I shadowed Gaurav Gupta, the COO of Zomato. 

I was fortunate enough to have gotten him at a reasonable bid. I've always felt that exposure to the working styles of CXOs is very valuable and I was not going to miss this opportunity. 

I chose Zomato because I'm an Ops guy having spent 6 years on a manufacturing shop floor prior to ISB, and I wanted to see what a tech operations company functions like.

Zomato's team was amazing, they took great care of me. Especially Gaurav’s secretary who was with me throughout the day, to ensure u was comfortable. 

Though I couldn't accompany Gaurav in all his meetings, but he personally paid attention to my learning through the day and ensured I was making good use of my time. 

The highlight of the day was at 10.30am. Gaurav finished his morning routine and took me outside. There was a small cafe where we sat, and he gave me 35mins undivided attention. That time was gold. I asked him so many questions, although I feel I should have prepared better. 

He asked me what was I looking to learn so that he molded my schedule accordingly.

In the end when I thanked him and his assistant Gurmeet, he asked me to keep in touch. I had a great day, one that is etched now, I'm very thankful to Shadow-a-CEO team to have set this up for us.