For a long time, building products was something only engineers could do. If you had an idea, you had to wait for a developer to build it. Prototyping could take weeks or months. Product leaders had to wait. Entrepreneurs had to wait. Teams had to wait.

That world is changing quickly.

I started (vibe) coding again last year after a long gap on Replit, the AI-powered software development platform that allows users to write, build, test, and deploy applications within minutes. When they introduced their builder certification levels, I was roughly at Level 2 (Core Builder) in January’26. In two months, I have moved to Level 4 (Advanced Builder). It feels amazing!

More importantly, I have built a lot of things along the way.

Some examples:

• Nira, a math tutoring app inspired by my 7 year old’s learning journey

• Agentic customer success platform for a fictional company

• My portfolio website – ishangupta.me

Each of these started as a quick prototype. None required a large engineering team to get started.

This is why I believe being a builder is becoming an essential skill today.

A builder is someone who can take an idea and quickly turn it into something working. Not necessarily a polished product, but something real enough to test, iterate and learn from. Product managers, operators, founders, leaders and individual contributors can all benefit from this skill. And partner with the amazing technical partners to make stuff production ready.

Recently, Aakash Gupta shared a great framework on how top product managers use rapid prototyping to move from many ideas to one shippable feature. I found this particularly useful because it shows how fast experimentation can work in practice.

The idea is simple and yet powerful. Build multiple prototypes quickly, test them, eliminate the ones that do not work, and move forward with the strongest idea.

Today, many tools make this possible. The one I personally use and deeply admire is Replit, and it has been a great experience for me. Check it out here.

My advice is simple. Start small. Build something. Experiment.

Whether you are a leader or an individual contributor, the ability to turn ideas into working prototypes quickly is a skill worth developing.

Taking over a team is one of the most important transitions a leader can go through. The instinct in those first few days is often to “step in and show leadership.” But sometimes, what a team needs most is space—to share, to be heard, and to let you in at their pace.

When inheriting a team, especially one shaped by a warm, trusted leader, the focus should be less on making a strong impression and more on building trust. The early days are the time to:

• Listen generously. Observe how people work together. Ask questions that invite perspectives. Let the team’s stories surface before sharing your own.

• Show warmth without overwhelm. Moving back to in-person workplaces means our presence feels more immediate than it did on Zoom. For leaders with big energy, it’s important to be mindful—your enthusiasm should feel inclusive, not exhausting.

• Respect team rhythms. Every team has its own pace, norms, and history. Honoring that creates the foundation for future alignment.

Of course, no transition is flawless. Sometimes our eagerness to contribute is received well, and other times it isn’t. That’s natural. What matters is how we respond. Staying open to feedback, being willing to adjust, and showing vulnerability are all part of earning long-term trust.

For leaders stepping into new roles, the invitation is clear: let your presence reassure, not pressure. Listening first doesn’t mean delaying leadership—it means setting the stage so when you do act, the team is ready to act with you.

I wasn't at Hubspot INBOUND 2025 earlier this week in person, but I was impatiently waiting for Hubspot CTO Dharmesh Shah’s keynote. I got a chance to hear it yesterday and his framing of AI as a collaborative partner, not a competitor, deeply resonated with me. He put it simply: don’t think about competing against AI. Think about competing with AI. The goal is not a zero-sum battle. The goal is to create a positive-sum collaboration. That framing hit me hard because I see how quickly the narrative is shifting to “AI will do my job.” The real opportunity is, “AI can help me do my job better, faster, smarter.”

Dharmesh reminded us that AI has no lived experience. It has never tried to fold a fitted sheet, negotiate with a toddler, or rebuild trust after a tough miss. It does not know the weight of silence in a room after a difficult decision. That is the human moat. AI can generate, automate, and even surprise us, but it cannot replicate lived experience, empathy, or conviction.

Take the post-sales world as an example. Customer success teams managing a large number of accounts often wake up each morning wondering which account to prioritize and where to spend time. On its own, that is overwhelming. But AI as a partner can help. Imagine combining human engagement signals, telemetry, and activation data into a health score by leveraging AI. Suddenly, teams know where to focus their energy. AI can also draft MBRs, QBRs, and activation plans for clients automatically. And that is when humans can step in to decide which conversations to lead, where to apply empathy, and how to build trust. This is not AI competing with customer success managers. It is AI helping them scale their impact. And examples like this exist across every function in our professional lives.

Here’s how I see it. I encourage my team to use AI. It is a powerful accelerator. But when you come to me, bring material that you can own. Bring your judgment, your context, and your understanding. Any material without your own thinking will always be weaker. The real value is what you bring- your intelligence, your emotional quotient, and your lived experience as a professional.

The leaders and teams who truly scale are the ones who use AI as leverage while still showing up fully human. AI can help generate, automate, and even surprise us, but it cannot replicate lived experience, empathy, or conviction.

So how do we make AI a real partner in our journey. Three things to focus on:

Use AI to accelerate, not to decide. Let AI take care of the heavy lifting, but keep the ownership of decisions and trade-offs with yourself.

Show your intelligence and EQ in the final outcome. Edit, adapt, and contextualize what AI produces so that it reflects your thinking.

Turn individual usage into team habits. Make AI part of workflows, measure the lift, and build confidence across the team.

The future is not AI replacing us. It is AI amplifying us. And the paradox is beautiful. The better AI gets, the more important it becomes to bring our human-ness to the table. When we do that, we do not just scale our businesses. We scale ourselves.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been asking myself: how can Scale It Up reach more people? That led me down the path of AI-driven tools. And one thing became clear—people absorb content differently. Some like to read, others prefer to listen, and more and more now want to watch. That’s where tools like HeyGen come in. I’ve started converting blog posts into videos using AI avatars and voice.

It’s been fun to experiment—trying out different avatars and voices, tweaking scripts, and testing formats. I’ll keep refining it, but here’s what I’ve realized: perfection doesn’t matter. Presence does. What matters is showing up consistently, in different ways, to connect with a wider audience. Check out my fiirst AI Avatar video above!

So over the next few months, expect more than just written blogs. You’ll see video articles, new content formats, and fresh takes on past posts—all designed to meet people where they are.

And if you’re in a go-to-market or customer-facing role, there’s a takeaway here. AI tools are no longer just toys. You can explore AI-led onboarding, customer support, even training. The results might not be instant, but they’re worth experimenting with.

So here’s to scaling not just the business—but you. Your story. Your voice. Your impact.

Let’s keep scaling it up.

Last week, I saw a competitor shut down. No matter the reasons behind it, moments like these shake up an industry. They impact teams, customers, and even competitors. How a company responds in such times speaks volumes about its values, leadership, and long-term vision.

