Shanta Vallury Gandhi
Group Executive Vice President and Head Branch Banking
Ratnakar Bank
Shanta Vallury Gandhi is a member of:
My Introduction
I was born in a middle class Andhra family of four children in Mumbai. My
mother been a housewife and my dad was working with a pharmaceutical
company and presently has retired. I attribute my success entirely to my
upbringing, where all of us siblings were treated at par and were given
an unequivocal right to speak our mind leading to freewheeling
discussions, where no topic was considered a taboo.
My early
ambition was limited to getting married, settling down and raising a
family. But all that changed after I enrolled myself for my M.A. course
and started interacting with a bunch of talented and ambitious peers;
they changed my outlook completely and I decided to turn all my energies
to focus towards work. At the age of 21 I started work with a
telemarketing company and then there has been no looking back. While
working, I also pursued my MMM from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of
Management Studies, where I met my husband Jasmeet Singh Gandhi, . We
have been married for 18 years and have two beautiful daughters Ishita
(16 years) and Khushi (10 years) both studying at the Singapore
International School in Mumbai.
Role I Play in My Company
I presently work for Ratnakar bank Limited. It’s a 68 year old bank and I
am part of the core team. The Bank is undergoing transformation into a
modern day bank. I joined the Bank as part of the core team and I am the
Group Executive Vice President and Head Branch Banking and
distribution.I am responsible for driving the key numbers through the
branches of the Bank. I am also responsible for expansion of the branch
network.
Making the Right Career Move During the Journey
The first important career decision I made was when I moved into ICICI
bank at a lower salary and designation in 1999 from Grindlays Bank (a
MNC Bank) when ICICI was setting up its Retail Assets in Mumbai.
My
second important career decision I made was to move out of American
Express Bank in 2010 to move to Ratnakar Bank ,becoming part of a great
transformation story and perform a role as a changemaker. I have made
many of my career choices to fulfill my need for transformation and
thereby grown on a personal level along with developing the organization.
Ways of Doing Things Differently if Given a Chance to Start from Scratch
I wouldn’t want any major changes in my life, except that I would have
pursued a fulltime MBA which in my experience would have given me a huge
competitive advantage in starting at a managerial level early in my
career and help to build a network. Since in today’s day and age
networking is a key demonstrator of successful people in shaping their
career.
My Personal Leadership Vision.
Leadership is a challenge; and needs someone who can rise upto a
challenge and lead a team from the front . While this may sound like
theory, the reality is I have been tried and tested in situations and
job roles which were tough and challenging and have succeeded purely by
determination and the following the below mentioned mantras .
. Do not compete with your subordinates
. Nurture Talent and create bench strength early
• Be a team player
• Play to your strengths and work towards getting team players who complement you on your development areas.
The Challenges Faced Being a Woman
The only challenge sometimes is the existence of a high Emotional Quotient (EQ) which can sometimes work as a disadvantage.
Ways to Maintain a Healthy Work-life Balance
I do not believe in work life balance. This is the time to work and then
you manage your life better. Work gives me happiness and I’m a total
workaholic. I draw immense happiness in spending time with my husband,
daughters and their friends. This concept of Work-Life Balance has been
fairly elusive to me. It’s impossible to maintain it for 6 days but
works well on the seventh day of the week. I follow that ritual.Having a
great partner and fantastic parents makes a lot of difference in one’s
able to pursue our career and also stay focused on the home front. I am
blessed with both.
“Women leaders are a driving force for powering business” Explain
There are some key attributes of a woman that helps in driving powering business. I have attempted to articulate it below:
• Nurturing, thus mentoring
• Emotional Quotient
• Fair in dealings
• Multi taskers
• Disciplinarian (a learning from your kids)
Learning Process During my Career Days and Achievement Gained.
• Never fear Authority
• Calling a Spade a spade even at the cost of it being a career limiting move.
• Honesty and Integrity
• Passion in whatever I do be it communicating with employees or even cooking.
Couple of Years from Now
On the professional front - As an entrepreneur running my own distribution company for multi products.
On the social front- Setting up an old people’s home and simultaneously supporting social causes for women.
On
the personal front - rearing my grandkids and watching both my
daughters turn into beautiful young women pursuing their dreams.
Career Accomplishment that I am proud of
I never compromised on my personal goals to achieve my professional
goals. I am a mother of two beautiful daughters and a wife of a very
supportive husband. It’s the beauty and secret of my happiness.
Advice/ suggestions
• In a long career span, some years are going to be bad, just accept it.
• Take on more, never believe that you cannot do something better than men.
• Do not compromise on personal goals to meet professional goals.
• Have a mentor.
. Search for the right partner - who believes your dreams are his dreams as well
• Shamelessly ask for help from friends; family; neighbors when you need it.
• FOLLOW YOUR HEART AS MUCH AS YOU FOLLOW YOUR HEAD.
