Women leadership series - In conversation with Sudeepa Ghosh Majumdar

How would you introduce yourself?

I am a Finance Professional with diverse experience in Controllership, Business Finance, Procurement, Revenue Compliance, Financial Planning Analysis and Asset Management software delivery over a period of 16 years.

I feel I am in pursuit of challenges to keep learning.

Can you tell me a bit about your career journey? When did you first get into a leadership role?

I started my career with IBM and then worked with ITC before moving with HP for a period of 7 years across various roles in country and region which help me understand the dynamics of a well oiled organization with process and policies. Joined TW back in 2014 as I wanted to apply my learnings to a growing organization. My leadership journey started in Thoughtworks as I navigated my own through limited processes and policies to a Public Company.

What were the top challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them?

One of my learnings has been that as Finance professionals we struggle to tell the story behind the numbers and make it presentable in a way that helps drive decision making by business leaders. How to present the technical information to business teams has been challenging and it’s a constant learning process.

Over the period I have realized that understanding the Business basics is very critical for Financial story telling, If you don’t understand the business- the numbers themselves will not make any sense.

Playing the role of a Product Owner to understand software delivery has played a crucial role in understanding the intricacies of the business and eventually helped me model financials in a way to invoke discussion and thoughts among the business leaders and also play the role of trusted advisor to business leaders.

What motivates you?

New challenges and learnings always motivates me. I am not afraid of going into a situation where I have no clue as that is the biggest opportunity to maximize learnings.

Do you have a role model in your life? Can you name a few people who you look up to?

My mother is one of my biggest role model. I saw her studying along with working and managing kids and family.

It showed me at early age that if you are determined , disciplined ,have a passion and with planning and support- one can achieve anything in life.

In my professional work I have come across some amazing leaders and peers – from whom I am always learning.

What does leadership mean to you? How would you describe your leadership style?

Leadership to me means the ability to lead, influence and guide the business leaders with help of financial insights for decision making . For me leadership is also the way of building a strong autonomous team who are on a learning journey and able to grow.

What would be your advice to young leaders?

Embrace the unknown and always challenge yourself to learn new things. Build a strong diverse team which works on each other strengths and complement each other . A leader is indeed as good as his/her/their team. And lastly in all the crazy madness – always breathe – find something outside work which you are passionate about – which helps you to unwind .