Woman In The Mirror | The Premiere Episode

Nitika: Michelle Obama once said, there is no limit to what we as women can accomplish. And the rise of powerful women leaders across industries just proves how far we’ve come. Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a successful woman leader? Is it a mindset? Is it support systems? Or just plain perseverance?

Join me, Nitika Goel, CMO of Zinnov, as I take you through an incredible retrospective from the latest podcast series from the Zinnov Stable, Woman in the Mirror. This thought-provoking podcast delves into the hard-won wisdom of accomplished women leaders, exploring their journeys through work, family, and life.

In our premiere episode, I’m thrilled to chat with three powerhouse women leaders, Shalini Sankarshana from Planview, Snigdha Ghosh Ray from Diebold Nixdorf, and Oindrila Majumdar from TIAA.

They each bring unique experiences from the worlds of business and technology. Get ready to unpack career-defining moments, mistakes that became springboards, the secrets to their relentless drive, the power of supportive relationships, and why attitude and learnability trumps all.
We’ll explore inspiring stories and invaluable perspectives we hope will equip women everywhere to shatter those glass ceilings. Let’s dive right in.

First up, we have Shalini Sankarshana, the Managing Director of Planview India. For those of you who may not be familiar, Planview is a private equity-owned B2B SaaS company, that enables enterprise-wide transformations. In her role, Shalini currently serves over 4,500 customers globally. Our conversations with Shalini meandered through her journey from becoming an engineer in the BFSI sector to landing in enterprise software, exploring whether her career path was a result of intention or just serendipity.

Shalini: I’m a pretty boring person that way, not that interesting, but yeah, happy to share. Listen, I mean, a typical South Indian Kannada girl, born, raised, and educated in Bangalore. Always good in studies. I think we all grew up like that. For us Education was the number one priority. Never struggled with my studies, so that was always a boon.

I had a lot of fascination and love for art, for music, but never pursued it, again, a typical South Indian thing. I hate to say this, but we were all focused on studies, figuring out that, getting a job and then you can do all of the other things. So pretty much went into that mode.

Engineering was a chance in the sense I had a chance to get into both engineering and medicine. But life happened, and things happened at home that I could not pursue this 10-year-long journey that you need to do for medicine. I said, okay, let me start engineering. So engineering was not probably the first choice but ended up being a really good choice.

I took up electronics and communications because somehow at that point I was not still bought into the whole software tag, if you can believe it. Now I’m only talking digital. I really wanted to still be close with communications and networking. Then the job bug hit all of us. I was recruited for Wilco, ADP.

Wilco International was based in Hyderabad, probably one of the very first companies to bring in offshore financial services. So that’s how I became part of Wilco, and I had no idea what financial services is. And my first training we were taught what is CUSIP and I’m like, oh my God, what did I study all this for?

What is CUSIP? What are security instruments? But like I said, I was a good student who always helped, which means any new subject thrown at me always would end up being one of those sincere, committed, go study, do your syllabus, do your assignments. That was the kind of person I was always. Very little I knew that I will be more in the front of the action rather than the back.

I was always comfortable being in the back of the room, but I think over the years, as the organization transformed, as we grew up, as we scaled down, as we again grew back up. It was phenomenal learning for me. Honestly, I mean, I could never stop thanking all the experiences I’ve had, but very early on, I moved closer to business, closer to product, closer to functional domain as one of the very early product managers in India and started beginning the journey of business analysis, then transformed to product management, then kept on moving towards that path. Probably done most of the jobs available that are customer facing and had assignments overseas, and worked with a lot of customers.

Back home, worked with a lot of teams. The heart of product organizations continues to be product teams. You know, how much ever you put them through sales and revenue, it’s really the product teams that make or break the organization. And I was fortunate to be part of some of the best teams. I think that’s been the journey, Nitika.

Nitika: Shalini’s journey is reminiscent of a portfolio career where growth often means embracing change and uncertainty. By staying open to new opportunities, Shalini has organically steered her career into promising new directions, challenging the conventional notion of stability. Changing lanes appears to be a common theme amongst the women leaders I had the pleasure of speaking with.

