• 2 months ago
Empowering 150 Women Leaders on Their Transformative Journey to the C-Suite is an inspiring initiative designed to elevate and support women in their professional ascent to executive leadership roles. This groundbreaking program brings together 150 ambitious women from diverse industries, providing them with tailored resources, mentorship, and networking opportunities to enhance their leadership skills.

#UpSURGE #WomenInLeadership #CWomenLeaders #Empowerment #LeadershipJourney #WomenEmpowerment #CLevelExecutives #WomenInBusiness #DiversityAndInclusion #WomenInTech #BreakingBarriers #MentorshipMatters #LeadershipDevelopment #WomenSupportingWomen #TransformativeLeadership


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Transcript
00:00UpSearch, an initiative by the prestigious business school XLRI, yet again successfully
00:26completed its fifth cohort of more than 150 women leaders across various sectors in India.
00:32The three-week leadership program was conducted by the Center for Gender Equality and Inclusive
00:38Leadership in association with XLRI.
00:41This initiative aims to empower women leaders globally, focusing on enhancing their roles
00:47in C-suite positions.
01:17Today we have some of the alumni of UpSearch, the first edition, who have come back to pay it back
01:23and are supporting this cohort, which is just fabulous. And this is what we had in mind all day.
01:27The Center's sole purpose is to design interventions like this, like UpSearch,
01:34so that it actually has a resounding impact across industries. So we have industries,
01:42more than about 120 organizations, 40-odd industries represented. But the Center's
01:48sole purpose is not just interventions like this to fuel people's and women's aspirations,
01:54but also to convert this into a strong body of research, into what we need to do differently
01:59as a country, to actually enable more women across multiple sectors. I think to me those are
02:06two signals. One, that the program is extremely good quality, and I stand here saying that today
02:10with pride after four cohorts and now in the fifth cohort. But also importantly, the fact that
02:15it's a burning cause and organizations realize that and that's the reason we've had overwhelming
02:19response. We've gone from a purely virtual three-week program to a hybrid three-week format.
02:25So the first two weeks are virtual events and then we all come together here in Bangalore
02:30for the grand finale, which is what we're here for today. It's a very unique one because it brings
02:36together so many senior women leaders like this cohort, the average work experience is 19 and a
02:41half years, which is a very senior cohort and 150 of them get to come together and interact
02:49and it's pure magic. In fact, earlier today some of them were telling us that they have in their
02:5620-year, 21-year career, they have never been in a room, forget a session but in a room with so many
03:03other senior women. That implies network, that implies lessons learned, maybe comparing battle
03:11scars, learning from each other and the other magic we see happen is for some reason
03:18when we bring senior women together, there's instant camaraderie. Shubha, I have a question for you, do
03:24you feel that women are in fact empowered today? Women are empowered at a macro level, as we say
03:31it's happening, there is awareness but practically there's a very long way to go and it still
03:36is working only for a very small fragment of society, it isn't spreading the way we need it to.
03:41Of course, Savita a follow-up question on that, do you feel gender equality exists in the
03:49corporate culture in India today? Idealistically, we would like it to be but that's not what reality
03:54is. We are hoping that with this kind of a program, the women leaders who join us are able to
04:01amplify this effect and bring forth that culture which exudes equality and build it up
04:08and not wait for things to happen but kind of amplify into a level where speed it up.
04:14The event marked a historic moment bringing together more than 150 senior women leaders
04:21on a single platform. This gathering aimed to foster discussions on leadership, empowerment
04:28and the challenges faced by women in various sectors. The conclave also addressed critical
04:34issues such as gender bias, work-life balance and the need for inclusive policies.
04:41These discussions aim to identify practical solutions to create more equitable workplaces.
04:49As a woman in corporate world for the last 25 plus years, I worked in Procter & Gamble for
04:5520 plus years. I relate to the cause and you really want to see how we can help other women
05:02who are coming behind you. The second thing that is really powerful about this program is just the
05:06group that runs it. They're all XLRI alumni. I'm XLRI class of 1995. To connect with other alumni
05:13from different batches, it's really special. Speakers at the event included prominent
05:20figures from various industries who shared their experiences and success stories. Their narratives
