As a child visiting extended family in India, Achal Sondhi \u201907 wondered why there were frequent blackouts. He thought, \u201cThis region should have enough power for everyone.\u201d The immense need for energy was clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On later visits, the smog made him cough, and more recently, his son experienced coughing. He thought, \u201cThis is horrible.\u201d Worse, this issue wasn\u2019t limited to India but affected many parts of Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFrom working on wind projects early in my career, I know there\u2019s an economical way to change this,\u201d Sondhi says. \u201cI want to be part of that story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As chief investment officer at Aquila Capital, Sondhi expands the team\u2019s clean energy portfolio across the Asia-Pacific region, aiming to achieve multiple gigawatts of renewable energy like solar, wind, and batteries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His career in finance and energy has spanned Washington, DC, London, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Recently, he played a key role in advancing battery energy storage systems in the Asia-Pacific. This technology enables more renewable energy by balancing the grid. Here, he reflects on his career journey and lessons learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trust is crucial<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I grew up in Hong Kong and India. Classmates above me went to Macalester, and a teacher spoke highly of the school. Minnesota was a shock, especially seeing snow for the first time, but I\u2019d do it all over again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With a knack for economics, I planned to pursue investment banking. A close friend from Macalester ended up in Washington, DC, at an energy consulting firm. He said, \u201cYou should check this out.\u201d He was one of the smartest, most down-to-earth guys I knew. I trusted him and got a job in Hong Kong but chose to stay in DC. It was a good start to my career because I entered an environment where everyone was caring and open to teaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everything takes unexpected twists. A visa issue arose, and I didn\u2019t get my US work visa. I thought I would lose my job, but the company felt I had more to give and moved me to the London office. Working in different geographies and experiencing new kinds of projects was amazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then the recession hit, and my job was made redundant. My old boss in DC said, \u201cNo worries, I want him back in the DC office.\u201d Fortunately, visa arrangements were easier this time. Trusting and being around people who care about you helps during both good and tough times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Follow people\u2014not the job<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I met two people who were doing a solar startup in Hong Kong. They said, \u201cJoin us. Do it for a year. If you don\u2019t like it, you can move on. If you like it, you\u2019ll learn a lot.\u201d I stayed for two years and loved it. We were building a solar organization around Southeast Asia. The business was run by a few entrepreneurs and a local Hong Kong family who were hospitable, nice, and good at doing business in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I follow people and their values, not the job. I got the most out of that job in terms of dealing with people and managing negotiations in Asia. I learned how to read people, react to people, and most importantly, show respect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Get stuff done<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Be the person who knows how to get things done. Junior team members sometimes are shocked when I create a working document or financial model from scratch. Sometimes you can\u2019t delegate and need to push things yourself. This ability is crucial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Learn from the annoying habits<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve worked with many difficult people. At GE Capital, there were many who resembled Louis Litt from Suits\u2014very rigorous. I hated sitting in a room for hours till midnight, going through a financial model step by step. I thought, \u201cThis is annoying and a waste of time.\u201d But now, I appreciate how it made me more detailed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Looking back, you can take annoying traits positively. A pushy, borderline micromanaging colleague kept everyone on their toes. I appreciate every kind of person I\u2019ve worked with. They got stuff done with those methods. Think about how you can do that and still be collaborative. If you take certain traits of people and find a way to extract their effectiveness, you can grow a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can never plan it perfectly<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I try to plan ten years ahead, but you can never plan perfectly. I never expected to be in London or Singapore, but I\u2019m loving it. Always be open. Have a long-term view, but follow the opportunities that come your way.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Achal Sondhi \u201907 shares career lessons from finance and energy.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":881,"featured_media":25841,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[17,49],"class_list":["post-25855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","tag-economics","tag-environmental-studies","mediatype-articles"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"fields":{"article_type":[8],"flickr_photoset_id":"","youtube_id":"","square_thumbnail":false,"press_photos":false,"story_title":"","story_caption":"","rotations":false,"maps":false,"marker_title":"","marker_text":"","geographic_location":false,"feature_embed":"","custom_link_url":"","news_icon_name":"","image_options":false,"main_feature_story":"","custom_image":false,"custom_feature_title":"","custom_feature_caption":"","custom_markup":"","custom_markup_link":"","custom_markup_title":"","custom_markup_caption":"","byline":"Alexandra McLaughlin \u201916","post_thumbnail_style":"default","press_downloads":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/881"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25855"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31775,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25855\/revisions\/31775"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}