Leadership: soft not hard, soft is not weak

Intro

Navanita Bhattacharya is a gender equality, social inclusion and women’s empowerment practitioner. She has worked with a range of organisations including the UN, international and national NGOs and the private sector in Asia, Africa and Oceania.

Her areas of expertise include working on violence against women and girls, women’s economic empowerment, electoral governance with emphasis on women’s rights, and inclusive infrastructure.

At Vision Australia's Fashion, Leadership and Wine event, Navanita was invited to speak about leadership with a particular focus on women and breaking free - breaking free from stereotypes, breaking free from inhibitions and breaking free from what 'society' dictates what women wear, say and do.

In the blog below, Navanita summarises her speech and message to the audience of 70 women that attended and share a lived experience of blindness or low vision.

• Navanita's Linkedin blog - Leadership: soft not hard, soft is not weak 

What you can do next

1. In her blog, Navanita speaks about having an insatiable curiosity. What are some ways in which you are embracing continuous learning? Who are some leaders that you follow that help you to think differently? If you would like to invest in this area on your own, you can refer to e-learning sites such as eDx, and FutureLearn that provide a range of resources and courses that can assist you to gather new skills and acquire more knowledge.
2. There are many inspiring leaders in the industry with strong messages that provoke much thought and may facilitate you on your leadership journey. Some of these are: Seth Godin (entrepreneur, business, leadership), Brene Brown (research professor), Simon Sinek (motivational speaker, leadership coach), Richard Branson (owner of Virgin), Michelle Obama (lawyer, former first lady), Oprah Winfrey (entrepreneur, influencer), Deepak Chopra (public speaker, thought leader), Bill Gates (philanthropist, founder of Microsoft), Sheryl Sandberg (chief operating officer of Facebook), Adam Grant (organisation psychologist) and Tony Robbins (life coach). They can be tracked on platforms such as LinkedIn.