(by Satya Nadella – CEO Microsoft)

Today I attended the ‘Iron lady’ seminar with Suvarna Hegde (co-founder) the speaker who is an Iron lady herself. She has been a guide and  practitioner on Art of War, B-HAG approach and Strength based excellence. When I attend such sessions I always try to imbibe few learnings and some of them from today are as follows:

1. We need to constantly work on our capabilities and skillset for attaining constant breakthroughs.
2. We need to be focussed with careful consideration on all factors around us with a tactical approach to achieve big results.
3. We need to have a continuous executive persona and brand creation if we intend to be relevant with the fast paced technological changes.
4. We need to have obsession for growth and master business warfare.
5. We need to identify our competition and should continuously work upon keeping our strategies relevant with change.

In today’s world where women are excelling in almost all the fields the need to have women C-suite leaders is the drive by Iron lady association for bringing ‘A million women at top’. This might sound over-optimistic to anyone, but this vision is not unachievable. Imagine a seminar with 100 plus women at a place and the talks, that were making noise on how to maximise the opportunities around us?. The laughter’s and giggles were not of some gossip or back biting, but of the success in A-games applied by various women in their work fields.

The energy level on a Sunday morning was radiating through the sparkles that these women carried along with them, the hunger to learn and find solutions for their roadmaps ahead. It was not about what shopping we did, what is happening at someone’s home or troubles of daily households. But it was an exchange of ideas towards collective growth along with individual upliftment’s in the areas of work & self development.

I feel so energised and happy to be a part of such a forum that makes me and people associated with me grow along. To sum it up, here are some of the quotes from great women leaders :

“Education is the key to unlocking the world, a passport to freedom. Empower yourself through learning, and no one can take that power away.” Oprah Winfrey (Media Executive and Entrepreneur)

“The more you learn, the more you can lead, and the more you can lift others as you climb. Continuous learning is the key to women’s empowerment.” Indra Nooyi (former CEO PepsiCo)

“We need women who are so strong they can be gentle, so educated they can be humble, so fierce they can be compassionate, so passionate they can be rational, and so disciplined they can be free.” Sheryl Sandberg (COO of Facebook)

“A woman with a voice is by definition a strong woman. But the search to find that voice can be remarkably difficult. Education and self-development are key to finding that voice and using it to empower yourself and others.” Melinda Gates (Co-founder Gates Foundation)

“My mother would tell me, ‘Kamala, you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you’re not the last.’ That’s about empowerment through self-development, paving the way for others by learning, growing, and leading.” Kamala Harris (Contender for Presidency in USA)

The key takeaways are applied to all, whether men or women, that any kind of empowerment comes with awareness, that is driven by education & information. Continuous learning builds confidence and equips us to keep up with the pace of growth around us. Embracing mistakes and learning from failure are crucial to personal development and success. Empowered men / women pave the way for future generations, breaking through societal barriers and helping others rise with them.