“Leadership is fundamentally about enabling others to perform at their best,” Dhananjay Gangal, Executive Director, Ashwamedh Infotech. It sounds simple, but this core belief has helped Dhananjay and his partner, Vivek Kini, Managing Director, Ashwamedh Infotech, steadily lead and grow the company for nearly three decades. Launched in 1998, Ashwamedh Infotech has grown into a specialist in transforming payroll management with innovative IT solutions. Despite being in such a dynamic industry, Ashwamedh Infotech’s journey is built not on noise, but a steady, people-first mindset.
Under the duo’s leadership, Ashwamedh Infotech has held its ground through every wave of IT disruptions over the years. They also supported by Kamlesh Kapadia, Managing Consultant and one of their senior-most employee. The company’s commitment to consistently deliver excellence in Payroll and HR automation for Indian businesses reflects the depth of its leadership. Their approach is rooted in long-term thinking over short-term goals, which has helped them build something reliable, not merely impressive.
People over Process: Transitioning from Executing to Enabling
Leadership is seldom a straight line, and neither was it for Dhananjay and Vivek. Their journey began, as it does for most, in the trenches of technical roles. They were managing projects and solving problems; in time, they realized that expertise alone doesn’t keep an organization moving forward people do. The realization became an important turning point for them.
Moving up from managing projects to leading business units and eventually to the executive table, their responsibilities shifted from directing to enabling. This transition was a fundamental rewriting of their understanding of leadership. Instead of being the ones with all the answers, they began focusing on being facilitators, coaches, and vision-setters. Today, both leaders are testaments to collaborative, people-centric, and results-oriented leadership. The combination of qualities may sound simple, but it demands discipline to sustain over decades.
Leading People-Centric Transformations
For every leader, it is the difficult moments that reveal the true measure of their character. For Dhananjay and Vivek, the challenge wasn’t a market crisis or a competitor threat; it was adapting to a period of major organisational transformation, including technology modernisation, process overhaul, and cultural change. Adapting to technology, however, was the easy part.
The real challenge was training the team members to use and implement technologies. As Dhananjay says, “Transformation is more about people than technology.” What mattered was how they responded to the situation. It was a combination of transparent communication, stakeholder engagement, continuous training, and trust building. By showcasing early wins and staying consistent, they navigated the transition period without fracturing the culture they’d spent years building.
Thinking Ahead, Staying Present
One of the most practical challenges of running an IT firm in today’s market is staying relevant without losing sight of day-to-day operations. The two leaders have crafted a customized approach – one that allows them to operate at the level of strategy and operations, without letting either consume the other.
“We view leadership as operating at two levels simultaneously: shaping the future and ensuring excellence in the present,” explains Vivek. Strategic thinking, market awareness, and long-term planning are non-negotiable parts of the strategy. So is empowering capable leaders within the organisation to manage operational execution. They help build delegation capability in aspiring leaders – the quality that translates ideas and visions into reality.
Growing Leaders from Within
Dhananjay and Vivek are both equally candid about how they measure their success as leaders. Outcomes matter, but they don’t define the whole story. For them, the success lies in employee engagement, a strong leadership pipeline, team retention, and the growth of individuals they’ve mentored over the years.
“One of the greatest achievements is seeing people you have mentored grow into successful leaders themselves,” explains Vivek. Their approach to mentorship reflects guiding rather than instructing, helping individuals identify their strengths rather than laying down a playbook. To aspiring leaders within the organisation, their advice is to “lead with influence, not authority.” One needs to earn trust before expecting followers. And always keep an open mind towards learning.
A Legacy In The Making
What Dhananjay and Vivek have built at Ashwamedh Infotech is an example of what steady, purposeful leadership looks like. Twenty-seven years of focused and consistent work in a specific domain has not been without its challenges. Outlasting trends, economic cycles, and the relentless disruption of India’s IT landscape is a statement in itself about what kind of leaders they are.
Their vision for the next steps mirrors the focus that got them here. Instead of focusing on increasing the number of team members or expanding the footprint, the leaders are focusing on building strong teams, a deeper talent pipeline, and an organisation built for the people who have continuously grown along the way.
In the words of Dhananjay Gangal and Vivek Kini, “the true measure of leadership, is not the achievements of the leader, but the success and growth of people they inspire.”
