You don’t have to be a man to win in a man’s world: Taboola & IAMAI Panel

International Women’s Day is a global day that celebrates the numerous facets and accomplishments of women, who have played a significant role in their day-to-day lives to shape communities and history. On this occasion, Taboola and IAMAI hosted a panel discussion around ‘EmpowerHER: Women Leaders Share their Journeys’. This panel discussion aimed at bringing forth and signifying how women leaders paved their way across numerous domains, rose up their ladder, the challenges they faced, how did they break barriers, and became inspiration for other women.

I was the session chair for the panel discussion. The panelists were Kalli Purie, Vice Chairperson, India Today; Monaz Todywalla, CEO, PHD Media; Priti Murthy, President, GroupM and Suparna Singh, President, NDTV.

Chanan Fogel, Vice President – APAC, Taboola, gave opening remarks and stated that gender and equity is more than a women’s issue at Taboola. He further elaborated on Taboola’s 50% workforce being women and how Taboola continues to push its gender and diversity goals.

Opening the first part of the discussion, Kallie Purie, Vice Chairperson, India Today elaborated on the experiences that shaped her as a leader and stated, “Finding something you’re passionate about and loving what you do is key to being a good leader. The coronavirus pandemic was a turning point, where women had an advantage. It made us realize that women leaders are important because their intuitiveness and making decisions from the gut is different from how men work.”

Speaking from her personal experience that reflected her values, Suparna Singh, President, NDTV commented, “That there is nothing you can’t do provided you’re willing to put in the hard work.” She further highlighted how the presence of role models including her grandmother and mother had instilled in her the values to always work hard. 

Discussing whether women leaders can have it all, Priti Murthy, President, GroupM said, “It depends on how you define ‘all.’ We are slotting jobs for women that you have to have it all or not have at all. Definition is what boggles us down. To the young girls and future leaders, don’t get slaughtered by definitions and labels. I want to do things my way and what is comfortable to me.”

Elaborating on the lessons from her career, Monaz Todywalla, CEO, PHD Media commented, “One of the biggest lessons I learnt was to not overcompensate for being a woman. You are who you are and be your authentic self. A lot of young girls have false notions of what it means to be successful and having it all. It’s about prioritization. The second lesson is that you don’t need to ‘man up’. It is not a race of men versus women but having the right allies to help you in your personal and professional journey. You don’t have to be a man to win in a man’s world. Define your own world and success will come.”

Talking about the tips for women to be able to be present in a room full of men, Kallie Purie further added, “Women should stand up for themselves. The second thing that women do is they don’t ask for promotions, extra salary, extra job as compared to their male counterparts. Women should not feel shy and speak up for what you want.”

Speaking about her opinion around the common misconceptions and prejudices that people have about women at the workplace, Suparna elaborated, “One of the biggest stereotypes is that women look for opportunities to take each other down. But what I found out is that women love supporting each other. It is also very important to include men in these conversations.” Adding to the discussion around what involving men in the conversation Priti said, “I believe men are equally involved in the conversation. It is about those men who are not talking, they don’t need to feel shy. They’re also providing women with the opportunities to work flexibly and supporting them. That is what matters. The conversation is now moving into a diversity challenge and not a women’s challenge alone.”

“A bigger change needs to be seen at the board level. In many ways the direction that company follows comes from there. While companies tend to work with us, the board can tend to be biased in favor of men.” chimed in Suparna. Answering Sneha’s question on barriers faced as a woman leader, Monaz explained, “It is a personal bias that I had. I was in a mid-management role, and I thought being a leader meant being nice to people. As women we are expected to be nice to people. There is nothing wrong in demanding the highest professional standard from your team and being empathetic to your team at the same time.”

The panel concluded with a piece of advice for the audiences by each of the panelists. While advice and suggestions have been shared by numerous leaders, the need of the hour is to come together, take responsibility, and collective action to help overcome the existing barriers and build a better future for everyone.

 Sneha Karwat, Director of Agency Development, Taboola India

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