While many men may hate me for saying this, the Indian male does have the tendency to blame circumstances, teams and sometimes bosses for their inability to meet the goals they or their organisations set for them, but I have rarely met a woman who did not take full responsibility for her success and occasional failure
It is always surprising when a nation as advanced and progressive as the US in so many ways finds itself unable to elect a woman to the highest office in the land. Well into the campaign, American friends would tell me that at the end of the day Trump would win the election because Hillary Clinton as a woman would be unacceptable to large percentage of the white male population. Whether that prophesy turned out to be the truth or it was a combination of other factors that made Hillary come out second best to Trump at the hustings, the fact remains that the US is one country which still has to show by action rather than words that a competent woman can reach any levels she chooses to reach!
In many ways, we in India are far more fortunate. This March on Women’s Day I took joy in the fact that seven of the nine entities we have invested in from 5F World were either founded or run by women, the president of India’s leading business association, the Confederation of Indian Industry, was a woman, Shobana Kamineni and the incoming president of NASSCOM is a woman, Debjani Ghosh. The only surprising fact would be that both Shobana and Debjani have been the first women to be elected to those offices in a country where Indira Gandhi became PM decades ago. India can truly be proud that in Government, Corporate and Social sectors, there is now no glass ceiling when it comes to the ability of smart, confident women to reach the top in their chosen field of endeavor.
Ganesh’s leadership team in Pune, a team with 75 per cent women can never go wrongIt is often said that any successful man needs at least five women to take him to the pinnacle of success— mother, sister, wife, daughter and possibly a teacher in school and it is to the credit of all women who have succeeded in India in the last few decades that most had to overcome male and female skepticism, family pressures and expectations and often the disapproval of society to get to where they reached. In my own case, the initial inspiration came from my mother Subbalakshmi who was pitchforked after marriage into a family where she had 10 siblings of my father and his parents to take care of and still managed to do her postgraduate degree after marriage in Kolkata and become a career educationist till her demise in the eighties. And through my career building teams and organisations in NIIT, APTECH, Zensar and now 5F World and Social Venture Partners,it has been a privilege to encourage and mentor young women to reach their full potential and rise to leadership roles themselves.
One of the most obvious areas where we have seen women outdo men has been in the social sector. If one notices the passion brought to the table by women like Anu Aga, Meher Pudmjee, Chairperson of Thermax and SVP Pune, Ruchi Mathur, CEO of Pune City Connect, Shaheen Mistry, founder of Akanksha and Teach for India and the six extraordinary young women who manage the chapters of Social Venture Partners in the country, there is no room for doubt why they use their penchant for empathy and relationship building to shine in this sector. But what is equally delightful is that so many women are dispelling the notion that women have a tendency to drop out midcareer when family responsibilities increase. Thanks to supportive organisations like ICICI, Zensar and many others, husbands taking more responsibility for sharing home and child caring tasks and the availability of facilities for managing young children, women like Renuka Ramnath of Multiples, Aruna Jayanthi of Capgemini and Vanitha Narayan of IBM ,to name just three, have shone on the national and global stage and continue to inspire many young women to follow in their footsteps.
Women in India have much to offer and we need to ensure through education of men and the next generation that their potential is not denied in any manner
It was also extremely heartening to note the prowess displayed by our young women including the amazing sixteen-year-old shooter from Haryana who dominated the early days of the Commonwealth Games and beamed at us from the podiums on our television screens. In a country and in states where many women still do not get the respect they deserve, it is good to see the new generation committed so fully to their chosen fields and have the world at their feet.
One common character trait that one notices in all these success stories in every walk of life is the commitment women bring to any task they take up and their ability to make the ecosystem work for them to carry them to success. While many men may hate me for saying this, the Indian male does have the tendency to blame circumstances, teams and sometimes bosses for their inability to meet the goals they or their organisations set for them, but I have rarely met a woman who did not take full responsibility for her success and occasional failure. She, in India, has much to offer and we need to ensure through education of men and the next generation that their potential is not denied in any manner and we let the power of true equality shine through and build a better country and a better planet for future generations!
Dr Ganesh Natarajan is Chairman of 5F World, Pune City Connect and Social Venture Partners, India
By Dr Ganesh Natarajan
