Taking the path less travelled to success
Q.Tell us about your role and job profile at your company. In your view, what are the qualities of a leader.
I am leading a mission to build “a pride of ownership brand” for our customers, with the support of our entire team at Cosmos. I am a Visionary Leader, and have always chosen the path less travelled in my life. Leadership is an art of influencing people to a common vision, not a title or a position.
Sometimes, in life we need to focus on beautiful destruction of our old ways of working process to push the growth scales higher and unleash the champion within. Innovation, business creation, value creation, high performance are the qualities a leader should bring in to an organization, in today’s rapidly changing business environment. It is like exercising your muscles to come up with innovative ways—not an idea alone, but an idea with full implementation strategy.
Navigation Vs. acceleration is the real leadership process with the uplevel concept, where the focus is on navigation for the accelerated growth by connecting people with the bigger picture and prosperity. This kind of mass uplevelling of team, is the way to build a mega brand.
Q.What made you choose a career in the engineering/machine tools industry?
Machines are in my blood. My father was a technocrat and a manufacturer of Special Purpose Machines. So, I had a very special attachment with machines from my childhood. My mentor told me once that challenges bring opportunities, so always look for challenging things in life.
It’s like when a diamond cutter sees a rough diamond or when a potter sees a rough clay, they see an opportunity to create something. On the other hand, if they see a polished diamond or finished pot, it does not excite them. Around 30 years ago, India was just opening its mind to technology adoption. That’s when I found a chance to craft my career in the engineering field., with High Tech CNC Machine Tools.
Q.Did you face any difficulty in coping in the industry (due to lesser women employees)? If yes, then please share anecdotes and your experiences
In today’s world, there is hardly any gender restricted field. However, 35 years ago when I had to take a decision for my life, the Indian culture, social beliefs and industry environment was totally different.
I also had to face a lot of hurdles in my career path, as 30 years back it was purely a male-dominated industry. However, I just followed my way with full conviction. I truly believed that, we can transform our future life by simply changing our mind-set.
Genius is not about genetics. Genius is about your habits, devotion, relentlessness, and commitment to follow your dreams, ambitions and daily goals
Q. In your opinion, why only few women manage to climb the seniority ladder? What are the key barriers affecting career progression of women?
The biggest barrier for women is that majority of women pursue a career as a part of their interest in self-empowerment or to support family for better lifestyle. They lack a definite goal or vision. If one is ‘interested’ in building a career or ‘committed’ to build a career, the outcome will be totally different. Interest means, you will do it with your convenience and within comfort zone. But committed to your goals or dreams means you will not be able to rest or sleep until you will have that all. We need more women who commit to their career goals.
Q. What initiatives can we take to encourage more women to join the industry.
The world is changing with 10X speed than couple of decades ago. So, the key point is setting up the vision for growth and then be committed 100% to it. Awareness is the first stage of growth ladder. If you are not aware about yourself, you cannot grow. As important as self-awareness is; it can sometimes be very difficult. True self-awareness requires self-honesty, the ability to see your strengths and weaknesses clearly and realistically. With self-honesty, you can see both—what you have to offer and what you need to do to become the person you want to be in any industry you are in.
Vision vs. clarity is the key point. Most people have their life vision set, but most have non-clarity on the achievement process. First, we need to realize what we want to do and then believe in it. Visualize that picture daily and work on it until it turns in to reality.
In my career, AIA theory has helped me have clarity in my vision.
AWARENESS to do
INTENTION to execute
ACTION in small parts daily.
Q.What advice would you give to women to be successful in the industry?
Genius is not about genetics. Genius is about your habits, devotion, relentlessness, and commitment to follow your dreams, ambitions and your daily goals. Women are born with an innate gift for safety, self and family protection, and are blessed with a sixth sense towards any negative energy. These inner strengths, when channelized well in to the enterprises growth synergy, can have many added advantages. Just take charge of your thought process. The only tool you have is your productive time and progressive thoughts.