When a competitor folds, it’s easy to react with either anxiety or opportunism. But the right approach is a thoughtful, balanced one—where we lead with empathy, communicate clearly, and remain focused on our priorities. Here’s how:

1. Supporting Your Internal Team First

The first thing to address is your own team. News of a competitor shutting down can cause unease—people might wonder if it's an industry-wide trend or an isolated case. Clear, transparent communication is key. If your company is in a strong position, reassure your team. If there are challenges to navigate, acknowledge them and share the plan forward. A confident, informed team performs better and fosters trust.

2. Extending a Hand to Affected Employees Of the Competitor

For those suddenly out of work, this is a tough time. If you're hiring, it's an opportunity to step up and offer roles to talented professionals. Even if you’re not actively hiring, sharing openings within your network, making introductions, or offering guidance can go a long way. Being a responsible industry player builds goodwill that lasts beyond just one moment.

3. Showing Up for Clients Left in the Lurch

Customers of the folding company might be scrambling for alternatives. This is a moment to lead with support, not aggressive sales tactics. Can you offer guidance? Can you create a smooth transition plan if they need a new provider? By focusing on their needs first, you build trust—and trust builds long-term relationships.

4. Aligning Your Team’s Focus

While responding to the situation is important, it’s equally crucial not to get distracted. It’s easy for teams to get caught up in the industry buzz, but leadership needs to ensure that core priorities remain on track. Set clear expectations: address the immediate needs, but don’t let the entire organization lose sight of its long-term goals.

5. And Mostly Importantly, Leading with Empathy and Respect

It’s tempting to see a competitor’s shutdown as a business opportunity, but how you approach it matters. A respectful and empathetic stance—towards their employees, customers, and even their leadership—reflects your company’s integrity. Industries evolve, and today’s competitors can be tomorrow’s partners or allies in different ways.

At the end of the day, moments like these test leadership. The best response? Stay steady, be thoughtful, and show up with both strategy and heart. Because in the long run, companies that lead with empathy and focus are the ones that truly stand out

Leading during a company turnaround is one of the most challenging tasks a leader can face. It’s a test of vision, resilience, and adaptability. When everything feels uncertain, the way leaders act, think, and manage their teams has the power to steer the organization toward recovery—or further into crisis.

Here are some guiding principles for leadership that I have found useful during a turnaround:

1. Set a Clear Vision and Communicate It Relentlessly

In times of uncertainty, people crave direction. As a leader, your role is to provide clarity. Define a vision that is realistic yet inspiring. Outline the steps the organization must take to reach stability, and communicate this vision consistently across teams. Transparency builds trust, even when the news isn’t favorable.

Example: Instead of saying, “We’re in trouble,” articulate, “Here’s where we stand, what we’re working on, and how we’ll get through it together.”

2. Act Decisively, But Stay Empathetic

Turnarounds often require tough decisions—cost-cutting, restructuring, or even layoffs. The key is balancing execution with humanity. Make decisions based on data and priorities, but acknowledge the emotional weight they carry. Your team will remember how you treated them during difficult times.

Tip: Involve your team in problem-solving. When people feel heard, they’re more likely to stay engaged and committed.

3. Rebuild the Culture Intentionally

Company culture can take a hit during a turnaround, but it’s also an opportunity to reshape it. Revisit your core values and ensure they align with the new direction. Encourage behaviors that support collaboration, adaptability, and accountability.

Action Plan: Celebrate small wins to rebuild morale and foster optimism. Recognize individuals who embody the desired culture.

4. Focus on Teams, Not Just Individuals

Turnaround success isn’t achieved in isolation; it requires a collective effort. Evaluate team dynamics, not just individual performance. Are the right people in the right roles? Are teams aligned and working cohesively toward shared goals?

Strategy: Cross-functional collaboration becomes essential in turnarounds. Break down silos and create opportunities for teams to learn from one another.

5. Strengthen Relationships with Peers

Your leadership team is your most important asset during a turnaround. Build trust and alignment with your peers to create a unified front. Disagreements will happen, but handling them constructively is critical to maintaining credibility and focus.

Mindset: Prioritize collaboration over competition. A turnaround is no time for egos or hidden agendas.

6. Lead by Example

During a turnaround, everyone is watching you. Your actions set the tone for how others behave. Model resilience, adaptability, and a willingness to do what it takes to succeed. Show up with energy, even on hard days, and your team will follow suit.

Conclusion: Steer with Conviction and Care

Turnarounds are moments of transformation. While they bring immense challenges, they also create opportunities to redefine the company’s purpose and culture. As a leader, your ability to act decisively, communicate transparently, and care deeply for your people can make all the difference.

Remember, leadership during a turnaround isn’t about perfection—it’s about progress. Show your team the path forward, one step at a time, and lead with both your head and your heart.

As leaders, we often find ourselves caught up in the planning, strategic discussions, and structured decision-making. However, sometimes the best opportunities come knocking at our door when we least expect them. That’s serendipity! 

Serendipity is the ability to find interesting or valuable things by chance. But it actually goes beyond the wonderful blend of chance and destiny. It involves being open to innovative ideas and information, while also being an objective observer of reality.

Last week I was at a Stanford alumni meet up where one such occurrence happened with me. I met Milan, a long time friend of mine, whom I had not spoken to for many years.  Guess what, my conversation with him ended in him giving me some advice on a tricky conversation I was about to have with someone else. This advice elevated my other conversation. It was then that both of us started to talk about serendipity and why leaders should be open to it. 

Just a few minutes later, I bumped into Prof Sridhar Narayanan, one of my marketing professors at Stanford Graduate School of Business. I couldn’t help but go back to the day in 2009, when during a serendipitous conversation, he had suggested to me that I should talk to Vijay Shekhar Sharma, then a  founder of an early stage company (Paytm) in India, for exploring opportunities for myself as I was planning to return to India, post my grad school.  It was purely by chance but I acted on it and the rest, as they say, is history. Vijay not only hired me twice, but also became an investor, advisor and later acqui-hired my startup, EduKart. And I got a chance to work with a leader, who built Paytm, from the ground up leading to an IPO in India of over $15Bn. 

So, how can we as leaders harness the power of serendipity? 

Stay Curious: Curiosity is the compass that points us towards serendipitous encounters. Always be open to learning, exploring, and trying new things. You never know what new doors it may open. 

Network and Connect: Meaningful connections are often the breeding ground for serendipitous moments. Attend industry events, engage with fellow professionals, and strike up conversations. The next game-changing partnership or idea might just come from a chance encounter. 

Be Adaptable: Flexibility is key in the world of serendipity. Embrace change and be ready to pivot when unexpected opportunities present themselves. An unexpected turn of events could lead to a breakthrough you never imagined. 

