Ten women leaders of tourism in India share their management mantras, the challenges they faced and their vision for their organisations
My management mantra
I have always believed that whichever job I am in, when I leave that position I should have the satisfaction that I have made a difference to that role. And its all about teamwork. If you have good ideas everyone will support you. It is ‘shared success’. Prior to this role in tourism, I was with the Department of Environment and when I left, the department was buzzing with a lot of schemes for innovative and good sustainable development. All environment related schemes were uploaded online. I put everything in the public domain. Made it totally transparent. RTI queries came down by 80 per cent! So I believe in being fair and transparent and in leading by example.
Challenges as a woman leader
I have felt no different. I have never experienced any gender bias in my service so far. As for work life balance, I think women are better at multi-tasking. We are more balanced and can handle situations better. As for having a career, it’s a choice a woman has to make.
My vision for Maharashtra Tourism
I want to make Maharashtra the most important tourist destination in India. Mumbai has a natural advantage, being a prominent gateway into the country. The state receives the maximum number of foreign arrivals but most of them are business travellers who may make a short trip to Agra to see the Taj Mahal which is a must see icon for any visitor to India. But we want them to visit our Elephanta Caves or Ajanta Ellora as must visit tourism hotspots as well. So our aim is to make these travellers extend their stay to experience our tourism offerings. For that, we have to develop our tourism products as totally must-see destinations and we have to work on improving our infrastructure and connectivity.
– Valsa Nair Singh, Secretary Tourism & Cultural Affairs
Government of Maharashtra
(As told to Steena Joy)
My management mantra
1. Being in Government, the beneficiary group is huge and diverse. So, always think about society at large. Any procedural intervention, policy change should be decided keeping ‘mass’ in mind.
2. The volume of work to be handled at Govt level is huge as well. So, follow up constantly whether it’s for reports/ action from the subordinate offices or orders from the higher authorities.
Challenges as a woman leader
There have been instances when people don’t accept you enough. But I would say, such instances were very few in number. I have been lucky enough to have a very supportive family. However, I have had dilemmas of personal time and public life. I think women tend to have more issues on that front.
My vision for Kerala Tourism
The field is very competitive these days. There is a change in nature of the tourists, source markets, mode of information dissemination. Only if the infrastructure issues are addressed and marketing strategy planned out properly, one can survive. I wish to focus on development of basic amenities at the destinations taking into account the norms of sustainable development and making use of technology and innovation in marketing. Of course, increasing the numbers and lengthening the season, increasing the reach of Responsible Tourism would be of priority.
– Anupama T V, Additional Director (General), Kerala Tourism
(As told to Steena Joy)
My management mantra
I don’t have a mantra perse, but I keep different reminders depending on where I am in my life and what projects I am busy working on. Currently we are in the planning phase and I have a big reminder in my head: Big Insight will Kick Big Data Anyday. In the work that we do, it is so important to understand not only what people do, but also why they do it and what it means. I am an anthropologist by trade, and I am fascinated by the whole science of being human. I love the juxtaposing of data and intelligence and one of the big reminders that I have repeated constantly to our agencies, suppliers and others that we work with is that the plural of anecdote is not data. Feelings are not facts. It is a search to stay honest to rigours of the data, the incredible need to truly understand what it tells us.
Challenges as a woman leader
Management is what you do and leadership is who you are. A lot of the leadership challenges that women face come exactly from that: who we are. Sometimes that works for us, but very often, it creates additional obstacles. I am always surprised to find so few women in executive and board positions. My experience is that women in these positions act as shock absorbers, not amplifiers. I think the traditional exposure to gender specific roles enable women to work towards a mutual solution quicker without the required sense of acknowledgement that very often accompany these situations. I look at young women entering the workplace, as well as some of my peers, and very often it is not who they think they are that is holding them back, but who they think they are not. The same skill in guiding everybody in a room to a solution, sometimes allow us to settle for a comfort zone – and nothing great has ever happened in a comfort zone. Sometimes you have to court conflict. You have to ask the tough questions. You have to trust yourself and your reputation enough to ask the questions that you think could be considered ‘stupid’. If you think not asking will make it go away, that is another thing you are wrong about. We need to toughen up a bit sometimes!
