Kishore Siva is no stranger to business leadership and transformation. As a founding partner in his own consulting firm, Kishore provides subject matter expertise on business acquisition and financial services to executives and entrepreneurs in the Mid-Atlantic region. Since joining Valenta BPO as a Managing Director in 2020, Kishore has been on the front lines in building the U.S. side of the business, helping team members succeed and ensuring our customers walk away happy.

And he’s just the person to do it. His wealth of knowledge and expertise in the field of customer experience comes from more than 25 years of filling leadership roles in the financial services sector, including as Head of the US Ombudsman Office at HSBC, where he built a Global Customer Experience organisation. As the Executive VP and Head of Wholesale Customer Excellence at Wells Fargo, Kishore built customer and employee experience organisations for the bank’s wholesale business.

It’s Kishore’s interest in helping businesses improve their processes and efficiencies across operations that led him to partner with Valenta BPO. He brings his vast understanding of the customer experience to leadership teams across industry verticals—and he brings it to Valenta BPO, where he continues to learn, grow, teach, and transform as he helps companies streamline and scale with ease while maintaining excellent customer relations. Kishore enjoys regular speaking engagements at conferences across the U.S. and Europe and has served as a panelist at professional seminars at NYU and Columbia University.

We recently sat down with Kishore to pick his brain about his illustrious past, why he chose Valenta BPO, what he’s learned about what it takes to succeed in business—and the importance of loving what you do.

As a Managing Director, why did you choose Valenta BPO?

Valenta’s mission- helping companies be more efficient and effective in the way they operate, resonates with me. I spent 25 years in banking helping companies do that for much of my career, and then later building Customer Excellence organizations. Working with Valenta allows me to continue my focus on the customer, but also learn and utilize a whole new array of tools to do so.

Who is your most important advisor and why?

My family, specifically my wife and our 2 boys (ages 12 and 6). If I can explain what we do in a way that each of them (at varying levels) will understand, I know I can explain it to our prospects, clients, and centers of influence.

What is the best business advice you have ever received?

Have a positive attitude, treat everyone you work with well by putting yourself in their shoes, and work hard. If you do these 3 things consistently, you will ultimately have success.

What are your tips for getting the most out of your business?

• Be proactive- the transition to entrepreneurship provides a lot of freedom and flexibility, which is great. But it is critical not to sit back and wait for opportunity.
• Be comfortable with ambiguity- not every decision will be black or white, and that’s where the opportunity to learn comes from
• Use your new business as a way to reconnect with old friends and colleagues- you never know who may turn out to be a great prospect or referral source
• Have fun- starting a business is hard work, but it is essential that we enjoy what we do

What is the key factor in your current business success?

Being willing to try things that are new and uncomfortable, and always looking to learn from every interaction.