Business Leadership Lessons

As a storyteller and an entrepreneur, I’ve had the privilege of sitting down with some of the most inspiring women in business— women who are not only breaking barriers but also redefining success on their own terms. Whether it’s Alia Bhatt with her conscious kidswear brand Edamama, Romita Mazumdar with her innovative skincare venture Foxtale, Anupama Chopra with her pioneering platform Film Companion, or Upasana Kamineni Konidela’s trailblazing work in healthcare—each of them has brought invaluable insights to the table. Here are a few lessons that have deeply resonated with me from these conversations: 👉The Importance of Identifying a Gap – Alia Bhatt: Alia saw the need for sustainable, homegrown kidswear and built Ed-a-Mamma, not just as a brand but as a movement to inspire environmental consciousness from an early age. Alia didn’t wait for expertise—she led with passion, proving that vision and heart can drive a brand to incredible heights. 👉Carving your own Path — Anupama Chopra: Anupama Chopra taught me the power of knowing your strengths. She realized she wasn’t meant for spreadsheets and P&Ls, but for storytelling. From becoming a film critic to launching Film Companion, and now expanding into Hollywood, Anupama constantly reinvents herself while staying true to her core passion. She’s a reminder that when you carve your own path, the world takes notice. 👉A Woman NEEDS to be Financially Independent — Upasana Kamineni Konidela: Upasana Kamineni Konidela exemplifies the power of financial independence. Through her work in healthcare, she’s seen how giving women control over their own money not only boosts their confidence but transforms their entire lives. It’s not just about earning—it’s about gaining respect, making decisions for themselves, and creating a better future for their families. 👉Actual Impact over Trends & Profits — Romita Mazumdar: Romita’s skincare venture, Foxtale, wasn’t built on trends but on understanding the real needs of Indian women. She didn’t just want customers; she wanted to build trust. Romita’s dedication to creating effective, science-backed products shows how focusing on impact creates long-lasting success. These women remind us that business isn’t just about numbers or growth, but about the values you stand for, the people you serve, and the story you tell. Grateful for the wisdom they’ve shared, and excited to continue learning from those who dare to lead with purpose. #WomenInBusiness #Leadership #Entrepreneurship #LessonsInBusiness

Yesterday, Simone Biles won her 5th Olympic gold and 8th overall medal. 🥇 It's a watershed moment for professional gymnastics. It's also a BIG DEAL to those for whom Simone is an inspirational figure. I'm one of those people. In 2020, Simone decided courageously to step back from competing when she recognized her mental state wasn't right—a move that showed true leadership. Back then I was convinced she was a model for the future of work-life balance 👇. I wrote about it for Forbes. You can read the article and make up your own mind, but let's just say yesterday's win reinforced my conviction. ☝️ Without that infamous 2020 decision, yesterday would not have happened. The comeback added to the impact. There are three lessons here for leaders: 1️⃣ Encourage regular breaks: We all know a rested mind is sharper. 🧠 Acknowledging that our teams need time off goes beyond burnout prevention. It's really about fostering creativity and innovation—key success factors for any company. 2️⃣ Offer real mental health support: Beyond apps and software, real support means flexible scheduling and genuine human connection. ⛓️💥 Coaching, mentoring, and having open conversations about well-being are all crucial. 3️⃣ Recognize the strength in stepping back: Knowing when to take a breather is a strength, not a weakness. Building a culture that values boundaries leads to more loyal, engaged, and effective teams. 💪🏽 Simone’s decision to focus on her mental health is a powerful reminder of what real leadership looks like. True leaders set examples. They walk the talk. If you can't do something, how can you expect it of your team? The takeaway? Knowing when to step back and care for oneself is a key leadership skill. It's about ensuring we can continue to lead effectively over the long term. This is the kind of forward-thinking leadership that our world needs today. It's how people—and the companies they power—thrive. 🌱 Thanks for the reminder, Simone, and CONGRATS!!! 🥇👏🎉 Link to article in comments 👇 #Leadership #usa #Resilience #WorkplaceWellbeing #SimoneBiles #olympics2024

