Only One Constraint
Rajani Seshadri
Executive Coach | Bringing women on career break back to work @ indePenn | Championing Gender Equity | ex-TCS | Board Advisor
I spent many years in the IT Services industry and mentored several young women. They were concerned about integrating careers and family. In our chats, invariably, one question would be - “how did you succeed?” – the question behind the question was, “can I do the same thing?”
My answer - “I allow myself only one constraint”.
My male peers spent 7-10 years of their careers overseas, in a variety of roles. I chose to not do that, as my family couldn’t relocate with me.
So, my sole constraint is, “I will not relocate”. Everything else was acceptable.
For example, when offered the role of a
- Process designer – I said “sure”
- Business operations leader? – “absolutely"
- Learning & Development sponsor? – “sounds exciting”
- Manage a business? – “thank you”.
Some of these roles were one after the other, some were concurrent. But over time, they made me the Go To leader for many initiatives. I enjoyed some more than the others, but I definitely learnt from all of them. I built a great network across the company. I became T-shaped, which serves me well in my journey as an entrepreneur.
With multiple demands – “I won’t relocate and I will work only in this domain and I will not do that role”, - we limit our choices, lose out on building a mix of skills and connecting with a variety of interesting people. We author obstacles to our growth & success.
?Let us limit ourselves to “One Constraint Only”.
What is yours?
*Published on Twitter today
Technology Transformation Leader| Author | Director @ Novartis | Ex-Accenture/Cognizant/TCS | Life Long Learner | Quizzer | Mentor | Influencer | Operations | Consulting | Quality Engineering | AI |Tech | Pharma | Telco
3 年Great post. People get wishy-washy due to the peer and organizational pressure at times and to be very nice. It's good to have clear focus and constraint to drive towards a goal. Hope more leaders arise in similar fashion.
Regional Director | Human Resources Expert
3 年I can’t think of a constraint. Years ago I had many- want to do only this role, wanted only to work with some kinds of people, will work only only such projects.. over years of wisdom have learnt that true power lies in a YES and then be prepared that everything you touch won’t turn Gold.. some will be just dust. You learn and just move on.
Founder & Managing Director | Director & Board member, Saint-Gobain | Investor & Advisor, Livspace | Director, Choksey Chemicals | India & ASEAN Expert | Transforming building materials value chain | Startup Advisor
3 年#technology is a game changer. We have seen it transforming the way we work and learn. The future of work opens up several possibilities including not relocating and managing teams remotely. While it appears WFH has impacted women more than men, if leveraged well it can be a game changer. Rajani Seshadri, you should think about how tech can solve some of the challenges women face in their career choices. After all, you worked in the tech sector for a while and no one will understand this better than you