Mugunth Vaithylingam: Authentically Transforming Lives and Inspiring Others
The 10 Most Influential People to Follow, 2022
Mugunth
Vaithylingam, Chief Experience Officer at College of Southern Nevada (CSN), has
worked in higher education for over 20 years, and in his current role, he
oversees a variety of areas at the college including information technology,
marketing, public relations, communication, events, and more. Mugunth explains
that he intentionally puts his hands on everything possible, as he feels it is
important to continuously learn, and he does so by getting involved in various
industries and utilizing varying skills. As a leader, Mugunth not only learns
from those who have more experience than him, but he takes every opportunity to
learn from everybody around him, including his team. In addition to constantly
learning, Mugunth’s empathetic leadership style is known to positively
influence the lives of those around him.
Evolving
from an eager boy to an empathetic leader
Mugunth was
born in Sri Lanka, where he lived until age 11, when he moved to India to
continue his education. Finding himself in a new country at a young age,
created the need for Mugunth to adapt and adjust to his new life. Mugunth soon
found himself eager to take on new responsibilities and explore various
opportunities within the classroom, in sports, working on events, and more.
Mugunth
obtained his bachelor’s degree in Applied Electronics in India and then moved
to the United States to pursue new opportunities. He earned his MBA from the
University of Hartford, while also pursuing more opportunities and engaging in
new activities that expanded his growth. Reflecting, Mugunth states that “Every
situation has been a learning experience and all the people along the way have
had a great effect on my life.”
After
completing his MBA, he worked as a business analyst at a casino before
returning to the University of Hartford to work as an analyst. While he did not
intend to work in higher education, the challenging position, combined with
making a real difference in students’ lives is what drew him in, and kept him
in the field. Mugunth later went on to complete the Emerging Leaders Program at
Harvard University.
In addition
to the University of Hartford, Mugunth spent close to three years at Valencia
College, where he worked for a company named Ellucian. During his time with
Ellucian, he learned a lot about IT leadership and how to best leverage managed
services. As he advanced through higher positions during his 15 years with the
company, he developed his progressive outlook on learning and education.
Mugunth believes that “Every person deserves an education and technology can
help create dynamic ecosystems making the future of learning more equitable.”
Leadership in action
Anybody who knows Mugunth, knows
his passion for helping others, which is evident in his work at the College of
Southern Nevada. Every year, Mugunth and his team host a holiday event that
recognizes team members and partners that contribute to CSN’s success. Mugunth
has leveraged this event to promote opportunities to give back to the community,
including collecting toys for those in need, donating to food banks, and
raising money for scholarships for homeless students.
Mugunth is also passionate about helping students acquire practical
experience, which prompted him to provide work-study opportunities to the
college’s students. This enables the student employees to gain valuable
real-world experiences, coupled with mentoring by professionals while they
finish their education. This opportunity has helped students get more
organized, develop employable skills, and network with professionals. So far,
100% of the students that have gone through this program have graduated, which
is a significant accomplishment when considering the graduation rates at a
two-year college.
Creating opportunities and transforming lives
Because of his strong advocacy of diversity and inclusion within the
technology community, Mugunth is one of the founding members of TechPACT
(TechPact.org), an organization whose mission is to reduce the digital divide,
foster diversity, and provide equal opportunity to everyone with an aptitude
and passion for technology. This organization is focused on providing
developmental opportunities and a platform for underrepresented communities to
engage through partnerships and programs. They also seek to advance inclusion,
diversity, and equity within the technology sector. When asked what prompted
him to be a part of this pioneering group, Mugunth explains how it started with
a group of friends who are senior CIOs, many from Fortune 500 companies, who
sat down and began a conversation around the George Floyd incident, which led
to discussions on how they wanted to represent minorities in technology
leadership. They desired to ensure that diversity and inclusion were not buzz
words being tossed around, but that action was being taken to truly make a
difference and have an impact on lives.
As Mugunth seeks a more equitable world, he remains committed to giving
back to society. Mugunth himself has been fortunate to learn from others, so he
is passionate about giving the same opportunities to others. He feels that the
only way to truly make a difference and bring about lasting change is to reach
back and lift others up. “I think that we have the power to
wisely choose our philanthropic strategies and actively engage with
stakeholders within that community to further our cause in a more holistic and
meaningful manner and alleviate the risk of insularity,” he says.
Mugunth emphasizes how important it is to develop a better understanding of the
role diversity plays in fostering innovation and gaining a competitive
advantage. In a global economy, where we operate in multiple markets and target
different demographics of various cultures, having a diverse set of
perspectives and experiences is pivotal to developing new ideas. You can read
more of Mugunth’s thoughts on this here.
