Attended WISE, Got Wiser !

On Nov 23rd, I got the opportunity to attend WISE – Women Inspiring Success and Excellence. This “all women” conclave was organised by my alma mater ISB and a group of enthusiastic super women alumni. What a day !

Not just for the learnings, of which there was plenty, but just having a safe space to ask some of the difficult questions was invaluable. We could talk about Lipstick and smoothly move over to EBITDA and even more smoothly move over to flying helicopters for the Indian Air Force. It didnt matter that some of us were newbie alums and some were veterans (literally and ISB veterans) – we just connected easily.

That’s the power of our business school … our professors were different, we studied different stuff, but our school became the wind beneath our sails that helped all of us grow. Some were re-connecting after a hiatus, some of us were vocal and local, and some flew in from far off locations.

The WISE conclave made every one of us wiser, no matter age, colour, makeup, language or area of work.

Some Personal Highlights

Dean Madan Pillutla started off the proceedings with a priceless statement during his fireside chat with KG – “The greatest gift we can give anyone is confidence” as he recollected his teacher from grade 5, who thought he was the best even when he made mistakes or was being mischievous. It is true. All we need is confidence and anything can be achieved.. especially for women. We tend to lose confidence if the pleats of the sari don’t fall a particular way !

I “discovered” Ramkumar during WISE. He came up, said hello and said it was so nice to meet in person …yeah, it was nice to meet in person because Divya, Ram, Anand, Kaumudi and I had been on several calls a few years earlier as we piloted the mentoring program. I did remember him, but I obviously didnt know about his Mridangam mastery and that he plays in the Chennai Music Season. He has won several awards for it and I found a picture of his with Balamurali Krishna, the man who gave me my name. Hey Ram indeed.

I attended Prof Saumya’s session “Finding the Leader in You”. Not sure if I found the leader in me, but I certainly reconnected with Saumya. When I entered the room, I looked at her and thought she looked familiar and then she mentioned in her intro that she worked with Aon Hewitt. Well, small world. I immediately waved at her and obviously her memory is far better than my famed one – she remembered me :):). It was a moment of Deja Vu because I would attend every training program in Aon Hewitt and become the faculty for future programs. I just love training and would take a stab at it every chance I got, even as I had my operations role.

Came back into the main hall for an interesting session by Meenakshi Menon. After listening to her, you truly believe “age is just a number”. For someone like me, it was a reinforcement of my belief that women can do anything at any age… it’s just a number that denotes mileage not your tread.

Post lunch the energiser session by the super energetic RJ and voice over artist Aditi Bisht was just what we needed to keep us going. She was a laugh riot and my suggestion to the folks who make “Energizer” batteries – hire Aditi. She has more energy than a dozen of your batteries.

My Milestone Session

I attended the WISE conclave for many reasons but the minute I saw that three alums who were from the armed forces were speaking at the conclave, there was no looking back. The session was moderated by Lt Cdr (retd) Nandita … she retired from the Navy, and took to the skies ! Nandita is an avid sky diver. As if Navy wasn’t enough of an adventure :).

The two other panelists were Col Noreen Shanet John and Gp Capt Shaliza Dhami. Col Noreen is the First Lady officer to take over command of a training battalion. Gp Capt Shaliza is the First Lady officer in the IAF to become a Flight Commander of a combat unit.

Noreen and Shaliza are doing exactly what I wanted to do right after 12th …. but in 1986, the Army and Airforce didnt induct women in combat roles. I am not too fond of the water, so Navy was not an option. Well, I kept fighting my way through life instead and now use a pen to combat enemies :).

I listened to Nandita, Noreen and Shaliza wide-eyed and soaked up everything that they shared. It was a feeling of immense pride to hear about their accomplishments and momentarily I could live their life. Thank you for your service and personally, thank you for the glimpse into the “fauji” life of a woman.

With dad in MES and me studying in Kendriya Vidyalaya, I did get a ring side view of life in the Army (Dehu Road, Shillong) and Air Force (AFA, Dindigul and Jamnagar) when dad served in these places, but its nothing to compare with a career in the forces.

Bharat Mata Ki Jai – is how we concluded this session. An important lesson from their lives for all of us – there isn’t a glass ceiling for women… if you find one, break it.

During lunch I had introduced myself to Bindu Vinodhan, my namesake and assured her that I will attend her session later in the evening. Embarrassingly enough, I had to leave her session midway as my cab was ready. That’s a story to tell another day.

Special Mentions

I missed mentioning Vandana in my earlier blog Unforgettable Visit to India’s Old & New Parliament. It was because of her that I managed to get a picture clicked outside the old parliament building in my Durbarpet Saree. Don’t know how she managed to convince Sunil Ji to take that pic ! Here is a pic with the two of us –

The plan for 23rd was to wear blue …..Poonam and I turned up in different shades of blue, but Vandana turned up in purple. To be fair, her saree did look like blue in the pic that she showed me, but it was definitely not blue. Anyway, that didnt dampen our enthusiasm one bit.

The other special mention is Divya. We re-connected during the bus ride to the new and old parliament and realised that we really like being friends. Hewitt Associates and ISB are both common factors besides the fact that we really like both these organisations.

The goody bag is a conclave in itself ! Will need a separate blog to describe it in full.

Thank you ISB, Parul, Himanshu, Guru and all the ISB Women who set this thing rolling. The first edition is a mega hit and we MUST do this annually. Am already preparing for the next one.

#TheWISEconclave