Snigdha Ghosh Ray from Diebold Nixdorf didn’t get caught up in the quagmire of why, but instead focused on the next problem that she could volunteer to solve. Perhaps this fearless mindset is one key to her incredible success.

My next guest, Snigdha Ghosh Ray is the VP of Payments and India Software Hub at Diebold Nixdorf, a provider of software, hardware, and information technology services for financial institutions and retailers.

Snigdha has over 25 years of experience in building and launching cutting edge global products at companies like ADP and PayPal before her work at Diebold Nixdorf. But when it comes to challenging the status quo, Snigdha truly walks the talk. 17 years into her career, she made the bold decision to pursue her MBA at the prestigious Indian School of Business. So I had to ask Snigdha, what toll did juggling her MBA, her job, and her family take? What made this decision worth the heart she took out?

Snigdha: I graduated from Bombay. And being a Mumbaikar throughout my life, in spirit now, of course, in Mumbai, I think the good part was I had very good experiences with two service companies and learned a lot. What I also got exposed to, and which probably was pivotal decision-making criteria in my career after that was the exposure to business development activities. So in services firms, they do look out for people who are not just very strong technologists, but people who understand the business and who understand the problem statement. So, when you’re responding to RFPs, you can take it from requirements to building solutions.

This was the time that I realized that while I enjoyed working for a service company, the best leverage of my talent would be in a product company where I could actually work between the business, the customer, and technology. That led me to Hyderabad and ADP. Those days though, I actually joined the investment banking division.

Fintech has been close to my heart forever. Obviously, the technology was fab. That’s where ADP came in and I would attribute a lot of my career success to ADP. It’s been an immense cooling ground. They never left me to get bored. There was always a new challenge, a new opportunity for everyone and a half, two years which shook me out of my comfort zone. I had to either learn a new technology and I was open for anything. I wasn’t very fixated on the technology that I wanted to work on or the domain or people, which actually led me to more opportunities. So I even went and raised my hand for a mainframe reverse engineering, re-engineering project, right?

Because I thought that was the best way to learn the domain. So, you know, 12 years or I’d rather say 17 years, it was a pretty great experience, great learning ground. Of course, I think some of the hardships have also been because at that point in time, like you mentioned, a newly wedded girl who joined ADP. And while there was this focus on making it in your new firm that you have joined, it was also about balancing it with your newly changed status. Fortunately for me, I think my husband, Niladri and myself, we are both very similar in terms of what we want to do, professional, personal likes, dislikes, our styles are fairly similar. So I think that was pretty smooth. We’ve been there to support each other in our careers.

Being there to motivate, encourage, and just be there for each other during the lows. Yes, and then kids happened. I think when the kids were around a young age, I would say probably 8 and 11 was a time when I felt I had done everything that ADP could offer me. On an impulse, applied to ISB, got selected, and went in for a very rigorous MBA program, which was another transformative experience for me.

Just opened out my horizons of thinking, which led me to definitely step up and take on larger roles and make bold decisions on how I want to shape my career. So my husband, parents, kids, my teams, and my leaders, all chimed in to float certain tasks from my plate so I could do my ISB and I have a deep sense of gratitude for all of these people who have helped make me successful.

Nitika: Snigdha’s journey is one of the shows and doesn’t tell where she shows us how to conquer our fear of change and embrace it. She reminds us that taking calculated risks is what separates the truly successful from those who simply do well, remembering great change can’t happen without stepping outside your comfort zone, which brings us to our next guest, Oindrila Majumdar.

Oindrila is the Executive Vice President and CEO of TIAA Global Capability Center. TIAA manages a staggering 1.2 trillion in retirement assets for over 5 million customers. With over 25 years under her belt, Oindrila has been juggling multiple roles with ease. But what really sets her apart is her unwavering commitment to diversity and inclusion.

