Speak Your Mind Unapologetically Podcast · 2026-06-05 · 45 min
Disrupt Yourself Before Someone Else Does: How Thomson Reuters CTO Anuradha Turned Fear, Bias, and Discomfort Into Career Fuel She grew up in a small town in India, first daughter in a middle-class family, educated in her mother tongue through 10th grade. She was culturally trained to listen more and speak less. Then she accepted a role as an assistant professor straight out of university, in front of 60 students, because she needed a job and couldn't say no to an opportunity. She showed up for her first class and trembled for the entire 60 minutes. She didn't quit. She went back. She sat in her colleagues' classes to watch how they taught. She asked hard questions. She sought feedback from the students whose faces told her everything. Eventually, students started telling her: "No one ever taught this subject the way you do." Anuradha is Head of Engineering and CTO of the Corporate Tax and Trade Technology Group at Thomson Reuters. She has since moved internationally alone, changed industries multiple times, and built a leadership philosophy around one core principle: disrupt yourself before someone else does it for you. In this episode, she breaks down how.
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