You can’t fake excellence, you have to really invest in it: Archana Gulia

We, at Adgully, have always saluted and honoured women managers and leaders across diverse fields. W-SUITE is a special initiative from Adgully that has been turning the spotlight on some of the most remarkable women achievers in the M&E, Advertising, Marketing, PR and Communications industry. In the refurbished series, we seek to find out how women leaders have been managing their teams and work as well as how they have been navigating through the toughest and most challenging times brought about by the global pandemic.

In conversation with Adgully, Archana Gulia, Chief Creative Officer, ODN, makes an interesting comparison between leadership and motherhood, she also stresses on the importance of financial literacy for women, and much more.

How do you think the role and scope of women leaders have widened in the current market ecosystem?

The current business ecosystem in India is not gender-biased, at least by the looks of it. With government schemes, financial institutions' support and a positive change in the outlook of society, on the whole, make these the best times ever for women entrepreneurs to explore their business acumen. Women are able to lead by example in the whole game of multi-tasking and stability using support from external growth as well as the family.

What has been your major learning from the pandemic period?

The pandemic has taught the world to slow down, to listen, and to see more. And that makes us appreciate what we have, and to go deeper than wider. You can’t fake excellence. You have to really invest in it for your audience to buy it. Make a promise and stand by. And once you have understood that, the world is yours. To ‘up-philosophize’ this, businesses, brands, and ideas that have a genuineness about them, or have been designed with honesty keeping the consumer/client on top, will work better. So, being honest with myself and my world and making my living out of it has been my learning.

What is your mantra for maintaining a successful work-life balance in the new normal? According to you, what makes women the best in crisis management?

I don’t believe in balances, I don’t believe in separateness. I think success lies in the unification – of your lives, in making your work your home. In making an ecosystem so your family and work life are complementary to each other. Reducing distances, getting help, and using tools and gadgets to make life easy. In being realistic and fair to oneself and the world.

Women are better at crisis management as they are biologically tuned to handle crises month on month. We are natural builders, much like ants that are sharp, can work hard and never stop the efforts of building/ raising something to achieve its peak. 

What are the five most effective leadership lessons that you have learned?

• Financial literacy is imperative. 
• Leadership is not assumed, it is worked hard for. The team needs to see you as a leader for you to be effective and that takes a lot of honesty and empathy.
• Practice what you preach - Keeping your word, being punctual, motivating teams, being a positive influence etc.
• Leadership doesn't end at 7 in the evening. It's like motherhood, you need to look after your teams at all times.
• Approachability is extremely underrated as a virtue. You can solve the puzzle of success only when teams can talk to you.

Gender sensitivity and inclusion in the new normal – how can organisations effectively encourage and groom women leaders in challenging times?

This I realised upon becoming a mother. I realised how important it is to enable women to manage their personal responsibilities so they can deliver their best. Whether it is in cashless family medical covers or timely increments or ensuring they are safe in their travel, providing them with crèches for their children, helping them take courses on money management, in taking them seriously, in making them heard. All of it and more. The burden of history and the disparity that women have experienced will take a lot of care and special attention to be forgotten.