About Woman

Women Leadership.....Indra Nooyi

Indra Nooyi in her conversation with Stephen J Dubner   on the topic “The Secret Life of CEO” shares her valuable experiences in her journey as a CEO of Pepsi. Excerpts from that conversation:

She is a conservative person, non-conventional and a fire brand. She had no plans to become a CEO yet she continued to make consistent gradual moves. She agrees that being a CEO is a very daunting job and one has to be ready from day one to take the mantle. She also pre warns that there is nothing called honeymoon period and one has to learn in a hurry “how to run the company through extreme periods of adversity and there is no book you can read. You have to develop the book as you go along that is very tough.”

She emphasizes that consumer taste changes all the time which is a great opportunity to change the entire portfolio and the co-culture so as to deliver phenomenal returns. She says, “Study every idea very carefully and think of its implementation.” She opines that listening to activist and treating them with respect makes more sense. Her view for younger generation is to train them very well in STEM (Science, Maths, Engineering, and Technology) disciplines especially when they are young; learning and understanding STEM at an  young age helps the individual to learn all other subjects easily while moving up to higher positions whatever the job is. She used the term “incremental innovation” for growth and scaling.

For women employees she suggests to develop “adaptation strategy” especially to tackle domestic concerns so that women will not feel resentful and angry. She insisted the need for complete support and help from the extended family to handle issues relating to kids and aged parents; so that women can scale to higher positions. For women the biological clock and career clock are in total conflict with each other she says. Women are still searching for role models to learn lessons she says. Her deep concerns are, even today Women CEO are looked at differently, everything you say or do gets analyzed in a different way. “Any industry trendsetters go through this sort of scrutiny, criticism or commentary.” Hopefully the number of women CEO increases and are not seen as women CEOs but leaders of a big enterprise. Hope this comes sooner or later. She says.

She laments that it is incredibly lonely at the top; to overcome this she suggest to talk to lot of people especially other CEOs you trust, learn from them what they did when faced with similar situations. She also suggests that women CEOs have to create their own eco-system…without giving away any confidential information. She emphasizes that the day you become a CEO you have to thing of grooming a successor—safe hands to do the uncomfortable jobs. According to her business issues never become business issues; putting money to work for the next generations is critically important; thinking about society and community; and to evolve a business model that takes into account the changing societal trends; need to look at the issues holistically; to be sensitive to the societies around the world in which they operate.

Lastly she states Nooyi’s as a boss:

·         Has very high standard;

·         Holds and helps everyone to reach this high standards;

·         Very demanding and caring;

·         Someone who works as hard as everyone does;

·         Is there alongside everyone pushing all to be a better person and a better executive.

After Serving 24 years at PepsiCo and 12 years as the Chief Executive of the company Indra Nooyi will step down on October 3, 2018

Source: http://freakonomics.com/podcast/indra-nooyi/

Leadership Lecture by Ms. Chitra Ramkrishna

Women Leadership

Iron lady .....Leader..rests.

Leader of the Masses.who successfully broke the glass ceiling........
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayalalithaa



This article describes the leadership and her Charisma. Read on....

Jayalalithaa’s Political Acumen And Striking Leadership Qualities

 http://techstory.in/jayalalithaa-leadership-qualities/

Read on to understand her strength.....and confidence...

http://www.india.com/buzz/jayalalithaa-on-simi-garewal-show-15-quotes-that-show-her-strong-character-leadership-and-human-side-watch-videos-1693264/

 

 

Quote 25-11-2016

Advancing Women in Tech

Jul 18 2016 : The Economic Times (Bangalore)

ET By Invite - 5 Ways Indian Cos can Boost Women in Technical Roles

TELLE WHITNEY CEO, Anita Borg Institute





Recruiting, retaining and advancing women in tech is not just an aspiration; it's a business imperative

In India's IT and BPM sector, women fill 51% of entry-level jobs, according to Nasscom.On average, women fill 35% of tech roles in India, compared to only 21% in the US.

But a looming problem remains -50% of Indian women leave the technical workforce at junior and mid-level positions. This dropout is problematic for companies because recruiting, retaining and advancing women technologists isn't just an aspiration; it's a business imperative. Here are five areas Indian companies must focus on to boost women in technical roles:

CHANGE STARTS FROM THE TOP DOWN

Many company programmes and policies are designed to attract more women into technical roles, but these efforts won't add up to real change.

