Be bold, be daring, be different: Shalini Chakravorty, PhonePe

The third edition of the PR and Corp Comm Women Achievers Summit and Awards 2022 held in New Delhi last week brought together women leaders, achievers and trendsetters to touch upon the opportunities and challenges in the communication industry. Among these was Shalini Chakravorty, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, PhonePe delivered a keynote address on ‘Be your own cheerleader (How to overcome barriers for a successful career).’

Beginning her address by noting that while the presence of women leaders had grown somewhat over the years, and a large number of programs, mentorships, and opportunities had been touted to increase the number of women in leadership positions, Chakravorty said that the needle hadn’t moved all that much. “I’ve been in this field for over a decade and I think we’re still struggling when it comes to percentages and representation numbers,” she said.

So, instead of talking about something that everyone already knew in that case, Chakravorty spoke about her own journey through anecdotes and looking back at her own career and the decisions she’s made over the course of it.

“From a professional perspective, I’m a chartered accountant and so followed the natural career path of moving into finance and starting my corporate life. But on a personal level, I’m someone who likes to tackle a lot of challenges in life, and somewhere that was missing,” said Chakravorty, explaining how it was this that made her take a bold plunge and change career tracks.

“The couple of people I went to for advice said it’s a disastrous move, but I believe you should not be scared to make bold decisions in your life. So first I moved into consulting from finance, and then went on to move to compliance, so I had to make some transitions,” she said, recalling how when she had gone for an interview with the India operations HR head of the world’s biggest retailer.

“She asked me 'You’ve never been in compliance before in your life, so what makes you think you’re a fit for this job?' And it’s true that when it came to compliance, in this case product safety, food safety and other issues, I had only seen these things from the consumer side,” recalled Chakravorty.

“What I said in response was that I’ve read the job description and I believe you’re looking for a person who can lead a team and make its members strive to do better, and someone who can be a differentiator, and I believe I’m that person. I’m a quick learner and I can hire people with subject knowledge and lead them. If you’re looking for someone with only subject knowledge then I’m not that person, and in that case, I wouldn't be interested in the position myself,” she recounted, adding that she was then hired.

Chakravorty recounted other experiences she’d had, and bold steps she’d taken over her experiences, with the message of not being scared to approach something new. She also spoke about the need for people to manage and balance their professional networks in such a way that it was not lopsided in any way, meaning catering to a wide range of core competencies in your network.

Wrapping up her session with some case studies including those that showed that women outperform men in various competencies and the need for company leadership that acknowledged that fact, and so had a more representative composition, Chakravorty concluded that every person in the room should have aspirations to evolve in both their careers and on a personal level, summing it all up with “Be bold, be daring, be different.”