What it
takes to lead today
Mugunth
acknowledges that there are many leadership styles. He does not believe that
one style is the right way, but that leaders should consider all leadership
styles and evaluate how they can adapt and blend various styles to guide and
inspire the modern workforce.
Despite the
different leadership styles, Mugunth believes that ultimately, employees
respond to authenticity and emphasizes how important it is that leaders are the
same person inside and outside of the office. While leadership styles may
change, and a leader may need to adjust their style to keep up with the
evolving workplace, authenticity is a trait that should remain constant amongst
all leaders. Mugunth explains that for him, “how a person treats their loved
ones is a window into how they are as a leader.”
As Mugunth
explains it, an authentic leader is aware of their limitations,
vulnerabilities, strengths, and emotions; and self-awareness is crucial. He
believes a great leader is empathetic and can effectively and productively
communicate with their employees.
Mugunth is
the same person inside and outside the workplace, having and living by the same
values no matter where he is and who is around. He explains how this holistic
approach has helped him gain a better understanding of himself and his
surroundings while navigating the complexities that come in any large, diverse
organization.
Solving
complex problems and reaching success as a business leader
As Mugunth
aims to positively influence the community and lives of anybody he encounters;
like any leader, he is often faced with complex problems. Mugunth credits his
willingness and desire to continue to learn from others, as
something that helps him address problems he encounters as a leader. Life
experiences and lessons he has learned along the way help guide him, but he is
also never afraid to ask anybody for help. If he needs help, he asks and always
consults with others he believes can offer insight into his life and situations
he is facing.
When
reflecting on his accomplishments and his views on success, Mugunth states that
success is a moving target. He believes that goals can be achieved along the
way, but we must continue to set new goals and strive to do more. Success is
not a final destination but is something we continue to move towards. He believes there is always something we can
learn, so as we learn and grow every day, we continuously set higher goals and strive
for new achievements.
A day in
the life of a leader
In addition
to meetings, Mugunth takes the opportunity to spend time with this team each
day to learn as much as possible from them. Although his day is often filled
with several appointments, he is very intentional with each meeting. He does
not like long meetings and believes in trying to keep all of them to 30 minutes
or less. He views the purpose of meetings as a platform to resolve problems, so
he pre-plans what he wants out of the meeting and believes in getting straight to
the point and working towards a resolution. He often thinks of Nelson Mandela,
somebody he looks up to. When asked how he became such a great leader, Mandela
replied, “I learned to speak last.” Taking that into consideration,
Mugunth practices being the last one to speak, spending more time listening to
his team and others, and providing his feedback only once everybody else has
had an opportunity to speak.
Apart from
the meetings, Mugunth attends social events where he represents the college,
meets people, and gets more opportunities to learn from others. Throughout his
years at CSN, his role has evolved from a CIO to Chief Digital Experience
Officer, where he is focused more on transformational learning. He sleeps well
at night, knowing that he and his team have contributed to someone’s success.
Transforming lives and contributing to others, is something he strives to do
each day.
Influencing
change in this generation
There is no
doubt that Mugunth has influenced changed and inspired others throughout his
life. When asked about continuing to influence change in this generation, he
states that he does not believe it is possible or even helpful to try and change
this generation. He explains that this generation is smart, and we cannot
impose anything on them by telling them how we used to do things. Instead, we
need to adapt to the current generation. More than influencing, we need to look
at how we can learn from them. If you tell this generation to do things a
certain way, because that is how it has always been done, they will push back.
It is best to share ideas and let them decide if it is a good or bad idea. Mugunth
encourages others to allow this generation to make their own decisions and be open
to learning from them.
Message
to aspiring business leaders
If Mugunth
could give a message to aspiring business leaders, he would tell him what his
father told him, which is “make an impact and change lives. Always be willing
to help others, and never give up.” Mugunth
emphasizes the importance of taking risks. He does not compare himself to
others, and focuses on creating personal benchmarks, rather than following the benchmarks
set by others. He continues to transform higher education, as he seeks to
impact student lives, while paving the way as a leader.
Mugunth emphasizes that he lives by a simple principle, “I am in
competition with no one. I have no desire to play the game of being better than
anyone. I am simply trying to be better than the person I was yesterday.” This kind of positivity and growth mindset has inspired many around
him. As an empathetic leader, Mugunth continues to drive his team through his
enthusiasm, passion, and guidance, helping those around him to uncover their
full potential, meet their individual and common goals, and reach higher
ground.