A few weeks ago, we had the opportunity to engage in conversation with Vinod Krishna Kumar, the global HR leader for Sun King. For over four years, Vinod has been a valued sponsor in our partnership with Sun King, and his perspectives have been instrumental to our shared success. What has stood out is Vinod’s passion for continuous learning and growth, and how he champions the needs of the people his function serves.
The conversation took place with Vinod joining from a cafe in Dublin while we settled into our study room in Bangalore. Over the following hour and a half, the interaction unfolded into a heartfelt exchange of stories and experiences.
Vinod shared:
“You mentioned earlier that you had plans to get into acting that didn’t quite end up going your way… I always wanted to become a musician. I don’t know if tomorrow I’ll be able to play at a concert — who’s to say? — but today, I play it for myself purely because it brings me joy and helps me learn and grow every day.”
He referenced actor Manoj Bajpayee’s dedication to pursuing acting opportunities, emphasizing:
“Don’t shy away from your passion and don’t sour on life. Sometimes life doesn’t work out the way we would have liked it to, but if you love something always find a way to carry it with you.”
Within minutes of the call, the virtual space between us was filled with vulnerability and warmth, transforming the structured interview into a candid conversation with an old friend.
Background and Professional Journey
Vinod is a human resources professional with over eighteen years of experience across varied industries including media, manufacturing, telecom, and renewable energy. He has gained extensive experience in talent acquisition, engagement and management, organization development, performance management, and communication.
In 2017, he joined Sun King to support the head of HR. Six years later, he shoulders the responsibility of globally leading HR for the organization. While experiencing significant organic learning in his transition to leadership, Vinod recognized the need for structured learning in the organization to help people reflect on their journeys and continually enhance their growth and development.
On Background and Passion for Learning
Can you tell us a little bit about your background and how it has influenced your passion for learning?
Vinod explained he started working at age twenty-one and aspired to become a musician. His passion for learning in the corporate world stems from music. Growing up, he received recognition for his musical abilities and participated in inter-college competitions. However, hearing others perform made him realize “how mediocre I was,” leading him to understand the importance of practice and humility.
He noted that success can inflate one’s ego, and reaching that realization helped ground him as an individual. These values — practice and humility — are core at Sun King.
Regarding tabla (a percussion instrument), Vinod stated:
“I’ve been learning how to play the tabla for the past twenty three years now, but it’s only in the last two years that I’ve been able to see incredible depth in my craft.”
He emphasized:
“To be an expert in your craft you need to continue to be a student. Even today, I still learn tabla from my mentor — a renowned maestro. It has been twenty three years of structured learning. This is still a drop in the ocean; I have a long way to go.”
On Learning’s Role in Organizational Growth
Just as you champion learning in life, we have consistently observed you champion learning at work. What role do you think learning plays in organizational growth?
Vinod argued that the culture of learning is set and defined by leadership within an organization. It’s important for leaders to be open to vulnerability and demonstrate value in not having all the answers, creating an environment where individuals explore ideas without fear of failure.
“Often, we feel pressured to wear this mask of ‘I know it all.’ But there’s immense value in admitting that we don’t know everything. Recognizing our limitations is the first step towards learning and personal growth.”
At Sun King, two values hold great importance: humility and inclusivity. These foster acceptance, openness to feedback and criticism, and desire for self-improvement.
“At Sun King, two values that hold great importance for me personally are humility and inclusivity. These values foster acceptance and openness to feedback and criticism, and a desire to continually improve oneself.”
“And, I truly think that when the top leadership lives and breathes these values, it sends a powerful message to the rest of the organization.”
On Challenges in Learning and Development
What do you think are the biggest challenges facing organizations when it comes to learning and development, and how do you address them at Sun King?
Vinod identified that learning is often viewed as an expense rather than investment. Organizations spend excessive time evaluating return on investment for learning programs.
“In my experience so far, I’ve realized that learning is often looked at as an expense and not an investment. Organizations spend most of their time over-evaluating and over-analyzing the return on investment when it comes to learning programs.”
Vinod emphasized the importance of remaining invested in learning, improving offerings, developing relevant content, and exercising patience, as impact may take years to materialize.
At Sun King, they view learning and development as investment in talent rather than just a P&L expense. They spend considerable time evaluating learning offerings and continuously improving them to make them relevant, relatable, and impactful.
