Businesswomen From India

"I set out to assist two amazing filmmakers Sai Paranjpye and Kalpana Lajmi, both torchbearers of qualitative cinema. Through them I had a solid foundation to understand cinema and its intricacies. With Sai Paranjpye I learnt to use everyday humour, and with Kalpana Lajmi I learnt how to envisage a grand mise-en-scène. (After completing a course in film appreciation at FTII Pune)"

"Kalpana was an amazing raconteur, who brought any incident or story to life in front of your eyes. It was visual, you could sense it and taste it. A passionate person, who had a great sense of humour and enjoyed laughing at herself and her own foibles. She was a people’s person and loved to make friends. She filled the room with laughter and positivity. (As to how the prolonged illness had not seriously dented Kalpana's vivacity till the end)"

"I am itching to get back to filmmaking. The industry has changed so much since I last directed a movie. Those days when my films like 'Ek Pal' and 'Rudaali' were so appreciated, now seem remote. We've gone from the era from Mahesh Bhatt to the era of Alia Bhatt. And I'm proud I know both of them as wonderful human beings. It's been a wonderful journey. I've enjoyed every minute of it. And I am not done as yet. (hopes of recovering from Kidney Cancer and returning to filmmaking after a long hiatus)"

"Bhupso (Kalpana endearingly addresses Hazarika as Bhupso) did offer to marry me two years ago, but I said no. May be he wanted to give me the status of wife, but I was not interested. For me, the relationship, the trust and the respect that we share with each other are more important than marriage. (discussing her unique relationship with Bhupen Hazarika)"

"Well, my kidneys have failed. I haven't (laughs). (discussing her Kidney Cancer)"

"What we really are looking for is self reliance and that is how we should measure success. I don’t much like the word empowerment, but self-reliance is the foundation of SEWA’s approach,."

"Microfinance is the best example of success in the kinds of systemic institutional areas."

"Systems are needed, for example for management, accounting, skill development and MIS to serve the needs of the working poor."

"Injustice happens at many levels, from the grass roots to the top. And one of the keys of SEWA’s vision and action is linking them."

"SEWA is about political action, and that has always been at the heart of what we have done. It is about changing the balance of power in favor of the poor. That has meant constant tension, with big farmers, moneylenders, contractors, big traders, government, local panchayats, and so on."

"The country is moving in a different direction, times have changed. But for me Gandhiji’s values are still the frame, still alive and valid."

"I am Hindu, and my activism is very much framed within that context, of karma as meaning action."

"[SEWA] have been doing many different things, leading the SEWA movement which is about economic freedom for the poor, women, and self employed."

"SEWA is now the largest union in India, with a membership of around 1.2 million women."

"[So], in 1972, we started SEWA, the Self Employed Women’s Association. SEWA in many respects is a microcosm of the general picture of the informal sector, in India and worldwide."

"Women predominate in the lower strata of employment."

"...as I worked with the unionized labor, of the much larger labor force that was outside the purview of the protective labor laws, of any form of social security, access to justice, access to financial services, anything. That tugged at my heart. And those people were unorganized and had no strength to act to seek remedies."

"We were rebuilding the nation, looking to a more just society. It was a time when many of us were going to the villages to live there. We were a generation that had no confusion in our minds as to how to do things. Gandhiji had shown the way. This atmosphere infused politics and the way we did things."

"I grew up in the time around India’s independence, in the aura of a country fighting for its freedom. It was a heady and idealistic time, and we were all infected with a spirit of optimism, and the spirit of Gandhiji."

"Through women, what exists and is real, what is traditional, historical, modern and cultural, given the opportunity, is upgraded. That is what the challenge to bring peace is about."

"…Poverty and violence are not God made, they are man made. Poverty and peace cannot coexist."

"…Inner peace is important, but I have always felt that living a daily life with peace is the end. So in reality individual peace and global peace are not separate. They are one and the same."

"Teachers do not care…It is not because teachers are badly paid and the teachers are organized but they do not teach. If we don’t respect them it is because we see them doing other business than teaching."

"realities of our own countries rather than catching up with the western economic models, [Bhatt urged] the people to follow a principle which ensures six basic necessities- food, shelter, clothing, primary education, primary healthcare and primary banking- are available within a 100 mile distance. If these necessities are locally produced and consumed, we will have the growth of a new holistic economy."

