Mr. Karaiadiselvan – CADD Centre MD: The Man Whose Hunger Never Stopped
Twenty-eight years, 500+ entrepreneurs a year, and still hungry for more — Mr. Karaiadiselvan of CADD Centre is the clearest picture of Achievement Drive I have ever worked under.
Twenty-eight years at the top of one job would make most leaders coast. Mr. Karaiadiselvan, Managing Director of CADD Centre Training Services Pvt Ltd, has never once let himself coast — and I had the privilege of building my own early career in the shadow of that energy. Every time I hear the words "Achievement Drive," one face comes to mind before any other. This is his story, and the trait behind it.
In short- Mr. Karaiadiselvan joined CADD Centre as a trainee in 1992 and became MD of Asia's largest engineering-design training network.
- He personally motivates and mentors 500+ franchise entrepreneurs every single year — and still calls himself a student.
- His signature line, "feedback is the breakfast of champions," captures the mindset behind Achievement Drive.
- Achievement Drive sits on the EQ side of the Winning Kite — it's the hunger that converts talent into results.
- You can deliberately build this trait using the flow model: match challenge to skill, then keep raising both.
Where this sits on your Winning Kite
Achievement Drive is Trait #12, and it lives on the EQ — left side — of the Winning Kite (KITE Leadership Framework). Remember the shape: Top is Success, Left is EQ, Right is RQ, Bottom is PQ. EQ plus RQ plus PQ lift you toward Success — you rise on balance, not on any one side pulling alone. Achievement Drive is one of the strongest EQ threads holding up that top corner, because without the internal hunger to do more, none of your relationship skills or productivity systems get pointed anywhere in particular.
Who is Mr. Karaiadiselvan?
Mr. Karaiadiselvan — everyone at CADD Centre calls him Mr. Selvan — is the Managing Director of CADD Centre Training Services Pvt Ltd. He started his career journey with CADD Centre in 1992, walking in as a trainee. There was nothing about that starting point that predicted where he would end up. But over the following decades he rose, step by step, to head the organisation — and today CADD Centre is the largest training institution in engineering design software in the whole of Asia.
Think about what that means in practical terms. This is not a company that grew because one product got lucky. It is a franchise network, spread across cities and countries, teaching engineering design software to hundreds of thousands of students who go on to work in architecture, civil engineering, mechanical design, and manufacturing. Running that network means Mr. Selvan personally has to handle and motivate more than 500 entrepreneurs — his franchise partners — every single year. Anyone who has run even one small business knows how much energy that takes. Selvan does it with 500, and he does it with ease, year after year, for close to three decades.
The hunger that never says "enough"
Here is what struck me most, watching him up close: he never settles. Most professionals, once they reach a certain seniority, start protecting what they have built. Mr. Selvan does the opposite. He continues to drive many other businesses beyond CADD Centre itself, and the hunger never stops. Every single time he meets his partners — not once a year at a big convention, but in regular one-on-one conversations — he is ready to motivate them, teach them something new, and push them a notch further than where they were.
He is also a voracious reader, and he actively seeks out feedback rather than waiting for it to arrive. His own words capture it best: "Feedback is the breakfast of champions." Most professionals treat feedback like a performance-review formality, something to survive once a year. Mr. Selvan treats it like the first meal of the day — something you actively go looking for, because you need it to function, and the day is incomplete without it.
Success built on other people's shoulders
What makes Mr. Selvan's Achievement Drive different from raw ambition is who he credits for it. His success, he says openly, is the result of the hard work of countless team members, visionary board members, franchise partners, institutions, industries, and students. He draws inspiration from every one of them — and he believes the most appropriate way to thank them is to keep sharing his own inspiration and experience as widely as possible, helping others succeed in their own careers and businesses.
That is an important distinction to hold onto. Achievement Drive, done right, is not a solo sprint. As the head of one of the largest and most diversified training networks in the country, Mr. Selvan is in a position to show hundreds of entrepreneurs and thousands of students what careers are emerging and what business opportunities are worth betting on. He turns his own hunger into other people's opportunity. That is the trait working exactly as it should — fuelling not just his growth, but everyone downstream of him.
I started my own career journey looking up to that energy and drive. His dedication and passion for his work are unmatched, and honestly, he continues to inspire and motivate me every day — long after I stopped working directly under him.
