Che Douglas, VP of Design at Booking.com

Che Douglas shared this recommendation for Rajiv on November 17, 2019 via LinkedIn:

Rajiv is a professional, dedicated, smart and inspiring leader — his actions speak louder than his words. Something that Rajiv said to me shortly after we met in 2016 showcase this more than anything else. He said “Win people over without defeating others.” At first, I liked the sentiment of his quote, but didn’t realize at that time what an impact it would have on me and The Wall Street Journal’s culture.

I worked with Rajiv at The Wall Street Journal and Newscorp for two years, between 2017 and 2019, where he held the position of Chief Technology Officer & Chief Product Officer at the WSJ and later on Deputy CTO at Newscorp.

I saw him live out this value every day — I saw how this repeatedly resolved conflicts and broke down silos. This collaborative and trusted environment Rajiv grew, quickly became a work-place that everyone felt welcome in and produced their very best work. Under his leadership we built the first fused Product, Design and Engineering department at the WSJ.

We worked with some incredibly talented people during this time, were able to win a Webby award for the best news app and I think this was his most impressive feat — not the work itself because that involved many many skilled people — but the fact that Rajiv brought all those people together with a common purpose — and was able to rally the entire company and executive team to make something really great.

It is empowering to work for someone that you know is deeply interested in your craft, the value it brings and what you can contribute. Rajiv was willing to push and promote design, design thinking and what it means to be customer first not only internally but to the world at large.

If you have the chance to work with or for him, take it.

As Senior Vice President of Design at The Wall Street Journal, Che reported to Rajiv. Che is now Vice President of Design at Booking.com.