"...tribute to her unflinching zeal towards the betterment of women in society."

"So I go out and get milk. And when I come back, I’m hopping mad. I say, I had great news for you. I’ve just been named President of PepsiCo. And all you want me to do is go out and get milk"

"Reaching the top doesn’t mean having unchecked power — it means having full accountability. Leaders need dissenting voices to push them toward better solutions. I ask for feedback so my team feels comfortable telling me no, or an idea I have is bad, and when you open that door they storm right through :) And it’s all good"

"Being surrounded by people who challenge you isn’t easy, but it forces better decision-making. Being surrounded by yes men and women does not always make progress, if often gets the wrong job done"

"Accept, and seek out, people telling truths to power"

"Peak performance requires peak conditioning —we don’t tell professional athletes to work out four hours a week, why in the world would anyone think we could achieve great success in business with a four hour workweek? Be like Lionel Messi, do the work"

"The higher you go, it’s either up or out. People are waiting to knock you off the ladder"

"cannot have it all, and that the biological clock and the career clock are in total conflict with one another. Total and complete conflict"

"Being a CEO of a company is three full-time jobs rolled into one. How can you do justice to all? You can’t. The person that hurts the most with this whole thing is your spouse"

"There are consequences to the juggling"

"But if you don’t do that, if you don’t develop mechanisms with your secretary, with the extended office, with everyone around you, it cannot work"

"It’s seamless parenting"

"Have you done your homework"

"When you have to have kids you have to build your career. Just when you’re rising to middle management, your kids need you because they’re teenagers—they need you for the teenage years. And that’s the time your husband becomes a teenager too, so he needs you… Your parents need you because they’re aging. So we’re screwed, we have no hope, we cannot have it all. So you know what? Coping mechanisms. Train people at work. Train your family"

"I don’t think women can have it all. I just don’t think so. We pretend we have it all. We pretend we can have it all. My husband and I have been married for 34 years and we have two daughters. Every day you have to make a decision of whether you’re going to be a wife or a mother—in fact many times a day during the day you have to make those decisions. And you have to co-opt a lot of people to help you. We co-opted our families to help us. We plan our lives meticulously so we can be decent parents. But if you ask our daughters, I’m not sure they will say that I’ve been a good mom"

"As someone who has always aspired to build a company committed to its people and to the world, I admire her determination to achieve sustainability at an established company like Pepsi Co. And I believe that all socially responsible companies could learn from Indra Nooyi’s style of leadership."

"Indra can drive as deep and hard as anyone I have ever met, but she can do it with a sense of heart and fun."

"Nui is a different kind of CEO. He says her approach boils down to balancing the profit motive by making healthier snacks (in speech to the food industry, she pushed the group to tackle obesity), striving for a net zero impact on the environment and taking care of your workforce. She was one of the first executives to realize that the health and green movements were just not fads and she demanded true innovation."

"One such way was to do with her lifelong love of cricket. No one in this country (the US) followed the game, but they did follow baseball, another bat-and-ball sport. So she threw herself into baseball and into the local team, the New York Yankees, reading everything she could on the subject until she could comfortably talk about it."

"Her mother’s advice quoted in"

"Look, when you pull into the garage, leave the crown there. Don't walk in with it, because you are first a wife and a mother. And if the family needs milk, you go get the milk. That is your primary role in life. Everything else is what you acquired or what you got because I pray for four to five hours a day.' That is the only thing she tells me."

"We are not guided by elections. We are guided by potential of India. We are not waiting for any election results to invest in India. We are investing in India for its economic story."

"India needs to grow at 7 to 8 per cent to ensure full employment and we all will do our part to invest in India to make sure India achieves its growth potential."

"I have no comments on political situations. I speak as the CEO of a large multinational company. Countries like India should be successful for the long term because India needs growth."

"Our hope is that whosoever is in power, manages this country consistently for all the potential the country has."

"We are in a bit of a policy box and it's going to require us being willing to give up one of the two, which is it's okay to take on more deficits but lets put in some massive spending. Alternatively to say, 'we're going to go through structural unemployment for a while because we want to address deficits."