I’m Vasanthi Srinivasan, professor of Organisational behaviour and Human Resources Management at IIM – Bangalore, and this is how I Lead from Within
Vibrant, confident and encouraging, Vasanthi Srinivasan’s energy is infectious. A professor of Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources Management at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, Srinivasan is curious to learn, capable of holding five different perspectives about a single thing, and makes friends easily. She shares gems of wisdom from her personal and professional life easily, generously and wholly. There is no holding back; talking to her is like talking to a friend and mentor at the same time.
The Confluence of Passions
Disenchanted with my professional degree in commerce and battling some personal difficulties at home, I took up the only non-commerce job that came my way after college – promoting voluntary blood donation in Bangalore for a nonprofit. This was back in 1984 when there were no such things as CSR or a social sector. For the first time I saw a business/commercial perspective to decisions. And suddenly, I found that my commerce training was actually quite valuable. By the end of my first year with the nonprofit we had enrolled 10,000 voluntary blood donors in Bangalore. I felt especially incredible when people began to see the larger purpose of donating blood, which is to save lives. And for me, the question of social purpose became very, very evident.
From there my passions just fell into place. I knew I wanted to do something that would allow me to be with people, is commercially viable and sustainable, and allows me to involve corporations – their power and resources – for the good of the society. The union of these three aspects has been the bedrock of almost everything that I have done over my long career of 30 years.
On Identifying One’s Passions
> Recognise what you don’t like to do: this is something that all of us know very quickly and easily. It’s extremely important to acknowledge and say to yourself, “I don’t like doing this. I’m going to do it for a while because I need the money or I need to step up or I have other constraints that don’t permit me at this point in time to make the investments that are needed for something different.”
> Don’t let your weakness take away your strength: knowing what you’re not good at and how much you need to work on it to be effective in your role is something you must think about, deliberately. Work on upgrading the skills that you think you’re weak at so you can support the skills that are your strengths, instead of taking away from them. For ex: If I want to be a great teacher but I am not good at communicating, I need to hone my communication skill to a level where I can continue to foster my dream of being a great teacher.
> Experiment: passion doesn’t come to you unless you seek it first. Deliberating scouting opportunities to do different things is perhaps the only way to discover what we are good at, where our passion lies and where we can make a difference.
My Core Values
> Authenticity: with me, what you see is what you get. I have found that being authentic in your interactions and work, always works well.
> Cognisance of privilege: I’m extremely privileged. And I am extraordinarily conscious that my privilege could have come from someone’s lack of access to opportunities. Before I do anything, I think a 100 times if I’m behaving responsibly given the privileges that I enjoy.
> Preparedness: I never walk into a meeting or a gathering unprepared. It is a hallmark of respect towards the person or organisation who has invited you that you’re better prepared than anybody else in the room.
The Role of Men in my Career
I truly believe that men play a fantastic role in the lives of women who go on to become professionally strong and successful. I’ve personally been mentored by three males in my professional life, each of whom had a sharp and significant role to play, and much higher expectations from me than I had from myself.
> My first mentor was Prof. Nagabushana, my accounting professor in undergraduation, who once said to our class, “become someone that the college will be proud of.” Every time we met he would tell me, “Vasanthi, you need to do more. You need to do different things.” It’s the vision that he had for who I would become, which was very critical to me.
> My second mentor was Father McGrath at XLRI who knew everyone by name and every student by his/her experiences. I was struck by his empathy. He had a wonderful conversation with me when I was graduating – “competition makes you driven,” he said, “but once you leave this campus, I hope you will realise that the world needs people who can collaborate. I hope that you will stand for that as you go forward in life.” Collaboration is difficult, he told me but competition, easy. Towards the end I remember him adding, “in the process, don’t lose your femininity.”
> My third mentor was my professor Manohar Reddy at IIM Bangalore, who would often come to me and say, “You could have done this differently. I know you’re capable of it.” Those were some of my best time – having him give me feedback on things that he thought I should be doing differently.
The Women Role Models
I had the privilege of working with two women bosses early in my career, Dr. Latha Jagannathan at the TTK Rotary Blood Bank, and Dr. Rupande Padaki at The P&P Group. How I saw them behave in a professional context subsequently went on to shape, in several ways, who I am today. They are both extraordinarily great professionals and extraordinarily feminine. For me, that’s the hallmark of their influence. They are elegant and they radiate positivity. They are also fearless; once they commit to something, they make it happen.
Advice to Young Working Women
> Seek help of other women: When you see extraordinarily successful women in your organisation, you must remember that you are seeing them at their destination. They may have journeyed through a similar path as yours to reach that destination. It’s important to talk about your professional conflicts with them. Their perspective on your problem might change how you view what’s happening in your life. Their advice is valuable.
> Build a career identity: a lot of women acquire degrees and join organisations without a clear intention; steered primarily by the tight, scarce labour market. When they end up in these jobs, many of them don’t have a clear identity of who they want to be in their careers and what they need to do to get there. Very few of them say things like, “eight years from now I’m going to be this technology lead, or 12 years from now I’m going to be heading a lab where I’m going to create a new product, or 20 years from now I am certain I will be heading my own company.” I rarely hear women talk this way now. I acknowledge that there are a combination of factors that impact a woman’s career identity – the way she is brought up, lack of insistence by the society on a career with a long timeframe, no compulsion on having a career at all and many more – but in the light of this, I believe, it is something that more and more of us have to intentionally cultivate.
> Accept your career as one with breaks: I wish young women saw their careers from this perspective, because then they will know that the way one prepares for a break and returns is very different from the way one leads a long term career. Acknowledge that the society’s gendering of roles is going to make it difficult for us to negotiate and navigate our professional lives. You could be with a nonprofit, a volunteer, or an employee at an MNC – you need to be mindful that there are going to be breaks punctuating your career. And plan accordingly.
> Stay relevant: I think every woman should be studying at least one course on any of the open online platforms that are available today. You should be upskilling yourself in an area that is of interest to you, year on year. It is important for career women to acquire learning as a way of life.
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