Abha Maryada Banerjee is described as India’s first woman motivational speaker of international acclaim and rated as one of the top ten life, business and success coaches in Asia Pacific. An expert at leadership, human peak performance and emotional intelligence, she has coached and consulted top CEOs, media personalities, sports stars, business people and leaders in the making and has been closely associated with the spiritual aspect of leadership. She professes ‘Personal Mastery’ for individuals and ‘Emotional Fitness’ for corporates’ to achieve human capital excellence. Author of "NUCLEUS: Power Women Lead from the Core", a book she describes as super-manual on leadership for women, Banarjee recently visited Nepal to participate in the HR Meet on March 21-22. Siromani Dhungana of New Business Age spoke to her on range of issues including management, motivation and women entrepreneurs. Excerpts: 

 

How do you link HR Management and motivation?

Directly proportional to each other. HR is focused on human beings, the primary resource for any organization. And human beings need motivation to perform well. Motivation is a very important part of Human Resource Industry inasmuch as it allows the HR management to understand the factors for great performances, the benefits that can be created, the needs that human beings work around. Incorporating motivational factors in the human resource strategy is a very powerful leverage that all organizations must look into.

 

How does motivation and leadership play an effective role in managing the business?

Leadership includes motivating the people who are led. A business manager is a leader in his own right and is squarely responsible for keeping his staff working at their best. Managing business clearly also means managing people. The best strategies will succeed only if the people behind that strategy are in a position to execute it well. 

 

What qualities are of prime importance for an entrepreneur to possess?

An entrepreneur is basically an ideator and a risk taker -- a person who can live with uncertainty of entrepreneurship, a problem solver. An entrepreneur is someone who can see opportunity in solving issues that are faced by people in day-to-day life. He has to be able to create systems to monetize the solutions. That also makes him or her a business mind.

 

You also engage in motivating women entrepreneurs. What would you suggest to aspiring women who want to venture out on their own?

If you have a great idea, find ways to build it up into a business. Learn what you need to, find the right kind of support and take the leap. It is important to know that world over women entrepreneurs are now already making a huge impact in their communities and environments. You can start whereever you are. If you are still unconfident of your capabilities, start small, start within your peer groups and get hands on experience of how to run a business. Most importantly, you will have to learn how to sell, not just your idea, but your personal brand as the leader of that idea.

 

Many women in South Asia face problem when it comes to balancing personal and professional world. What do you suggest? 

The key word is integration. Women perform so many roles that it is imperative they feel the stress of imbalance. While prioritizing what is most important, keeping their emotional states healthy and their physical energy levels high, they have to accept they are human and not superhuman. All the most important things in life have to be integrated into the day-to-day way of being. There should be no separation and they should ask for support from their families and friends, not try to do everything by themselves.

 

What message would you like to give to the budding women entrepreneurs in Nepal?

Nepal is the youngest republic in the world and a growing country. This is the time for harnessing the opportunities around basic needs of people. That is what most people are looking for as a better quality of life. Education is one big area that can be tapped into. Especially, educated women should take upon them to find easier ways to educate others in Nepal, add to the social capital. I did go around Kathmandu and saw that many opportunities exist. I saw construction coming up as a big opportunity.

 

Please share the main theme of your book ‘Nucleus’? 

NUCLEUS : Power Women: Lead from the Core, is an iconoclast book on leadership for women. It is a 544-page super manual that aims at creating more women leaders to help women grow. With solutions from the world of law, leadership, personal development and universal laws of nature, NUCLEUS takes women through their own desire and journey to leadership in personal lives and their workplace.