When Indra Nooyi became the CEO of PepsiCo, she was different in her approach to leadership. Successful, but different. Among other things, she prioritised her life without trying to have it all, seized opportunities that came her way and never let negative thinking bog her down.
Unwittingly, Indira Nooyi was a forerunner in practicing Centred Leadership, a model that emphasises the driving forces for women to succeed and even thrive in leadership roles.
The term Centred Leadership emerged around 2008 from a study conducted by the McKinsey Leadership Project, an initiative for professional women around the world. The research led to a unique model of leadership, which focusses on five aspects that are relevant to women.
The first is ‘Meaning’, where your purpose and natural strengths come into play, finding each other. The second is ‘Managing Energy’. Here, it is understood that every woman has finite energy, so understanding, managing, and allotting it is key. The third is ‘positive framing’, and this is at the heart of Centred Leadership. It focusses on positive thinking and a glass-half-full approach. One has to be optimistic and take constructive feedback even from the negatives around them. The fourth is ‘Connecting’, an aspect that helps you identify networks that can help you grow and learn. Lastly, ‘Engaging’ is a way to collaborate and explore new opportunities, being unafraid of the unexpected.
‘When put to practice, Centred Leadership can really help women navigate their careers in a more efficient and stress-free manner,’ says Jigyasa Chaturvedi, a career counsellor from Hyderabad. ‘The first and most important requirement for a woman who practices Centred Leadership, is that she should tolerate – even embrace – change. Since this model also places emphasis on networking and engagement, she should ideally be willing to put herself out there and have good communication skills. Intellectual and emotional qualities are as important as the qualifications for the job. And of course, it helps if you love what you do – that really motivates and propels most women to be the best and most impactful at the workplace.’

Through time, women have faced the unfair burden of motherhood and managing things on the home front, much more than men. This can drain them of energy – both physically and emotionally. Centred Leadership is for women who are willing to shift their mindset and compartmentalise, choose, prioritise, delegate (both personally and professionally), leaving them with time to do what is important and meaningful. In short, don’t sweat the small stuff.
‘Work-life balance is highly subjective,’ explains Jigyasa. ‘Each woman’s threshold for multitasking and handling high work volumes is different. You have to identify that threshold first, and look at how much energy is required on a daily, weekly or monthly basis to sustain your workload. Based on that, create a planner on how to use your time most effectively. When you’re a leader, you have to learn to delegate effectively. You simply cannot do it all – you will definitely experience burnout! So choose to put your energies into spaces where you create the maximum impact and where you’re indispensable. Self-awareness is an important trait here.’
Positive framing is very different from positive thinking. With positive thinking, you’re simply trying to give your beliefs a hopeful twist. With positive framing, you’re ready to plunge into action to counter any difficulties and roadblocks. However, there’s a thin line between being optimistic and delusional. So assess each situation objectively and look at what can be realistically done to fix it, before you go all out.
‘One of the major issues that ambitious women face is being seen as aggressive and selfish,’ explains Chennai-based psychologist Dr Nayanthara K. ‘In fact, when the word ambitious is placed before woman, it almost becomes a bad word. This mindset will possibly take years to change, but what can help is a strong network among women, with mentorship programmes and support groups. Women usually hesitate to speak up individually and ask for extra training, or request their bosses to consider a promotion. However, when they find support in other women as a collective, they are more confident. Another disadvantage is that women do not understand reciprocity as well as men. They find it harder to say no, since they've been conditioned that way. So, networking and forming a group with women in senior positions (and even some like-minded men!) in the workplace and outside, can really help you learn and implement Centred Leadership.’
By applying Centred Leadership to their lives, those women who are still climbing the corporate ladder can accelerate their growth while ensuring work-life balance and the ability to set the right tone and impression in the workplace. Women who are already in leadership roles can master these practices to become successful bosses. Either way, Centred Leadership might just be the key to seeing more women in key leadership positions in India, and across the world.