Listen and Learn: Actively listen to others, even if their ideas don’t align with your initial thoughts. Serendipity often whispers through the words of others, offering insights that can be transformative. 

Trust Your Instincts: Sometimes, that gut feeling is serendipity trying to catch your attention. Trust your instincts and be open to following those inklings that guide you towards the unknown.

In this ever-evolving landscape of business, scaling up is not merely about numbers; it's about nurturing a thriving ecosystem of talent, innovation, and collaboration. Wonderful things can happen if we are open, curious, and willing to let a little magic in. Embrace these unexpected turns of events as valuable learning experiences. The agility and quick thinking developed through serendipitous encounters can significantly enhance your decision-making process. 

Incorporating serendipity into your leadership approach can transform your team and business in an amazing manner.  Stay open to the unexpected, celebrate chance encounters, and let serendipity be your trusted ally on the exciting road to scaling it up!

As an employee, it's not always easy to speak up to your manager when you have concerns, complaints, or ideas. Having difficult conversations with your manager can be intimidating, but it's important to learn how to do so effectively. 

Types of Difficult Conversations with Your Manager

There are several types of conversations that can be difficult to have with your manager. Some of the common ones are-

1. Discussing a promotion or raise

2. Raising concerns about workload or work-life balance

3. Feeling unhappy about the current role

4. Feeling unsatisfied by how the manager behaves

5. Manager stakeholders, be your peers or your manager’s peers

6. Addressing your own poor performance or other gaps you may see

These conversations can be challenging because they require you to be vulnerable and open with your manager. Additionally, there may be power dynamics at play that make it difficult for you to speak up.

Tips for Having Difficult Conversations with Your Manager

As a leader and as an employee, I have been on both sides of the table enough times during such conversations. Here are a few practices that have helped me time and again. 

1. Prepare yourself mentally and emotionally.

Before you have the conversation, take some time to reflect on your thoughts and emotions. Think about what you want to say, and how you want to say it. Consider how you might feel if your manager responds negatively, and plan ways to cope with those emotions.

2. Choose a time and place that is private and conducive to a productive conversation.

Set up a meeting with your manager in a private space where you won't be interrupted. This will help you feel more comfortable and give you the space you need to have a productive conversation.

3. Explain what you think could be the solution.

Think of an ideal state and also be clear about why it makes sense. You have to have a solution oriented approach during these conversations. For example, instead of saying "You never give me enough feedback," say "I would appreciate more feedback on my work."

Discuss whether the solution is only beneficial for you or is it beneficial for your manager’s goals as a whole.

4. Stay focused on the issue at hand.

Don't let the conversation get sidetracked by unrelated topics. Stay focused on the issue you want to address, and avoid bringing up other grievances or complaints. Let your manager know why this issue is important. Being vulnerable and clear is critical here. 

5. Be open to feedback and willing to work with your manager to find a solution.

Remember that the conversation should be a two-way dialogue. Be open to feedback from your manager, and be willing to work with them to find a solution that works for everyone. If there is a pushback, then take it in the right stride. 

Having difficult conversations with your manager is never easy, but it's an important skill to learn. Communication is key to a healthy working relationship, so don't be afraid to speak up when you need to.

If you have any tips or experiences to share, feel free to leave them in the comments. Good luck with those conversations!

Over the last few months, I have been caught up by the AI fever and all the advances that have come up in the public domain. Of course, ChatGPT now has millions of users and Bard just made a big entry! I have realized that among various other use cases, using AI tools like ChatGPT or Bard for organisational communication can prove to be really powerful and effective. 

I had to send an important message to my team and I was stunned to see the quality of results that I got for my prompts. All I had to do was to manage my tonality a bit. But it was visible to me that as a leader there is immense potential to leverage the collective knowledge of the planet that tools like ChatGPT offer to us. 

This means that as businesses look to leverage AI tools to scale themselves, they will need to unlearn old ways of communication to effectively adapt themselves with AI tools that can save time and cost. 

Here are a few tips for unlearning old ways of communication and adapting to AI tools that can make our lives easier:

1. Understand the capabilities and limitations of AI tools: Before communicating with an AI tool, it's important to understand what it can and cannot do. For example, a chatbot may be able to answer common questions or provide basic support, but may not be able to handle complex issues or provide nuanced advice. In fact, it may good you good arguments for two sides of the same issue! Understanding these limitations can help you communicate more effectively and also allow you to gauge the possibility for human intervention.

2. Use clear, concise language: AI tools rely on natural language processing to understand and respond to user prompts. To ensure clear communication, use simple and direct language, avoiding jargon or complex terms. Additionally, be specific and concise in your requests, providing the AI tool with clear and actionable information. 

Increase adoption of AI tools in your team

As businesses look to leverage AI tools to scale their operations, it's important to ensure that your team is on board and ready to adopt these tools. 

Here are a few tips for increasing AI adoption in your team:

1. Provide training and support: One of the biggest barriers to AI adoption is a lack of understanding or familiarity with the technology. To overcome this, provide your team with training and support on how to use the AI tools you plan to implement. This can include hands-on training sessions, online resources, and access to support staff who can answer questions and provide assistance as needed. This also means that you should make them feel comfortable that AI isn’t here to take their jobs but to support them to do better. 

2. Communicate the benefits: To get your team excited about using AI tools, it's important to communicate the benefits these tools can provide. By highlighting the benefits, you can help your team understand why AI tools are important and how they can contribute to their personal and business success.

3. Lead by example: As a leader, it's important to lead by example and demonstrate your own enthusiasm and commitment to AI adoption. This may include using AI tools yourself and sharing your experiences with your team, as well as advocating for the use of these tools in team meetings and other communications. This will encourage usage rather than being punitive.  For example, if you write an email or a research paper using tools like ChatGPT or Bard, share this with your team.

4. Create guardrails around human interventions: To ensure that your team is adopting AI tools effectively, it's important to create trust that AI will not make human expertise redundant. Hence, it’s important to define when and where human inputs will be relevant.

By unlearning old ways of communication and adapting to AI tools, leaders can effectively leverage these tools to scale their businesses. All of this is very new but as teams scale up we need to realise the massive AI revolution that is happening around us. As leaders we can only help our teams prepare for it. 

Which AI tools are you using in your organization and how are you encouraging your teams to adopt these?

As leaders, we face the constant challenge of inspiring and guiding our teams towards success. We do many things on a daily basis to create alignment. However, when it comes to achieving goals and driving results, one question I often think about is: what is more important - motivation or discipline?

TLDR: Both! They are not mutually exclusive, but rather go hand in hand with each other!

