Today, Tuesday March 8, 2022 is International Women's Day (IWD.)

Today I want to celebrate IWDwith my colleagues and women leaders in corporate world. For me, IWD is not only about corporate posts and hashtags. Corporations do have significant influence on society, and have a role to play, but there are women who are not part of the corporate world.

Today I want to celebrate IWD with the best leader that I know. My mother. She had a master's degree in mathematics from Mumbai University. She was also highly trained performing artist of Indian classical music (vocal).

She declined multiple career opportunities to focus on the family. I have worked with some incredible women leaders in corporate life, but whatever I know about leadership is something I learned from my mother.

She possessed a rare combination of logical thinking and creativity. She was very knowledgeable person, and here are a few things I learned from her.

Knowledge is power: She showed me by example, that a leader needs to be well informed. She had excellent understanding of a wide variety of areas such as history, politics, literature (both English and Marathi), local and international Cinema, foreign policies, economics and social issues. She could talk to anyone at length about wars, world leaders, music, and cricket with the same authority! There is no substitute for knowledge.

Past, present and future: Having a good understanding of history, with command on the present and an eye on the future, is something I learned from her.

Humility is the best option: She was humble and grounded, but could be very assertive and firm when needed. She was proud of her achievements, and was a confident person. She was never overconfident; always down to earth. When we used to come across not so humble people, she used to tell us "even big empires vanished..."

Humour helps: She always maintained her sense of humour. She always believed that humour helps us deal with very difficult situations.

Integrity is necessary: She always showed integrity in every situation while dealing with every person.

People skills: At the end of the day, how you treat people matters the most. Every person who did any work for her, or was as a vendor, respected her upfront, rational but compassionate approach. She invested in people without expectations of any returns. She changed many lives, and people who worked for her or interacted with her used to come to meet her again after many years or even decades.

The brief period she ran the brilliant business idea envisioned by my father, demonstrated she could use all her skills in a formal business setting too. My father used to proudly say that my mother ran the business much better than him. My mother has significant impact on my personal and professional life. I am still amazed by her knowledge, vision and leadership. The impact she made on me, our family and every person she interacted with, is immense. The little success that I have got in my life, is only because of her.

Kudos to women who lead to make this world a much better place every day, without having corporate designations or holding formal powerful positions. Unfortunately, women with no corporate presence or formal positions face bias and discrimination. It's 2022, and stereotypes still exists. Unfortunately, today's world still doesn't have gender equality. I pledge to continue to take action today and everyday. If I am able to take a big step, it's great, but I can certainly take small steps every day. I love to mentor, and I will mentor girls and women. We have many local women owned businesses, which I can and will support. This day is to remind me what I need to do every day. Happy International Women's Day !

Amarendra 'Amar' Ghanekar MS PMP CISA

#InternationalWomensDay #IWD #BreakTheBias