The only way to create real change is to connect diversity efforts with a business's top and bottom lines. Indian business leaders must view diversity as a strategic imperative and as a priority across the organisation.

MEASURE AND ESTABLISH CONSISTENT DEFINITIONS OF SUCCESS

I firmly believe that what you measure, you will change. Indian tech leaders must establish a consistent definition of the technical workforce, something we have accomplished in the US with ABI's Top Companies for Women Technologists, the only nationwide programme that provides a consistent definition of the technical workforce and benchmarks organizations for their representation of women technologists.

It is crucial for business leaders to have common measurements for success and ensure that women and advance through the ranks.

PLUG THE LEAKY TALENT PIPELINE WITH SENIOR ROLE MODELS

Women in senior technical roles are critical to recruiting and retaining younger female technologists and to fix the leaky talent pipeline among Indian women.

Unconscious bias, stereotyping and work-life balance issues exist everywhere, but unique cultural challenges facing Indian women make it harder for them to stay in the technical field.

So, what's the solution to this female brain drain? It's important for young women technologists to see role models who they can relate to at their organisation.

TAKE MEASURABLE STEPS TO COMBAT UNCONSCIOUS BIAS

Professional women all over the world experience unconscious bias.

Rather than going the way of questionably effective training programmes, Indian leaders can take actionable steps, like ensuring women are well represented on hiring teams and in the pool of technical candidates across all levels.Again, having women in senior technical roles is key to ensuring unconscious bias isn't reflected in the company culture.

AVOID PUSHING WOMEN LEADERS OFF THE GLASS CLIFF

The “glass cliff” is another obstacle for women technologists in India. The glass cliff phenomenon suggests that women tend to be offered leadership roles during times of crisis and volatility, so they're essentially set up to fail.

Unfortunately, leadership opportunities come along less frequently for women than men, so some believe this might be their chance to take on a significant leadership assignment.

For business leaders, it's important to give employees (women and men) ample opportunities to show their potential. This can help prevent situations where women are seen as a last resort for a leadership position, one where she can easily become a scapegoat if things don't go as planned.

Women earn Less than Men!

Gender Parity

Economists usually do not pay much attention to gender. A new official White House report shows that men have been dropping out of the US labour force at an alarming rate. This is particularly true of those with few skills. The most likely reason is vanishing factory jobs. It’s quite likely that the change in gender composition of the US labour force will eventually alter the balance of power between men and women there. 

India has the opposite problem. Too few women are part of the formal labour force. Millions of Indian women have actually exited the Indian labour force since the turn of the century. The most likely reason in this case is that higher family incomes are pushing women back into their homes. The one big exception to this rule could be agriculture. It has seen a gradual process of feminization. 

India needs more women in the formal workforce—not just for the economic benefits but also for financial independence. 

Source: Mint 22^nd June,2016

Women Executive Board….Zensar Technologies

Zensar Technologies is looking to double the proportion of women in middle management and above to 50% in 4 years.

The company’s women executive Board (WEB) is focused on identifying and raising women leaders from within existing associates.

The WEB derives organizational initiative for attracting diverse women talents and nurturing their growth at every step of their respective career. Zensar is in the process of identifying:

……200-300 female executives/potential leaders in the company;

……Mentoring these women;

…..Designing an in-house learning and development program  for networing, business leadership.

At Zensar, women make 50% of the staff at the entry level now the company plans to increase it to 60%.

In the middle management women account for 29% of the work force, which Zensar plans to increase to 50% by 2020. The company has 13% women at Vice-President level and 10% at the top management level.

Zensar offers paid maternity leave of 3 months with an option of extending it by up to another 12 months under a time of scheme without pay.

It offers in-house managed daycare centre for workers with children in the age group from 4 months to 10 years.

It partners with audit firms to do a gender audit to assess the existing growth opportunities of women, pay parity and identify the blind spots.

Prameela kaliva, Executive VP., Zensar Technologies says: “Our gender diversity strategy aims to deliver balanced leadership through balanced gender distribution across all levels.”

In the last few years the company claims to have moved mid-level women managers’ retention from 85% to 94%, reduced voluntary attrition of women form 17% to 10%.

Source: Economic Times, 10^th June 2016, p.8