For years media has always started women and workplace stories with questions about balance.How do you balance work and home, kids and responsibilities, etc. I found the question very odd – and not because it is never asked of men – but because who wants to live a life where everything is so perfectly balanced that you never have real highs, real lows? Life works in cycles – different things will ride the crests, will form the peaks and valleys on different hours, days and weeks. There is a freedom in choosing to live – and to accept and relish life’s highs and lows.
My vision for South African Tourism
I want South African Tourism to be the best destination management company in the world, from both a trade and consumer point of view. We want to be the thought leaders in destination marketing and for our relationship with the trade to be such that they are using us in order to spot choices they didn’t know they had. We want every single Indian to visit South Africa – and come back stating that it was the best trip and they cannot wait to go back. We work as a strong team and would like to be the employer of choice – THE destination marketing organisation to work for that allows the freedom to explore, to create and to be different – all within the confines of accountability and responsibility.
– Hanneli Slabber, Country Manager, India, South African Tourism
(As told to Steena Joy)
My management mantra
I firmly believe that if you look after your team well, they will look after the business. I have been a leader by example and have lead from the front, with examples and not just by direction. I try to keep a fine balance between giving freedom to the team and holding the reigns at the right time to make sure we are reaching the goal in the most effective fashion. Our team is our asset as we are a people driven organisation. We are in the people’s industry selling dreams and moments of happiness. We have to have a happy team to offer our clients the very best.
Challenges as a woman leader
Not really. I believe if you have made a choice to be a career woman, then the challenges are a part of the deal. From conducting tours as a tour manager with my 11 month old daughter in tow to overnights at the office – everything is possible. Yes, I would surely like to spend more time with my daughter and strike the perfect work-life balance. That is every working mother’s desire, I guess. However, there has never been a day when I said I want to give up. Nothing comes easy. You have to have the determination, discipline and devotion to give your best to your organisation.
My vision for Veena World
My dream is to make Veena World India’s best travel company and to be known for exemplary service across all segments. We have started once again and are confident to get there.
– Sunila Patil, Founder and Director, Veena World
(As told to Reema Lokesh)
My management mantra
I believe that empowering people to help achieve what they want to is the most satisfying part of my job. I firmly believe that employees form the base of any successful business model and as a leader I ensure that I give them the space to grow and at the same time I take out time to mentor them and help develop their strengths further. I also share a very transparent relationship with my senior management and encourage them to mentor their subordinates. As a leader it is important to create an environment of trust, positivity, recognition and communication. And most importantly, treating each individual with respect and showing them that you care. Another important view is to understand the perspective of the employees within your own organisation. if they fail, I believe in supporting them rather than blaming the failure on them. I am never afraid of making mistakes and learning from them. I am extremely passionate about my work and like to instill and cultivate the same passion in my employees. I envision and work towards building a organisational culture that encourages collaboration, sharing, interdependence, and team spirit. The work environment needs to be fair – benefits, resources, and workloads are fair and balanced.
Challenges as a woman leader
I have been fortunate enough to not have faced many challenges as a woman boss. The industry and Ezeego1 employees have welcomed me warmly and with a lot of respect. I think today woman are at par with men. We have quite a lot of women leaders not just in the travel industry but also across industries. I feel universally, women experience great pressure to work hard to prove themselves in the workplace. They often receive differential treatment, reinforcing the stereotypical view of being inferior and less important than men, resulting in not being offered challenging opportunities and not being part of important organisational issues. Yet, despite social and attitudinal barriers, today Indian women leaders have come a long way and set a benchmark. They are becoming role models for other aspiring women leaders and I am fortunate to be one of them.
