Leadership is behavior, not a title: Vinita Bali

Talk on ‘Resonant Leadership – Why EQ matters in the workspace’ held
 
Hyderabad: Addressing a FICCI FLO’s virtual session on ‘Resonant Leadership – Why EQ matters in the workspace’, India’s renowned businesswoman and former MD of Britannia Industries Ms. Vinita Bali said that there is nothing called ‘leader’, leadership matters. Just a title doesn’t make a leader. It is leadership that matters. Empathy is important in leadership. Leadership is taking responsibility, taking ownership, accountability and impact change. It is about what I do not what I say or what my title or position is. Leadership is behavior, not a title. Understanding context matters for leadership. Ability to understand depends on the ability to listen, without it, it is hard to be efficient. For that empathy is required. Empathy is the ability to understand context, Vinita Bali said. She was addressing a virtual gathering of women entrepreneurs and professionals.
 
Ms. Vinita Bali was conversing with YourStory Media’s Editor-at-Large Ms. Dipti Nair at a virtual session was organsied by FICCI FLO Hyderabad Chapter to help members grow professionally and personally. Addressing on the occasion and welcoming the gathering Ms. Usharani Manne, Chairperson, FICCI FLO Hyderabad Chapter said that Emotional Intelligence helps one understand employees better, recognize strengths and weaknesses, better align and leverage their talent. Bringing the human side to work, one can connect better, solidify relationships and become good leader.
 
The insightful and engaging virtual talk had journalist and entrepreneur Ms. Dipti Nair ask questions on leadership and emotional quotient to Vinita Bali. She also took on few questions from the audience. Dipti Nair’s yourstory.com has the distinction of publishing over 60,000 stories of entrepreneurs and helping more than 50,000 entrepreneurs access networking and funding in the last 12 years.
 
Calling Vinita Bali Britannia’s tough cookie, Dipti asked her to share how empathy proved to be the core ingredient to her success at Britannia and why empathy is an important element of leadership. Vinita Bali said she faced bigger challenges when she was overseas. The test of empathy and emotional intelligence plays out when you are in new environment, with new people away from your country. She recalled about her work for Cadbury in UK, Nigeria and South Africa; and for Coca-Cola in Atlanta, Latin America, etc. Empathy, emotional intelligence are tested when you are in a new place, she said.
 
Speaking further Vinita said that business lives and dies on the basis of how well the people who run the business understand the consumer, his/her behavior, ecosystem, etc. Leadership is having empathy, understanding and sensitivity in dealing with people, she added. With understanding come commitment, passion, ambition; when you understand then things become easy, Vinita said. It is important to understand like… are you selling biscuits or something that is affordable and nutritious, she said.
 
Answering a query on her leadership style, Vinita Bali said that she never thought about leadership style. I did what I felt was the right thing to do. And what you call leadership style emerged. It also came from opportunism given. I had failures too, but I don’t consider them my failures. I am not a status-quo person. I like to take things apart and put them back again. Challenges excite me and they are good for growth, she opined.
 
Speaking about whether Intelligence Quotient or Emotional Quotient is important, Vinita said that both are required as they are complimentary. You can’t have effective leadership without good balance of IQ and EQ. Good leadership is about making connections with consumers, customer, employees, etc. Leadership is behavior, she said. Emotional Intelligence is about being self-aware, socially aware have management and social skills, she said.
 
Answering a question on women being called too emotional or even crazy sometimes and whether empathy goes against women. Vinita Bali said women don’t need to be apologetic for being emotional. Men are emotional too they just express differently, she said. It is unnatural to suppress emotions, she said. She asked women to have confidence and self-esteem. If you have respect and dignity for yourself then nobody can mess with you, she said.
 
Speaking about her work on Nutrition, Vinita Bali said that it is absolutely critical for India to get its act right. India ranks lowest on nutrition in comparison to the world. India ranks 102 on Global Hunger Index out of 117 countries. It ranks lower than our neighbours like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, etc. Nutrition impacts both physical growth and cognitive development. It plays an important role especially in the first 1000 days of a child i.e. from conception to 2nd birthday. We have studies showing that Class 7 student’s Math abilities are equal to Class 2 student. It is not that they are dull, but they have been deprived of nutrition. One out of four children is born underweight. In the last ten years, the number of under nutrition declined from 26% to 17%, but that is still too high, she lamented.
 
Food should be made more nutritious by adding micro-nutrients in food, milk, oil, etc. We did it at Britannia. Many companies such as Mother Dairy, Danone, Nestle, etc. are doing it. These days we are talking about Covid-19 and immunity. Immunity is the direct result of good nutrition. Food and nutrition should be priority for everybody, Vinita Bali said.
 
Earlier, in her welcome address FICCI FLO Hyderabad Chapter Chairperson Ms. Usharani Manne informed that the activities of FLO Incubator @ CIE - IIIT Hyderabad is kick-starting with a Boot camp on 21st & 22nd of this month. The 30 days’ micro-accelerator program will facilitate one-on-one mentorship to review business ideas and plans.
 
She also announced that FICCI FLO has signed an MOU with Nutrihub, the incubator at Indian Institute of Millets Research. Nutrihub is a unique and first of its kind incubator catering to the start-up needs of budding entrepreneurs in the Nutricereals or Millets sector. The objective of the MOU is to work towards creating women entrepreneurs and help them achieve financial freedom.