My message to you today is this: Dare to question the norm.
Continue readingDare to Question the Norm – A Tale of Two Women
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My Podcast on The Analytics Show by Jason Tan
I was honored to be featured in this podcast where I talk about my journey in data.
Jason Tan is the founder of Data Driven Analytics, Brisbane, Australia. He interviews business leaders from around the world to learn and share how they run a modern high-performing organisation, enabled by data & analytics. The interview is business-focused but through the lens of data and analytics.
You can find this and more stories on Spotify and other platforms.
Women in AI Event on March 8, 2021, International Women’s Day
I had the honor of cohosting and emceeing the Women in AI inagural event of Deloitte’s Leading conversations in AI series on March 8, 2021, International Women’s Day. Here is a recap.
Carnegie Mellon Oral History Project
I was honored to participate in the Tartan Alumni Oral History project of my alma mater, Carnegie Mellon university.
Women’s History Month 2021 – a self-reflection
Carnegie Mellon University’s social media team gave me two prompts to answer during the Women’s History Month. The short tweet: Who influenced Shantha Mohan? Here is my long answer.
Q. What motivated you to go into Integrated Innovation as well as teaching?
Continue readingA toast to my daughter, the writer
Delivering a toast is one of the speeches I had to give as part of my Toastmaster journey to Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) award. I chose to do it on an imaginary toast that I would have given at the launch of my daughter Anita’s book, Love Songs for a Lost Continent which was published in 2018. This short story collection won the 2016 Mary Roberts Rinehart Award.
Continue readingAspire While Being Content
This is a speech I delivered in my Toastmasters a while back, pretending the audience to be my fellow alumni and students from my alma mater.
In 1978, a family of three arrived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with 700 dollars to their names, and all their possessions in two suitcases. They knew one woman in the city, the one friend they had made in India when she was passing through and needed a place to rest in-between flights. Now they were relying on her to put them up for a night or two while they found housing. You could say they were naïve, you could call them foolhardy, but they had aspirations. The man was going to do his higher studies, and the woman and the one-and-a-half-year-old daughter tagged along.
Continue readingManohar Devadoss’s Madurai
Earlier this afternoon, while cleaning some old papers, I came across a limited edition print (one of 20) about a scene from Madurai, titled “Hay layden bullock cart near Madurai” and a few postcards. I have now spent the rest of the afternoon reminiscing and reading the news about the Padma Shri award conferred on the author, Manohar Devadoss, by the Indian Government.
Continue readingThe Loss of a Leader and a Friend: Dean of CEG, Dr. E. Natarajan
“Sometimes the people whom we’ve know for only a short amount of time have a bigger impact on us than those we’ve known forever.” – Maya Angelou
I have known Prof. Natarajan only since the end of May 2020. He had just been appointed the Dean of the College of Engineering, Guindy (CEG) earlier that month. The CEG alumni had compiled the results of a student survey and wanted his permission to share it with the students and alumni.
Continue readingLeaders are flexible
When I answered a leadership questionnaire to determine what my primary leadership style is, I was not surprised by the discovery. The result said my leadership style is Coaching. This is good because I currently do a lot of coaching and mentoring. But I am also very much aware that leadership style is highly situational. How many of you are aware of the theory of Situational Leadership?
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