Meet the SHEROES - Tanvi Gautam

The only Asian woman leader on the Corporate executive board's elite think tank - The leadership transitions institute, Tanvi Gautam founded the Global People Tree. She is also an internationally renowned consultant, speaker and facilitator in the field of employee engagement.

 Her views on creating the workplace of tomorrow have been quoted and published by international forums such as Harvard Business Review, Forbes.com, Business Times and Economic Times.

Dr.Gautam is the host of Asia's first trending twitter chat for HR leaders, CEOs and CLOs.  She is one of less than one hundred certified story coaches worldwide using this powerful medium for transformation related to organisational culture and authentic leadership development.

Dr Gautam talks about workplace and leadership-

Tell us more about yourself. 

I am a work in progress. I am always thinking of the next iteration that I will be and become.

I thrive best when I am in an intellectually engaging environment and the opportunity to build things and people up. To quote Calvin and Hobbes I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.

According to you how should organizations approach leadership development?

With the commitment to each employee and their potential like a sacred contract. Unfortunately, organizations are becoming places which don't always celebrate the uniqueness, potential and humanity of its people. We fragment their existence and this is one of the big reasons for work life ímbalance issues. Leaders are best developed in the act of leading. Trust your people, provide a safety net, make space for failure and watch them grow or watch them go.

What are the few skills required to advance in workplace today?

Approach to learning: you may have heard - if you are the smartest person in the room then you are in the wrong room ! Let’s face it, many of us would love to be surrounded by people who bear testimony to our brilliance. However, real learning consists of discovering how little one actually knows. To future proof your career you must be in a constant beta mode.

Another thing you should have  is an entrepreneurial mindset. You don’t have to a entrepreneur to have an entrepreneurial mindset i.e. a world view where you see possibilities and potential in your circumstances. People with this mindset are always connecting people with other people, opportunities with people and know how to spot a place where there is a need not being fulfilled. In every organization there exist such spaces, provided we are willing to remove our blinders from the grind of daily tasks and step away just long enough to see the potential. Those with entrepreneurial mindset are producers and leaders who will always be in demand no matter the state of the economy

A message to all SHEROES out there. 

Courage is contagious. Step into your own glory. Every time one of us succeeds, it raises the bar for the rest of us.  Celebrate your strengths and that of other women around you. A rising tide raises all boats together.