Recently Chandra Kochhar of ICICI has been named the successor of Mr. Kamath. It is wonderful to see a woman finally at the helm of affairs in ICICI. This does not mean that the company was biased towards men and that Ms. Kochhar has broken some glass ceiling. Women have always dominated important positions in this company but being the BOSS means being "the boss"!!!
I have been following the role of women in ICICI since the 90's based on newspaper articles. Any professional achievers award or function definitely featured the "Charlie's Angels" of ICICI - Chanda Kochhar, Kalpana Morparia, Madhabi Puri Buch, Shikha Sharma, Lalita Gupte to name a few.
There were oft small articles in the papers that some 12 odd people are in the reckoning for the post.
I was sure that one of them will head the company sometime in future. When Kalpana Morparia moved to JP Morgan and Chanda Kochhar came on TV regularly to defend ICICI after the Lehman Bros debacle, I was more then sure that she is the ONE!
Finally, the result is out and Chanda Kochhar is the new CEO of ICICI. I was always fascinated by her quite demeanor and the peaceful confidence that she exuded be it in the print media or on TV.
I was watching an interview of hers in a TV channel and was pleased to know that she has a beautiful family comprising of her husband and two kids. I am sure they are proud of Chanda today and the kids definitely understand the sacrifices that they and she had to make till now and will have to make in future. Whatever she is today, a large part of the credit goes to her family who stand by her.
I used to feel that it is difficult to balance career and family but she has proven me wrong.
As a student of Management Studies, I always wanted to become like them in my life. It is a different thing that today motherhood has made me leave my job and be a full time mother to my kid atleast in the first few months. I believe that we must put our 100% in whatever we do in order to be successful - be it a job or role of a mother.
In the near future I will be joining the family business and start learning the ropes. I hope I am able to do justice to the position and role that I will be filling in. Chanda Kochhar is definitely a role model for me.
All the best Chanda!
Hi!
ReplyDeleteHope you have joined back your career. I am also doing my MBA and have the same apprehensions about family life and business going together! I look up to many women professionals but keen to know whether becoming like them is possible! Very inspiring post about my role model! Thanks a lot! :)