My vision for Ezeego1
I want to see Ezeego1 as a one stop shop for all travel related services in domestic and international travel. Engage with our customers and provide them a travel experience like never before. Empower our customers to make their dream travel come true with Ezeego1’s best-valued travel products and packages. I am working towards making Ezeego1 a highly profitable travel company with a good business mix, innovation, ethics and the right people. I look to develop a creative, innovative and profitable travel experiences and related products to our customers. I share this vision with my employees and I am always open to new perspectives and better ways for achieving this.
– Neelu Singh, Director & CEO, Ezeego1.com
(As told to Sudipta Dev)
My management mantra
I believe, it is extremely important to create a second layer in an organisation to move fast and progress strongly. We have successfully done the same at Super Seva. I firmly feel competence can be acquired but not attitude and honesty. Honesty is of a paramount importance. I also encourage my staff to be upfront with their issues and grievances. I give them the freedom to make mistakes and also enough room to rectify the wrong. I give them the space to fail as well and in return all I ask for is transparency and an open dialogue. I also believe there are no shortcuts to detailing. Finally, it is the organisation’s value system and culture that truly defines one’s workplace. A healthy and a sound senior management is very crucial and their value system is of paramount importance as it all percolates down.
Challenges as a woman leader
I belong to a middle class family from Bihar, my father was a banker, my mother a teacher and my grandfather a farmer. I was expected to be at home and finally get married off. But it was my mother who gave me the strength for she was ahead of her time. I was fortunate to get married to a man who gave me wings further. He is my support and strength as no woman in my husband’s family had ever worked. He stood by me all through and gave me the confidence to launch Super Seva.
My vision for Super Seva
I want to make Super Seva a Rs 100 crore company without funding in three years and to be remembered as the company for non core activities for any organisation – a leading concierge and enterprise support solutions organisation that is a leader in its space.
– Kumud Sharma, CEO, Super Seva Services
(As told to Reema Lokesh)
My management mantra
Clarity of vision and goal, while focusing on a pre-determined immediate milestone and sparing no efforts to achieve it. As it is said, you are as good as your team, motivate your team by working with them to achieve targets, share successes and laurels with the team members on achieving them.
Challenges as a woman leader
Priyadarshini Taxi is an all women enterprise where all including the founder director, share holders, drivers, employees are women. We are an all women enterprise, a robust and a successful impact initiative, therefor it is a pleasure to head such a team, giving a tremendous sense of satisfaction for creating a team Stree Shakti.
My vision for Priyadarshini Taxi
Currently we are plying 50 Priyadarshini Taxi s on the roads of Mumbai and our strength will increase to 100 by the end of the current year. All Priyadarshini drivers are from economically backward strata of society. Looking at the acceptability and in view of the huge demand for Priyadarshini Taxi Service, we wish to train maximum number of women as efficient and skilful drivers, so that they could take up driving as a preferred profession and pursue a dignified lifestyle.
Our target is to train and employ 10,000 lady drivers in the next five years across India. Our immediate target is to train a minimum of 300 women in skilful and efficient driving in three months. We are very grateful that Tata Trusts have given a grant to train 300 women in Mumbai as a pilot project. The training is ongoing and we have approximately trained close to 100 women in the last three months. We are very confident that in the next three years, we would be a pan India phenomenon, plying to begin with in Pune, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. At the moment our biggest challenge is to get an investor who believes in Impact Initiative, as a result of which we can emerge as a more visible and available initiative.
– Susiieben Shah, Founder, Priyadarshini Taxi Services
(As told to Sudipta Dev)
My management mantra
Simultaneously orchestrating and juggling varied roles is second nature to women. Having said that my persona is to give whatever it is I have at hand a 100 per cent. Stay committed to any task I have undertaken and see it through without compromise. It is also to recognise that while you need to oversee and manage a slew of obligations, you have to value and entrust your value chain in the form of colleagues and subordinates at work and family and caregivers on the home front. Prioritising is critical without which it is easy to deviate from the goal. It is not always easy but is paramount in being able to efficiently manage operations. While I am a stickler, I have a problem solving approach focused on the larger picture as I believe the key is to come out a winner from a given situation. Over the years some of the values I imbibed are anticipating situations and having a Plan B and sometimes Plan C and at the same time staying open minded to opportunities that may present themselves along the line. Lastly, I think it takes poise to progress and that in my eyes is one of the most invaluable characteristics to uphold.
