In her post banking career, India is a public and private company Non-Executive Director and a globally recognized leadership coach and DEI strategist. Through her multi-disciplinary leadership consultancy, she advises Fortune 500 clients around the world. She is on the strategic advisory groups for both Weber Shandwick (US) and Quintess (Brazil). Her clients are multi-sector and span Financial Services, Consultancy, Media & Entertainment, Retail, Pharma, and Government. India sits on the boards of Euromoney Institutional Investors (Audit, Risk & Remuneration), and C. Hoare & Co. Private Bank (Chair of Risk and Data), a certified B Corp and the UK’s oldest private bank.
In the not-for-profit sector she is a former chair and experienced board member. She is on the coaching faculty at Georgetown University’s Executive Master’s in Leadership and is also an instructor at Howard University School of Business’ Corporate Education Department. India was named the 2019 “Entrepreneur of the Year” by the National Association of Female Executives (US). During her nearly 20-year stint in Europe, she was also named one of the 50 top businesswomen in Europe and Top 100 Black executives in the UK.
"Each of us have to know who we are as leaders first. When I say leader, I think there's a leader in every single seat. There's not a leader in this seat or leader in that theater. There are positional leaders for sure, but I think there are leaders in every single seat and all of us inhabit those seats if we so choose. It begins with you knowing who you are as leader and how you show up, and self awareness is a key component of that. "
The first one is perception. Do you know what other people think about you? We often think we know and we think we're self-aware but have you asked people for feedback about how you show up? Influence is about how you show up, and the impact you have on others. Quite frequently, if we don't ask, we think we understand our impact on others but we're not absolutely clear about the impact we have on others, or we think we are and then we end up falling afoul of things because we hadn't done that work. A part of that perception piece is asking for feedback. Asking people, I'm talking about your trusted personal board of directors, asking people for feedback on how you show up with them and how they experience you.
The second thing is profile. What do you want to be known for? When you think about going in and influencing people, and you think about what negotiation looks like, and you think about the flavor, who you are, what do you want to be known for? It's really difficult to influence people when you don't know who you are or what you want to be known for. So think about in terms of profile, who am I and what do I want to be known for. I was very clear, I wanted to be known as a solutions provider. Very cliche, but across a number of vectors. But earlier in my career, I was like, I want to be somebody who solves issues and solves problems. So a lot of my work was around developing to be able to do that. Being clear about your why and what you want to be known for, is very key to influence.
The third is performance. Does your performance align with your aspirations? That could be, if you are running your own company, that could be if you work for somebody else, whatever it might be, does your performance align with your aspirations? Your performance and your delivery capabilities are your calling card to influence. No matter where you sit, and what you do, if you do what you do, and you do it well, that builds trust and builds integrity. If people understand your integrity around doing what you say you're going to do, people know what they're getting and they know that they can believe you. Influence is also about convincing people to believe what you're saying is true and bringing them along the journey, so your performance is a key component of that.
The final thing is what we call holding the room. There's this word, which I despise, that they use called gravitas. What is this elusive random word that we're talking about? For me, it was a very male, patriarchal, executive presence, and all of that stuff really annoyed me. I was like, what are we talking about? What we're talking about is holding the room. The ability to influence outcomes in a room. It is not some elusive crazy thing about executive presence. This gravitas word, it is about your ability to be able to influence outcomes in rooms. To be able to do that. All of the things that I talked about previously, the last three or four things are important. Your perception. Understanding what people think so you can manage it because if you don't know what people think about you, and you're going on with one impression and they have another then you aren't able to influence outcomes because you're thinking something else. Again, profile, being clear about what you want to be known for. Your performance. Does your performance align with your aspirations. All of those things lead you to holding the room.
Leadership, I often believe, and I do believe, operates at the intersection of vulnerability and bravery. Some of the components that you need to consider when you're thinking about that are who am I, how am I showing up, and how am I going to build followership.
The first thing is compassion. Do you have compassion for people? The older school of thought was much more command and control by stealth making people do what you want them to do, but how long does that last? Again, we're talking about influence. These are the very same kinds of things that you need to consider.
The next thing is consistency. Are you consistent in your messaging? It goes back to that thing around knowing who you are, how you're showing up, and how people perceive you? You have to be consistent. People need to know what they're going to get. This influence thing isn't something that tends to happen in the first meeting. It's about building a relationship. Are you reliable? Do you do what you say you're going to do? If you can't do what you say you're going to do, are you communicating that? Communication is key to this. Are you reliable and can people trust that what you say you're going to deliver, what you say you're going to do you do?
Integrity. You want to have integrity in the interactions that you take with people, and people can tell when you're not. This goes to that whole thing, that saying that says bring your whole self to work, you don't have to do that. Please don't. There are some things you should leave at home. You could bring some things to work, but not everything. The key to that is what you choose to share, which makes that authentic. I'm going to say that one more time, what you choose to share makes that authentic.
Make Decisions. This is one of the most important and key functions of not just leadership, but influence and that is, people will forgive a bad decision, but they won't forgive indecision. People will forgive a bad decision, but they will not forgive indecision. What that means in terms of influence, what that means in terms of leadership, is to get off the fence, make a decision. You can decide with the information that you have. That's all you can do and you can even carry out that by saying this is the information I have right now. Here's the decision, make a decision. Your ability to make a decision influences your followership, which influences your influence and your ability to influence outcomes.
Be a servant. What does that mean? I know that you've all heard of the context and probably the concept of servant leadership. What that means is that you have to remember that as a leader, you're in service to other people, they are not in service to you. It is really easy for people very quickly to move into this thing around thinking that because you're leading something, and it doesn't have to be people, it could be something, that everybody who's attached is in service to you. That is completely wrong. You are in service to them. Your job as a leader, your job as an influencer, your job as somebody who's trying to get to an outcome, is removing the barriers for other people, the people around you.
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