Blessed to be a Woman!!!
Blessed to be a Woman!!!
Hi there,
My Angle colleague Kishore forwarded me a mail suggesting I should attend the Women Leadership Summit wherein Ladies who have reached to the top of Corporate Ladder were to present their experiences and words of wisdom. I ran through the agenda and the topics delighted my eye Ascending the corporate ladder, Stepping Up and developing the leader in you, Women Work the Juggling act, Discover the power within you, Achieving success turning every adversity into an advantage and Working couples.
I checked with my boss who as usual said of course you should attend this, go ahead.
Yesterday I travelled to MS Subbalakshmi Essar Hall at Sion where this session was conducted. With my love to be before time, I was at the venue 30 mins prior to start of the Conference. The conference started 30 mins late - at 9:30 with a welcome note. The top ladies came of the dious one after the other or in panel and spoke on the above topics.
Lynn De Souza, Chairman and CEO Lintas Media started her presentation. Knowing she was from one of the top Media companies, my ears grew extra alert to listen to what she had to offer. As expected her session was excellent. I admired the clarity of thoughts yet having the simplicity in her style, backed with a very sweet soft voice.
She shared her initiative which was named "Equal and opposite" an initiative which was directed at gender balance and encouraging gender diversity at work. She had taken the initiative with a unique stride. She said Men and Women are indeed different in their thoughts, styles and actions. She said both the genders are unique and bring different values to the table. So it's not about supporting women or pushing her up. It's about creating a perfect blend so with the right mix wonders can be created. She took us through the some of the cute, naughty yet brilliantly created teasers "We want Women on top" or "Men don't ask for directions, Women don't read Maps". With this bringing a smile on everyone's face, the video followed which got the audience cheerful and laughing. It showed a room in which women cheering with excitement seeing shoes and bags and at the same time adjacent room with men cheering the same way seeing beer.
Very beautifully she conveyed the message - yes indeed the two genders are very different so here she was driving an initiative to attract and retain the brightest and bestest of mix which used both the right and left brains while they worked.
I just loved the session!! There was another superb presenter Manjula Dharmalingam, Founder and Principal Consultant Harbinger Consulting Services who put forward beautiful counter answers to the questions posed by audience. On a question like Action taken by men are pretty predictable but Women are different with their actions and so are perceived as confused. She replied with her personal example she said I have two kids elder ones pretty sober and obedient but the younger one just wants everything his way so while its the same task which needs to be delegated I am very straight with my elder but very soft, persuasive with the younger one. She said the situation demands two different outputs would you call me confused. I loved the way she counter argued.
Another presenter was sharing her experience saying she has trusted advisers and has invested a lot of time in building these relationships. There were so many questions on this saying why the need of trusted advisor cant we take our own decision, how do you select them, what if they don't agree on something that you are keen to pursue, How does the family take these relationships, wouldn't a husband mind if the wife goes to someone else seeking advises.
Very valid questions. Lynn with her quick wit and simplicity replied with her sweet tone, "Hey gals don't you think we are giving too much attention to this topic? This lady just shared a personal experience. It doesn't suggest that you need to adopt what she did. If you are someone with a strong belief in yourself, rock solid will power and a go getter attitude, you don't need anyone else to tell you what you should do. You know what you want, you strive to navigate through the way and get it. That's all about it I did not have any advisor in my whole life but I did achieve all that I wanted to" - It made me smile.
Mrs. Dharma lingam gave another perspective to these questions, she said if you take the world average 36% of workforce has women contributors but around 10-11% make it to the top. Let's face it for a woman the same things are all the more challenging and difficult coz she needs to prove herself at every point at every step in her growth. Instead of fighting and proving your point every time battling with 90% male folk, it's wiser to get their inputs, experiences and work with everyone's support so that the road to success becomes a little pleasant to walk on.