While motivation is an important part of the process, it's discipline that actually makes things happen. For example, you may be motivated to review your data dashboards every day, but without discipline, it won't become a reality.

Speaking from personal experience, I was motivated to write this newsletter every week, but in the last few months, a lack of discipline made it challenging to post regularly.

Understanding Motivation & Discipline

Motivation is the driving force that inspires people to take action towards their goals. As a leader, it's crucial to understand what motivates your team members, as this can help create a positive and productive work environment.

On the other hand, discipline is the ability to stay focused and committed to a task, even when it's difficult or uncomfortable. As a leader, it's important to model discipline and set clear expectations for your team members.

Instilling Motivation and Discipline in Your Team

As a leader, you have the power to create a work environment that fosters motivation and discipline. Here are some ways to do it:

Communicate your vision and purpose- Ensure that your team members understand the "why" behind their work. Communicate your vision and purpose clearly and consistently, and explain how each person's role contributes to the team's success.

Establish operating routines - Create consistent routines and rituals that help your team members stay focused and disciplined. For example, you could establish a weekly team meeting or a daily check-in to review progress and plan for the day ahead. While motivation gets things started, it's discipline that keeps them going.

Hold yourself and your team accountable- Model discipline by holding yourself accountable for your own actions and decisions. And then make sure to hold your team members accountable for their performance and behavior.

Lead by example- Model the behavior and work ethic you expect from your team members. Show up on time, stay organized, and follow through on your commitments. Demonstrate a positive attitude and a willingness to learn and grow. When you do your work well, your team is also motivated to do the same.

Motivation vs. Discipline - Striking the Right Balance

So, which one is more important - motivation or discipline? As I mentioned earlier, both are crucial for effective leadership. While motivation can help your team members get started and stay engaged, discipline is what keeps them on track. As a leader, it's important to recognize the value of both motivation and discipline and leverage them together to create a successful and high-performing team which can continue to scale up.

Keep motivating and stay disciplined!  Together, they are the keys to unlocking the full potential of your team.  

A leader has to constantly make decisions. This also means constant attempts at prioritization. A lot of times this leads to procrastination and delays in decision making on critical items.

I believe that whenever we delay making a decision by putting it on the back burner to prioritize another, we have already made a decision. Only later do we realize that either the importance of the decision has reduced or many times, the urgency has increased. Essentially, a no decision, is a decision!

I attach a lot of credence to firm decision making. In fact as we move towards the end of the year, I would encourage you to take those decisions that were deprioritized through 2022. 

While I am fully supportive of prioritization of tasks, I do think decisions should be made as they come up. Delaying indefinitely is a risky proposition. So, what could good decisions look like?

• Let’s do it now!

• Let’s not do it!

• Let’s come back to it in a [fixed] time!

• Lets find[proove] x,y,z by [fixed] time and then make a decision!

This is very important for a fast growing company where resources and time are always short. Something will always be more important and it’s likely that things will fall through the cracks.

I have always felt that moving towards more affirmative messaging is very helpful while leading a team. I try to use words like ‘can’ or ‘will’, versus words like “could” or “would”.  This gives a clear signal to the team that a particular decision has to be implemented. If not now then later; but it’s not something that’s unimportant. 

As leaders, you will always be faced with a dilemma to decide between what gets you business and what’s necessary for the organization and for your brand. Here are a couple of examples where it’s easy to not take a decision, which can essentially turn into a bad decision.

• External relations - If your business requires you to create relationships with regulators or other external stakeholders, but also needs you to acquire market share and build a customer base, I have seen that most leaders prioritize the latter. However, these relationships are very important and will help your business succeed. So at times a leader will have to make tough decisions for long term success of the company. 

• Retention of talent - When a senior leader departs from the company, I have seen other leaders trying to focus on the work and processes that might break because of this leader’s exit. However at such times, the important decision is to find time to connect with your teams and try to assess any other possible flight risks. That should become your priority to ensure your high performing talent stays committed to the company. 

But how do you make decision making easier?

• Use the right tools- Tools like RAPID come in handy when you have to make decisions. I have spoken about the process of simplifying decision making at length in one of my previous posts. 

• Vulnerability is powerful- Decision making requires one to assess the risks involved as your decision may easily go wrong. In such cases, be vulnerable. Assess and acknowledge the risks to earn the trust of your team.

What should be Your Decision? Yes/No/ Decide after n days

Just know that there are no sure shot right decisions. However, one highly probable wrong decision is the “no decision”. So till the time you are deciding in favor or against or delaying it for a fixed timeline, you’re making the right decision at that time. 

As we come to the end of the year, let’s revisit those pending projects and tasks and try to make some decisions!

When someone asks me what I have enjoyed the most as a leader and entrepreneur, one of my favorite answers is the opportunity to build relationships, both internal and external. I can imagine this to be a daunting task for many, but I have thoroughly enjoyed this part of my role. 

In some of my previous newsletters, we have discussed internal relationships like peer relationships, relationships with your managers and more. But today I want to talk about external relationships i.e. building a community outside of work. 

I have been fortunate because this role comes naturally to me. I thoroughly enjoy representing the company I work for and my teams to the external world. However, the role isn’t as glamorous as it looks from the outside. It’s exhausting and difficult but absolutely necessary. It does take a lot of your mental and physical bandwidth. But in the long run, these relationships help a lot. 

How you can leverage external relationships

I was thrown into this role right from the start of my career. Among other roles, I also served as the spokesperson for my first entrepreneurial venture. This required me to identify and forge many strong external relationships. Over the years, I have used this role in my organization’s favor in the following ways:

• Explore new business opportunities: These relationships can help you find new customers, partnerships and alliances.

• Find potential investors: External relationships can also help you find potential investors.

• Create thought leadership: Relationships with the media, industry bodies and the community can help you establish your company as a thought leader.

• Be close to the regulators and policymakers: If you’re part of a business that is regulated, then these relationships help to build rapport with regulators and the people who define the future of your category through policymaking. 

• Attracting talent: When you reach out to people beyond your organization and share your mission and vision with them, you also open the doors for talent to reach out to your organization. 

Should you do it or not?

Even after knowing the benefits of these relationships, you will always find yourself trying to weigh whether you should invest your time on these efforts. There will be many days when you will have to choose between a media interaction and a prospective client call and a client call or a team meeting will look more important almost all the time.

So how do you push yourself to prioritize this part of your role? Here are some practices that have helped me:

• Tell yourself, it’s important for the organization: While it’s not possible to attend every industry event or be a part of all media interactions or business get-togethers, repeatedly telling yourself that it is important for the organization helps you to prioritize the more important ones. 

