​A few months ago, my boss told me that she is sending me for a leadership training in India. I knew I am bound to get some experience of India’s chaotic street. India’s snarling traffic jams always tested my patience. Rules are often flaunted and there is no such thing as road etiquette. Since young, i hated it so much to be honked at. Deep down, i knew i have to work really hard to cope with my motion sickness. I reminded myself all I need to do is brave it and wait to be pleasantly surprised.

I have this very special relationship with India and i love the returns i got from this country. The first time I visited India, I returned home with great sense of achievement – I was called the poster child by successfully setting up the first offshore resourcing team model across 5 countries for a global client. The second time to India, I was gifted with a lot of rewarding ideas on Recruiting Transformation. And now as the third time, I was truly inspired and deeply transformed at the personal level - I bring home a brand new me.

I spent my first day visiting the India’s first Innovation Hub in Bangalore. Its state-of-the-art facility offers client access to Accenture’s deep industry knowledge and latest technology capabilities in more than 40 industries.This enables clients to experience innovation at scale. 4000 employees in the innovation hub design solutions based on “New IT” – which includes digital, cloud and security-related technologies – and help clients reinvent their business processes, transform the development of new products and services, and create more-personalized customer experiences. It was an incredibly humbling experience, and I was truly inspired by the power of purposeful innovation. I am so proud of Accenture and its valued innovative ecosystem.

I had the honor of spending the rest of the week at India Learning Center with 117 women senior managers in Insight workshop – it is an experiential learning program for women Senior Managers to explore our path to the possible. The strong connection that I have built with my journey team has given me the motivation to absorb complex change and move forward to achieve success with no fear. I also spoke to a group of inspirational women managing director coaches. Each of them had been thrown off balance by personal challenges throughout their career atAccenture. But they had consciously acted to regain foothold to channel their energy more adaptively and constructively. I realized I wasn’t alone, and I finally took time to pause and reflect my personal and professional ambitions.

Towards the end of the session, all of us were asked to write a letter to our “Future Me”. I am happy to share some of what I wrote.

I started my letter with this “Thank You, Boss for paying my monthly salary. Because of you, I continue to give my son the best! This trip is nothing short of transformational and Thank You for giving me the opportunity to be here!”

Gratitude is a very powerful human strength. You must first work on changing how you feel and think about a situation to change the results. Gratitude is a great way to start. 

Purpose. Passion. Discipline.

I'm a true believer of Simon Sinek’s powerful model of inspirational leadership – the famous golden circle and the question “why?”. You need a sense of purpose, passion and discipline to create the best in your life. Passion must be searched. It comes from the heart. When we find it, we will know it in our heart. It’s that simple, just search your heart and take time to listen and think about your life. Without passion, our life feels meaningless.

With passion, we still require discipline to make sure it is sustainable. Find your passion, train your discipline. Life will be more meaningful and sustainable. Success is not measured by how much you have but by how much you are willing to change and live your life to the fullest and create the best version in you. 

Performance = Potential – Interference

Life is all about moving and breathing moments. It’s a journey of discovery – there are moments that we will be at the top of the summit and moments we will fall into the deep valley of despair. You have a choice to build abilities that are fluid and subject to change and growth. When you face setbacks, avoid falling into fixed mindset. Do not compare yourself with others, do not turn your energy inward and remember to safeguard yourself against the negative emotional spiral. We are trying not only to change what we are doing, but to alter the way we are behaving. Focus on greater career growth and fulfillment. 

Be proud that you have developed strong sense of self-esteem, learn to be empathetic and continue to spend the time and effort to manage the give and take of interpersonal interactions.

Thanks to Insight. All the coaching and mentoring I got has allowed me to gain real, and inner confidence and I credit the coaching with helping me to achieve a huge and tangible breakthrough. 

Fear has no place in your success equation

Through the workshop, I realized that the combined voices of women are extremely powerful, and we should be standing up for other women at work, telling success stories and banding together so there’s no way we can be ignored. We need to learn how to dominate our fear in the internal system.

I’m reminded that True Leadership takes making bold and often unpopular decisions. Leadership takes courage. Just like Innovation, it involves creating ground-breaking but tradition-defying ideas.

Criticism, whether right or wrong, is bound to happen when you are in a role where you are required to be the leader. Take each criticism as a motivating force and make it a learning experience.

Like an actor on stage, a business leader must perform successfully in a variety of high-pressure, high-profile situations. Be brave and bold to go after the things you want and chase your desires.

Fear is an invitation to courage, and I have gladly accepted the invitation.

Pay it forward with the next generation

Many of us have managed to liberate ourselves from the “permanent lieutenant” doldrums through this training. We learnt that just doing good work isn’t enough. We are all taking the first step and making ourselves not only a good hard worker, but an emerging leader worthy of a sponsor.

It is important that those you work for and those who work for you believe that you will be successful as leader. With everything we do, we aim to challenge the status quo. Most importantly, we aim to think differently.

I should not feel embarrassed to toot my own horn, and indeed looking forward for more opportunities to work with my journey team and peers to sing each other’s praises.

I ended my letter with this reminder

“ Beat, Don’t Meet, the Standards. Innovation is about Speed, for you I’M UNSTOPPABLE”

Very Inspired. Food for thought.

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