The Hindu Business Line : When conviction, courage shine through

This 31-year-old has a simple recipe for success: Be the change you want to see. Farzana Haque, Head, Retail and Consumer Products Group, Tata Consultancy Services, says the Indian manager is finally gaining global acceptance. “Now, people have heard of Indra Nooyi and Vikram Pandit, but when I started working in the US nine years back, the Indian talent pool was seen as a production house of doers.”

IT, she says, was not a celebrated profession, unlike working for a McKinsey or starting out as an entrepreneur. “Technology has acquired value over a period of time,” says this young achiever who has been nominated to the World Economic Forum 2008 as a Young Global Leader.

If the Indian IT sector worker was seen as a tech labourer, then the image of the Indian woman worker in the West was far worse: either you were a great homemaker, or were whiling away your time. And, if you happened to be working, you slogged it out for 30 years without reaching anywhere.

Though Haque entered the industry at that time, she attributes her steady rise to her three-pronged formula: change, conviction and courage. In her journey from a programmer to the head of a vertical in exactly nine years, she admits to have seen ‘real failures,’ but persevered to do more than what her role called for.

“I was given challenges early in my career and in rapid succession, and it was my conviction in my abilities that kept me going.” And her philosophy of doing more than what was expected of her. “Delivering results without the title,” Haque says.

Coming from a traditional, highly educated North Indian family, Haque has often received contrasting advice from her family. While on the one hand they told her that she did not have to struggle, on the other, they inspired and encouraged her to reach higher in her profession. “My mentors are both from within and outside the industry. I have been fortunate to have come across some inspiring people who have shown me light where there was none.”

Commenting on the popular belief that Indian women have to accept stereotyped roles in the corporate world, Haque reasons that India’s corporate history was just about 60 years old and women in the country had been in the workforce for about 30-odd years. “We cannot compare ourselves with the Carly Fiorinas of the world. Their success is a function of their environment and how they optimised on that opportunity.”

“Companies didn’t have a grand plan of keeping the woman out, nor did the woman have a grand plan of not being there. It’s a function of a lot of factors.” This is the tipping point for the Indian corporate woman, says this young manager.

More Stories on : Gender | People | Tata Consultancy Services Ltd | Management

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When conviction, courage shine through