Sanjay Gokhale

“Sanjay has an amazing passion, energy and drive to achieve his goals - no matter what project he is on. He leverages his strengths in analyzing a problem to understand the root cause and key issues, problem solving, then driving results. And I have seen him do this with things that were new to him. He is a creative problem solver to come up with solutions that are not always evident to others. He always keeps focused on the bigger picture and end goal while still delivering on the details. He builds coalitions with others to achieve his results through strong business judgment and rationale. Sanjay is fair and forthright. You know where he stands on an issue but he is open to other perspectives. Sanjay was a high performer on my team as evidenced by his promotion. He would be a tremendous asset to any team who wants to achieve great things.”

“Sanjay and I were colleagues during my time at Xbox. Together we partnered on a daily basis to help drive deeper engagement, usage and ultimately customer loyalty for our Xbox LIVE subscribers. When I think of Sanjay and the time we worked together, three characteristics come to mind. First, Sanjay is deeply analytical. This goes far beyond just being adept at quantitative analysis (which he is certainly skilled at). He approaches every challenge thoughtfully, taking in all the information, getting varied points of view, and then critically analyzing the pro’s and con’s before he makes a decision. When I first arrived at Xbox, the business was in the midst of going through a transformation in the way we approached engagement and retention. Sanjay was a key owner and driver in helping the business objectively analyze the customer portfolio, market dynamics, and identifying the several key levers to focus on to drive real change. His approach is always methodical and comprehensive to ensure no stone is left unturned and no potential insight is left unincorporated. Second, Sanjay’s natural propensity is to drive action and results. What makes Sanjay special is the unique combination of being highly analytical (and even philosophical!), but always with an eye toward action and being decisive. This powerful combination manifests not only in everything he does in his professional life, but also in how he lives his personal life. Often at large corporations, key thought-leaders remain just that – thought leaders – without the ability to drive change. Sanjay is the antithesis of that. A key example is the change that was affected at Xbox in how people thought about churn and retention. Sanjay was one of the key drivers of that shift in mental models and helped create programs to drive business impact. This includes everything from retention call center programs to marketing engagement campaigns. Sanjay was tireless in driving action to create positive business results. Lastly, and perhaps most memorable about Sanjay, is his absolute passion and commitment to whatever he does and whomever he interacts with. Through his energy and passion, he has the innate ability to rally people around him and be a natural leader. People are drawn to his energy, vision and conviction. I have personally seen many cases where he was not afraid to challenge the status quo, stand up for what was right, and through his sheer force of passion and energy, he has was able to not only change the minds of naysayers, but in fact, make them believers and champions of the cause. At its core, I believe that once Sanjay has done the analysis and figures out a plan of action, he is 100% convicted and committed to what he believes and is a force of nature. I can confidently say that Sanjay would be a tremendous asset to any organization that he joins and look forward, hopefully, to the day that we can work together again.”