Biography
Raghu Challapilla
Raghu Challapilla is an Enterprise Agile Transformation Coach, Mindful Leadership Coach, Collaboration Expert, Professional Facilitator, Professional Trainer, and Success Coach with a passion to steer individuals, teams, and organizations towards expressing their full potential.
He has led Agile transformations at multiple start ups, mid sized & large scaled organizations such as, Visa, CapitalOne, Credit Karma, and Alaska Airlines, and worked with teams acorss the globe including New York City, SF Bay Area, Seattle, Honolulu and Mumbai.
While he spends most of his time coaching organizations and teams towards hyper productivity by tapping into the intrinsic motivation and unleashing their group genius, he equally enjoys facilitating transformative growth with individuals outside the organizational context.
Raghu possesses strong experience in coaching & training Agile teams, middle & senior management on Agile practices/ principles, Lean philosophy and 21st century management (the “why”, not just “how”)
He has elementary to native proficiency in eight languages, and continues to satisfy his academic appetite through Theoretical Physics, Cognitive NeuroScience, Philosophy, and Management books. He is also a mindfulness practitioner and has attended numerous mindfulness retreats.
Raghu is also an Actor, Improv Artist & ex-Runway Model. He played supporting lead role in two bollywood movies, lead role in a TV soap opera, and walked numerous runway shows in New York, New Jersey & Texas.
Some Leadership & Mindfulness courses he has attended:
Problem Solving Leadership, Six-Day Leadership Retreat ~ Jerry Weinberg & Esther Derby
Investigating Emotions, Six-day Mindfulness Rereat ~ Austin Margaret Center
Mindfulness Practice, 10-day Vipassana Meditation Retreat ~ Vipassana
Mindfulness Practice, Week long Insight Meditation Retreat ~ Spirit Rock
Mindfulness Practice, Numerouns Day long Meditation Retreats ~ Insight Meditation Center
Agile Enterprise Transformation, Deep Dive Study Group ~ Michael Spayd & Lyssa Adkins
Gamification, Solving Business and Social Problems through Gamification ~ Kevin Werbach through Coursera
His key certifications & recognitions include:
Certified Scrum Professional (CSP) ~ Scrum Alliance
Certified Scrum Master (CSM) ~ Scrum Alliance
Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) ~ Scrum Alliance
ICAgile Certified Professional in Agile Coaching (ICP-ACC) ~ International Consortium for Agile
ICAgile Certified Professional in Agile Team Facilitation (ICP-ATF) ~ International Consortium for Agile
Scaled Agile Framework Program Consultant (SAFe SPC) ~ Scaled Agile Academy
Training from BACK of the room Certificate
Certified Trainer of Training from BACK of the room
Co-Active Coaching Fundamentals ~ The Coaches Training Institute
Co-Active Fulfillment Coaching ~ The Coaches Training Institute
Co-Active Balance Coaching ~ The Coaching Training Institute
Co-Active Process Coaching ~ The Coaching Training Institute
Co-Active Synergy Coaching ~ The Coaching Training Institute
Organization & Relationship Systems Coaching (ORSC) Fundamentals ~ CRR Global
Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (CLSSGB) ~ Global Adroit (Member of American Society for Quality)
Inspiring Leadership Through Emotional Intelligence ~ Coursera
My Agile story:
Since I worked in Agile, there was no looking back, as Agile has transformed my professional and personal life.
I have a deep appreciation for Lyssa Adkins' coaching and facilitation techniques, Mike Cohn's Scrum & Agile techniques, and Taiichi Ohno's Toyota Production Systems.
I believe we can make the work environment a better place, and give meaning to people's live by correctly applying Lean, Agile & Scrum principles and fully embracing the Lean philosophy and Agile culture.
I see the parallel between Dan Pink's "Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose" and Takeuchi and Nonaka's "Autonomy, Cross fertilization, and self transcendence." I see how Scrum & Agile can support tapping into the intrinsic motivation of people, and make work a place people will look forward to. We spend 1/3rd of our lives at work, and I believe it can be a better place - thanks to the evolution of Agile!