Explaining a Chair: Chandani’s Quest for Mindful Leadership
Quickly, quickly, quickly. That’s Chandani’s favourite adverb, a hotel management graduate with a restaurant business in a small town near Nagpur. “I enjoy multitasking. It allows me to experience many things while being open to anything.”
A love for cooking and people motivated Chandani to pursue hospitality. But she also wanted to figure out ways to make the world better. While she worked with an organisation that educated children to read through games, Chandani wanted to upskill further and learn how to have greater impact.
One of the first things that Chandani picked up at Vedica was the ability to reflect and ask questions. “I never knew you had to be so self-aware to make better decisions. In one of the classes, a professor asked us to explain what a chair is. No matter what answer we gave, he would complicate the ‘definition’ of a chair further. This made us reflect more about the world, ourselves and how things could be made different. By trying to explain what a chair is, I found a way to dig deeper into the biases I carry.”
The power of questioning has also opened Chandani’s eyes towards the nuances of gender biases. She had never been stopped to pursue whatever she desired. But she can now see how even the smallest things can determine who gets heard. “One day, we learnt about how portable microphones were actually made to be kept in pockets. But women’s clothing don’t always have pockets. So who is getting to speak?”
Being in an all-women’s space has also been a revelation for Chandani. Earlier, she felt that it would somehow be a ‘lesser’ experience. In reality, it has given her space to express freely and have more open conversations. It has also helped her identify her own strengths. Most importantly, Chandani wants to own up her strengths and promote them with confidence. “Why shouldn’t women brag about themselves too?”
Chandani now wants to be a more mindful leader: “I want to lead with confidence. I want to be assertive while making decisions and aggressive in drawing boundaries. But I also want to put people at the centre of my work. I want to listen and understand people better.”