Walk the Talk

I like to share an aspect on diversity that I have learnt over the year from one Women’s Day to the next, not necessarily with some larger than life story, but something I experienced myself and each year I see so much! Last year I was driven from the airport to my location by a strong woman driver – what’s special? She made a meal for her family before she drove the whole day and went back home to help her kids with their homework! Don’t multiple small stories make the larger impact? Given we have women’s history month. 2 stories I thought worth sharing with the theme – Walk the Talk.

Springboard - Empowering Women | Microsoft India : Microsoft India launched a fantastic program where women who were on a career break got an opportunity to ease back into the work force. We all have friends who might have taken a break from work, to take care of children or loved ones. This program allows these women a chance to re-hone, re-shine and get back into the corporate world. I had the honor of having one such candidate join my team on Women’s Day. She was up and running day one, super excited to work on a project. What a way to actually walk the talk Microsoft!

Second story relates to my aunt Shilpa Nene. She is a retired school teacher, who recently has started helping women between the age of 55-70yrs with getting comfortable in spoken English. These women are taking advantage of the current situation to prepare for traveling, something they couldn’t do with confidence since they couldn’t communicate on basic needs effectively. Most of these women spent their lives taking care of family and never invested in themselves. With the confidence that there is no age bar to learning, they started online classes with my aunt as their teacher. On Women’s day, they were asked to have a conversation with my mother – they had a 2 hour conference call completely in English. These women feel stronger and are ready to take on the journeys, once circumstances allow. Again my aunt – walked the talk.

I have the good fortune of working with and knowing so many strong women and the best part- men and women who are proponents of strong women! Each of them walk the talk every day. We all must walk the talk in our own ways – as a person or a corporation. Only then will true equality be prevalent – lets help each other – Walk the Talk!