• Remind yourself, it’s part of your role: If you keep considering it as an additional responsibility, you will never be able to focus on building solid relationships. Remind yourself that it’s part of your core role and you are responsible for making your organization and people look good. Treat it as a privilege. 

• Stay grounded in doing it: It looks glamorous to be the spokesperson. You will be in the media, at events and people will know you. Don’t let that get the better of you. Stay grounded and know that this is an important role you need to play. 

• Prepare yourself before events: It always pays to know what you want to achieve from industry events. It’s very easy to get carried away but having an agenda always helps. Know who you want to meet and what you want to talk about. After all, it is your precious time.

• Invest in good public relations team: Making an investment in a PR team can help share the burden to manage this. They will not only help you prepare for a lot of these meetings and events but also push you to invest your time in building these very critical relationships.

As companies scale up, it is important to not only to build these relationships, but also nurture them. It consumes a lot of time and effort, and more than often now, extremely tiring. However, these deliver positive return on investment over time.

Do you invest in external relationships? If yes, how? If not, why? Do share in the comments. 

As managers and leaders, we often feel the need to stay involved with our team’s work. There’s nothing wrong with that! But when this need turns into a habit to ‘micromanage’, then it can damage your team’s morale, motivation and sometimes also lead to higher attrition. 

Micromanagement is where leaders or managers feel the need to excessively control their employee's work and decision-making. So if you like to extend unwanted ‘help’, more than necessary or healthy for a usual working relationship, then you are a micromanager. Yes, not just a control freak or a person who likes to keep a close tab on their teams, but a micromanager.

Studies show that unnecessary or unwanted help can have strong negative reactions from people and can also erode interpersonal relationships. Even the U.S. Army general George S. Patton, a leader in one of the most traditional command-and-control groups in the world, understood the danger of micromanaging. He famously said, “Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do, and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.”

How can you still be involved with your team without micromanaging them?

Why do leaders micromanage?

“Micromanaging dents your team’s morale by establishing a tone of mistrust—and it limits your team’s capacity to grow,” says Muriel Maignan Wilkins, coauthor of Own the Room and managing partner of Paravis Partners, an executive coaching and leadership development firm. “For the sake of your team, you need to stop,” she adds. 

But this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be involved at all. Understand the difference between being an involved manager and being all pervasive. In order to figure out ways of correcting your behaviour, the first step is to know the reason behind your habit of micromanagement. Some of the most common reasons that I have witnessed are:

• Managers think this is the way to be more connected with the team.

• New or first time managers still find it easier to do their old job. Hence, they end up intervening more than necessary when they see their team performing that role.

• Managers feel anxiety or trust issue about their team’s readiness to do a task.

• Managers feel the need to establish themself as powerful and get motivated by power

• Senior leaders often fail to act as peers to other senior leaders who may be reporting to them

How not to micromanage?

It’s true that sometimes micromanagement works and delivers better output, but for high performers, it disempowers them and can lead to demotivation and possible attrition. 

A better approach would be to move your actions towards effective management. Some of the ways to do that can be:

• Communicate goals instead of dictating the process of completing the task. Never dictate how to do something when it won’t impact the outcomes and results. Instead, explain to your team what success looks like by communicating clear goals. 

• Guide more and do less. This means that you should provide feedback instead of doing everything yourself. If you feel something could be improved then don’t end up doing their work. Rather, guide them to try another round after your feedback. 

• Assess risks instead of constantly intervening. Constant intervention doesn’t help when a team member has already demonstrated that they can complete a task. So instead of checking in on them repeatedly, forecast what can go wrong and how work can unfold. Remove hurdles and blockers for your teammates. 

• Timely feedback instead of over involvement. If your team is working on a bigger project then make time to see slices of their work so you know what’s happening and can suggest a corrective course of action whenever needed. Don’t ask your team to add you to every email and meeting. Just be on top of things!

• Let people fail instead of avoiding experiments. You should allow people to experiment and even fail sometimes instead of asking them to follow your way of working. 

Don’t micromanage, deliver results

The expectation from a manager is to deliver results and not to micromanage. You can deliver better results by bringing in the best talent and setting them up for success by constantly enabling them and giving them space to execute. 

What are your views on micromanagement? Do you think it’s a necessary evil? Do share your thoughts!

While all of us give a lot of importance to our relationship with our managers, we seldom think about peer relationships in the same manner. More often than not, we attribute our success to factors such as hard work, skills and experience, but we overlook the impact that peer relationships can have in our professional life. 

When you work in teams or collaborate with peers, sometimes you have to bear with numerous unproductive meetings or spend time on unnecessary travel or think of ways to amuse and appease the people around. However, while teamwork and collaboration have their challenges, you can’t ignore their importance and benefits. To be honest, the positives of building strong peer connections outweigh the challenges.

What kind of peer relationships can you build at work?

In the classic book “Who’s That Sitting at My Desk”, Dr. Jan Yager refers to different kinds of peer relationships that you can experience at work. These are largely the kind of workships - as Dr. Jan Yager refers to them - that I have also experienced in my life. 

• Acquaintanceship: Most peer relationships begin at this stage. And honestly, a majority of them also end here. This is just a formal recognition of each other’s roles. 

• Workship: While Dr. Jan Yager categorizes every workplace relationship as a workship, these are some of the most commonly found workships.

  • Mentor: This is a productive relationship where one party nurtures the other’s career and growth by imparting mentorship. 

  • Advocate: Unlike mentors, advocates don’t coach. They inspire you to be the best version of yourself. Most of the time this is out of selfless concern and care for you.

  • Trailblazer: A workplace trailblazer enjoys leading by example. They are always a few steps ahead of the others but mostly in a non-competitive way. They inspire you to be trailblazers too.

• Friendship: This is the next step in your workship. Contrary to popular belief, workplace friendships aren’t always bad for your business. In fact this friendship is a conscious effort made by two parties to extend their relationship beyond work. 

• Foe: This is the most destructive kind of workplace relationship and needs to be immediately addressed. The success here depends on the two parties, as converting this to a workship or friendship can’t be forced upon.

I have had the pleasure of making a few lifelong friends through my workplace. All those relationships did not start at a high, but overtime moved from acquaintanceship to workship to friendship. 

At the same time, I also had the misfortune of getting into some “foe” kind of relationships which I could not convert to a workship. Those relationships not only took away my mental bandwidth, but also hurt me professionally in my career. 

How do you build positive peer relationships?

A survey conducted to measure workplace happiness found that 70% of employees attributed their happiness at work to having a friend at the workplace! There are many ways to build strong and positive peer relationships. 

