Sunanda Gundavajhala on Career Breaks, Systems Thinking and Leading Change | PRO Leader Series

Sunanda Gundavajhala, Director of Operations and Board Member at DispatchTrack India, joins Jonathan Justus on the PRO Leader Series. In this conversation she talks about rebuilding a career after a break, how her early years in the process industry shaped her systems thinking, hiring for potential and curiosity, leading change in an AI-forward company, and why Agile is a mindset and not a framework. Chapters 0:00 Cold open 0:31 Welcome and introduction 1:15 What defines Sunanda? 2:04 From chemical engineer to leader 4:41 A career break is not the end of a career 7:36 Advice for anyone returning to work 11:07 First woman engineer: the reactor incident and the yield project 15:09 Proving herself: why do you want to struggle? 16:30 Systems thinking: people, process, outcomes 19:36 From project management to product 20:30 Hiring for potential, curiosity and hobby projects 22:28 Leading change in an AI-forward company 24:22 Agile is a mindset, not a framework 26:19 Books that shaped her thinking 28:24 Building functions and organizations 30:01 Advice for young leaders 34:18 Why mentorship matters, especially for girls 36:45 Closing thoughts: do not let one chapter become your whole story Guest: Sunanda Gundavajhala Host: Jonathan Justus