Welcome to our section where we bring you stories and conversations with inspirational women who’ve changed lives and given back to the community. Today, Dr Shalini Lal, Founder of InfinityOD and Co-Founder of Unqbe shares her story.
We had an insightful conversation about her career spanning over 28 years. From being clueless during her MBA at IIM Ahmedabad to moving out of the country with family to pursue a PhD, Dr Shalini’s journey has been exceptional.
As she explored the world of startups, she realized how technology was playing a major role in creating a new world. And this world was ever-changing. From her 25 years of experience in HR and Change and Development, she knew what it would take for them to adapt to the forthcoming changes. She was intrigued by the concept of the future of work, agility and innovation. And she ended up creating two organisations in the same arena.
It’s a conversation that will tickle your curiosity and make you think of what the future workplaces hold for us.
Timeline of the Video
0:01 – Introduction
0:20 – An offsite program defining her career path
5:12 – Stepping into the field of future of work
“…Once I started understanding that, I realised that the world is changing in ways that we haven’t quite planned for. That’s really where my interest sort of started in the area of future of work. I realised that our organisations, particularly large and established organisations, were not designed for the kind of transformation that they would need in this new world, this post or during the fourth Industrial Revolution world.”
9:05 – Future of work v/s current scenario
12:27 – Indian organisations adapting to the coming changes
15:34 – Required skills for future
20:34 – Maintaining the balance between present job and future skilling
22: 06 – Steps taken by organisations to manage the pandemic
25:59 – One thing that keeps her going: Love for her work
“… I have seen organizations filled with people who don’t necessarily enjoy what they do and they are there because it pays the bills. And I completely understand that. But it doesn’t feed the soul even if it pays the bills and sometimes you can do it by having something else in your life to feed the soul.”
27:54 – Curiosity helped her build a talk show
29:38 – Striking life balance
31:50 – Taking a hard decision in life
“One of the biggest dilemmas I had was whether to do a PhD or not. I had been working for 11 years when I started off doctorate studies. It was a hard choice because I was at that time the Head of Organisational Learning and Development for the Bharti Airtel Group. It was also something that I loved. But then there was this crossroad…”
34:41 – Rapid fire round
All images used are the sole property of Dr Shalini Lal and cannot be used without prior permission.
