---
title: Hitesh Parmar | Leadership, People & Teams
url: https://hiteshparmar.com/
author: Hitesh Parmar
updated: 2026-10-24
---

# Hitesh Parmar

Hitesh Parmar is VP of Professional Services at Relay Human Cloud, based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. He leads Relay's India operation of 380+ people across Ahmedabad and Vadodara (with a third office opening in Pune), supports the Philippines team, and was certified a Great Place to Work (Dec 2025 – Dec 2026) under his leadership. This page is his personal record of his leadership journey.

- Website: https://hiteshparmar.com/
- Leadership test: https://hiteshparmar.com/test/
- Letters: https://hiteshparmar.com/letters/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cxohitesh/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/i_hiteshparmar/

## I believe: leadership is who you are *before* the title.

I'm **Hitesh Parmar**. I'm still learning what it means to lead. This is my record of the journey.

**My why:** to help people grow faster than their titles.

Every team I've been part of has taught me the same thing. People do their best work when someone believes in them before the org chart does.

## The chapters so far.

Ten years, four companies and one lesson that keeps repeating: it's always about people.

1. **Chapter 1 · 2005–2014**

   ### An engineer first

   Eight years of computer engineering: a diploma, a bachelor's degree from Saurashtra University and a master's degree from Gujarat Technological University, each with first class with distinction. Along the way I published three research papers, including work on machine learning and on big data in government.

   Engineering taught me to break big problems into small ones. I still lead that way.
2. **Chapter 2 · 2015–2018**

   ### Locanix: the first customer success hire

   I joined as the company's first customer success person, with no team and no playbook. I built both, and looked after more than 30 enterprise clients, including names like Amul and Mahindra. Retention rose to around 95%.

   Clients rarely leave over one problem. They leave when nobody calls before the problem.
3. **Chapter 3 · 2018–2020**

   ### Alluvium IoT: life in a startup

   As Chief Growth Officer, I took smart safety vests and helmets to factory leaders. I sat across the table from manufacturing CxOs and learned to sell a product that was still being built.

   In a startup, nobody has one job. You learn fast or you don't last.
4. **Chapter 4 · 2020–2021**

   ### Stemmons: leading a team in India for clients in the US

   As Client Services Manager, I led a 15-person team in India across .NET, SQL, business analysis, DevOps and QA testing, working with the Professional Services team in Houston to deliver every client customisation on time. Beyond the daily work, I focused on resolving requests faster, bringing in new processes, and mentoring the team to go beyond what clients expected.

   About a year and a half in, I was promoted to Sr. Director of Professional Services at Relay Human Cloud.

   Distance doesn't break teams. Unclear expectations do.
5. **Chapter 5 · 2021**

   ### Relay: starting something in Ahmedabad

   In May 2021, I started at Relay Human Cloud as Sr. Director of Professional Services, with the job of building its India operation from a small base. Every hire felt personal, and every process had to be made from scratch. Twenty months later, I was asked to lead it as VP.

   Early on, culture isn't a document. It's whatever you do on the hard days.
6. **Chapter 6 · 2023–2025**

   ### Two cities, then two countries

   The team grew across Ahmedabad and Vadodara. Then I began supporting our Philippines team as well, helping with operations, hiring and the processes that keep a growing team running smoothly.

   In December 2025, Relay India was certified a Great Place to Work. The certification isn’t given by judges or bought with marketing. It’s based on what our own people said in an anonymous survey about trust, respect and how it feels to work here. That’s why it’s the recognition I’m proudest of: it came from the team itself.

   At scale, you stop leading people directly and start leading the leaders. Trust has to travel without you.
7. **Chapter 7 · 2026**

   ### Five years, 380+ people

   We celebrated five years of Relay India. Looking out at the room, I realised the numbers mattered less than the people who had grown into leaders along the way. And the next step was already underway: a third office, in Pune, opening in December.

   **380+** people

   **3** offices in India

   **10+** years leading teams

   ★ **Great Place to Work®**: certified by our own people · Dec 2025 – Dec 2026
8. **Next · Ahead**

   ### Paying it forward

   The next chapter isn't about a bigger title. It's about helping one more person see the leader in themselves before anyone gives them permission. I want to help raise a generation of leaders from Gujarat and India who lead with purpose, grow people faster than titles, and pass it on.

   Someday, I hope the best thing on this page is the list of people who went further than I did.

## Three ideas I keep coming back to.

### Influence before authority

A title gives you a seat. Trust is what makes people follow you into the room.

### Identity before designation

Know who you are as a leader, and the role becomes a way to express it, not define it.

### Growth before position

Build people first. Results, retention and promotions follow the growth.

## How do you lead?

Take my free I2G leadership test. Twelve honest questions, about three minutes. Discover your strength across Influence, Identity and Growth, and get practical next steps.

* **Influence** before authority
* **Identity** before designation
* **Growth** before position

[Take the leadership test →](https://hiteshparmar.com/test/)

## What the best leaders taught me.

Stories from the leadership thinkers who shaped how I think, told simply, with what each one means to me.

