Men or Women can flourish in the present corporate world only with their skill sets and not because of their gender. Moreover, a woman adds value to the company as responsibility is her second name and this works out in favor of the organization to gain the trust and confidence of its consumers, suppliers and stakeholders. In an interaction Manisha Sood, Country General Manager, Fitbit, reveals some interesting facts.
How do you see your ‘role-sets’ evolving in the mobile world?
Fitness and awareness towards health & wellness are gaining momentum globally. It started in the West a few years back but is gaining significant traction in India too. With this growing focus on personal health, fitness and wellbeing across India, and the strong demand for mobile devices and technology in the market, Fitbit is thrilled to be a part of this positive change. Health and fitness wearables is empowering and inspiring people to stay fit and overcome the traditional hurdles of time of day or location. Fitbit’s massive success in India is very promising for the future of fitness wearables in the country.
The always-on nature of the mobile world has its own challenges and benefits. For a country head’s role as mine mean I am across all development and information in real-time. The decisions have to be quick. For a role involving a lot of travel and dealing with people across geographies, mobility makes running the business much easy.
On the flip side, one has to carefully manage the work-life balance and staying active and healthy. Fortunately, you have Fitbit to monitor all that!
How women at managerial posts are viewed by your organisation?
Fitbit provides an exciting and innovation-driven work environment. We’re a passionate team dedicated to health & wellness, and gender is irrelevant at our workplace, as it should be. Men and women at any role in this organisation have these two values ingrained in them, and are viewed with the same lens. Fitbit is an equal-opportunity employer. Fitbit has a very well balanced gender mix across the managerial and executive levels. Fitbit encourages women in the leadership roles.
How a woman can execute challenging tasks, and can bring the desired business results in corporate world?
Women do tend to be collaborative, and that is important in a world and a work force that is changing so fast. The challenge in most organizations is to innovate and adapt. An autocratic style doesn’t serve that. You need different perspectives at the table from diverse backgrounds.
What I’ve observed is that as women, we often wait until we’re competent before we feel confident. But men often feel confident before they’ve achieved full competence. Success correlates just as closely with confidence as it does with competence. No wonder we see such a few women, despite all our progress, are represented at the highest levels.
I think this question applies to both the genders as business demands are not really gender neutral. Being a woman doesn’t put you at a disadvantage in any way in executing tasks and bringing about change. Quite conversely though, women leaders are more adept at handling challenging situations; they are more articulate, excel at multi-tasking and great team players. That said, women tend to be more collaborative, and that is important in a world and a work force that is changing so fast.
Do you think a woman at decision-making position can understand the channel issues more sensitively?
Women are inherently good at handling complex situations and the channel business is fairly layered and complex and yes here being a woman helps.
Having said that the channel business works around relationships, besides other things. These relationships extend beyond organizations and roles. Being a woman, I understand the importance of relationships and nurturing them.
What type of challenges are you facing in corporate business?
The workplace is changing significantly in every aspect, and the pace of change isn’t slowing down. Skills learnt at the beginning of your career are quickly becoming outdated. Each skill and process requires a constant learning process and the key to this is to challenge yourself to be better at whatever you do. Otherwise, you can easily get burnt out.
As technology and business practices continue to change, professionals who forget about learning can easily get left behind. I have looked at it very differently. As a diversity executive, you are both a manager and a mother.
I am very much a brands person. My passion during my three decades of career has been on building strong brands. For me running the household and building brands need the very same principle of parenting. I have children at home and at work my brand is my baby. To that extent, I am a manager and mother, both at work and at home.
Being a woman, how do you balance between your family, relationships and work?
Each of these aspects of life is important to me, and are not conflicting with each other at all. I ensure I maximize my time during my working hours, and dedicate the rest of the time to my family and myself. Attaining professional success relies heavily on how successful and happy we are in our personal lives. While it is difficult to strike that balance sometimes, I most definitely feel contented when I do. If this balance is a priority, then one needs to focus on how to make it happen without getting hung up on what’s not working. Mind-set matters.
Time management is my key to work-life balance. I maximize my time during my working hours, and dedicate the rest of the time to my family and myself. In my opinion, it is not just the time spent at home but how well it’s spent makes all the difference. One must have strong passion for things outside of work as medium to engage with family. With cuisine from across 15 countries, I give culinary delight to my family. I am also very fond of dogs. My pets are another source of bonding within the family.
Each of these aspects of life is important to me, and for me they are not at all conflicting with each other. I ensure I maximize my time during my working hours, and dedicate the rest of the time to my family and myself. Attaining professional success relies heavily on how successful and happy we are in our personal lives. While it is difficult to strike that balance sometimes, I most definitely feel contented when I do. If this balance is a priority, then one needs to focus on how to make it happen without getting hung up on what’s not working. Mind-set matters.
What are your future plans?
At Fitbit, we want to continue help people lead healthier, more active lives by empowering them with data, inspiration and guidance to reach their health and wellness goals. We are working towards raising awareness in the country, by offering a fun and engaging experience, providing insights and guidance for users to get the most out of their devices.
Brief Profile
Manisha Sood is the Country General Manager-India for Fitbit. Manisha has joined the company in August 2015, and was previously the Director, SMB for Microsoft India. At Microsoft, Manisha was responsible for leading the sales and marketing function of the Small & Medium Enterprise Business within India. Prior to Microsoft, she was at SanDisk where she was Country Manager & Director for the India & SAARC region for over six years. She has to her credit launching the SanDisk business in India and taking the brand to the leadership position. Manisha also evangelized SanDisk’s marketing in driving the brand’s first ever TV campaign in the world which was later introduced in US and Latin America region. In her career spanning over 25 years, Manisha has been in the country head roles for over a decade-and-a-half. Prior to SanDisk, Manisha worked with Kodak India Ltd as General Manager, Digital Capture and Home printing for 10 years and with Modi Olivetti as Business Manager. Manisha has over two dozen leadership awards and citations to her credit including the Top 10 Most Influential People in Photography award five times in a row for her incessant contribution to the Indian imaging sector. She was also listed among the 10 Women on Top in Indian IT by some leading publications. Manisha holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Bombay University and a Diploma in Computer Science from IITC Mumbai.