[Women’s Day] I will challenge you, I will rise above: Radhika Gupta of Edelweiss speaks up on #BreakingTheBias

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, and taking forward one of its strong themes this year, #BreakTheBias, Radhika Gupta, Managing Director and CEO of Edelweiss Mutual Fund released a video where she inspires all women to rise above the different biases they face and move forward.

In the 2 minute and 06 seconds-long video, Radhika Gupta explains that women are constantly riddled with self-doubt, whether it is to shout or the urge to walk out. Being judged for simply doing their job, being called snobbish, lazy or bossy, women think multiple times before they take even the tiniest of steps.

She believes there is nothing a woman can’t do, and nothing a woman cannot be. And that it’s time to bid goodbye to biases and to break free.

In a conversation with HerStory, Radhika points out that apart from the challenges and biases the external world inflicts upon women, a lot of them are internal. Women often fall prey to the impostor syndrome too.

“Bias often starts in our own head and it’s something we can control. As women, we are sensitive, and there is also a certain amount of conditioning that teaches you to be demure, hold back, etc. There’s a line in the video that says, ‘If I talk too much, or if I ask too much, I’ll be seen as aggressive’. As we all know, ambition in the case of women is often not taken as a good thing,” she says.

Radhika, who is five-and-a-half months pregnant, and says initially there was a fleeting thought in her mind as to whether her life was going to change, or would things be every different.

“Five months later, I have realised everything is fine. It’s just one of the biases in the head, along with countless others. It’s important to talk of internal biases because these are what we can control,” she says.

She also shares that there have been instances where during a meeting with male counterparts in the industry, she has felt embarrassed to speak and it’s actually the internal bias, imposter syndrome, and some conditioning coming into play.

With #BreakTheBias being one of the important themes of International Women’s Day, this year, Radhika believes her career so far has been a combination of grabbing opportunities and making the best of them.

“Even if one is equally qualified as the other partners in an organisation, people will always assume that you are the sales and marketing person. If you get the opportunity to do things others are not going to, make the best out of it,” she adds.

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Radhika says she gets at least five to 10 messages from young women every day that something she had said in an interview about asking for opportunities or on rejection inspired them to follow their dreams.

“Why the Nykaa listing happened, so many women’s groups were buzzing on the fact, ‘If she (Falguni Nayyar) can do it, so can I’. The same happened with the new SEBI chairperson (Madhabi Puri Buch). Sharing stories of successful women is extremely important and bring in great perspectives. I think as long as women are celebrated for the right reasons, we should celebrate women every day,” she says.

Radhika says she has been ‘unfortunate’ to not have had a woman boss; it’s just the way things evolved.

“A few years ago, and I will say I took the whole element of diversity a lot less seriously in my 20s than I do now. Back then it was a 50-50 world, when I joined McKinsey we all graduated from the campus, it's only as we got senior we realise that gradually, there are far less parity in the room. Then you realise, the responsibility on you as a professional, maybe further down your career on other women. So I think that is an important sense of responsibility. The question is, how much you can do with it?” she asks.

Edelweiss, Radhika points out, is the only mutual fund that has women as the CEO and the COO.

“There is a long way to go when it comes to diversity. But I think we are making progress. We see it in our hiring, and when we talk to lot of prospective women, it sends a signal around important times – maternity, pregnancy, etc. This is also why I wrote a book, as a source of advice, inspiration, and guidance to other women, because there’s only so much I can do physically,” she adds.

Her book, Limitless: The Power of Unlocking Your True Potential, scheduled for an April release offers straight-talking advice on how you can multiply your chances at achieving success.

The book stemmed out of the different questions Radhika received on various aspects of life and career.

“What do you do when you are rejected for your dream job and can’t deal with one more person telling you to be strong? What stops you from asking for that big role at work when you know you have a shot at getting it? How can advisers and mentors shape our life? How do we get rid of the imposter syndrome? For most of us, the world of work isn’t easy to navigate and life’s challenges rarely have simple answers. The book is an attempt to address all these,” Radhika says.