Why Achievement Drive matters at work — not just for MDs
It is easy to read a story like this and think it only applies to founders and managing directors. It does not. Achievement Drive is the quality of chasing excellence and striving for higher standards in whatever role you sit in. It is the hunger for mastery — the desire to constantly improve — and it shows up as much in a shipping clerk who redesigns the courier process to save costs as it does in an MD running a pan-Asia franchise network.
Organisations everywhere are looking for exactly this. Employees with high Achievement Drive take ownership of their work without being asked, set higher goals for themselves than their managers would have set for them, and are not afraid to experiment, take risks, and push past the edge of what is comfortable. They are self-motivated. Nobody has to chase them for status updates, because they are already chasing the next milestone themselves.
The four signs to look for
When I want to test whether someone — a team member, a candidate, or myself on a hard day — genuinely has this trait, I check for four things:
- Taking calculated risks. Someone with Achievement Drive is always looking for the next challenge and is willing to risk failure to push further. Those lacking it prefer the comfort zone and settle for what they already know.
- Embracing innovation and setting hard goals. They constantly seek new ideas, set ambitious targets for themselves and their team, and keep raising the bar. The alternative is resisting change and clinging to what feels safe.
- Supporting others. This is what separates hunger from ego. People with real Achievement Drive support their colleagues, employees, and partners — exactly the way Mr. Selvan pours energy into 500 franchise partners rather than hoarding his own growth.
- Hunger for more. The defining trait. No matter how much they have accomplished, they are never fully satisfied. They are always seeking the next opportunity to learn and grow — which is precisely why, 28 years and one Asia-leading company later, Mr. Selvan is still reading, still asking for feedback, still teaching his partners something new every time they meet.
How to build this trait deliberately: the flow model
Achievement Drive is not something you either have or don't. Like every trait on the Winning Kite, it can be developed. The clearest framework I use — and one that echoes psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's research on flow — is simple: your motivation peaks when the challenge in front of you is matched to your current skill level, then gradually raised.
If a task is too easy, you get bored and disengage. If it is too hard, you get anxious and freeze. But when challenge and skill are balanced, you enter flow — that state where concentration becomes effortless, creativity spikes, and hours pass without you noticing. In that state, your brain releases dopamine, endorphins, anandamide, and serotonin — your own internal reward system, firing because you are growing, not because you are being rewarded externally.
Practically, this means: pick a goal that stretches you just slightly beyond your current comfort. Complete it. As your skill catches up, raise the difficulty again. Keep re-entering flow at a higher level each time. That is exactly the loop Mr. Selvan has been running for 28 years — trainee to MD, one increasingly ambitious challenge after another, without ever declaring himself "done."
Bringing it back to your own career
You do not need to run a 500-partner franchise network to apply this. Start smaller. Set one goal this month that is genuinely harder than what you have already mastered. Go and ask for feedback before anyone offers it — treat it as breakfast, not a performance review. And when you do achieve something, use that success to lift the people around you rather than simply banking it for yourself. That combination — hunger plus generosity — is what makes Achievement Drive a Star quality rather than just ambition.
If you want to go deeper on how Achievement Drive fits with the other 24 EQ traits, and how EQ combines with RQ and PQ to hold up the Winning Kite, read the hub piece: Achievement Drive: The Hunger That Powers Star Performers. And if you are building this capability across your own team, explore our Signature Programs or the full list of corporate training topics we run on this exact framework.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Mr. Karaiadiselvan of CADD Centre?
Mr. Karaiadiselvan (Mr. Selvan) is the Managing Director of CADD Centre Training Services Pvt Ltd. He joined as a trainee in 1992 and rose to lead what is now the largest training institution in engineering design software in Asia, managing over 500 entrepreneur-partners every year.
What is Achievement Drive in the Winning Kite framework?
Achievement Drive is Trait #12 on the EQ (left) side of the Winning Kite. It is the competency that makes a person set challenging goals, chase mastery, and keep improving even after they have already succeeded — the hunger that never fully gets satisfied.
What does "feedback is the breakfast of champions" mean?
It is Mr. Karaiadiselvan's own line, meaning that star performers actively seek out feedback first thing, the way you would seek breakfast — because feedback is the fuel that lets you correct course and keep growing, rather than something to avoid or fear.
How can I build Achievement Drive in myself or my team?
Use the flow model: find a goal that is only slightly harder than your current skill level, do it, then raise the bar again. Pair it with the four habits Mr. Selvan shows — take calculated risks, set challenging goals, support the people around you, and keep hunting for feedback and information rather than settling.
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