She is a woman on a mission, and she’s taking no prisoners. Oindrila’s story is one of perseverance and strategic risk-taking. She’s not just built deep expertise in financial services but has done so by taking micro risks. These calculated risks have created multiple inflection points, propelling her career trajectory

Let’s dive into Oindrila’s journey and hear how she’s made it happen.

Oindrila: You mentioned about the 25 years in the industry. Well, that’s 25 and counting. It’s 30 now. Every time I look at it, that number goes up. Well, back in the day, I think, Banking represented financial services in India more than anything else. And if you were not going to be a doctor or an engineer, which I wasn’t going to be, then banking was the next cool thing.

It was considered very knowledge-oriented, and highly respected. And that’s how the aspiration started. One day I found myself in banking. After having spent the first 10 years at my first job, which was a bank, I had to take off for a year for personal reasons. And then when I went back to the industry, I didn’t find anything that was interesting and definitely not locally where I’m from in Calcutta. And at that point of time, I was offered a role with Fidelity, their offshore offices, which were getting set up and that was invaluable. So I decided to take that. It was a sort of a jump in the dark, but the opportunity to do something completely different and utilizing some of the things that I’ve learned in banking, huge learning. Over a period of time, I did want to go back to Banking. So this time when I made the change of fidelity, I didn’t go back to Banking but stayed in the same option. And I loved the 10 years there, five years on the investment banking side, and five years on the asset management side.

If you look at this over the last 30 years, I have been in financial services. But I’ve been in consumer banking, I’ve been in investment banking, asset management, U. S. retirement, and wealth management. So I thrive in situations that bring new learning and change. Of course, there is also a lot of pain that comes with it.

Because every time you change, you have to roll up your sleeves and learn, unlearn, and learn. But it’s been a fabulous journey.

Nitika: Mark Zuckerberg once said, that in a rapidly changing world, the only guaranteed failures are those who don’t take risks. But taking the leap of faith into the unknown is difficult, to say the least. Many people prefer stability over risk and chaos. But sometimes that’s where the opportunity lies. Let’s hear from Shalini and Oindrila about how their life began at the end of their comfort zones.

Shalini: I realized that I do not want to be a frog in the well, and wanted to explore. So not that I had a very specific plan of action. I wanted to look at an adjacent sector, something that expands my horizon. Beyond my particular domain, but at least still continue to have the relevance of what I bring as experience to the table. So that’s why SaaS and what drew me towards Planview was probably a couple of things. One is the opportunity to build a lot of things from scratch. That’s not for the faint-hearted, but I did not want to go into a very established setting. So I said, okay, let me get my hands dirty and start building things up from day zero, number one. Number two was the size of Planview as an organization and the opportunity that’s out there, which means the impact that I could, as a person, have, I think that felt really immense. That felt good to be part of that cycle, right?

Oindrila: The other thing that I would say is we shy away from making choices that take us out of our comfort zone. I think we have to be fearless. Somebody once told me, a very senior woman leader that I looked up to, and was a cancer survivor. And she said, you know Oindrila, there is no time, be fearless with your choices. Be informed and be fearless, and that is what I try to follow.

Nitika: The themes emerging from these conversations are consistent. A ship is safe in the harbor, but that is not what ships are for. Leaders need to cut their safety net to truly arrive at their potential.

Now switching gears, a bit. Ever feel like your job is basically you? Turns out you’re not alone. A Forbes article dives into the tendency to over-identify with our careers. But here’s the good news. Our amazing guests today have cracked the code. They of course have made some mistakes along the way, but they have still gone on to build fulfilling lives that extend beyond the office grind. Let’s hear their secrets.

Snigdha: I think what helped me was working on detaching myself, and my identity from the identity of the product or service. And that has happened over a period of time. Today, before somebody gives me feedback about my product or service or something I could have done better, I will go and give that feedback. Because I can see my identity different than my work.

You know, the right timely, candid feedback, given in the right way can actually drive better results and help the person evolve in a very trusted environment. So I think as leaders, Nitika, when we’re giving feedback, I think it’s our responsibility to ensure we understand, we build that trust and then start giving the feedback.

