WOMEN, ARISE!

WHILE OUR INHERENT TENDENCY IS TO GET COMFORTABLE IN A JOB WHICH MEETS OUR DESIRE FOR SECURITY THIS INSIGHTFUL BOOK TELLS WOMEN TO STEP BACK AND SEE THE BIG PICTURE..AND ALWAYS ASK. WHAT NEXT? SANGEETA WADDHWANI PRESENTS A REALITY CHECK

Had a fascinating morning at the Dosti Room – a space for Indo-American friendship, this morning at the US Consulate in Mumbai. The topic on discussion revolved around what tendencies keep women down or at least keep them exactly where they are, when they could be spinning to the top. The book being discussed was by the bestselling author of WHAT GOT YOU HERE WONT GET YOU THERE. “That first book was mostly talking to men…more specifically CEOs,” shared author Marshall Goldsmith. “A mutual friend of me and Sally..(Sally is his primary co-writer), suggested we do this second book, to help women go up the ladder!

As he spoke, he slowly unravelled the patterns that uniquely and usually see professional women stay behind…”They get emotionally so attached to their job, they don’t realise they sacrifice their career potential sticking to the job.” One thinks about that…Yes so often one does let a sense of emotional and team comfort supercede one’s true and vaulting ambition. Like, 11 years at HELLO! and I never bothered with an online platform like this, which I now find does great justice to the daily encounters I am having. A blog frees one from mainstream constraints, and hopefully becomes a daily chat that people enjoy!

Second, he quoted a Buddhist idea that “with every breath, you can be a renewed you.” And so one by one, he pointed out typical female habits… 2. Always putting others..their views and opinions first, 3. Always thinking of micro-managing the day to day without planning for the future…”I would say do 95 per cent, and leave 5 percent of your time for what you dream of…”…and so on. For each tendency, he would say take a deep breath, and just shake it off with a hand gesturing a ‘go away!’

The fact of the matter is, so much MORE is generally dumped on women in the workplace, because they willingly take it on. They dont know or seek how to say ‘No.’ “Also, women are shy about aggressive self-promotion,” he continued, and yes I could see how Domestic Managers become Doormats Without Perks in so many homes.

But I also felt Indian women – at least the generation of my contemporaries – were not so self-effacing or angelic. I have had colleagues who in their 20s, were quite capable of being manipulative, were blatantly consumer-driven…and one had even dumped her live-in partner’s suitcase out her door and asked him to leave, as he did not want to commit!

So somewhere I found the ideas more suited to women of the pre Baby Boomer generation. However I am yet to sink into the lovely signed copy I have…so here goes!

But a fun moment I had was meeting advertising guru Prahlad Kakkar over breakfast break…I had forgotten to courier my book ENCOUNTERS WITH THE RICH AND FAMOUS to him…and shared with him the few hotspots I had got into, simply being honest about some of the unusual choices that the Rich and Famous often make, to which he said “But that’s GREAT! You must do honest writing! It’s good to get sued! Stand up for something…or you will fall for everything!”

He was so wonderfully dramatic, That I asked him to express himself on a video. Here it is! Enjoy….signing off for the day!