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Editor's Notes

• #2: It is always a wonderful feeling to be back in campus and a matter of great joy to be talking at the women leadership summit. A topic very close to my heart. So, when Ritu emailed a few weeks ago, I knew I would not pass on this opportunity. Recently, I stumbled upon a book on women and leadership - written Dr. Alice Eagly and Linda Carli, professors and researchers from Northwestern University and Wellesley College and I ‘took away’ many good insights from their work.
• #3: First, we need to move away from the idea of a glass ceiling. It is too simplistic a. metaphor to think of 1 monolithic barrier that comes in the way of women achieving their best potential and becoming leaders. In reality, there are many many twist and turns in the career paths of women.
• #4: So, the metaphor of a labyrinth makes so much more sense . A labyrinth is a complex pathway with many twists and turns but offers a goal worth striving for and most importantly offers discontinuous paths to leadership. But women at all levels in an organisation get stuck in this labyrinth. I decided consciously not to talk about the usual barriers, like gender biases and gender stereotypes, discrimination, resistance to women leadership, disproportionate family responsibilities…..these come up all the time and while they are no doubt real -they are also cliched. In the course of my career at Citibank and HeyMath! I have seen other barriers which are self-imposed by women and come in the way of YOU versus the Best that you can be. Ambivalence about ambition First, unshackle yourself from vocabulary by which you are constantly measuring yourself. You here phrases like ‘It’s all about her, She is such a go-getter, and this starts as young as 4 or 5 when you see young girls at play and here comments like ‘she is so bossy (6 year old girls)’. I recall the time when I was in high school. Playing cricket was an absolute passion for me. And I was one girl on the field with 10 other boys. And I did not settle as a fielder, I wanted to bat and hit the bowler. People in the neighbourhood did make remarks and jibes. But that did not affect me in the least. Confidence gap and my ideas are not ready for prime time: Research time and again shows that there is a “confidence gap” between men and women. Women consistently underestimate their abilities while men generally overstate theirs. They think they must research everything thoroughly before they present their ideas and therefore don’t muster the confidence to voice them. How often have you sat in meetings where you hesitate to voice you idea because you might look silly and them someone else brings up the same idea about which you have thought 3 steps ahead! Please believe that your ideas are ready for prime time. Work on visibility and self promotion: Several women think their work alone and competence should speak for itself. Also, society creates these prejudices that it is unfeminine to promote yourself (she wears he success so well). Working on your visibility is important at all levels in the organisation. And, after you reach a certain seniority within a large organisation it is not always competence, it is sheer competitiveness (testosterone type). But fortunately conversations are changing and women should work harder on self-promotion, Talk about your work authentically in as many platforms, use social media, blogs….attend conferences. Visibility, north south India households - premium attached to being humble and hard work will get you ahead. Almost a virtue. But North Indian don’t attach too much to humility. Self promotion - prestige status materialism - aspired for. Communication comes naturally. Reality Vs Reality, Reality vs aspiration - spin. Yirah and Pichad: One fear spirals you down, the other spirals you up. Pichad paralyses you into inaction and often this is because of rejection and criticism which women overthink about. Yirah on the other hand is the fear that overcomes us when we suddenly find ourselves inhabiting a larger space than we are used to and this energises you. My mom told me walls are there for a reason. To know how keen you are to jump over it. Only thing I am leaving out as a barrier to women’s progress is organisation culture - as this is not in your hands, unless you are an entrepreneur. But it is an extremely important factor and probably the most enabling one for women to move into positions of leadership.
• #6: He says ‘Women are more likely to speak out for fairness, for values-based competence, show compassion and resolve - as opposed to Wall Street which has a ‘values-free’ report card. He is referring to the break down of trust in institutions - whether it is corporate boardrooms, academia or politics - across the board. And, post Trump the resignation of James Comey (director FBI) was the last straw. I don’t want to be a part of a Silent Generation. I want to return to the Sixties when people spoke out with words that addressed the American Dream and gave their lives in this cause of freedom. It has been said that the true measure of your beliefs, your values, what you stand for, is the willingness to put yourself on the line by articulating openly who you are. I am standing now for the power of words to free us, and give it over to that shining symbol standing in the New York Harbor — Lady Liberty!
• #7: So, something serious is happening that is causing these seismic and tectonic shifts in our fundamental thinking about technology, leadership styles, values and the search to find out what model will work best for the times we are living in.
• #8: I want to now talk about the fault lines that we are experiencing on a global scale affecting everything from how we live, work and play. These fractures and divisiveness are pushing us to new continents and conversations of ideas and thoughts.
