"Presently my focus is on growing MiQ India"- Ramya Parashar, COO, MiQ

Ramya Parashar, COO, MiQ talked about herself in the Women Power column on DQ Channels. 

What are the challenges of being a woman executive in a top role?

The number of women in leadership positions is increasing today, more than ever. The steady increase in numbers indicates that women leaders are trustworthy, accountable, and powerful. Yet, in terms of gender diversity, there is plenty of space for change in boardrooms around the world. I believe all leadership positions have a number of challenges but there are specific challenges reserved only for women.

When I first moved into the role of Leadership, improving my network was the last thing on my mind. Cultivating coalitions is so important! The main problem I faced was taking time out for networking: Prioritising the hours to guide my team through a major upgrade of the production process, thinking about strategic issues, and devising an execution plan were on top of my mind. Meanwhile, there were day-to-day issues to resolve. The only way I could carve out time and still get home to my family at a decent hour was to lock myself—in the office. 

Networking to me was a luxury that I felt I could not afford. However, I soon realised that exchanges and interactions with a diverse array of current and potential stakeholders are not distractions from my “real work” but are actually at the heart of new leadership roles. While women can build an environment of female empowerment and many female leaders make a conscious effort to build a community of women who can benefit from mutually advantageous relationships, women in entry-level, junior, and middle management do not feel they are in the position to build valuable bonds.

The three distinct but interdependent forms of networking that help any individual are operational, personal, and strategic have played a vital role in my transition.

• The first helped me manage current internal responsibilities,
• The second boosted my personal development, and
• The third opened my eyes to new business directions and the stakeholders that could help me

My networking capabilities get boosted through being self-aware, developing strong perceptive skills and knowing how to enlist people and groups together when required/necessary. We must find new ways of defining ourselves and develop new relationships to anchor and feed their emerging personas. We must also accept that networking is one of the most important requirements of new leadership roles and continue to allocate enough time and effort to see it pay off.

Could you please walk us through your Educational Background?

A graduate in Electronics, I am a certified Digital Business Strategist and Organisational performance expert from IIM Bangalore. I've steered the technology, operations, and business applications divisions at many global organisations such as JCPenney and FireEye. Apart from that, I've also held various leadership roles in the technology industries, leading Talent and Operations functions in companies like Unisys and Monsanto.

Tell us something about your Family.

I am the only daughter of my parents and do not have siblings but am surrounded by lots of cousins.

I have been married for 15yrs and live in a joint family, which keeps me grounded. My husband heads the Technology vertical in JC Penney, prior to his stint in VMWare and NetApp. I'm also a mother of 10yr old twins (a boy & a girl), who are quite a handful but the joy has been ineffable!

My husband, mother and mother-in-law have had a huge influence on my life. They have not only allowed me to pursue my ambitions but always stood by me through the process! They have not only been selfless but strong in pushing me to grow and pursue my ambitions and dreams!

Working in the Male-dominated IT field. Does a Glass ceiling exist?

Some argue that the glass ceiling is more of a societal blocker than an individual barrier. Still, others argue that corporate culture or organisational barriers are to blame. While these barriers significantly vary from organisation to organisation, they can create a huge roadblock preventing women from advancing to top management. 

One of the roadblocks I faced was sensitising the larger male population - Women are often judged as being too hard, too soft, and never just right. Moving into the role of Leadership meant that I spend part of every day repeatedly proving that I too can lead. This needed effort to work twice as hard as my counterparts and not have an advocate. During my early days in the Director role, the opportunity to lead the entire Business Applications vertical and different portfolios within it from India came with tons of learnings but also an opportunity to build a strong foundation for teams to easily scale for the long term.

Becoming more aware of your strength primarily emanates from the choices women are likely to make at different stages of the life cycle. Men and women think differently, and obviously, have varying perspectives. However, getting rid of wrong notions and perceptions, and learning to interact from the place of support and not from the place of threat drives better business results.

Overcoming the challenges through transparent and candid conversations with leaders, documenting the goal of the project, sharing widely the success criteria of the project, and sharing examples of vulnerable situations widely drive more faith and brings more allies. This project and insight dashboard went on to deliver around $3M of Cost Savings through the Implementation of various Processes and Technological Transformation!

What are your hobbies?

I have always been inclined towards fitness. I love exercising, more than a hobby, it has become an important part of my lifestyle! During leisure, I love abstract painting, it relaxes my mood and empowers my creativity.

What are your future plans?

Presently my focus is on growing MiQ India at par with global stature, where we will be the one-stop solution for all branding queries for our Indian clients. To gain more visibility of the brand among key stakeholders and at the same time attract like-minded people. In the long run, I would like to have a start-up of my own in the areas of Neuroscience linked to People Analytics.

What does a Workday look like for you?

One of my favourite parts of my job—and what drew me to apply to this one—is that there is no true ‘typical’ day. Generally, on a day when there are no big meetings or presentations, I start my morning by catching up—reading and, if necessary, responding to my email and direct messages and checking in with my direct reports. I try to do any creative work mid-morning when I can—whether that’s brainstorming new ideas or helping someone on my team or other departments with out-of-the-box solutions etc. Also, to account for our remote teams, I usually spend most of that time in meetings and use any breaks to grab lunch. Depending on what time I’m done with that, I usually spend the remainder of my day on focused work with commercial leaders and product meetings.

In summary, a typical workday for me would look like meeting with people leaders, discussing teams’ progress over the month/ quarter, meeting with a few ICs, enhancing operational efficiencies, driving top-quartile business problem-solving capabilities, being in the forefront with commercial and Product teams to fuel greater market/ customer connect for our Center of Excellence in India.

High-Five:

1) Your Fitness Mantra.

Even though stress has adverse effects on our life, we still deny admitting it. I'm a big believer in planning your day. Few things that I do:

• Following a routine - Always make a point to follow a regime. A routine provides a structured and organised way of living. When our daily routine is well structured, we can utilize our day in a better way.
• Waking up early - I'm a 4 am club person. As the saying goes, "early to bed and early to rise, makes a man, healthy wealthy and wise". Waking up early is not just healthy for your body but is also beneficial in improving mental health.

2) Your De-stressing Mantra -

‘Stress’ usually has negative connotations, but not all stress is bad stress. If we didn’t experience stress, we wouldn’t be motivated to achieve anything. The new science of stress reveals that how we think about stress matters. For me, my de-stressing mantra has been to go for a run and just enjoy the 'ME' time

3) Where do you like to shop?

Never had one place in mind. I'm a regular at Fendi

4) Your favourite holiday destination?

I have a laundry list. But will keep it to the Top 3

• Santorini - Greece
• Tahiti
• Turks & Caicos

5) Five things you cannot live without?

• My Family
• My Workout/ fitness regime
• Caffeine
• Shopping
• Hope - The Word of God