— From Learning Across Borders to Leading On Ground
Looking back on 18+ years at ABB, Bhaskaran sees a career shaped not by a fixed plan, but by the opportunities and challenges he chose to embrace along the way.
Bhaskaran P, Project Manager, India
For Bhaskaran P, growth has come from stepping into new roles, taking on unfamiliar challenges, and continuously broadening his understanding of the business. Over the years, his career has spanned engineering, production, project management, factory leadership, and service operations. From factory floors and customer sites to collaborations with teams across Europe and Asia, each experience added a new perspective. Some assignments focused on building capability, others on solving complex challenges under pressure, but all reinforced the same philosophy: keep learning, adapt quickly, and take ownership.
Learning the ropes and the language
Bhaskaran joined ABB in 2008, bringing with him early-career experience and a strong appetite to learn. What followed was not a carefully plotted career plan. Every few years, a new opportunity opened up, taking him into a different part of the business and expanding his understanding of how ABB works.
“I never really intended to seek role changes. Yet, every two to three years, a new opportunity emerged, giving me the chance to step into a different role and expand my understanding of the business”
One opportunity that stands out was the commissioning of an ACS5000W variable frequency drive at the AMNS Hazira sinter plant. Despite tight timelines and multiple challenges, Bhaskaran and the ABB Motion Services Operations team worked tirelessly, often around the clock, to meet the customer’s requirements and successfully commission the system.
The Coperion Germany project presented a different set of challenges and became another defining learning experience. Together, these assignments reinforced an important lesson for Bhaskaran: resilience under pressure, effective collaboration, and the ability to find solutions when the path forward is not always clear.
Bringing global learning back home
Some of Bhaskaran’s most formative experiences came through collaborating with ABB teams across the globe. In 2009, he travelled to ABB Switzerland for ACS5000 productization training and later helped establish factory testing and support the successful start-up of the India-made ACS5000A. Six years later, training at ABB China for ACS2000 DFE productization enabled him to set up the factory testing process for the India-made ACS2000. A subsequent visit to Sweden for motor factory acceptance testing (FAT) further broadened his understanding of manufacturing and factory operations.
Leadership is tested when things get difficult
Over the years, Bhaskaran has also developed a clear view of what leadership means. Much of it comes from the leadership culture he experienced himself: trust, openness and the freedom to take responsibility. For him, customer issues cannot wait. Leaders also need to be willing to step into challenging customer conversations themselves, rather than leaving their teams to face them alone.
Still learning, still moving
After more than 18 years, Bhaskaran says it is the combination of people, culture and opportunities that has kept the journey interesting. Outside work, his interests are somewhat different from the world of drives, motors and commissioning. He enjoys cooking, has a keen interest in agriculture and occasionally gets on the cricket field at the weekend.
His advice to his younger self is straightforward: have a sense of direction, make the most of the opportunities that come your way and give each one your best.
Perhaps that is also the simplest way to describe his approximately 2 decades of experience at ABB. Not a career built entirely to plan, but one built through the choices made when the next opportunity appeared.