Shalini: Essentially, we should really spend less time explaining ourselves, defending ourselves, and making our work talk. Don’t wait for anybody to do it. And you don’t have to feel any sense of regret or feeling the sense of somewhat false modesty. Take your team along. Be their champion, be your champion for yourself. I think that always works, Nitika.

Nitika: Instead of getting defensive or insecure about tying their identities to work, Snigdha and Shalini took an offensive approach. They emphasized separating self-worth from professional achievements.

Now let’s talk about a critical issue for women leaders. The clash between peak career years and major personal milestones like starting a family.

There’s often pressure to choose one or the other. For Shalini, this played out when she had a newborn at the height of her career. How did she juggle both roles? What unique challenges did she face? Let’s dive into Shalini’s experiences for some valuable insights.

Nitika: Instead of getting defensive or insecure about tying their identities to work, Snigdha and Shalini took an offensive approach. They emphasized separating self-worth from professional achievements.

Now let’s talk about a critical issue for women leaders. The clash between peak career years and major personal milestones like starting a family.

There’s often pressure to choose one or the other. For Shalini, this played out when she had a newborn at the height of her career. How did she juggle both roles? What unique challenges did she face? Let’s dive into Shalini’s experiences for some valuable insights.

Shalini: I think Indira Nooyi said that, right? That our biological clock and our career clock are always in conflict. Because as you’re growing in your career, that’s exactly when life is happening. You’re either getting into relationships, you’re looking at your family, you have aging parents, or you have kids.

Conflicting priorities. I think she said it so beautifully. It happens to all of us. The same thing happened to me. And back when I got into a married life, I moved back from Hyderabad to Bangalore and there was no concept of working remotely, Working from home, et cetera, in organizations back then. I was so passionately involved with Broadridge, that I did not want to leave. Even when I came back to Bangalore, I think for six, or seven years, I continued working remotely, which was one of the hardest times in my working life, as well as my home life, because newly married, it was a real conflict happening. At the work front, getting some amazing opportunities.

At the same time, back home, I was trying to set up a new life. I had no idea how to do both. I think I fumbled along, but what I did was wherever I got support, I grabbed at it. Now I think the situation is much different where, as a system, there’s a lot more understanding and acceptability of some of these conflicting priorities. I have a son and till the day I was about to get into the delivery and labor room, I was still finishing up my emails. It was like the last minute I was still doing everything before I packed up and went to the hospital. We had three months of maternity leave at that point and 91st day I was back. So was it easy? Not at all. It was hard for people to understand back home as to why is this person crazy enough to leave an infant. And of course, I was still working from home at that point. But I think what I learned is how important it is to build your trusted network within the workplace, not just your boss, your reporting manager, or your team, et cetera.

Today, of course, after COVID, I think the situation has completely changed. But back then, if you’re remote, you’re out of sight, out of mind. You’re always doing 150 percent just to show that you’re present, irrespective of the leadership positions you were in. I was at that point, probably already an associate vice president, I think, didn’t matter. The designation didn’t matter. You were always fending off the questions that are told – said and unsaid, and half the time you are overthinking about those questions today.

If I were to go back and do that, I would ignore a lot of them and just move ahead. I did not have that wisdom back then, so I think that’s something that I had to overcome and had to build a thick skin.

Nitika: Whether you are a working parent or not, Shalini’s story offers a perspective we could all learn from as we strive for a more supportive workplace culture. Balancing career and family is no easy feat. It takes a village. But the key, as Shalini emphasizes, is not being afraid to ask for help when you need it.

Shalini: Absolutely, Nitika. I don’t think any of us can do this alone. But the sources of support come from very unlikely places. What I realized over time is how you look forward to them, and be open to them. I’ve been very fortunate and privileged that way. I’ve had some pretty uncomfortable times, but at the same time, most unlikely that people would stand up and support me, and I was ready to take it.

That’s the only credit I can give to myself. I think that’s very important. Sometimes for some reason, even seeking support becomes a hard thing for us. We should not do that. I think each of us deserves to ask for help. There are times when I have failed miserably because I’ve not asked for help. So if I have one reflection, that is one.

