Pranali Save
Director – Human Resources
Tieto Software Technologies
Pranali Save is a member of:
My Introduction
My formative years were spent across Mumbai and Goa; one, a city that
never sleeps and the other known for its “susegad” laid back pace. This
gave me my first lessons on balancing professional demands with a
relaxed mind, making the most of my weekend time thanks to two demanding
and wonderful kids. I love all kinds of music, and hope to master
playing a few instruments someday soon. I am passionate about exploring
different cultures, languages, traveling to different places, trying
different cuisines.
Role I Play in My Company
Tieto is the leading IT service company in Northern Europe providing IT
and product engineering services. Our main markets are the Nordic
countries, Russia and Poland. In addition, we serve our customers
globally in certain areas of expertise and have industry-specific
activities in selected countries. With about 18 000 experts, we aim to
become a leading service integrator creating the best service experience
in IT. My role is to drive the HR Business agenda for India and
Philippines, in alignment with the global HR framework.
Making the Right Career Move During the Journey
There have been several decisions which have shaped my career over the
past 17 years. Starting with my first job where I took up the challenge
of leading the HR function for a subsidiary of the Godrej Soaps group of
companies even as a Management Trainee, over other more comfortable
generic HR trainee roles or more recently, my stint in International HR,
working on integration challenges across cultures and geographies.
My Personal Leadership Vision
To me leadership is about enabling people to recognize and develop their
potential. To create many small leaders in their own space and allow
them to take center stage and replicate the process further.
The Challenges Faced Being a Woman
A lot has changed for the better for women in the workspace. Some
challenges still persist - women still have to work harder to be
considered at par; there is a hesitation to pay high compensation to
them as it is often felt that women don’t “need” the money as they are
usually not the primary bread winners for the family…. I have been
fairly lucky and have not faced major differentiation myself. But I
still struggle with classic working woman guilt – guilt of not always
being there for the home and family while in a demanding job, and then
on those times when one is with the family, the guilt of not being able
to put that additional time on work!
Ways of Doing Things Differently if Given a Chance to Start from Scratch
It is tempting to think of what all I can change with hindsight.
However, I believe that every experience, including every mistake has
shaped me to be what I am today; these learning’s have been special and I
would not want to relive them differently.
Explain “Women leaders are a driving force for powering business”
I think women are more intuitive and find it easier and faster to build
connection with stakeholders. They are natural multi taskers and can
easily change roles in different personal / professional environments.
They help bring in a wider perspective, and balance conflicting demands,
all of which is being recognized at the highest levels of business.
Learning Process During my Career Days and Achievement Gained.
Every situation however bad teaches you something. In tough situations, I
have taught myself to focus on whatever positive I can get out of the
situation and not to dwell on the negatives. To retrospect and
understand what went wrong. These have been my guides and help for
tackling future situations successfully.
Couple of Years from Now
I’d like to explore challenges and ways of working for globally diverse,
remote, cross cultural and cross generational teams. I also hope to
make time for some personal musical pursuits!
Career Accomplishment that I am proud of
There have been several big moments. Like the roll-out of a global
recruitment management system in the fastest time (in their history), HR
integration across three offices in three different cultures and
geographies…But my fondest are the smaller personal ones – like working
overnight to design and stitch a costume for my five year old for his
fancy dress competition and then watching his perfect rendition of a
clown on stage the following day.
Advice/ suggestions
There will always be times when you need to choose; and there is nothing
like the perfect choice. Believe in yourself and follow your heart.
