MPW 2022: 'Be yourself, speak up and focus on outcomes,' says high-power women panel

"Be yourself, speak up and focus on outcomes" were some of the pearls of wisdom the high-power panel of women discussing how to shatter glass ceilings in the world of work had for others of their gender at Business Today's 19th edition of 'The Most Powerful Women in Business' event in Mumbai on Wednesday.

The comments of the sector-agnostic panel 'Women@Work. Breaking Glass Ceilings' comes at a time when India's female labour force participation is plunging, despite the country's growing economic prosperity.

The Indian economy has grown more than 10 times since 1990. But its female workforce participation has fallen from 30 per cent in 1990 to 19 per cent as of 2021, shows World Bank data

Distilling a three-point action plan that worked for her in breaking through bias to reach the top, Daisy Chittilapilly, President, Cisco India and SAARC, said, "Skill up because you have to be good at what you do to be taken seriously, speak up boldly because there will be lots of naysayers who come your way, and get up when you get knocked off because there will be those times as well."

She pointed out that while organisations and institutions have good cultures and values, women are still likely to encounter biases on the job because of people who have not progressed.

Ashima Goyal, Member, RBI's Monetary Policy Committee, said to really be happy and enjoy what you do is important. "When I started out, I was part of groups where I was the only woman or there was one other woman. In such situations, most women tend to copy what others are doing because all of us tend to copy people who know more than we do. But that's very dangerous." Instead, she pointed out, women have to look inside themselves and develop their own skills and personality.

"Identify something you enjoy doing and do it better than anyone else...You can do well in a career but to really be at the top in a decision-making position, you need to have something extra. That's you'll find by developing your own personality. That does not necessarily mean being feminine, you can be aggressive as a woman," she added.

Jyoti Deshpande, CEO, Viacom18 Media, added her experience to the conversation, saying that what really worked for her was focusing on outcomes. "I'm very outcome focused and don't get distracted by anecdote or someone trying to bully you. I fight my own battles and moving those needles on those outcomes has what has got me here."

Suman Mishra, CEO, Mahindra Last Mile Mobility, spoke of both of extremes of outright bias as well as support and sponsorship. She recounted her experience with a large supplier who said, 'For a pretty woman like you, we would do this' and the support from the Mahindra Group in countering it. " The first is very irritating, where the second exists those organisations will progress."