Nitika: What I’ve personally learned from my own experiences and these conversations is that asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. That’s what these remarkable women overcame and learned. Their journeys to the top were far from easy, the glass ceiling very real, and being the sole woman in the room was a constant challenge.

Let’s hear directly from them how they navigated this obstacle course.

Oindrila: When I started my career, and for the better part of my career, I’ve been the only woman in the group. When we were talking about women in technology, there was a question of women in workplaces before that. There just weren’t enough of us. That’s changed now, which is great. Women in the workplace are more commonplace than they used to be.

There’s not enough of us, there has to be far more, but it’s much better now. I’ve had situations where I’ve faced conscious bias against my abilities just due to my gender. Comments are indications that one is making progress because of gender. Frankly, I have been fearless about calling that out. It’s important to call that out to the right people who are supportive, who understand the business justification of diversity in the workplace, and ensure that the feedback goes to them. Not necessarily just for being transparent about the situation, but for the firm, It’s important that whoever thinks like this, the right context is set. The conscious bias, I think has changed. It has reduced a great deal over the last 20 years. But there is still unconscious bias, which we train people for, we make them aware. But it is still important to be fearless and say, this is not it. That would be my advice.

Shalini: Evolution of time, for sure. I think the world is much kinder and evolved to understand the potential of what women bring about. But was I the only woman? Yes. And I think back today, did that cause roadblocks? I believe so. And it’s important to acknowledge that because at that point, maybe I did not have the wisdom to understand what are my roadblocks. And am I always punching above my weight just to stay in the same category? I feel that now when I think about it, you’re always on more than 150 percent just to show that you’re a hundred percent, whether we like it or not, you’re justifying that takes a beating to the confidence, but more importantly, you’re trying to work on this perception management half your time when you should be focusing on the work and you know, really honing your craft. I have felt a lot of that during the journey. I hope I’m doing my bit now as I have a lot more influence in my organization and position. I’m hoping that I’m making it easier for the rest, but yes, this has certainly been there.

Nitika: The common thread woven through Oindrila’s reflections is that rather than seeing biases as hurdles, they viewed being the only woman in the room as a chance to stand out, overcome doubts, and blaze new trails. Their stories echoed those of countless inspiring women in the industry who turned perceived weaknesses into strengths through sheer grit, determination, and an opportunity mindset.

Oindrila’s, Snigdha’s, and Shalini’s journeys are truly aspirational examples of making the most of any situation.

Snigdha: I think I was lucky to have people who patted my back for an opportunity that was way beyond what I believed. For example, I remember when we had a lot of leadership changes in ADP, for the global product and technology head, I was leading a 350, 400-member team.
And when this role opened up, which was like at that point in time of 1500, 1600-member team, I couldn’t raise my hand. Yeah. I wanted to, but I had zero confidence. And that was the time I remember Niladri telling me, are you crazy? Why wouldn’t you? Because there was a global acknowledgment that I should go for that role.

So if I had raised my hand, I would have got it. But I think there, the self-doubt, the lack of confidence, the lack of assertiveness crept in because some of them would have been my ex-peers who would have been reporting to me. Will I be able to manage them? Those questions crept into my mind. Later, of course, I did opt in for that role, and I was successful in that role, and I pleasantly surprised myself. I think I would have been happy if I had been like that earlier, but again, our experiences teach us.

Shalini: Somewhere I was fighting the battle with myself, saying that I had to create confidence in myself. Nobody else would. I had some amazing mentors. But at the end of the day, the struggle was within me, and I did not like the version of me trying to stay in the back just because of the feeling that I may not be able to do it.

I think that’s what I wanted to fight. Even today, that’s what I kind of fight. So I always end up overcompensating for it by putting my hand up for any new thing that comes up. If you talk to anybody back in Routledge, they would say, if they remember me, that I was the guinea pig for many things.