05:27served as an inspiration for many attendees highlighting the importance of resilience
05:33and determination. Women leaders who are at their early stage in the career, do you think
05:41it's easy for them or are they facing challenges probably they can't speak about
05:46and how can they deal with that? That's such a fantastic question because you know at the early
05:52stage, if you talk about which is let's say six to ten, eleven years in their career, there are
05:58systemic elements that come in the way but they're also internal because that's the first drop-off
06:03point typically for women. Marriage, childbirth comes in the way and that's when they really have
06:09to start both choosing their priorities and deal with the external pull and push factors that come
06:16in. So while you know organization focus on diversity numbers and there is a sense of equality,
06:25equity for although is a very different ball game. So for women who are starting to then navigate
06:32a different personal journey, personal life at that point of time, the stakes are very different,
06:39the challenges and hurdles are very different at that point of time. So some of them are social
06:45constructs but a lot of it is also mental in terms of their own mindsets, beliefs, expectations
06:51of themselves that have been set for them either by the society. Someone who's so early in their
06:57career, I have learned so much just by seeing how right from how this program is designed and
07:04executed to then going and meeting other you know leaders in the past. Who can say that in the past
07:11two years they've met 300 women leaders from this country and I think that in itself has been
07:18very inspiring and somebody my age or me personally or my friends as women and as girls face
07:24whether it be you know being viewed differently because you're a woman or through a different lens
07:29or whether it be seeing as less than because you're a girl or feeling disrespected in taking up a
07:36leadership role. Even just at my school level taking up a leadership role and you know telling
07:41people what to do even as a girl that gets seen worse off as if you had a boy telling you and
07:48that's today we had Renuka speak, she said the exact same thing right. So whether you're a leader in
07:52a senior position in a company and a CEO it's actually not so different from what we face
07:57at a much younger age and so hearing how these fabulous women who've reached so far in their
08:02career have actually combated issues like this and overcome challenges like this in their own
08:08careers it's not so far off from learnings that I can take into my own life or that people my age
08:13can actually implement in their own life. It's a great opportunity to network and connect with so
08:19many successful women I mean how often do we get to do that really so in that sense it's
08:24it's been a great experience for me so far and I'm looking forward to the rest of the evening.
08:29Sure sure and one quick question that do you believe right now gender equality exists in
08:38Indian corporate industry? Tricky question so I think we're not there yet but we've made
08:44significant progress over the last decade or so if I may say so but I mean we have a long
08:50way to go to be very honest so we may think that you know there is equality and every
08:57person every woman for that matter has a seat at the table but in a lot of organizations that
09:02is not true as far as I know so I've been lucky to be a part of Diageo where
09:06women are completely equal and treated equally with men but I think overall we do have a long way to go.
09:13This landmark event demonstrates Accelerise commitment to fostering an inclusive environment
09:21where women's contributions are valued and celebrated. We started XL4W formally in 2021
09:29which is a group of women alumni who've come together and at the same time we also supported
09:34the formation of CJIL Center for Gender Equality and Inclusive Leadership pioneered by XLRI and
09:41these are the two forces who have come together in order to bring this program and this is just
09:46one step in our effort to ensure gender equality and ensure that there is gender balance in the
09:53world. I think it also initiated because we saw data which said that women were not holding positions
09:59of power, there was rampant gender inequality and especially in the corporate world
10:05we found women at the c-suite, women at senior leadership levels were very few in number
10:11the percentage was less than 10 percent. So this upsurge in a way is our effort to correct that
10:17imbalance to engage enable and empower women to reach for leadership levels so that we can have
10:23a more equitable society. I think this is the right platform for a lot of women to participate
10:30and it gives them a lot more context power and tools to maneuver the whole corporate world
10:35that they are in right now and I think this is no better platform and I've not heard about any
10:40better platform for women till now in my personal experience there, so it's an amazing event.

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