This piece is based on a series of interviews and reflections with Ashish Garg, founder and managing partner at RIGA Cyber. It explores not only how he leads but why his approach is reshaping what leadership looks like in cybersecurity and beyond.
In our ‘Top Innovator Series,’ we feature leaders like Ashish Garg who are not only pushing boundaries in their fields but also redefining what it means to lead.
Ashish Garg didn’t become a leader the moment he got the title. It was quite the opposite. Leadership, for him, revealed itself slowly—through messy startup desks, unexpected team dynamics, and hard-learned lessons about letting go. Today, as the founder and managing partner of RIGA Cyber, a leading cybersecurity firm, and a trusted voice in the world of cybersecurity, Ashish carries a perspective shaped by both his technical roots and his emotional intelligence.
When you speak with Ashish, what strikes you first isn’t jargon or grandstanding—it’s clarity. A clarity that’s disarming, rare, and earned. He speaks about leadership not as a position but as a responsibility, not as a skill set, but as a mindset. His stories aren’t curated for applause—they’re honest, unfiltered, and often surprising. Like the time he joined a startup after a polished corporate career and froze at the sight of a dusty desk—only to be handed a rag and a lesson in humility. Or the moment his team self-organized around a shared vision without being told what to do, and he realized that authentic leadership means stepping back, not stepping up.
Ashish’s journey isn’t the story of a meteoric rise. It’s the story of someone who kept showing up—with more questions than answers, more curiosity than certainty, and a deep belief that attitude beats aptitude every single time. His leadership style is quiet but forceful, grounded in servant leadership, and unshaken by ego. He’s not out to prove he knows everything—he’s out to create the kind of environment where everyone else can thrive.
This interview isn’t just an exploration of how to lead a cybersecurity firm. It’s an exploration of how to lead people—in all their unpredictability, ambition, and brilliance. And it’s a reminder that the future belongs to those who can build cultures stronger than their personalities.
Leadership is a Journey, Not a Destination
When Ashish Garg entered his first official leadership role, he expected to be the one with the answers. After all, wasn’t that what leaders did? They directed, they decided, they delivered. It took only a short while for that illusion to fall apart. “That’s never the case,” Ashish says today. “Becoming a leader is just one step in the right direction—it’s not the arrival point.”
This realization was both humbling and liberating. As he shifted from being an individual contributor to someone who had to inspire and align others, Ashish began to see leadership as a practice rather than a position. He encountered moments where junior team members outperformed expectations—demonstrating leadership in their own right—and others, more seasoned, struggled to buy into the collective vision. The variance wasn’t about experience; it was about alignment, attitude, and engagement.
Ashish’s breakthrough came when he stopped seeing leadership as a one-way street and started viewing it as a dynamic conversation. He began listening more—listening not just to what his team was saying but to what they needed. This shift helped him understand that leadership evolves through experience, reflection, and the ability to stay coachable.
He now embraces what he calls the “constant calibration” of leadership. It’s not about having a fixed style—it’s about recognizing that each context, each team, and each phase of growth demands a different version of you. Leadership, as Ashish frames it, is less about controlling others and more about constantly growing into a version of yourself that others want to follow.
The Power of Servant Leadership and Humility
Ashish Garg doesn’t lead from the top of a podium—he leads from the side of the field. His preferred metaphor isn’t that of a general commanding troops but of a coach guiding athletes. “They are the players,” he says. “You’re not in the game. You don’t know their exact pain. You’re just trying to help from the sidelines.”
This is the essence of Ashish’s servant leadership philosophy. It begins with humility—the recognition that leadership is not about status but service. It’s about ensuring others can do their best work, removing obstacles, and supporting them in the trenches. In Ashish’s world, that means understanding the emotional and mental load his team carries, not just the technical responsibilities they manage.
He recalls how often he hires people based on attitude over aptitude. “Skills can be taught,” he explains. “But if someone doesn’t have the will to learn or the willingness to contribute, no amount of training will fix that.” That belief anchors how he builds teams and how he interacts with them. He focuses on cultivating environments where curiosity is rewarded and ego is left at the door.
Servant leadership also requires being secure enough to admit when you’re wrong—and bold enough to let others shine. Ashish is the kind of leader who’s okay with being corrected by someone two levels below him. He welcomes it. Because, in his mind, leadership isn’t about asserting authority—it’s about fostering trust. And trust, once earned, becomes the proper fuel of high-performing teams.
Culture Over Control: Building Teams That Lead Themselves
Some leaders become overly focused on organizational charts, hierarchies, and reporting structures. Ashish Garg prefers something simpler—and far more powerful: culture. “In a two-hour workshop,” he recalls, “I explained my vision and the strategy. I didn’t assign anything. But by the end, everyone had volunteered for what they wanted to own. It just… happened.”
It’s a moment that speaks volumes, not about charisma but about clarity. Ashish didn’t push people to perform; he invited them into a shared vision. When people can see the bigger picture and connect their efforts to it, they don’t need to be micromanaged—they’ll step up on their own.
That doesn’t happen by accident. Ashish hires intentionally—selecting people who are hungry to learn and eager to take the initiative. He also insists on creating a space where it’s safe to speak up—even to him. “Anyone in my company can walk in and tell me, ‘Ashish, this doesn’t make sense—and here’s why.'” That culture of radical candor isn’t just encouraged; it’s operationalized.