Not that anybody asked me, I would actually put my hand up. Was it good? Was it bad? I’ve had both outcomes, but I think that’s what shaped me. If I didn’t do that for myself, I could never expect somebody else to do it for me. And for me, more than coming to the front of it, it was the confidence I wanted for myself.

Nitika: All right, time for my favorite part, the rapid-fire round. In true woman-in-the-mirror fashion, I had them peer into the looking glass and share the advice they’d give their younger selves gazing back, at their current self, and even getting a glimpse of what wisdom they’d impart to their future wiser selves, down the line. The insights they mirrored are pure gold.

What is the one piece of advice that you would give your 20-year-old self?

Shalini: Don’t beat yourself up for every small thing. I think I was much more harder on myself than anybody in the world.

Oindrila: Brush yourself down. Stay the course, because tomorrow is another day.

Snigdha: Since I just got married, I think I put in a lot of precious hours into my work. I think looking back, I would say chill and enjoy your marriage. Enjoy the new phase in your life.

Nitika: What advice do you give yourself today?

Oindrila: It’s going to get even more interesting. So still stay the course.

Snigdha: My current self, I think, is more active networking because that’s something I realized I stopped doing.

Shalini: Go slow to go fast.

Nitika: 10 years hence, as you look into the mirror, what do you think you’ll tell yourself?

Oindrila: Impossible is nothing.

Snigdha: Treasure every moment and live in the moment.

Shalini: Hopefully a lot more contentment in the years ahead, quality time with my family, and more time for myself and my music.

Nitika: What are the three micro habits that you have inculcated as a leader?

Oindrila: First would be a constantly refreshed to-do list. The second would be giving myself little pockets of time to think, to plan, to prepare. And the third thing would be instant feedback on observed behavior.

Snigdha: At an individual level, sustaining my own passion for learning and experimentation. Then I think creating that in the environment and ecosystem, so people feel they’re working for themselves and they’re not working with the bosses of the organization, right? I think lighting that fire in them to learn, to experiment, and just feel the satisfaction of surprising themselves. The third one is investing in talent. I think that’s something I believe in – paying it forward. I think those are three things that I’m extremely focused on.

Nitika: So Shalini, what I keep telling everybody is connect the dots, the question I’ll ask is how?

Shalini: I’m sure there is no formula, but what I have learned is that connect the dots. This is where business became a North star when it comes to working life, right? As long as you’re thinking, what is the business impact of what you’re doing? Naturally, the dots got connected irrespective of the job role that I held. It was very easy. So knowing that North Star makes a huge impact. And tomorrow, if it’s about your work life in a much bigger context, think of your societal impact, environmental impact, or whatever impact that you want to create, that becomes a North star, keep connecting dots back there and you will build the muscle of connecting the dots by doing that again and again. Every new role you take on again, go back to your roots and connect the dots. That’s been my playbook all the time.

Nitika: What would be the one word you use to describe your leadership style?

Snigdha: Authentic. I think bringing me as I am, unfiltered, but of course sensitive to people’s emotions. I think that’s how I like to see myself and I strive to be that.

Nitika: In just a few short minutes, Oindrila, Snighda, and Shalini fired off such profound wisdom and takeaways for all of us. From reminders to stay resilient through life’s twists and turns to the importance of leading with authenticity and nurturing talent, their insights were like a mirror reflecting every woman’s journey out there.

As the writer Mandy Hale said, it’s an audacious way to live, indeed, standing with the door to your heart and life wide open. But isn’t that the real fairy tale? A brave, bold, well-lived life.

Our guests today embody that spirit, sharing their stories with incredible honesty and bravery. Their candor is a powerful reminder that with courage, perseverance, and a little support, no dream or goal is truly out of reach for any of us.

As we bring this exciting episode to a close, a thank you to our guests for inspiring us all. Stay tuned for more episodes of Woman in the Mirror, where we’ll bring you other exceptional leaders who shattered the glass ceiling and left a lasting impact. Until next time, take their words of wisdom to heart.

Embrace the journey. Lead authentically. And live life, brave, bold, and queen size.