No country can truly flourish if it stifles the potential of its women and deprives itself of the contributions of half of its citizens – Michelle Obama.
EP3C stands for Executive Presence, and the 3 Cs are Clarity, Communication, and Confidence.
Shikha has been in the SVP position for over eight years. She was denied a promotion to the next-level CXO role three times in a row. She was getting frustrated and could not figure out what was wrong. Her performance has been exemplary. She had turned around the reputation of the India offshore center in the last few years. She had left no stone unturned to present her case for the next level.
Every time she just heard one feedback from her Newyork-based line manager. “You are not yet ready.” It was getting more and more frustrating by the day. When she inquired her manager, the answer was, “One needs a powerful leader in the board room. I don’t think you are yet ready to handle the stress. One needs to be decisive, assertive, and strong to be a CXO. You have some more work to do”. She wasn’t sure if, in reality, she was not yet ready or if it was merely a perception of her manager.
Women leaders experience several roadblocks in their growth journey to the senior level. I classify these roadblocks into two types- Biases held by others – It includes things such as “Can she take the stress”; “Can she stretch beyond her comfort zone “; “Can she push back?” So on and so forth Biases held by self –”Will I be able to do justice to this role ?” “Will I be able to handle the pressure ?”; “Will I be able to stand against the domination ?” etc These questions are emerging from years of societal conditioning. And it is time that this societal conditioning is questioned and changed.
“Leader” is a gender-neutral word. An ability of a leader is independent of their gender. And it’s high time we break these biases as a corporate society. These biases are doing more harm as they prevent capable leaders from taking over senior leadership roles. On the other hand, Women Leaders need to change their internal dialogue. From “Will I be able to do justice to this role?”
To
“What is my strategy to do justice to this role?”
From “Will I be able to handle the pressure?”
To
“What steps will I take to manage the pressure?”
From “Will I be able to stand against the domination?
To
“How do I come across as more assertive” or “How do I up my Executive Presence?” The only thing limiting our growth story is our mindset. We change our questions /internal dialogue, and we change the reality.
One of the most common perceptions which people have is, if a leader is empathetic, she is weak. In a competitive corporate world, many leaders assume that being compassionate and empathetic is being weak. Aggression stems from the fear of losing control, Whereas compassion and empathy originate in the heart, which is a seat of love and connection.
A heart-centered leader has a great executive presence and a great capacity to impact the ecosystem : Coach Kshitij
Although the trend towards women being in leadership and entrepreneurial position is on the rise, there still is a lot of stigmas, challenges, and discrimination that females India.
We all know we live in challenging times with more competition everywhere. It is commonplace to give way to various pressures in such a situation. It is critically.
“Kshitij is a gifted coach with many years of experience in various fields with backing of academics. He stands for integrity, creative, flexible and takes personal responsibility for the results. In addition, his calming personality, great listening skills and empathetic nature makes him great to work with as well makes him a great coach. I enjoyed my coaching sessions with him on and strongly recommend him for others”
Coaching by Kshitij Sharma is the one of the most positive experiences one can sign up for. His calm demeanour, unique style of comforting his clients makes sure that they connect with their innate potential in a very powerful way, which can then be unleashed to the fullest with his guidance. Kshitij is not just a coach, he will be a partner in his client’s success as he owns up to their objectives as his own. His empathetic nature and commitment to client’s success works exceptionally well for women leaders looking for the next milestone. He is able to create clarity of vision and purpose so that success is more aligned with one’s core strength and purpose thereby helping clients to accomplish all round success and satisfaction
“Coaching from Kshitij has enabled me to be a better professional, . I would like to express my deepest gratitude and best wishes to Kshitij for enabling this transformative journey.
This focused coaching has empowered me to be a more effective communicator. It has also enabled me to become an impactful public speaker.
His innovative ways of coaching has helped me quickly transform the way I approach various tricky professional situations as a women leader.
It gives me immense pride and satisfaction to state that I have become a new person with different perspective to business and life during the coaching.
Thanks Kshitij for bringing the best out of me “
