Inspirational Woman: Shivangi Walke | Founder, ThriveWithMentoring

Shivangi Walke is founder of ThriveWithMentoring. Shivangi has trained, and coached leaders and leadership teams in over 40 countries from MNCs like Google, Airbus, Johnson & Johnson, Syngenta, Roche, Pfizer. She has also trained and spoken to thousands of women globally through the platforms she has created.

Tell us a bit about yourself, background and your current role

I have been leading global teams in the corporate world for more than two decades, and I have run my own ventures for the last 7 years. The constant fixture in all my roles, be it in an MNC or as an entrepreneur has been people. All the mess, chaos, and light that comes with leading people-driven businesses.

All the theatrics and all the drama. And the extraordinary capacity of us humans to go above and beyond, to make possible what seemed impossible.

I have seen first hand how crucial the role leaders play in the “lives” of people. I have seen what leaders can do behind the scenes and what they can do out in the front.

Through my various commercial and non-profit ventures, my intention is to create leaders in various forms.

I’ve trained, and coached leaders and leadership teams in over 40 countries from MNCs like Google, Airbus, Johnson & Johnson, Syngenta, Roche, Pfizer. I have also trained and spoken to thousands of women globally through the platforms I have created like www.thrivewithmentoring.com  for women in the corporate world or through programs like EmpowHER which supported women to start their own business ventures.

Did you ever sit down and plan your career? 

How I wish I could answer yes to that question. 

I had some career aptitude testing done when I was quite young that suggested I should become a lawyer or a teacher. I was a very good student and pursued Bio-medical Engineering. During my internship in the last year of Bio-medical engineering I was privileged to be exposed to Management Development and then my path was set. I pursued a masters in Human Resources Management and took a job as a training manager. 

Over the years I have led Talent Management and Leadership Development functions for various multinationals and stepped into founding my own Leadership Consultancy a few years back. 

So yes, there is a logic to the way my career has developed, yet the plan was short term, if at all. I can connect the dots only looking backward. 

Have you faced any challenges along the way?

As someone of Indian origin and a woman,  I looked and thought differently than my colleagues in most management teams I was a part of. 

The cultures of some organizations I worked for welcomed diversity and those are the roles in which I flourished. Then there were other roles where my way of working and being was too challenging, too assertive or too direct. And it didn’t fit with their expected stereotype. 

Over the years I have found a way to navigate the complexities around expectations and beliefs

It has been both challenging and exciting. 

What has been your biggest achievement to date?

Tough one to answer given the multiple hats I wear, and what success looks like in each of those roles is different. 

In my corporate roles the fact that I was the youngest and often the only Asian woman on management teams was a great achievement. 

That I had the courage to step out of a lucrative corporate career which was also a golden cage,  and reinvent myself as an entrepreneur and a non-profit Founder was a huge change. 

The impact that my non-profit Thrive with Mentoring has created in the short period of 5 years is enviable. 

And all of this I have achieved whilst  bringing up 2 boys who are becoming young men I feel very proud of.

What one thing do you believe has been a major factor in you achieving success?  

I think the major factor is my ‘Action bias’. More often than not, after some research and analysis, I take action and learn from it. 

Recently this has been with my growing interest in writing creative non-fiction. A genre quite new for me, yet I am writing and publishing and learning in the process. 

I truly believe Rumi’s diktat ‘As you walk, the road appears’.

How do you feel about mentoring? Have you mentored anyone or are you someone’s mentee?

Being a mentor and a mentee can both be transformational. I am blessed to have had excellent mentors throughout my life, both formal and informal. I have curated and launched multiple mentoring programs inside variolus corporates. And I have launched a women for women mentoring platform called thrivewithmentoring.com which has catalysed thousands of mentoring relationships in the last 5 years.

If you could change one thing to accelerate the pace of change for Gender Equality, what would it be?

I think women to women mentoring has the power to change the works for the better. 

If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self what would it be?

Take more risks even when you are scared. The danger is more often bigger in your mind than in the world. 

What is your next challenge and what are you hoping to achieve in the future? 

I wamt to publish a book…