Spotlight on Sharad Agarwal

The Chief Everything Officer of Cyber Gear, UAE, shares his story.

OPINION PIECE

Sharad Agarwal

10/5/20264 min read

You founded Cyber Gear in 1996, when the internet was still in its infancy. Looking back over three decades, what have been the most significant turning points in your journey from building a successful business to deliberately building a legacy brand?

I started Cyber Gear as a passion project.

I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. Right place, because Dubai rewards audacity to dream big. Right time, because internet was just launched.

My passion soon morphed into obsession.Now, I am on a mission to build a legacy brand.

Building a brand is about creating recognition. Building a legacy brand is about creating meaning. A legacy brand is not built in a year, a campaign, or a moment of viral attention. It is built over decades through consistency, trust, courage, and an unwavering commitment to delivering value. Through thick and thin.

The strongest brands become bigger than the products or services they sell. They become part of people’s lives. Customers don’t simply buy from them; they identify with them. They remember how the brand made them feel, what it stood for, and the experiences it created.

You make a powerful distinction between building a brand and building a legacy brand. In your view, what are the fundamental differences, and how can leaders create the trust, meaning and emotional connection that turn customers into genuine advocates?

Legacy begins with purpose -why does the brand exist beyond making money? What problem does it solve? What belief does it represent? What change does it want to create? How does it contribute to improving the lives of people at large?

Purpose alone is not enough. A legacy brand must earn trust repeatedly. Every interaction matters: the product, the service, the people, the customer experience, the way the company responds when things go wrong, and most importantly, the promises it keeps when nobody is watching.

Legacy also requires the courage to evolve. And innovate. The world changes. Technology changes. Customers change. Change is the only constant.

A brand that refuses to evolve eventually becomes a museum piece. The challenge is to embrace change without abandoning the principles that made the brand valuable in the first place.

You describe evolution and innovation as essential to avoiding becoming a “museum piece”, while also stressing the importance of protecting the values that made a brand successful. How do leaders strike that balance between embracing change and remaining true to their core identity?

Perhaps the greatest test of a legacy brand is what happens when its founder is no longer in the room.

Can the culture survive? Can the values continue? Can the next generation carry the vision forward while creating something new? How do you ensure this for your company and your clients.

I believe that the greatest achievements rarely come from standing alone. They come from bringing together people, ideas, talents, and perspectives that are greater than any one individual.

Competition asks, “How can I beat you?”

Collaboration asks, “What can we create together?”

At the highest levels of business, leadership, and innovation, people understand that there is room for more than one winner. Competitors can become partners. Different companies can build an ecosystem together. People with different strengths can combine those strengths to create something none of them could have created alone.

Your philosophy places “ROE – Return on Engagement” over ROI, and purpose over profit. How has this philosophy shaped the way you lead Cyber Gear, make business decisions and build relationships with customers, employees and the wider community?

A successful brand creates customers. A great brand creates advocates. A legacy brand creates believers. Ultimately, legacy is not measured by how long a brand exists. It is measured by how deeply it lives in people’s memories, and how much meaning it continues to create long after the people who built it have moved on.

30 years later, we continue to be guided by compassion. Our value systems have not changed. In other words, it’s ROE (Return on Engagement) over ROI, purpose over profit,impact over everything. Working hard every day to convert consumers into fansumers.

You suggest that the ultimate test of a legacy brand is what happens when its founder is no longer in the room.What are you doing today to ensure that Cyber Gear’s culture, values and purpose can continue to thrive and evolve for the next generation?

I sincerely believe that happy people create happy customers. The numbers will take care of themselves. And they do.

We live in a world obsessed with KPIs.

Revenue. Growth. Clicks. Leads. Conversion rates. Engagement. Productivity.
Everything is measured.

But here is the uncomfortable question:
Are we measuring what matters, or simply what is easy to measure?

If your goal is to build customer loyalty, counting new customers may tell only part of the story. Retention, repeat business, and customer satisfaction may tell you far more. If your goal is to improve productivity, counting hours worked may be less meaningful than measuring outcomes.
And if your goal is to build a great organization, revenue alone will never tell the complete story.

A KPI should not simply tell you what happened. It should help you decide what to do next. The danger begins when the KPI becomes the destination rather than the instrument.

A dashboard can tell you that performance changed. It cannot always tell you why.
That requires judgment, experience, and human understanding.

My goal this winter is to get as many golf rounds as possible.

More at www.sharadagarwal.com

Sharad’s profile: linkedin.com/in/cybergear