As part of our ongoing quest to get you meaningful and powerful stories from India and around the world, we invited – Dr Saumya Badgayan for an exclusive interview with BrilliantRead Media. She is a Leader, Mentor, Philanthropist, HR Business Strategist. Let’s read more about her inspiring journey and her advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Dr Saumya:
We are aware of your contributions to the ecosystem; talk us through your background and your journey, please;
Coming from an environment that inculcated a sense of self-reliance amongst females, we were influenced to be economically independents.
While my quest for independence saw the pursuit of an MBA from SIMS, I had already secured a Gold Medal from RDVV, Jabalpur in PGDPM. Later I furthered my education & knowledge with a Postdoctoral in Management from Rajasthan University.
With all this, I have had an amazing professional learning experience through various sectors like Telecommunications, Retail, e-Commerce & now Luxury in Customer service, Sales & Human Behaviour and its ramifications.
Now I am an HR Business Strategist with an in-depth understanding of Human Psychology on both sides of the spectrum – as employees & as consumers.
Please share with us a unique challenge you faced in your early career?
As women, we are nurtured with the thought line to be able to manage both personal & professional aspects of our lives.
The unique challenge was that though Business School teaches us the theory very well, we are yet to understand the gravity of the real-life scenarios that the professional world thrusts us into.
For me, it was the time were in India was awakening to the telecom revolution, so we were in the pager business & immediately, the technology was replaced by mobile communications.
We adopted (as employees), we transitioned & re-positioned (as an organization) & we survived & triumphed (employees & organization ). So, though it sounds easy, believe me, you, we rallied for many things & experimented through a lot with absolutely no experience in the same & yet we won.
That was my very first learning experience in agility, transformation and resilience.
How did you discover your passion?
Right from my school days, I was blessed and lucky to have had an opportunity to explore the various forum. Though I am an ambivert, I was constantly representing my schools in various cultural activities especially debates impromptu speeches and other competitions.
These competitions also grouped students from various strata ( vernacular medium to convent, students from privileged backgrounds to those from humble settings) and thus there sprung unique issues that needed to be addressed.
It was in these that my passion to be a problem solver came about and also an influencer. Doing an MBA was then just a natural choice as it combined both aspects that I so loved. With formal training, I knew I could reach many more.
I am also into philanthropy in my own small ways
With so much going on, how do you start the day to keep your passion alive?
In my opinion, there are 3 Ps that drive a person:
– Paisa
– Power
– Position
The 4th very important factor is Passion. I ask myself if the first 3 (Paisa, Power & Position) are taken away, would I still want to do what I love to do & the answer is a HUGE YES.
If you are passionate about something, that passion drives & motivates you. No person, thing or situation can change that & that’s a unique position to be.
There is no internal conflict. There is no doubt in your pursuit. This is what I call LIFE NIRVANA.
So yes clear vision, thought & execution along with firm beliefs are my driving force to keep doing what I wish to establish ultimately.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
a) Know Yourself.
b) Simple things as SWOT should constantly play within you.
c) Be aware of the changes that the external environment brings & remember to adapt to those changes.
d) Being Un-fungible is the key to Being Successful.
We know that you are continuously engaged in helping others achieve their goals. Why do you do that?
I am an advocate & champion of teams. I have a concrete belief that there could be influencers, leaders, dictators and other individual personalities in the operating world, but ultimately the team which embraces each of these uniqueness without prejudices are the teams that win.
I love people & I love getting to the reason behind an action. This makes me pinpoint a problem & not the person. So I help in re-aligning the execution & voila !!!! we create winners & winning teams amongst us. The rewards to me are personally seeing the Pride & Happiness in their face…. The look of a Winner… complete bliss (to me) ☺
What advice would you give students and young professionals who want to have a successful career?
Learn, unlearn & relearn. Some mentors could be tough, some could be extremely accommodating, as students, Surrender & trust the process.
Be a knowledge sponge for Life. This is the ELIXIR FOR ETERNAL SUCCESS
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
