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The Smart Techie was renamed Siliconindia India Edition starting Feb 2012 to continue the nearly two decade track record of excellence of our US edition.

April - 2009 - issue > Women in IT

Behind a Successful Woman Executive…

Jaya Smitha Menon
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Jaya Smitha Menon
Glass ceiling is perhaps just a cliché today. The term ‘glass ceiling’, coined by The Wall Street Journal some 20 years ago, till recently saw researchers debating on why women seldom reach the highest ranks in business. Do women choose less stressful jobs so they can enjoy life more? Are they shut out of golf games and other informal networks that help men make crucial professional contacts? But what we witnessed at SiliconIndia Women 2.0 summit were a group of distinguished leaders in the industry who have defied the above-mentioned conventional thoughts, and another group that is set to prove the ‘glass ceiling’ theory wrong. Seeing them one really wonders whether the proverbial glass ceiling really exists?

The emergence of women leaders in organizations around the world has changed the working environment in the management of even the most male-dominated firms. The changing demographics in the labor force reinforces this trend and will continue to do so over the next decade. So, are the rules being rewritten by the new women leaders? And beyond the organizational policies and practices that help women advance in their career, what does it take women to obtain ‘C-level’ opportunities?

Stepping Up and Developing the Leader in You
They tell you all the time that you have to be a leader to have any success in this industry, but no one ever really explains how to become a leader that people want to follow. So what does it take to step up and develop the leader in you? “Leadership is not something you acquire overnight. It is a process that takes time to develop. As a woman, to become a leader the first thing one needs to do is to break away from certain myths,” feels Archana Handa, Director, Corporate Communication.

She identifies 7 different myths that women mostly build in them.
* Career means sacrifices.
* My situation is different; I have to work within boundaries.

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