Anita Guha

IBM, India

Title: Women in Power & Decision Making

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Biography

Anita S Guha is a Harvard graduate with a proven track record driving growth and transformation by influencing organizational culture. Her experience spans a range of industries and locations including public sector, pharmaceutical, shipping, beverages, & Information Technology in India (Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Mumbai), Japan, & Austria. She is a skilled facilitator and instructional designer and is currently, the Talent & Growth Enabler as well as Technical Vitality Development Manager at IBM, based in Bangalore, India. Anita’s professional passions and areas of specialization include Leadership Development, Learning, Diversity, and Talent Management. 

Abstract

Research was undertaken with IBM female executive leaders – 600+ surveyed; 400+ interviewed globally. Three themes emerged from this study to help women succeed in executive roles in the corporate world. These three are: 1. Be Visible 2. Plan Your Career 3. Integrate Work and Life I propose to introduce and give a flavor of these three themes in an interactive workshop over 90 mins. The outcome would be valuable practical tips targeted to women with the objective to empower their decision making and thereby thrive in the corporate world. Please note that the research referred to above was not done by me but by a former IBM colleague, Dr. Kim Stephens. She, along with Heather Howell, also former IBMer, used the following methodology to arrive at their conclusions: The Advancing Women at IBM Research Study included both a quantitative survey of 13 questions and set of one-on-one interviews with the executive women to gain additional insights and recommendations. For the survey portion of the study, we had over 639 executive women participate. To delve deeper into the findings, the project team then took the survey results and developed the eight interview questions on topics including: Work/Life Integration, Building Professional Eminence, and Building a High Performance Culture. The one-on- one interviews were conducted with 450 IBM executives. The interviews were carried out by over 200 of IBM’s identified future women leaders, giving them a chance to hear the feedback first hand and expand their professional network. My contribution would be the design and delivery of the 90 mins workshop.