• Spend time in close proximity: I strongly believe that peer relationships need you to spend time in close proximity with your colleagues. You might implement the best of communication platforms and employee engagement strategies but being in the same location can bring a lot of positive impact on the dynamic between people.

  This doesn’t mean that you have to be in the office everyday or have lunch and coffee breaks together all the time. It only means coming together when you need to collaborate or brainstorm. 

  While my current role is “remote”, my work requires me to have strong peer relationships. So I intentionally make time to visit the office every few weeks and connect with my peers in person. Be it over meetings or after work hours in a casual setting. This has really helped me to build some strong peer relationships in a short amount of time.

• Bring your personal side in: Bring in your personal side when approaching your peers. Peer relationships can’t be built only on the basis of just work conversations. You need to add a personal touch to it. This could mean sometimes bonding over common interests, checking in on your colleagues beyond the daily task list, asking them about their weekends and sometimes talking about their family might help you create a personal bond. 

• Be vulnerable: Like it’s important for you to check on your colleagues, it’s also important for you to sometimes put your guard down and be vulnerable. This doesn’t always mean that you should share extremely personal moments. It could also mean that you share your feelings about how you feel at work.

• Stay away from judgement: Everyone has a different journey at your workplace so stay away from judgements. Judgement can really come in the way of your everyday conversations and relationship. More often than not, your initial impressions turn out to be wrong so stay away from your preconceived notions. 

Managing peer relationships during remote work

Managing peer relationships while working remotely can be tough. Loneliness has been touted as one of the biggest challenges of working remotely. Here are a few ways in which you can build better peer relationships:

• Make time for small talk. 

• Those Fun Fridays, Happy Hours can go a long way.

• Offer support. Initiatives like Employee Resource Groups can be helpful.

• Make time to meet in person

• Find reasons to conduct off-sites

Peer relationships aren’t easy to manage and come with their own challenges but investing time and effort on them can be really beneficial. As peers support to up-level each other, the organization also scales up by fostering stronger and more connected leaders

Do you agree? How do you manage your peer relationships at work?

Mentorship and sponsorship are powerful tools for your success. 

But as we all know, success doesn’t come easy when you have to do it alone. Moreover, it is tough to get on the radar of the right people who notice your potential and can help you with career advancement.

That is why having mentors and sponsors becomes important. They bring out the best in us. 

A mentor and sponsor may not be the same person. At work, a mentor can help you become a better professional by developing better functional and leadership skills in you. A mentor is someone who shares knowledge, guides you and sometimes even coaches you. A sponsor is someone who is personally invested in your growth. They recommend you for new jobs, projects and put their credibility on the line for you. 

Mentors & Sponsors: Where to Find Them?

You can find mentors and sponsors anywhere— in the workplace, professional network or even your personal acquaintances. Unlike what most people believe, mentors and sponsors don’t have to necessarily be people in the senior leadership positions. They can be your peers also.

In a lot of cases, sponsorship stems from mentorship. Sponsors are like brand managers or image managers who use their influence to sway people towards their protégé. 

How to Make Someone Your Sponsor?

Sponsors invest, what could be called, their personal capital on you. They put their own credibility to publicise you or to influence others to move to your side. 

Unlike mentorship which can originate from structured mentorship programs at your workplace, sponsorship doesn’t start in a structured way. So if you ask someone to be your sponsor, it is highly likely that they may say a no to you!

So how do you find a sponsor? Clearly, just asking someone isn’t the right way of going about it. 

Sponsorship often results from close workplace relationships where a sponsor has seen the capabilities of the sponsored up and close. But it is more than just finding someone by chance. Here are three approaches that have helped in the past to find sponsors:

• Be the expert: Cultivate skill set or knowledge which is unique to you. This means that everyone knows your expertise in a particular field of knowledge and hence it is easy to find a sponsor for yourself. 

• Be helpful: Become the go-to person for your leaders or team-mates for certain tasks. Be available to help others. Word travels fast and you become much more likely to find a sponsor. 

• Participate in activities beyond your scope of work: This is one of the most impactful ways to build any kind of relationship. These could be activities like planning for an offsite, working on employee engagement, taking on responsibility for solving a long standing complex problem in the company, or even managing hobby clubs.

These are just some of the ways that can open the gates for sponsorship for you. We need mentors and sponsors at all stages of life, not just at the start of our career. In companies sometimes senior leaders take up the roles of sponsors, so that they continue to invest their time in finding the new crop of leaders who will collectively work towards scaling up the organisation.

Do you have a mentor or a sponsor at work? What did you do to convince them to mentor or sponsor you?

Leaders ought to have a presence so that they can draw their audience’s attention repeatedly over various occasions. But it doesn’t come naturally to all. At times leaders can leave you disconnected, similar to how some film actors or stage artists can draw you in completely while others leave you disconnected. Many times a leader fails to establish their presence. In other words, they don’t own the room!

Owning the Room: What does it mean?

Owning the room means having the attention of your audience to solicit decisions, drive action and accountability. But it’s not as simple as it sounds. Many leaders suffer from the lack of, what can be called, ‘Executive Presence’. 

Now there isn’t any standard definition of executive presence or of owning the room but it typically refers to how a leader carries themselves and  conducts their business with different stakeholders. This would be typically steeped in the local culture and social norms and therefore vary from place to place. As our workplaces continue to become more diverse and inclusive, the way we perceive leadership is also changing which means the definition of who is a leader or how they should come across is evolving constantly. 

To be honest, it’s not easy to build a presence. In fact it can be quite the opposite if you are new to the organization or have recently been promoted as a leader. You can face many challenges from not knowing the organization’s cultural norms to people telling you that ‘you don’t come across like a leader’ or ‘you don’t have it in you’. 

Now owning the room is critical to scaling up companies, as they are are very narrow at the top and it is critical for almost every leader to be able to drive their teams towards company goals. The good news is that you can definitely learn to own the room and to establish your executive presence.

Here are a few ways that have helped me over the years in my own attempts of building an executive presence.  

• Know your ‘What’, ‘Who’ and ‘Why’: You must know what you want to communicate, who your audience is and why you want to communicate. Think of the objections, feedback, and questions that your audience might have. 

  When you are well prepared, your confidence also soars. And you can’t own the room without it! So know your content well and then practice it well.

  Recently I had to align the senior leadership of my current company to a new process. I took out time to talk to each member individually first so that I could know what matters to each of the members. Post that, I felt ready to address them all together to drive consensus towards my proposal.

• Present Ideas that Stick with Your Audience: In my previous newsletter, I had written about presenting ideas that stick with your audience. Doing this can really boost your presence as a leader because you communicate in a way which the audience understands. This makes them more open to align to your ideas and asks. 

