The role of mentorship: Building talent, communities, and long-term careers

Industry leaders came together for a compelling panel discussion on The Role of Mentorship: Building Talent, Communities, and Long-Term Careers at the 6th edition of the e4m PR & Corp Comm Women Achievers Summit 2025. Moderated by Tehseen Zaidi, Communications Specialist, Syngenta Group – IT Digital, the session brought together Shakambari Thakur, Senior Director, Walmart Global Tech India; Koheli J. Puri, Founder and Managing Director, Studio XP Management Consultants Pvt. Ltd.; and Pradeep Wadhwa, Founder, Kritical Edge. 

The session explored how mentorship continues to shape professionals, leadership journeys, and workplace cultures in an era increasingly influenced by AI and constant disruption.

Setting the tone for the discussion, Zaidi started by describing her own mentorship journey and how strong mentors shape not just careers but individuals as human beings. She spoke about the enduring importance of guidance, empathy, and reassurance in professional growth, emphasizing that while technology may transform workplaces, the power of human wisdom and shared generosity remains timeless.

Shakambari Thakur, Senior Director, Walmart Global Tech India, highlighted that some of the most valuable leadership qualities cannot be taught in classrooms because they are deeply human and experiential in nature. According to her, qualities such as perspective, judgment, the ability to read the room, and influencing people are developed through experience and observation rather than formal training.

“One of the most underrated things these days is humility, and that really cannot be taught. We learn it by observing leaders who walk the talk,” Thakur said.

She further stressed the importance of mindful feedback in mentorship and leadership. Sharing a lesson she consciously passes on, she noted that feedback must always be delivered with context and empathy because leaders rarely know the emotional baggage a person may already be carrying.

“When I give feedback, I try to ensure there is a soft landing. Conversations should always remain grounded and humble,” she added.

Defining the mentorship lessons from her own career, Thakur shared the advice that stayed with her over the years - pick your battles and control the controllables. Referring to the serenity prayer, she spoke about the importance of distinguishing between what one can change and what one must learn to accept.

The conversation then moved to Koheli J. Puri, Founder and Managing Director, Studio XP Management Consultants Pvt. Ltd.. She focused on how organizations can make mentorship an integral part of their leadership DNA rather than treating it as a symbolic HR initiative. According to her, mentorship becomes culture only when it is visible, practiced consistently, and demonstrated by leaders themselves.

“Mentorship cannot be fully an HR agenda or just a nice thing to have. Whatever is visible becomes organizational culture,” Puri said.

Drawing from her own leadership journey in the real estate sector, she emphasized that mentorship often happens through actions, storytelling, examples, and everyday leadership behavior rather than formal structures alone. She also stressed the need for organizations to dedicate measurable time and effort toward mentoring employees.

“A good leader is not someone people listen to. A good leader is someone who creates more leaders,” she remarked.

Puri also spoke about self-motivation and ambition as key pillars of long-term growth. Sharing lessons from her father, whom she described as her first mentor, she recalled learning that nothing is impossible if one breaks larger dreams into achievable steps.

“Dream as big as possible, break it into smaller steps, and wherever you get stuck, look for people who can help you cross that step,” she said.

She further highlighted how visualization and clarity of goals helped shape her entrepreneurial journey, from Kolkata to building a pan-India and international business presence.

Pradeep Wadhwa, Founder, Kritical Edge, brought attention to the distinctly human skills that will become even more critical in the age of AI. While acknowledging the increasing influence of generative AI tools in workplaces, he cautioned professionals against outsourcing their thinking entirely to technology.

“You can outsource data collection, plans, and processes, but you cannot outsource your thinking,” Wadhwa said.

He observed that with AI increasingly generating similar outputs for everyone, authenticity and independent thinking will become defining differentiators for professionals and leaders.

Wadhwa also reflected on how career paths today are no longer linear and stressed the need for continuous learning and reinvention. Sharing his own example, he spoke about enrolling in a six-month digital marketing course despite years of industry experience, eventually going on to teach MBA students himself.

“What got you here may not get you there. In the age of AI, the love for learning has to become even stronger,” he said.

Another quality he highlighted was courage - particularly the courage to make decisions despite uncertainty and abundant data. He also underlined the growing importance of empathy and emotional intelligence in leadership.

“If you cannot work with people and you don’t have empathy, you will not survive. Leadership has always been about people,” he noted.

The panel also featured deeply personal reflections on mentorship moments that shaped the speakers’ professional philosophies. Wadhwa recalled learning not to fear failure and not to take feedback personally, lessons that helped him transition from corporate roles to entrepreneurship.

“Fail, learn from it, and move on,” he shared as one of the most transformative pieces of advice he received.

During the rapid-fire segment, the panelists summed up the essence of mentorship in a few words. Thakur said, “The best mentors create more leaders than followers.” Puri described the best mentors as “very good human beings,” while Wadhwa remarked that the best mentors are often “invisible” because “they mentor you without making you feel you are being mentored.”

Towards the end of the session, the panel also discussed whether women make better mentors than men. While acknowledging that women may sometimes bring different perspectives and empathy, the panelists unanimously agreed that mentorship and leadership go beyond gender.

“Professionalism and leadership are beyond gender,” Puri noted, while Thakur added that different perspectives from both men and women help professionals grow better.

Concluding the session, Zaidi reminded the audience that while technology may transform industries and redefine workspaces, mentorship remains one of the most powerful forces behind growth and leadership. She emphasized that when leaders invest in people, they don’t just build careers, they build legacies and lives.