🔥 Let me tell you about an extremely expensive mistake I see companies make every day. When I gave my TEDx talk "Save your company money; give your employees a raise," seven years ago, I shared a shocking statistic: 27% of employees were actively considering leaving their jobs at the time. The number has risen to 40% in 2024. Here's the kicker: replacing just ONE employee costs companies 100-200% (with outliers quoting as much as 400%) of that person's annual salary in Recruiting costs Training time Lost productivity Customer dissatisfaction Lost business opportunities Brain drain Do the math: For a €100K position, you're potentially looking at €200K or more in replacement costs. And guess who makes up a disproportionate number of these departures? The high-achieving women who are chronically underpaid and undervalued. Many companies are spending seriously on hiring women, and they often reach 50% or even more women at the point of intake. Only to completely drop the ball on retaining their talent, with the serious financial repercussions mentioned before, whilst ignoring the simplest solution: Promote. Your. Women. And Pay. Them. More. This isn't about DEI initiatives or moral imperatives (though those matter). This is about your bottom line. This is about business intelligence. Your CFO needs to see this math: Investment: €20K raise for a valuable female employee to get her to parity with her male peers. Alternative: €200K+ replacement costs when she leaves. And she will: there are plenty of companies out there ready to snap them up at market rate. The ROI isn't just clear - it's staggering. 🎯 If your C-suite needs help understanding how to: Identify flight risks before it's too late Calculate the real cost of turnover in your organization Create retention strategies that actually work Build compensation structures that make business sense Let's talk. I consult with forward-thinking companies ready to turn this knowledge into competitive advantage. I train teams of leaders who want the benefit of an engaged, motived work-force. Because the most expensive thing you can do? Is letting your talented women walk out the door. Message me directly or reach out via support@womeninnegotiation.org to discuss how we can protect your company’s bottom line. #BusinessStrategy #RetentionStrategy #WomenInBusiness #TalentManagement #ROI

There’s a major blind spot I see in senior leadership teams…and it’s holding your whole business back. Plus it’s costing you your best people. Here’s how it plays out: You’ve got a woman in your organisation everyone relies on. She’s the one you turn to when the impossible lands. The one who delivers the toughest projects on the tiniest budgets; without fuss, without fanfare. The one who fixes problems no one else can touch. She makes it look easy. And because of that, she gets overlooked. Overlooked for promotions. Overlooked for recognition. Overlooked for the rewards she deserves. And here’s the mistake: you tell yourselves stories about her. 💭”She’s not political enough.” 💭”She lacks presence at that level.” 💭”She doesn’t seem confident.” The reality? She’s so smart she doesn’t need to play political games. She’s a highly skilled influencer…her results do the talking. She’s a strategic thinker. She shapes powerful cultures. She inspires and motivates her people in ways that transform teams. If you’re sitting on a talent like that and not moving heaven and earth to elevate her, you’re not just failing her…you’re holding back the success of your entire business. Here’s what happens next: She may lose confidence. She may start to believe “maybe I’m not as good as I thought.” ‼️But make no mistake…she WILL leave. And if she’s smart, she’ll come to work with me. Where she’ll finally see her brilliance for what it is. She’ll claim her true value. And she’ll kick ass at a whole new level, in a business that actually deserves her. If you don’t act soon, she’ll walk. And when she does, she’ll take her brilliance, her strategic thinking, her ability to inspire and deliver…and she’ll transform another business instead. One that actually deserves her. 💥Back her. Recognise her. Elevate her. It’s the right thing for her. It’s the right thing for your business. And yes…as an added bonus, she’ll make you look like the leader who got it right!