**Simon Sinek** · *Start With Why*

### The idea that started with losing his own why

Simon was working in advertising and doing well on paper, but he had lost all passion for his work. Trying to understand why, he noticed that the people and companies who inspire us all start from the same place: they know why they do what they do. He drew it as three circles, Why, How and What, and his talk about it became one of the most watched TED talks ever.

**Lesson:** People don't follow what you do. They follow why you do it.

**What it means to me:** A team that knows the why will figure out the how on its own.

**Tony Robbins** · *Unlimited Power*

### From a janitor to the stage

Tony grew up in a difficult home and left at 17 with almost nothing. He was working as a janitor when he went to a seminar by Jim Rohn, and it changed how he saw his own life. He decided that his past would not decide his future, and went on to coach millions of people around the world.

**Lesson:** Your life changes the moment you make a real decision, not when circumstances change.

**What it means to me:** Most growth I've seen in people started with one decision, not one opportunity.

**Brené Brown** · *Daring Greatly*

### The talk she almost regretted

Brené spent years researching shame and vulnerability. In 2010 she gave a small TEDx talk in Houston and openly shared her own struggles. The next day she felt so exposed she hoped almost no one would watch it. Instead, millions did, because she had said out loud what most people feel but hide.

**Lesson:** There is no courage without vulnerability.

**What it means to me:** When a leader admits they're unsure, the team stops pretending too.

**John C. Maxwell** · *The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership*

### The lid on everything

John often tells the story of the McDonald brothers. They invented a brilliant fast-food system, but their business stayed small. When Ray Kroc took over, he grew it into one of the biggest companies in the world. The idea was the same. The difference was the leadership. John calls this the Law of the Lid.

**Lesson:** A team can only grow as far as its leader's ability to lead.

**What it means to me:** When my team gets stuck, the first place I look is in the mirror.

**Stephen R. Covey** · *The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People*

### The children on the subway

Stephen was on a quiet subway in New York when a man got on with his children, who began running wild and disturbing everyone. The father just sat there. Irritated, Stephen asked him to control his kids. The man looked up and said they had just come from the hospital, where their mother had died an hour ago. In an instant, Stephen's irritation became compassion.

**Lesson:** Seek first to understand. Everyone is carrying something you can't see.

**What it means to me:** Before I judge someone's performance, I try to ask what's happening in their life.

**Robin Sharma** · *The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari*

### The lawyer who walked away

Robin was a successful litigation lawyer who felt empty inside. He left law to write about leadership and living well. No publisher wanted his first books, so he self-published them, printing copies at a local print shop with his mother helping to edit. One of them, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, went on to sell millions of copies worldwide.

**Lesson:** You don't need a title to lead. You need the courage to start.

**What it means to me:** This page is my own small version of that print shop.

## Short lessons on leading people.

Bite-sized lessons from 10+ years of leading people, for anyone growing into a bigger role. Follow along at @i\_hiteshparmar.

- **Value**: [Don’t ask “How much did I do?” Ask “What changed because I was there?”](https://www.instagram.com/reel/De38gp7O-MP/)
- **Learning**: [The fees were too high, so he built his own course.](https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dd5k794TEBY/)
- **People first**: [17,000 people. 3 principles. All of them about people.](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdtzLwOtGgK/)
- **Communication**: [A leadership communication audit, from the Mahabharat.](https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dcp0XZKh2fa/)
- **Culture**: [Starbucks lost money in China for 9 years. The fix was family.](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcWXB4gM1m_/)
- **Empowerment**: [Guide your team to think. Don’t just hand them answers.](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DR9r5MbgTF-/)
- **Psychological safety**: [Why do some hospital teams save more lives than others?](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DR7sR93ivn9/)
- **Impact**: [Maximum impact in minimum time starts with one question.](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DI6L_ntKFq0/)
- **Mindset**: [Be ahead of the game, or just keep up?](https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8hJXgYPqgz/)
- **Reflection**: [Every step is a victory. Pause and celebrate it.](https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8SBu_cPg1d/)
- **Focus**: [Block time for messages. Protect time for deep work.](https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8JA6QGSoZL/)
- **Time blocking**: [How an Olympic gymnast used time blocking to win gold.](https://www.instagram.com/reel/C756YA6voeP/)
- **Solution mindset**: [Shift your focus from problems to possibilities.](https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7cQM4UvbOF/)
- **Gratitude**: [Appreciation turns the ordinary into the extraordinary.](https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7Nyq-Jypl7/)
- **Books**: [Books on manifesting that are worth your time.](https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7J8qn8p5To/)
- **Success**: [What’s your definition of success?](https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2p2LUdPwfy/)

[See more on Instagram →](https://www.instagram.com/i_hiteshparmar/)

## One lesson from my journey, in your inbox.

Subscribe at https://hiteshparmar.com/#letter. A short, honest note each month on leading people, building teams and growing beyond titles. No noise. Unsubscribe anytime.

## If something here resonated, I'd like to hear about it.

I'm always happy to swap notes on leadership and building teams.

[LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/cxohitesh/)
 [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/i_hiteshparmar/)

© 2026 Hitesh Parmar · Ahmedabad, India
Last updated October 2026