• #9: First is the Death of hierarchy. It simply will not work in this century. It is all about a network of agile teams that self-organise to solve problems. Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom in their book ‘The unstoppable power of leaderless organisations’ describe the starfish and spider as metaphors for the shape of things to come Starfish is a creature with no central nervous system, and represents the fluid, adaptive organization of the future. Cut it in two and it doesn’t die: it becomes two starfish, each of them capable of independent life (each part is like an empowered team). This makes the starfish extraordinarily resilient much like decentralised flexible and nimble organisations. On the other hand, a spider is controlled from the top, the spider’s “legs” are incapable of independent life. They lack the defence system - sp when the head can’t hack it and it’s threatened by a rival, they all go down. Command and control is over. New competencies that are at a premium (and we are teaching this even in school curriculum) : Leadership styles of engagement, persuasion & influence, inclusion, flexibility, collaboration and empathy are what will be valued. Gig economy: requires nimbleness, and a flexible and responsive organisation Silicon valley report card: There are some fires burning out there. Corrosion and a toxic culture with frightening stories of how women are being treated in Uber and Tesla.Silicon Valley is behaving like the Wall Street of the 80s and 90s (The core of why this has been such a problem is that tech, as a sector, has deluded itself into believing that its practices are meritocratic. Replay of Inside Job, where greed, lack of transparency, excessive risks and cowboy style behaviour is in action. I read an article that said ‘What if Lehman brothers was Lehman sisters! Would the Wall Street crisis have happened’ Being human: Excessive technology is dehumanising us. People are craving human interaction. This is going to move the needle more than any technology you could ever dream up. So, that’s about relationship centeric and interpersonal oriented leadership. Core values versus Core technology (Microsoft, Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai, Netflix’s presentation that went viral). No brilliant jerks please That brings me to what I consider the most important enabler for an organisations sustainable success today.
• #10: It is the organisational culture If you were to walk into the HeyMath! office you will see this signage.
• #11: HeyMath! right from its inception been very strong on women empowerment at every level in the organisation - with no hurdles or roadblocks to women becoming leaders. The most exciting part of my HM! journey has been to build a DNA and organisation culture that is Non-hierarchical collegiate, Open and transparent where authenticity and competence is valued It’s a culture of freedom and responsibility where people are connected to a purpose and context. Also, the nature of the work we do is intensely collaborative, involving complex interactions with our customers and a lot of internal orchestration. And we celebrate collective success rather than promote prima donnas.
• #12: 6 distinct aspect of our culture are: A fusion of diversity in every which way (cultural, language, gender, generational) No one is watching the clock. It is culture freedom and responsibility. Very important that people know the context in which they are doing their tasks or managing projects, helps align to a common purpose and gives meaning to you work. There are several opportunities venues to showcase talent beyond you domain - whether it is festivals, theatre, making movies, dance, music, karate, health camps, cricket, running groups or community work. People self-organise and crowd source talent and put up pretty professional shows. We are also an organisation that promotes situational leadership (much like the starfish) and what helps is constant learning (online courses, study groups, facebook at work,). No penalty for motherhood (biggest form of discrimination at the workplace. Doubts on commitment….) And it is this open and transparent culture that helps keep the team in a state of flow
• #13: Where every person performing an activity is fully immersed with an energised focus and enjoyment in the activity. People should also feel involved with decisions about their work. x axis - boredom. Y axis - anxiety Close to origin - apathy, x axis - boredom, y axis - anxiety Flow: Desired target area where skills and challenges meet The theme for todays summit is ‘Redefining Power’
• #14: The theme for today is redefining power, I would like to think of it as doing power differently.
• #15: No such thing like work life balance: difficult to allocate x time to this and y time to that and look for balance. Totally immersed in whatever you do - without ‘balance’. But a good idea to Hit Refresh (Satya Nadella’s phrase) often - to generate new energy, new ideas and continue to be relevant. Often these aunts are uncles. A variety of mentors who have broad vantage points and bring you back to the ABCs of your strengths and connect you to networks that push you upwards. Talk the walk: Don’t shy away from self-promotion. Find all possible external platforms and forum to talk about your work. Blog. Print media, magazines. All this helps build thought leadership in your domain, particularly with your customers. Internal communication with colleagues is extremely important as well - and we are the earliest adopters of facebook at work. Kill ageism. Building strong relationships both within and outside the organisation, and across ages (very important) and all walks of life - to gain perspective and knowledge which then helps you rise to positions of authority. Also called social capital. Future proof yourself: Take time off for yourself. That does not mean going to a spa or chilling on the beach. Plug in to things around you. Don’t forget to invest in yourself and pursue your own development. Eg: I spent a week doing a Harvard Business school course. Take time off to go meet with mentors and maybe professors. If you want to go straight, turn right. Participate in as many conferences. They might be seemingly irrelevant to what you are doing but it helps you understand the world and context you are operating in so much better (for eg: here is a slice of my calendar over the last 1 year.
• #16: LATAM Asia ; Met with Colombia’s ambassador to Singapore Pan African conference: helped us win an award for our work in SA Lee Kuan Yew: Met a retired diplomat who introduced me to the AP government It works! I want to end with celebrating a woman who epitomises leadership. She has defied gender stereotypes, has successfully unshackled herself from gender based vocabulary like size zero. She has not been one bit ambivalent about her ambition, has shown what confidence means and has influenced society to change their ‘mind set’
• #17: Vidya Balan Tumhari Sulu sums up the way she lives her life and is an a great inspiration to all women.