His goal is to build a company culture that doesn’t depend on him to survive. A culture rooted in ownership, respect, and open communication. “That’s the legacy,” he says. “A culture that outlives me.” In that sentence lies the difference between a manager who directs and a leader who inspires. Ashish wants to be the latter—and so far, he’s building the kind of culture that makes it inevitable.
Lessons from the Dusty Desk: Staying Grounded in Startups
There’s a small, dusty desk in Ashish Garg’s memory that still teaches him about leadership. On his first day at a small startup, after leaving a pristine corporate environment, he was led to a cluttered workstation. “I just froze,” he remembers. “At my last job, everything was spotless. Cafeterias, offices—it was polished.” But instead of offering an apology, his manager grabbed a rag and started cleaning. “This is a startup,” he said. “We do everything here.”
That moment was a turning point. Not because it challenged Ashish’s comfort but because it introduced him to a new kind of leadership: one rooted in grit, not glamour. It reminded him that leadership isn’t about having things handed to you—it’s about stepping up, even when no one’s looking, especially when no one’s looking.
Now, as the founder of his own company, Ashish finds himself reliving that moment in unexpected ways—jumping into customer calls, helping with QA, and tweaking slides late at night. “I’m doing everything again,” he says, not with fatigue but with pride. That dusty desk wasn’t a disappointment. It was a mirror—a glimpse into the type of leader he needed to become.
In a world obsessed with scale, speed, and polish, Ashish’s story is a powerful reminder: outstanding leadership doesn’t start at the top. It begins where the dust settles—where the work is messy, real, and meaningful.
Delegation, Letting Go, and the Struggle to Scale
Ashish Garg knows precisely what he needs to work on: letting go. “I still own more than I should,” he admits. It’s a refreshingly honest confession from someone who’s built a career on clarity and vision. But that’s what makes it so real. Because the transition from doer to delegator isn’t a flip of a switch—it’s a rewiring of the brain.
As a builder, Ashish is used to rolling up his sleeves. He trusts his instincts, has high standards, and knows how to deliver. But as a founder and CEO, his time is no longer his own—it belongs to the mission, the culture, and the big-picture moves only he can make. That means letting others own the details even when it’s uncomfortable.
“It’s one of my goals for the next year,” he says. “To delegate more, to trust more, and to build leaders around me.” Delegation, in his view, isn’t just about efficiency. It’s about sustainability. If everything flows through him, he becomes the ceiling. But if he steps back, others can rise—and the organization scales beyond him.
That’s not easy. It takes vulnerability. It means watching others do things differently—and sometimes not as well. But Ashish is committed to the shift because he knows the cost of not evolving. And because deep down, he understands that the most powerful leaders are the ones who eventually become replaceable—by design.
Ashish Garg’s leadership story isn’t one of perfection—it’s one of progress, humility, and relentless self-awareness. His experiences invite us to rethink how we present ourselves as leaders, teammates, and builders of culture.
Here are seven actionable takeaways inspired by his journey:
1. Ditch the Myth of Arrival: Leadership is an Ongoing Practice. Don’t assume leadership begins when you receive the title. As Ashish discovered, the learning starts there. Treat leadership as a dynamic process of listening, adjusting, and evolving—never a fixed destination.
2. Adopt the Servant Mindset: Lead From the Sidelines: Position yourself not as the hero but as the enabler. Make it your mission to remove roadblocks, offer guidance, and amplify the strengths of your team. Remember, you’re the coach—they’re the players.
3. Build a Culture That Can Function Without You: Design systems and teams that can lead themselves. Share your vision with clarity, and trust people to step into their roles. Ownership thrives in environments of trust and transparency.
4. Hire for Attitude Over Aptitude: Skills can be taught. Attitude can’t. Surround yourself with people who are eager to learn, willing to try, and ready to grow—even when the road is messy.
5. Stay Grounded—Even When You’re at the Top: Never lose sight of the dusty desk moments. Humility isn’t a trait you grow out of—it’s the foundation you build everything else on. Leadership means being ready to clean the desk, take the late call, or make the hard decision without fanfare.
6. Embrace Delegation, Even When It’s Hard: If you’re holding onto everything, you’re holding the company back. Trust your team. Create space for others to lead, even if it’s not “your way.” That’s how organizations scale—and how leaders mature.
7. Keep Your Dreams Growing Bigger: As Ashish says, your future self should have bigger dreams than you do today. Let growth, not fear, shape your next steps. Lean into discomfort—it’s where transformation lives.
Start now. Pick one of the actions above and make it part of your leadership practice this week.
You don’t need a bigger title to lead—you need a bigger commitment to how you show up.
Ashish Garg doesn’t fit the mold of the loud, commanding leader—and that’s precisely why his leadership resonates so deeply. He’s reflective, deliberate, and disarmingly candid. Whether he’s navigating high-stakes cybersecurity challenges or clearing mental clutter for his team, Ashish leads with clarity and conscience.
His story reminds us that authentic leadership is less about titles and more about trust. It’s not about controlling outcomes but cultivating cultures. And perhaps most importantly, it’s not about knowing everything—it’s about being the kind of person others want to follow.
As the founder of RIGA Cyber, Ashish is shaping not just a company but a legacy—one built on humility, service, and an unwavering belief in the power of people. In a time when leadership is often mistaken for visibility, Ashish offers something far rarer: credibility.
Want to hear Ashish Garg’s insights firsthand? Watch the full, live podcast interview [click here]