Two years ago, I stepped into something completely new—building a life insurance business from 0 to 1. Before this, I had spent years in leadership roles, navigating the structured world of actuarial science, finance, and strategy. But at Acko Life, the rules were different. Unlike traditional setups where processes, playbooks, and legacy systems guide decisions, here we were faced with a blank slate—no product, no processes, no precedent. Besides, building insurance systems for policy administration, reinsurance, operations management, accounting and claims from scratch is not for the faint-hearted. I had to unlearn some things, learn many new ones and embrace a mindset where speed, adaptability and first principles thinking mattered more than past experience. This is where I had extensive help from Varun Dua, ACKO Founder. Here is what I realised: ✅ Decisions > Perfection: The need to move fast means there’s no room for analysis paralysis. Early on, we learned that making decisions, even with limited data, is better than waiting for the “perfect” answer. ✅ Iterate Relentlessly: What looks great on a whiteboard often fails in the real world. The best way to build? Launch → Learn → Adapt → Repeat. ✅ Consumer Obsession is Non-Negotiable: In a market where life insurance has remained largely unchanged for decades, we focused on understanding what consumers really want, not just what has always been done. The 5 Whys approach came in handy—digging deep to understand the real pain points instead of just treating symptoms. ✅ Conviction Matters: When you're creating something new, skepticism is inevitable. But belief in the problem you're solving and the impact you can create is what keeps you moving forward. ✅ No Job Descriptions in 0→1: At ACKO Life, I’ve been an actuary, strategic  planner, accountant, risk manager, salesperson, and customer advocate—all at once. In an early-stage build, you do whatever it takes to move things forward. ✅ Great Ideas Come from Everywhere: Not just from leadership or industry veterans, but from engineers, designers, customer service teams, and even casual conversations. The best solutions often come from unexpected places. ✅ The Small Wins Matter: In 0→1, you don’t always have big milestones to celebrate. The real sense of achievement comes from solving that one small problem—a friction point in the customer journey or an operational bottleneck—that earlier didn’t even appear to be a problem. The last two years have been challenging yet incredibly rewarding. 0→1 isn’t just about launching a product—it’s about creating momentum from Zero. As ACKO continues to challenge the status quo in insurance, I’m excited about what’s next. If you’ve been part of a 0→1 journey, I’d love to hear your experiences—what lessons stood out for you? #Leadership #StartupLife #Learning 

When in Doubt, Just Delete It? Corporate Climate Silence is Getting Louder 🌍🚨 According to a recent Financial Times investigation by Attracta Mooney and Susannah Savage, major U.S. corporations are quietly erasing climate commitments from public view. The report reveals that companies like Walmart, KraftHeinz, Meta, Ford Motor Company, and American Airlines have scrubbed or softened references to climate change from their websites. In some cases, bold pledges—like cutting emissions by 50% by 2030—have disappeared entirely. This isn’t happening in a vacuum. With political attacks on environmental policies intensifying, many companies are opting for "greenhushing"—downplaying or omitting sustainability efforts to avoid controversy. But of course, this makes perfect sense. After all, the election of Donald Trump has fundamentally altered the science of climate change and carbon emissions, right? Surely, CO₂ molecules now behave differently depending on who occupies the White House. 🤔🌱💨 (Okay, sarcasm over.) Here’s the real issue: erasing climate commitments doesn’t erase climate risks. 🔹 Investors are watching. The push for transparency in ESG reporting isn’t just about optics—it’s about long-term financial stability. Weakening climate targets today could mean increased regulatory scrutiny, shareholder activism, or even capital flight tomorrow. 🔹 Customers care. Greenwashing is bad. But greenhushing? It sends the message that a company’s commitment to sustainability is only as strong as the political winds allow. That’s a fast way to lose trust. 🔹 Employees are paying attention. Younger talent, in particular, prioritises sustainability. A quiet retreat on climate commitments could hurt not just a company’s brand, but also its ability to attract and retain top talent. Beyond the immediate reputational risks, this entire approach is staggeringly shortsighted. Climate change isn’t a PR issue—it’s a physical reality that will disrupt supply chains, displace populations, and drive economic instability. Pretending otherwise doesn’t change the science, it only delays the inevitable reckoning. And at its core, this is deeply disappointing. Corporate leadership isn’t just retreating from climate action; it’s demonstrating a complete moral failure. If a company’s sustainability strategy evaporates the moment political pressure rises, was it ever real in the first place? 🌎💔 What do you think? Are we entering an era where businesses retreat on sustainability—not just in words, but in actions too? 🔗 Full article here: https://lnkd.in/egngPgqw #ClimateRisk #ESG #CorporateResponsibility #Greenhushing #Sustainability

