Skip to main content

Inspiring Leaders - Dr Shailaja Gada Saxena, an inspiration to many!

-->
Name: Dr. Shailaja Gada Saxena
Who’s she: Head - Molecular Medicine and Regenerative Medicine , Reliance Life Sciences
Her leadership mantra:  “Leadership is not wielding authority; it's empowering others. Also, When you are passionate about whatever you are doing ,  nothing can stop you from being successful.”
How She executes: Trust people. build leaders within your team. Train them well and then let them perform. Inculcate ownership mindset.
Her Tip for work home balance:  Tough to do. Easier said than done. Stay focused, work hard. Do whatever you are doing wholeheartedly and happily, whether it is attending an executive management meeting or attending your child’s PTM or be it is cleaning utensils at home.
Biggest challenge faced and how did she overcome that: “Everyday life is full of challenges, sometimes on work front, sometimes on home front.  One of the biggest challenges was pursuing PhD with a demanding job and 2 years old daughter. Staying focused, being determined and enjoying every minute of what I was doing helped me succeed. Never let the setbacks faced along the way demotivate me.”
Shailaja, a very humble, down to earth personality has so much talent hidden under that sweet, pleasing, friendly and welcoming persona.
A gold medalist MMBS, let go of her practicing medicine to be part of the corporate world. She doesn’t fear taking chances and doesn’t regret a bit. She heads Molecular medicine and Regenerative Medicine verticals at Reliance life sciences.
Reliance Life Sciences was her first job soon after she returned from London after completing her Masters. She is associated with Reliance for more than 18 years now and she had seen RLS grow. 
She did her MBBS from MGM Medical College, Indore with a gold medal and distinction. “Being the daughter of a renowned IVF specialist, everyone thought I would take after my father. In the final year though, I got to know of a particular course offered by a university in London that interested me. I discussed it with my father and to my pleasant surprise, he asked me to take a chance. All my friends and relatives tried to convince me to practice medicine,  but research was my true calling. That is when I pursued my MSc in Prenatal Genetics and Fetal Medicine from University College London”, says Shailaja.


Years later, she pursued a PhD from Mumbai University as part of continued educational program and completed it while on the job.

Talking about family support, especially the men in her life, she says “ Absolutely they are a blessing! First it was my father who taught me to take chances and never regret for not trying. My husband encouraged me to take on bigger challenges.  He was the one who pushed me to enroll for the PhD in spite of our daughter being just 15 months old then. He was always there to share responsibilities when I was juggling a full time job, a toddler, a home and writing thesis that often went on till 4 in the morning.”
Her mantra to success in her own words – “Each person is different. You can’t have the same expectation from everyone. Identify your strengths and use that to your maximum advantage. It’s easier to do things yourself than to get it done from someone, but you cannot do everything on your own. It is important to delegate. Groom people, make them shoulder additional responsibilities, give opportunities and stand by your team through thick and thin. Build feeling of oneness in the team. Instill confidence in them and make yourself approachable.”
Her advise to women just starting out:  “Be confident and do your best, whether at home or work. There could be struggle, but don’t let it overwhelm you. Our personal life – getting married, having children, and our professional life will go hand in hand, thus plan your priorities. Do not give into the pressures of your surroundings but take your own decisions, when you are ready for them.”
Shailaja, was featured as one of the R –adhya Stalwarts and the write up above is an extract from her interview on that magazine.
A strong personality, humble to core is an aspiring and inspiring person of values. Team downtowndoodlers wishes her all the very best in all her future endeavors.






-->
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Emperors of Entrepreneurship - Story of Neha Khare.

Name: Neha Khare Who’s She: Founder, Yes I can Her leadership mantra: Go slow but aim high, count your steps every day and you will climb your ladder the way you desire! However make your process of reaching your goal as enjoyable as you can than the goal itself! How she executes: At Yes I Can, our approach is not to compromise with the quality while pursuing numbers. For example- our small project for transgender is creating a deeper impact where we see changes within them on a daily basis. On the contrary our project ‘Who is Speaking Please’ started with 10 students a few years back now reaching towards more then 50 including students from Kashmir this year to help them in spoken English.   Like any other working woman, Neha Khare always aspired high. She had high ambitions.   She aspired to be a super woman, adept at multitasking and use maximum energy to make high earnings. During her corporate days, she discovered that she enjoyed networking, she b...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hardwork or Smartwork?

So many have asked me what is it that matters the most? Is it the hard work or the smart work? Well, I would say none! What matters the most to work hard. There is huge difference between working hard and hardworking. Working hard goes with the flow. You work hard when you are passionate about your work. While smart work is a tool that helps you while you were working hard at your passion. Hard Work is routine. It’s diligent. It may lack goal or direction. It lacks passion. And it may not withstand the storm. Lets discuss this with a case study. There was a Manager, who had a new team member (Mr Hard worker) in his team. The team set out on a new project that required uploading the data into the system. The new team member enthusiastically worked the whole day and entered the entire data into the system and ran the reports. Several errors were thrown in due to the mismatch and he sat down to rectify each and every one of them diligently. He overshot the working hours and...
Post a Comment
Read more