Mysore: At the virtual Roundtable discussion on “Inspiring Women to Lead” organized by SDMIMD and CII Mysuru Women Network Forum on February 28, Supriya Salian, Vice-Chairperson, CII Mysuru, spoke on the collaborative leadership style demonstrated by women leaders during the pandemic and the positive impact it has had on countries and organizations. She emphasized the need for industry and academia to deliberate on the ways to bring in more women into leadership positions. The event began with the welcome address by Dr N. R. Parasuraman, Director, SDMIMD, who stated that at SDMIMD every year efforts are on to increase the number of girl students and highlighted that over the last few years majority of the gold medalists have been ladies.
The panel consisted of Pavan Ranga, Chairman, CII Mysuru & CEO, Rangsons LLP, Sukumar Rangachari, Past Chairman, CII Mysuru, Saraswati K S, Senior Project Manager, L&T Infotech Ltd, and Puja Mehra, Journalist and Author. Dr Neetu Ganapathy, Associate Professor, SDMIMD, moderated the discussion in which various issues such as the barriers to women in leadership, leadership traits in women and steps that can be taken to inspire women to lead were raised.
Ranga was of the firm belief that women are increasingly important in building organizations as they make excellent mentors, and the future relies on mentor leadership rather than authoritarian leadership. He also stated that organizations should choose women to lead because of their competence and not their gender. The panelists agreed that women need to be focused, build the required competencies and be courageous. Roopa Rao, Convenor, CII Mysore Women Network Forum, emphasized the necessity of welcoming new possibilities for the desired change in organizations and society. Deepashree Narendran, Co-Convenor, CII Mysore Women Network Forum, delivered the vote of thanks. The session was attended by Dr S. N. Prasad, Deputy Director SDMIMD, faculty, staff, alumni, and members of CII. Rachana M, a student, SDMIMD, compered the event.