• Be Solution-Oriented: People always listen to those who have something to offer. If you enter a room with a solution mindset then there is a high chance that people will listen to you.

  Sometimes you might find yourself in a situation where you are against the entire room but being solution oriented can help you own the room. 

  In the same alignment exercise I mentioned above, I got some really good solutions from my colleagues, which I added to my proposal. I also acknowledged them for offering the solutions. All of this gave out a strong signal of partnership from my end during the final presentation.

• Improvise On-the-Go: Improvise well if you want to own the room. Easier said than done though! Using wit and spontaneity to get the attention of your audience requires a lot of practice and the confidence and knowledge of how to be good at it.

  I have always tried to rely on humor as part of leadership interactions. At the end of the presentation I mentioned above, one of my colleagues said to me that my dry sense of humor is always helpful to build trust with my audience!

Owning the room, thus, means to command the attention and action from your audience from the beginning to end. While it comes naturally to some, others can definitely learn it through some practice and training. 

What are some of the traits that you have witnessed in people who confidently own the room and establish their presence?

As leaders we share or come across various ideas on a daily basis. While some of them stick, many die. But one thing that we all could agree to is that the death of an idea doesn’t mean that it wasn’t worthy enough. 

In fact, unfortunately a lot of worthy ideas are also not able to thrive because we fail to communicate them effectively. Presenting ideas is a skill. While the thought behind an idea could be complex, it needs to be presented in a way that makes the idea relatable. 

During my days at Stanford, I attended a class by Chip Heath. He spoke about the six qualities of communication that make ideas memorable, which he, along with his brother Dan Heath, wrapped in a clever acronym called SUCCESs (Simple Unexpected Concrete Credible Emotional Stories). 

Over the last decade, I have really come to admire the SUCCESs framework as I have found it very useful to enhance my own strategic communication. In this week’s newsletter, I try to break it down so that you can use it in your own communication. 

• Simple: We all suffer from the ‘curse of knowledge’. This means that many times our communication is riddled with information that we “assume” others will understand. Simple means that you must break down the idea to its core while communicating to a larger group. 

  Not everyone knows your idea like you do. Therefore, identify and prioritize what you want to communicate.

• Unexpected: In order to grab attention for your ideas, you will have to clear the clutter by making them ‘unexpected’. Challenge the ordinary status quo and you will communicate an idea that will stick. 

  You can break the everyday thought process by creating curiosity gaps- an urge to discover the outcomes and to see how things work. For example, you could start the communication with some sort of an unexpected question or fact that will startle your audience. 

• Concrete: Many times, our ideas mean different things to different people. Communicate in a way that your idea starts meaning the same thing to everyone. Painting a picture or an image is a way to drive concreteness.

• Credible: When ideas become credible, they become believable. Use statistics or your own personal experience to build credibility. 

• Emotions: People care more when an idea resonates with their desires, wishes, aspirations and hopes. So giving a reason to care (i.e. what’s in it for you) can help make your ideas stick. Just make it about the people by finding what matters to them and you will find much higher engagement. 

• Stories: Stories widen our imagination and drive action. They inspire and motivate. They also help drive other principles of communication- unexpected twists, concreteness and emotions. So weave your ideas as stories while communicating and watch them stick in the minds of your audience.

These are some ways which can make your ideas stick. Ineffective communication can lead to ideas getting killed and creating execution gaps. So let’s continue to make our communication better, so that our ideas stick with more people for a longer time!

If you liked reading about SUCCESs, please check out Chip and Dan Heath’s book “Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die”.

My first job was that of an entrepreneur, when I co-founded an education company with some friends, while I was  a sophomore student in Delhi University. Post that I went to pursue an MBA at Stanford University, followed by short stints at Facebook and Paytm (one of India’s largest fintech companies). But very soon, I moved back to entrepreneurship, when I started EduKart.

A lot of us plan to move from corporate jobs to entrepreneurship and this transition in most cases is a thought through and a gradual process. 

But what happens when you have to transition the other way round, i.e. from being an entrepreneur to a corporate executive. I always wanted to be an entrepreneur and thought that I would stay one forever! I never thought about taking up a corporate job again during my 5 year long journey at EduKart as the founder cum CEO. But the transition happened when EduKart got aqui-hired by Paytm. As a result of this, I started my second stint at Paytm. I subsequently worked for more than four years at Udacity (a global edtech unicorn).  And have continued to be a corporate executive in my current role as SVP Operations at Tala (fast growing fintech that provides loans to the financially underserved around the world). 

The transition from an entrepreneur to a corporate executive was not an easy one. But I am glad to say that I have really liked being a corporate executive, while retaining the entrepreneurial spirit within me to take risks and run my part of the business as if it's truly mine! Here are some learnings from my work where I have worked as an entrepreneur turned into a corporate executive.

• Don't make everyone’s job your job!

This is one of the bigger challenges you face when you transition to a corporate role. As entrepreneurs, we are used to being completely in charge, which many times could mean stepping on other people’s shoes and sometimes even trying to do more people’s jobs!

But once you move to a job, you have to realise that you now have peers who might not appreciate this. Take ownership, but remember your boundaries as a collaborative team member. As the old saying goes “good boundaries make good neighbours”! 

• Take Risks, But Under-Control

Entrepreneurs are wired to take risks. But as a corporate executive you need to learn to manage the entrepreneurial risk taking appetite. The risks you take should align with the organization’s goals. More importantly, you must know how to mitigate these risks. I have a lot of responsibility in my role and a lot of room to take risks as well. However, I continuously remind myself that while I am privileged to have the support of my company to take risks, I must be really thinking of mitigating these risks and how my decisions would impact other functions in the company. 

• Learn to build consensus and then some more

As entrepreneurs, most of the time you will have final say in the decision. While you are driving consensus in your teams, you don't always get challenged by your teams, as you would in corporate jobs by your peers. Therefore it is important to build patience and skills for building consensus among peers. This will go a long way to being successful at a corporate job. 

Former entrepreneurs: An asset to any organization

I have worked with and hired many entrepreneurs who have proven to be great assets for the organization. They bring in deep sense of ownership and get s**t done attitude! Many of them are great leaders and can lead from the front and build teams along the way. 

So if you are an entrepreneur wanting to explore the corporate route, go do it! You will definitely be an asset to the company you work with!

A few weeks ago, I met Rajesh Sawhney, a very dear friend and a leading angel investor in India. During our conversation, I remarked that the ability to make oneself redundant is a superpower. He ended up tweeting it and I ended up thinking more about it!

If there is one superpower that all leaders could consider inculcating in themselves and in their leaders, it is the power to make oneself redundant. Doing this in your current role is an important step towards taking on new responsibilities, challenges, projects and eventually moving up the ladder. 