Challenges as a woman leader
My challenge as a woman juggling her multifaceted roles is not unique to me. I am sure most of my contemporaries and colleagues battle and brave the same reality. Striking a work-life balance and more significantly playing the part of a committed professional and a committed mother is the real quest. In an Indian context wherein a woman largely plays a multidimensional role, a critical aspect is incessant prioritising this time vis-à-vis the social milieu. The upside is that a lot of the traditional career challenges that we as women faced a decade ago seem to be irrelevant in current times. We have seen a sea change in a short span of time at least in the travel industry where women are playing senior management roles in leading organisations across verticals.
My vision for Atout France-France Tourism Development Agency
My vision for our India office is to position France as a leading business and leisure tourism destination and an absolute must visit on the Indian globetrotter’s map across segments and strata of society. My endeavour is to showcase France’s myriad tourism offerings through versatile, innovative and creative platforms engaging influencers and exposing them to France’s world renowned art de vivre, wine and gastronomy, cultural offerings, etc. Our newly acquired portal in.france.fr is a veritable point of reference making it a virtual showcase of France’s endless travel experiences. With a strengthened positioning, we hope to deliver a conducive proposition to facilitate our travel partners to better promote France and enhance the market share in the years to come.
– Sheetal Munshaw, Director Atout France – France Tourism Development Agency
(As told to Reema Lokesh)
My management mantra
I take everything that comes my way as a new learning experience. This attitude helps me manage various roles of my life better. I always treat my team as an extension of myself. I like to work with them, along with them rather than lead them. I am a hands-on team player and when time comes I also step in to do the work when I am needed the most, across all roles in the office. I started working with my first employee named Jeffrey Ferreira, learning the nuances of the trade from him. He continues to be a part of Amigo and I still continue to learn alongside him.
Challenges as a woman leader
I haven’t faced any career challenges. My husband’s belief in me gave me the much needed confidence to enter a profession that was completely new to me. I was a textile designer by profession. I feel a conservative environment at home if viewed with a positive approach can groom a successful individual as there is a very thin line between discipline and conservativeness. I have done what I felt was right in my personal and professional life and to live life as a self respecting woman.
My vision for Amigo
My vision is to grow and continue in the travel trade by maintaining business ethics and offering exemplary service standards to our clients. We will not bow down to unethical trade practices.
– Shefali Gupta, Director, Amigo
(As told to Reema Lokesh)
My management mantra
I have always said to myself, come what may, never ever give up. It is important to stand true to your convictions, fight all odds with a smile and walk to your victory. As a woman it’s also extremely important to hold your emotions, as let me be upfront, at times however confident you are as a woman, sometimes men cannot digest a woman’s victory. There are a lot of new ideas in my space, which I have been successful in putting forth. I have faced a lot of oppositions, negative remarks and more. However it’s only my belief in my product that has kept me going.
Challenges as a woman leader
The fact that one had to stand up and stand strong in a rather male dominated society is an achievement in itself. It is important for people to judge you for your work and not based on your gender. As mentioned earlier, I have faced roadblocks at every stage but I just kept on moving. If you stop, very rarely people will encourage you to move forward. So I always say keep moving. My training in the NCC gave me the confidence to face the world.
My vision for Space Kidz India
My aim is to top the Fortune 500 companies and to be on the front page of Forbes magazine, for a totally new concept, “Empowering the youth of India through Science and Technology”. We hope to be the first to launch a space vehicle for Indian citizens to enjoy and explore Space. This may sound a far dream and probably unreal today, but always believe anything and everything is possible and keep dreaming about it.
– Dr Srimathy Kesan, Director, Space Kidz India
(As told to Reema Lokesh)