Zscaler CTO Syam Nair on the importance of values-based leadership

Editor's note: The following is an except of an Evanta interview with Zscaler CTO & EVP of Research and Development Syam Nair. The complete interview can be found here. 

Zscaler Chief Technology Officer Syam Nair describes his career journey as “planned happenstance.” He explains that by keeping an open mind, continuously learning, and building new skills, opportunities came his way along his path to a C-suite role. In fact, Syam says that he sees “a direct correlation” between his approach and maintaining a growth mindset in his current role at Zscaler.

How he got his start in technology involved a little more fate. Syam trained to become a naval officer, planning to join the Indian Navy, when a medical issue prevented him from that course. He chose an alternate path and earned a master’s degree in computer science. His first job in technology was managing a computer lab, which meant, as he says, “I ate, slept, did everything in the lab, and did everybody’s projects.” 

While Syam says that he is an “accidental software engineer,” what he likes about it is the impact you can have. “Software engineering is probably one of the easiest ways to start solving customer problems,” he explains. “The amount of productivity you can affect, the impact you can have, helping customers get their jobs done more easily – that's what kept me in this profession.”

Along his career journey, Syam remained committed to his personal values when making big decisions. He describes his core values as purpose, belonging, and integrity. As he says, “I want to do something which has a good purpose, I want to do something where I have that belonging with people in terms of achieving that purpose, and I want to do something where integrity matters.” He applies those same principles to his role as a business leader today.

Read what Syam calls the most important qualities for a CTO today on Evanta's website and join Syam for his upcoming keynote, Cultivating a Strong Security Culture, at the Seattle CIO & CISO Executive Summit on December 14 to hear more. 

What to read next 

‘Planned happenstance:’ Lessons from a life in tech with Zscaler CTO Syam Nair [podcast]

Zscaler CEO talks secure digital transformation & AI with Evanta, a Gartner Company