The climate crisis demands corporate leadership rooted in science, transparency, and accountability. ExxonMobil’s latest manoeuvres, as reported by the Financial Times, suggest the opposite: strategic delay dressed up as progress. Nothing new here as the company has been accused of burying climate science and funding misinformation. A few points from the FT article that should trouble anyone serious about decarbonisation: - Continued capex bias toward oil and gas while low-carbon investment remains a rounding error. If your business model hinges on expanding fossil supply, you’re not aligned with a 1.5°C pathway—full stop. - Overreliance on future “silver bullets” (CCS, offsets) to justify today’s emissions. CCS has an important role for very hard-to-abate emissions, but it cannot be a fig leaf for expanding upstream. - Framing demand as the immovable constraint. Demand is shaped by policy and innovation: heat pumps, EVs, efficiency, and clean power are scaling faster and cheaper than legacy forecasts predicted. Markets move when policy clarifies the trajectory. - Litigation and lobbying strategies that undermine climate accountability.

The Hidden Cost of Losing Women in Sales This happened with one of my early clients. They hired a fantastic woman in their sales team. She was sharp, driven, and knew how to close deals like a pro. They invested in training her, introduced her to key clients, and she started delivering results. Then, just when she was about to hit her peak… poof! She resigns. Now, let’s rewind and add up the damage: The cost of hiring and onboarding her? Gone. The pipeline she was building? Stalled. The relationships she nurtured? Left hanging. Your dream of increasing diversity in leadership? Slightly crushed. And here’s the bigger problem—she didn't leave because she was not good at her job. She left because she didn’t see a future for herself in sales. The truth is #womeninsales aren’t walking away because they lack skills. 💡 They leave because they lack role models, support, and a roadmap to leadership. 💡 they see fewer women at the top 💡 struggle with workplace biases 💡 often don’t get a mentor who identifies with their challenges Meanwhile, companies scratch their heads wondering why their diversity numbers refuse to budge. Retention is not a "nice-to-have"; it’s a business strategy. Sales teams with more women perform better with women having 11 % higher win rates and an average deal size 5000 $ higher than men. But - only if they stay long enough to lead. So, I would like to ask you: What is your company doing to keep its talented women in sales? Let’s talk about real solutions before your best talent walks out the door—again. #retentionmatters #diversityinsales #salesleadership

