Vaishali Kasture, my hero: GHCI’18❤
Side note: I was lucky enough to attend GHCI’18 as one of the WIT-GHCI scholars and I’ll always be thankful to AnitaB.org and the Rethink Foundation for making that possible. It took me quite a while to actually write this article but I’m glad that it’s turned out the way I wanted it to, more importantly, I hope it gives the readers some food for thought.
I rushed out to call my mom right after Vaishali’s talk got over. I had to thank her for persuading me to travel to Bangalore for GHCI despite my initial apprehensions due to my hectic exam schedule.
Vaishali Kasture spoke on the first day of GHCI during the keynote. At that point I didn’t know how the other days of GHCI would turn out but I knew because of that one talk, the effort of taking a 10 hour bus ride to travel to another city and jeopardize my grades was absolutely worth it.
I must admit I knew nothing about her when she came on stage, but after her talk, all I could do was rave about her to everyone I met that day. I was so inspired that I went back and read up about her for a little longer than I would publicly like to admit. Right from her two adorable golden retrievers to her dedication towards fitness there is nothing that one could possibly dislike about her.
In retrospect, I feel what made her stand out that day wasn’t how well she spoke or how confidently she communicated her thoughts, but rather it was her authentic advice and years of successful experience & expertise that vouched for her methodologies. There were several points and anecdotes in her talk that really made me sit up and think about things that wouldn’t ordinarily cross my mind. Here are a few of my takeaways from her talk :
- Equal Access: Don’t just hang out with people who are like you.
It’s human to enjoy being around people who are similar to you because you relate to them easily but you must actively make an effort to extend your communication channels to people who are different from you as well. Something as small as dropping in to your colleague or senior’s room to say hello just because you were passing by, makes a huge difference in making and strengthening relationships in the long run. - Communication styles: Recognize and eliminate your biases.
A lot of our thoughts and decisions are shaped by the biases we inherit over the years from our society and culture. Biases are very deep rooted, essentially they’re things that our grandmothers teach us while growing up. Thus it’s very important to notice them closely and make a conscious effort to get rid of the ones that are baseless. The American proverb ‘“The squeaky wheel gets the grease” is in stark contrast to the popular Japanese phrase “The nail that sticks out gets hammered down”. - Raise your hand: Don’t shy away.
If you feel like you deserve something, whether it is time from your manager to discuss a new idea or an issue that is bothering you or even to ask for a raise, don’t hold yourself back. Immediately reach out and communicate. - Elevator pitch: What’s your brand?
How would you introduce yourself to a stranger at a cocktail party or in a meeting? What is it that you want them to know about you or remember you by? To be able to articulately answer these questions you need clarity about what you stand for, your accomplishments and goals. All of these things together make your brand. - Networking: Not about having 20,0000 LinkedIn connections
Unlike popular belief, networking is not about the number of people you know. It is the subtle art of getting to know people better regardless of the number. It’s a two way process, what you want out of it and how you can help in return, both go hand in hand. - Optimism: People look at the leader to get a sense of what is going on
Whenever there’s turbulence on a flight, the passengers look at the stewardess to understand the situation. If she’s calm and composed, they assume it’s a minor inconvenience and it’ll be over soon. Thus in higher leadership positions it’s very important to keep your calm no matter what the current situation looks like. Optimism is a force, use it. - Me time: Invest in yourself .
Focus on your health. Both mental and physical health are equally important. Work to build a strong infrastructure at work and home.
She ended her talk with one of the most memorable one-liners that left most of the audience in splits.
There is a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women — Madeleine Albright
As an undergraduate student seated in the audience that day, I found myself craving for the clarity and confidence with which she spoke. I also couldn’t help but envision the day when I would probably stand in front of a large gathering and fearlessly share my own experiences.
It was a real treat to hear her. It’s women like Vaishali who keep us going and motivate us to work harder & strive for everything that we desire to achieve. Walking out of BIEC at the end of Day 1 of GHCI, I was ten times more committed to my work and I can’t thank her enough for that. I know now whenever I’m feeling low or start to lose faith in my abilities after a bad day at work, I’ll have her talk to come back to and remind me of why I started in the first place❤
Ps: huge shout out to my best friend, for helping out with editing this post :)