She said lets accept Women are equally competent in all domains as the Men. Infact they are much more tolerant, considerate, human, dedicated as compared to men. Ask any of the Men to leave their home at a young age, go to someone else's house, adjust every moment to the whims and fancies of the new family yet keep all together coz that's was the learning from parents say. We all take it so casually coz that's the way it's prevalent in the society so what's the big deal about it!! But today with women sharing the economic responsibilities over and above the household chores and bringing up the child we cant have the same dimension to life. I was impressed by the on-going discussions indeed a thought provoking debate was on.
Post lunch there was another two top Ladies who enthralled the audience with their beautiful discussion. There's was a unique way of addressing the crowd they thought of straight forward and open discussions, sharing their experiences and words of wisdom instead of presentations.
Ms Sarita Bahl, VP Multi commodity exchange of India completely bowled over the audience with her superb command on English and excellent elocution capabilities. She took us through her personal and professional challenges and how she faced it very bravely converting every adversity into an advantage. I was enjoying every bit of her statements. She made a power start by saying, "Am surprised why have you all come here? Do you all need someone else to tell you that you are unique and you have everything with which you can achieve what you dream and desire"
She asked, "Tell me what is God associated with?" The audience replied Love, Compassion, Care, Hope, Faith, giving back in abundance etc. She counted it all on her finger tips, paused for a second and said, "Very good audience now just take a minute and think does the woman who is a daughter, a sister, a daughter in law, a wife, a mother, a mother in law not possessing all these qualities?"
There was a pin drop silence. She said we all have it in us; it's just that we (as we did in our childhood) need to shift the angle of the kaleidoscope and see a different pattern formed. Shift the paradigm and you see a new world out there. Beautiful way she had explained, I was so thankful to Kishore and my Boss for allowing me to attend this training. Amazing power a speech has can make you, can break you. She broke my thoughts and said, "The reason for only 10% of women being on top is first the society is male dominated and 2nd Women is the biggest enemy of women. Come out of the primitive thought, break the shackles and give back to others more than they could ever think of. You have no clue what will come back to you will be amazing sense of achievement, a sense of helping someone who needed you and seeing them being successful yet respecting you for making that happen unimaginable joy!!" She continued, "If you can't give anyone happiness, so be it atleast stop being jealous, bitching or crafting stupid strategies to make others feel let down. You will be the worst impacted. Remember change the angle of the kaleidoscope, Life has loads to offer it's just the matter where you want to invest your attention and time, that's all matters"
Followed by Ms Bahl, was Mrs Shilpi Kapoor, Founder Director, Barrierbreak Technologies, who shared yet another remarkable achievement. This amazing lady runs a profit making organization with disabled people working for her. They work and run the websites for Indian and Swedish Governments. She said I used to travel to Delhi very often sit with my proposal convincing venture capitalists and the government. I faced lot of insulting situation with people talking on phone while I presented my proposal, looking at watches, asking me politely to leave but since I was a women I could stay back till I completed what I had to say. Since I was a woman, they couldn't abuse or throw me out of office. I continued persistently and today it's the Government who runs behind me for their work. I was amazed and jolted listening to the struggles she had to face to get what she wanted but she never left hope, and today its not about a profit making company its much more since it brings a huge difference to those who are disadvantaged. The society only sympathizes and moves on but here was a lady saying its not going to be an NGO or charity it will be a profit making venture. Amazing risk taking ability, felt like standing up, applauding loud and saluting her. My friend & I met her in the break and expressed we were amazed with the presentation and the work that she is doing. We offered our help incase over the weekend if we could contribute a bit in her mission. She was happy to hear that and we exchanged our business cards. This Friday we have planned to visit her office, lets see, may be there's another exciting yet extremely noble phase in my life to unfold you never know!!!
What I was listening to what not a rocket science, nothing that I didn't know but yet I was so amazed and delighted the way it was put. Reminds me of a saying Simplicity has its own charm. Everything what was going on was so simple yet had such a beautiful impact on the minds.
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