🧾 The cost of being seen isn’t the same for everyone. For women, it’s a "Surchage" no one talks about. 👩 Take Ling, a regional sales director. When she speaks up in strategy meetings, she’s told to “be mindful of her tone.” When she stays quiet, she’s labeled “not strategic enough.” It’s not a leadership gap. It’s a cost-benefit calculation, rigged against her. 👩 Meet Rina, a product lead. She’s built three go-to-market launches. Each one a success. But when promotion time comes, her boss says: “You’re doing great. Let’s not disrupt the team dynamic.” Her competence became the excuse to keep her contained. 👩 And then there’s Julia, a COO candidate. She’s been asked to mentor the next generation of women leaders. But no one’s sponsoring her to be the next CEO. 👉 Because championing others is celebrated. Championing yourself gets complicated. But the problem is, the system charges women extra for the power move: • Speak up? Pay the “too aggressive” tax. • Stay humble? Pay the “forgettable” fee. • Stay silent? Pay with your career.    ⚙️ So how do you stop overpaying for power? You fix it by changing the cost structure. Here are 4 strategic power moves to change the terms: 1️⃣ 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗸𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲. Most women try to optimize for comfort: "How can I be visible without making anyone uncomfortable?" Wrong question. Ask: "What does this room need to believe about me to attach power to my name?" Then behave in a way that enforces that belief, consistently! 2️⃣ 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀, 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁. Workhorses get thanked. Strategists get promoted. Shift the conversation from "how hard you worked" to "what changed because of you." Make people dependent on your thinking, not your labor. 3️⃣ 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗶𝘁, 𝗕𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗢𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗺. When women lead, people often don’t know how to process it. So they fill in the blanks, with assumptions. Don’t let the room guess. Tell them why you’re doing what you’re doing. Say 👉 "I’m recommending this because it moves us closer to the long-term goal." 👉 "I’m raising this because keeping quiet will cost us more later." 4️⃣ 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗼𝗼𝗺’𝘀 𝗠𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘆, 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁. Decisions about you happen in rooms you’re not in. Those rooms won’t remember your to-do list, they’ll remember the shortcut version of you. Make sure the phrase people repeat about you is a power narrative, not a service narrative. Keen to own your narrative? 📅 Join our online workshop on July 24th 7:30 to 9pm SGT 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗕𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗮𝘁 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸 👉 https://lnkd.in/gVT2Y59Q 👈 For women who are done paying extra just to be in the room. 👊 Because if you keep paying the power tax quietly, you’ll be subsidizing other people’s promotions forever.

"The Global Fashion Summit, which is typically dominated by large brands offering up a relentlessly optimistic prognosis on the industry’s climate efforts, was unusually downbeat this year... To be sure, advocates for a greener, kinder fashion industry have quietly acknowledged that the movement was struggling for a while. But they held out hope that moves to toughen up regulation would keep forcing things forward. This year, that has all but evaporated," writes Sarah Kent for The Business of Fashion following last week's event. It would be lying to say this wasn't a really visceral feeling in Copenhagen this year. It was a sombre affair with a lot of talk about regulatory rollbacks, team cuts and Trump's tariffs. There were also a lot of people noticeably absent, which Sarah puts down to "squeezed travel budgets and fear (few executives appeared willing to weigh in on an increasingly politically charged topic where there is little positive to say". Her story is, I feel, a really important read right now. While we clamour on about action over conversation, even the conversation about action is getting tough when the environment in which we're operating is under so much pressure. https://lnkd.in/gr-gBBdU Rather than just a pessimistic post, however, I want to point to another piece in BoF last week by Maxine Bédat, which is so central to addressing all of this. "Dear Fashion CEOs, Stop Undermining Climate Action" she calls for in her Op-Ed. https://lnkd.in/gwNCuj22 "In a period of economic and political uncertainty, businesses are stepping back, greenhushing and deprioritising climate programmes. It is clear change won’t come without political support. Real climate leadership from brands means recognising this, speaking out and calling for regulatory change. Instead, many trade groups — including those that represent brands with publicly progressive climate policies — are actively lobbying to undermine tougher environmental regulations, leaning into the political narrative that stiffer oversight is bad for business," she writes. She calls for the industry to not only navigate the turbulence but show up in the storm and lead. The adoption of the French fast fashion bill this week, even in the face of huge lobbying against it, is a ray of light showing that it CAN be done. #sustainablefashion #policy #advocacy #lobbying #sustainability Pictured: On stage at GFS talking "reimagining product realities" exploring how textile waste can not only be addressed and reduced, but valorised. Huge kudos especially to Yayra Agbofah from THE REVIVAL in Ghana for just massively calling out how our flooding of such second hand markets is a failure of the system we're in, not to mention how many solutions are already in action in the Global South if we are willing to work together on them.