #WhoIsCobra? Well, I guess you’ll just have to find out for yourself!

Sincerely,

The Third Eye (aka: Sakthi Venkatraman)