"What also helped was the trusted network of resources – the experts and advisors – I could access, who guided and helped me navigate the situation. They took my calls and they stepped in when we needed them"

"The work we do is driven by our conviction to drive meaningful transformation by harnessing the power of inclusive education"

"These women get married, have a family—it’s why they leave"

"We believe in depth, not breadth—at any given time, we’re only touching maybe 10,000 students. A lot of people say that we could be touching so many more lives, but you can’t touch that many lives if you’re trying to make a leader"

"Such moments have been part of our evolution. Back in the 70s when the calculator came, everybody was scared and thought that children didn’t need to learn math. Then, we evolved the system of using them (along with students learning math). A few generations later came the search engine. Everybody was looking at information online and there was a certain evolution that took place there too. Then came the iPod and after that shortly came the iPhones and everything was available at fingertips. It evolved and helped consumers"

"There will be some jobs that will go through a certain evolution, in the world of generative AI. However, there will be new jobs that will be created. If some companies are reducing headcount, it’s perhaps for a certain segment of jobs, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that opportunities will reduce. I think it will grow"

"We have to plug the gap and bring them back without treating it as lost time"

"These children have been phenomenal in the amount that they’ve developed. And hopefully in my lifetime, one of the VidyaGyan students will be the prime minister of India – that would be exciting"

"Many women directors tell me it hasn't been easy but they are enjoying it. And in many instances, men have been very encouraging - which is a good sign"

"Women feel more guilt as compared to men while taking that decision. At the core of it all is guilt. Women need more support systems"

"And finally, one has to have fire in the belly and a strong desire to succeed – without that you don’t get anywhere"

"My daughter may be the greatest looking thing on Earth, but you can’t spend 18 hours a day looking at her. It’s also social conditioning that makes you feel that the baby needs you. I figured out that the baby doesn’t even need you. They just need someone to wash them and take care of them"

"I can’t say to you, “I live in a country of 1 billion and I’m touching 2 million or 3 million lives.” We don’t have fancy numbers to show, but I think we concentrate on depth of philanthropic impact and not breadth"

"The evolution and leadership transition started almost 15 years before it happened. We have had three CEO transitions and two CFO transitions in that period. Such changes prepare the board. When he transitioned out of the board, I had already been on it since 2013. I have been working at HCL since 2008. When he transitioned out of the company as chairperson, he completely left the organisation and the board. That was a mark of a mature organisation and of trust"

"So government should do what they do, and philanthropists should continue to act independently, too, but there are also many opportunities for them to work together through public-private partnerships"

"May be because I never really faced them. I come from an environment where you are treated as an individual — you do what you have to do"

"So I have no nice story to tell you about how I overcame anything"

"We do more work for global clients out of India"

"During my stint in the corporate world, I have always felt men are better than women at marketing themselves. Thats why women need that little extra support"

"In 2020, pre covid, there was talent in the big cities. There were centres in the likes of Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad and Noida among others. The evolution post covid is that a lot of talent is now spread across the smaller cities. We are struggling to get people back at work as a lot of people want to work remotely for reasons like bigger cities are more expensive to stay in"

"Have a little faith in young daughters, they are not too bad"

"HCL does a lot more on semiconductor design and works with organisations from all over the world. I was in Taiwan last year and I met with leaders of companies. Yes, it’s got the might but one of the leaders rightly pointed out that it took them 40 years to get there. So much of it had to do with the way skills evolved. We (India) have catching up to do, but technology will shrink that time of catching up. Investment in R&D and skills can’t be spearheaded by industries alone"

"With generative AI, it’s impacting the individual and helping in all walks of life. We are figuring out a way to evolve with it. The skills take a while to catch up. Our educational institutions also have a lot of catching up to do. Skills around data engineering, cyber security, and IoT (the Internet of Things) will have to evolve. Educational institutions have to start this if India has to stay ahead"

"Within the top 200 leaders of our company—out of 120,000 employees—we don’t have a single woman leader"

"India is the technology talent hub of the world. It also helps global companies achieve diversity goals as the country produces the highest STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) talent in the world when it comes to females. Unfortunately, if you look at the data, it’s declining, but it’s still the largest number in the world"

"So we asked ourselves, if we want a female CEO in a decade, what steps do we need to take to get there"

"The steppingstone for building a great leader is getting a great education"

"HPCL's refinery is hardly 80 km from the border at Bhatinda, Punjab, and another one is coming up in Barmer, but the decision would have to be taken at the diplomatic level"

"With a larger pool of women executives, you will see more women on boards of not only energy companies but across the public sector"

"Vasudeva is a thorough professional and ambitious executive"

"You must not expect positive differentiation, she says. You should be ready to do what men do, if you are competing for the same position. If the job requires 15-20 days' travel a month, you should be ready"

"I have certainly not felt it. But we cannot declare victory and women should continue to remain focused"

"In the last few years, I have taken the IBM story to many industries beyond telecom - banking, financial services and insurance, industrial and retail segments"

"It has defined my IBM career. It helped me lay a foundation - you respect the industry of your client and sometimes, the client is your best teacher"

"Apart from a job in a department store, IBM is my only job. It was the only place where I wrote a professional resume and was interviewed"

"Now, there is no looking back, because I have realised that I can be challenged and be very happy in any job"

"By January, we will start operating as a single company"

"We have taken on 23,000 people, in addition to the 62,000 that we had. This has taken our combined strength to 85,000"

"I really believe that entrepreneurship is about being able to face failure, manage failure, and succeed after failing"

"Innovation and commerce are as powerful tools for creating social progress as they are for driving technological advancement"

"We have a huge opportunity to build a very large business"

"Even in the U.S. now, the adoption of biosimilars is becoming far greater because health care costs are spiraling out of control, and anything you can do to rein in costs is going to be very important"

"Just because we cannot afford human insulin, we are having to use animal insulin, so let me do something about it"

"I have always believed that successful businesses thrive on great human relationships, which are formed through collaborations and extend out into personal and professional networks. Very often, strong personal networks lead to robust professional relationships"

"I was totally unprepared for the gender bias that a young woman had to face for daring to start a business in the male-dominated society of India of the 1970s. But, actually, my experience did not make me change my belief that knowledge doesn’t discriminate on the basis of gender, and a woman can achieve anything if she puts her mind to it"

"I call myself an accidental entrepreneur"

"That is what then gave me the raison d’être to focus on biopharmaceuticals"

"My life’s work has been focused on building a new model of innovation that adds the condition of affordability to ensure accessibility. I have successfully challenged the Western world’s existing model of pharmaceutical innovation, which leads to the creation of monopolistic markets for novel, life-saving drugs that deliver high margins at low volumes"

"My big idea is to marry affordability and access to ensure that we leverage innovation to develop affordable, cutting-edge therapies for chronic diseases. I am on a mission to make a global impact by ensuring affordable access to healthcare"