Surprisingly, more often than not, we do exactly the opposite. We find it tough to let go and think that a way to grow in the company is by making yourself indispensable (quite the opposite of redundant). In fact in my conversations with several high potential leaders, I have realised that many of them spend a significant amount of time doing the jobs that can be delegated and much less time on coaching or mentorship which can prepare their teams to take larger responsibilities while they take on larger roles. 

For instance in one of my previous roles, I worked with a high performing customer support manager. They were amazing at their work and were soon promoted to lead the support function. Ironically, they continued to stay involved in day to day tactical activities because they found it tough to let go of that part of their previous role. I had to remind them many times to delegate this task to their team and take up more strategic tasks. Once that switch happened, the value they provided to the organization grew multifold. 

A Redundant You = A Stronger Team

In order to make a strong team, you need to empower them. One of the first steps towards this is to make yourself redundant. This also helps you to create mental space for yourself. It doesn’t only mean growth for your team but also opens up opportunities for your own personal growth. 

One of my ex colleagues built an incredible team. While they hired very strong leaders, they did not step back enough to empower their leaders to lead from the front. When I asked them why they would not give enough space to their leaders, they would get genuinely surprised because they thought they were being helpful to the team by continuing to lead from the front. Finally, a few of their direct reports resigned citing lack of empowerment. This led to a realization in my ex-colleague that they would have to really work hard on stepping back and setting up their leaders to lead from the front and take risks, while keeping a close check during the process of empowering the teams. 

So leaders — focus on making yourself redundant. Make your team capable of managing itself, while you continue to support them from the sidelines. 

How Can You Make Yourself Redundant?

TLDR: Build self-managing teams. 

Here are some tips that can help you do this effortlessly:

• Be comfortable to let go: This is the first step and perhaps the most difficult one. You need to learn to let go and trust your team with the work that matters to you. Once you are comfortable with this step, everything else will fall into place.

• Hire top notch talent: Hiring the right people is another way of building that trust. If your team is right, you will find it easier to delegate responsibilities to them.

• Step back to provide mentorship, watch out for failure points: Coaching and mentorship become very important to prepare your team to take larger responsibilities. But remember, while they take up these responsibilities, do watch out for any failure points - “trust, but verify”.

• Empower your teams: Always ask them what you can do to make your teams stronger and empower them accordingly. This will also enable them to take bigger risks knowing you have their back. 

• Create space for yourself to know what you can do for yourself: Making yourself redundant doesn’t mean that you will not have to do anything. It essentially means to create a mental space for yourself so you can take care of other parts of your business like managing strategy versus being tactical which your earlier roles may have required.

Making Yourself Redundant: A Step Towards Scaling Up

I can say from my experience that once I started giving more responsibility and authority to my team, our discussions became richer. While I took over larger roles, my team started to up level themselves for the new responsibilities. So in a way, we all scaled ourselves up! Not to mention, I feel extremely proud of having created teams that outlast me. And so will you!

When Divya and I had our son Ayaan in 2018 in India, Divya decided to quit her job so that she could spend time with him in his early formative years, beyond the stipulated maternity leave given to mothers. We were privileged enough to not think about the financial impact of this, which made it easier for her to make this decision. 

As a father, I will be forever grateful to Divya for making that choice. As her husband, I was worried about how she would re-enter the job market. 

In 2019, I was asked to lead global operations for Udacity, a change from my then role as the MD for Udacity in India. This was a great role for me, but would require us to move to the US. Divya, a true life partner, immediately told me that I should take on this new role, while she would take on the role of getting us settled and looking after Ayaan when we moved. This enabled us to move to the US in late 2019. 

In 2020, COVID hit and Divya took even a greater role of managing the home, while I started working from home. The days for me got busier since the edtech world was getting headwinds from the pandemic as more people turned to online learning. Our son was growing up fast and Divya kept on holding fort. When Divya decided to get back to work, I was first hand witness to the challenges that she faced when getting back into the workforce. 

I also remember the experiences that my mother shared with me from the time she was expecting me (her first child), while pursuing her medical degree in India. Soon after the delivery her boss told her “You have had your cake, but you can not eat it now. Join back immediately.” This incident and other such feedback she got during her motherhood journey became critical inputs in her decision to not have more kids in the future.

I have had the privilege of working with very impressive women in my career. The conversations that I have had with them about their struggles to leave work before the maternity break and coming back to work afterwards have been deeply troubling. I have often heard that when a mom returns she is expected to either show up in the same way she showed up before she was a mom — or it is assumed that she will not show up the way she did before she was a mom. While in the former situation it is ignored that the mom has to take care of her children, the latter situation denies her equal opportunities at work. Both of these biases make it difficult for moms to be their authentic selves at work. 

As a leader, when I reflect on such stories, I can't help but think about how much we could scale our teams with this pool of talent. But it will require us to make it easier for expectant moms to prepare for their maternity breaks and for moms to return back to work, after their breaks. They were all great partners at work before they took a break to raise a child. And that does not change just because they took a break.  Here are some questions we can think about - 

• What are the practices to help more women stay in the workforce? 

• Are managers trained in hiring/supporting young adults as they begin to consider and embark on the parenthood journey?

• Is it an easy/celebratory conversation for a parent in the organization to tell their manager that they are having a baby?

• Are there part time options for returning moms so that their re-entry is easier?

• Are there specific roles, which are structured in a way that they are attractive to returning moms?

• Can we normalize that moms returning to the workforce means they will be looking after their children?

For every 1000 people in the world, 504 are men (50.4%) and 496 are women (49.6%). Then why are there only 74 female CEOs at America’s 500 largest companies?

I am personally very fortunate to be working at Tala, which is founded and led by Shivani Siroya, an incredible and mission driven CEO, who is also a mother to one-year-old twins. She has also made an effort to create a diverse leadership team— 50%  of our senior leadership are women. This trickles down the organization with very strong women leaders and individual contributors throughout. 

It would be great to create a world wherein what is true at Tala, would be the norm, rather than an exception!

Therefore on this Mother’s Day, I am thrilled to join Kirthiga (President, Athena SPAC; ex-Partner, SoftBank; ex-MD Facebook India), Ashutosh (Founder & CEO, Eightfold), Cindy, Deepika, Parul (Strategist, X, the moonshot factory), and Emily (Chief of Staff, Eightfold) as a volunteer founding member of Laddrr (now Liftery), a social impact mission to enable ten millions moms to step up their professional careers. 

Also, check out thoughts from Kirthiga and Ashutosh on why they are committing to Laddrr (now Liftery). 

Happy Mother’s Day to all the incredible mothers out there and to all the men and women whom they impact and enable everyday.