“Our partnership with Glow Worm Consulting has really helped us build a strong foundation of learning in the organization. The amount of time we spend working together to develop and discuss the design of the content isn’t funny. We don’t run learning programs simply because they are on our calendars, we run them keeping in mind the best interests of all our learners. The Glow Worm team has been extremely patient as our learning partner and designed content for us.”
On Successful Learning Initiatives
Can you share an example of a particularly successful learning initiative in your organization?
In 2018, Sun King conducted a comprehensive learning needs analysis and rolled out the Leadership Foundations program in 2019 with Glow Worm. This structured learning program was designed for emerging leaders following in-depth conversations with co-founders and the leadership team.
The program addressed the reality that many leaders had organically taken larger roles without structured learning plans. Leadership Foundations helped build leadership capabilities.
This year marks the fifth year of the program, with 14-16 people admitted annually through rigorous interview assessment. Each cohort comprises cross-functional leaders from different teams who go through the nine-month experience together.
The program is designed to improve self-awareness, help manage workplace conflict, view business challenges as opportunities, and improve cross-functional collaboration globally.
“This diverse group of participants gets to learn with and from people they may not have worked with before. The participants also form buddies within the program who are likely to be from a different team or country. A participant from Nigeria gets to collaborate and work on projects with one from India, China, Kenya. The program is very intentionally and thoughtfully designed to encourage peer learning.”
He considered the program crucial for succession planning:
“I also consider this as a program that supports succession planning. Most of our senior leaders who have been a part of this program a few years back are already managing expanded growth. And, I personally feel that they’ve become much more well-versed with our values and more aligned to our mission. In a span of just 4-5 years, we’ve seen them truly mature as leaders in the organization. So, I think this program is easily one of the most premium learning offerings we have at Sun King.”
On Personal Learning and Application
Can you share some examples of how you have personally pursued learning opportunities and applied this knowledge to your role as the head of HR?
When given the global HR leadership opportunity, Vinod lacked leadership experience yet the founders trusted and empowered him to learn and grow.
“When I was given the opportunity to globally manage HR for Sun King, I had experience in HR but I did not have leadership experience. And yet, the founders at Sun King placed their trust in my abilities and empowered me to learn and grow in my role. I think I have tried to demonstrate the same in my role as the head of HR.”
His team is talented and diverse — some with extensive HR experience, others early in their careers. Regardless of experience level, he considers his role as leader to be:
“My team at Sun King is extremely talented and diverse — some of them come with years of experience in HR and the others are still in the early stages of their career. Regardless of where each one of them is in their journey, I consider it my role as a leader to trust them and empower them to experiment, fail, and learn.”
On Employee Ownership of Learning
How do you encourage employees to take ownership of their own learning and development?
Vinod referenced the common belief that 70% of learning happens on the job, 20% through interaction and collaboration with others, and only 10% through education. While organizations provide offerings, individuals are ultimately accountable for their own growth.
He encouraged employees to learn from daily experiences rather than viewing work as purely administrative. Understanding how one’s role contributes to larger organizational goals is important. Employees should observe others, learn from their own and others’ mistakes, become more self-aware, take feedback constructively, and continue learning from structured programs.
Most importantly, he stressed:
“More than anything, we need to take a moment to pause and reflect on our journey so far and do course corrections. At Sun King, we’re a fast-paced, growth-oriented organization. The speed at which we operate makes it simultaneously challenging and crucial for us to pause and reflect.”
Vinod highlighted reflection as a crucial practice learned from Glow Worm. Every time Glow Worm team members co-facilitate sessions, there’s a feedback round to discuss what went well and what could improve. He consciously adopted this practice.
He noted it’s part of all their programs, including the Manager Development Program for people managers. The program includes case studies and activities encouraging participants to reflect on how they’ve been managing people and how to improve.
“At the end of the day, you can’t just teach people concepts and frameworks and expect them to learn without creating a space for them to reflect.”
Conclusion
Our conversation with Vinod created space for mutual reflection. It reminded us that while theories and frameworks are fundamental to learning, refining one’s artistry requires active engagement, experimentation, embracing failures, and making new mistakes.
“Learning is a lifelong journey, and organizations that prioritize and invest in learning and development create an environment where individuals can thrive, contribute, and achieve their full potential.”
Thank you, Vinod.
