IWDA L’Oreal Leadership Programme 2021

The IWDA L’Oreal Leadership Programme 2021 was conducted in the months of October and November. This year, 6 applicants were chosen for this prestigious grant. The programme was in the form of webinars spread over 5 weeks. Renowned leadership coach, and founder of the parthbreaking organisation, Atyaasaa, Mr. Niket Karajagi led the participants through an exhilarating journey of mentorship and leadership skills. Brainstorming sessions, deep introspection, journal writing and debates were all part of this 5 week intensive programme.

Dr. Noopur Jain

Being professionals in a field where we are giving the highest standards of learning as far as our subject is concerned but there is almost zero training in the field of entrepreneurship, this workshop with Nilesh sir has been an eye opener. The discussions that we had during the sessions are things which we don’t normally talk about with anyone. He taught us many life lessons which will help us not only on this journey of entrepreneurship but also in living a more fulfilled and meaningful life. We all have dreams and visions for our future but being busy dealing with day to day activities, the visions become blurry and we end up forgetting the path that we should be taking. Nilesh sir helped us get clarity on taking the right path which will help us in achieving and realizing those dreams.

Few important take aways for me from these sessions were:
- Strict auditing of my time
- Follow perpetual optimist
- Importance of a strong support system
- Importance of banking upon one’s social capital
- To have a mentor
- To have mentees
- Not to focus on weaknesses at all
- Thinking globally and anticipating opportunities
- Being result oriented

I am extremely grateful to Rashmi ma’am and Nilesh sir for picking me for this workshop because it was much much needed for me and I hope I am able to inculcate all of these into my daily life and practices.

Dr. Udhaypreet Sidhu

I take this opportunity to thank the Indian women’s dermatology association and Loreal for selecting me for the annual leadership grant program 2021. It has been an enriching experience. Most of the existing program national and international are targeted towards enhancing clinical skills. There is a big lacuna for leadership programs. This is of of high importance to help a person understand and achieve up to one’s maximum potential and to enhance administrative aspect.

Medicine has drastically changed over years. Decades back, to have adequate and the best of knowledge was the only and utmost requirement to be a successful medical professional. But over the years scenario has changed and is continuously changing. To remain updated and create a niche is the demand of today. Being aware of one’s positive and how to ride over negatives is a clear distinction, which I have learnt from the program. As we go by in our career and daily routines it easy to get wrapped up in mundane and loose focus. This program has helped to me bring back the focus in my personal and professional life.

Weekly curriculum has been designed in a thoughtful manner keeping the recent advancements and practicality in mind. The time duration is apt.

I wish it was a in person program, but in the current situation being virtual was ideal. I hope IWDA will have an in person meet of the awardees as and when time permits. My special thanks to our coach Niket sir, was always bringing up though provoking questions and life slices. I thank Dr. Rashmi Sarkar mam for initiating this unique one of a kind program, which is immensely helpful to young as well as practising women dermatologists.

Dr. Shikha Bansal

I thank Dr Rashmi mam,dr. Richa sharma and whole of IWDA team for considering me for the grant. I was very keen to learn something new when this opportunity came along. I filled up the form and was chosen. Life coach Mr.Niket Karajagi conducted two-hour sessions on Saturday afternoons, always dot on time. He had systematically planned the whole leadership program for maximum efficient time utilization.

Initial session was a warm up session wherein we all got to know eachother. There were doctors from diverse geographical locations and age groups, hence lot of different perspectives were shared. It’s nice to have fresher younger outlook as well as a mature outlook.

Mr. Niket would interact personally and share ppts as well, but never did it get too theoretical or too off track. The program always maintained a right balance took us through various ways in which we can improve our leadership skills.

He pointed out the importance of a good support system that is absolutely essential whenever we are considering success in the professional front. The other thing that stuck me was when he pointed out that in a healthy strong relationship, the other person supports the spouses’ passions. He emphasized the importance of social networking in today’s world. Another important aspect discussed was social media presence that is very important in today’s world. Medical tourism was discussed so was how to explore practice options overseas. Mr. Niket had generously shared links of his various talks and a list of books as well.

I cherished his informal talks and views on marriage and various other topics. Over all it was a very enriching experience. I am thankful to team IWDA for giving me this lifetime opportunity.

Best regards

Dr. Alpana Mohta

Traditionally, the single-tracked and gender-based career options have been long engrained in our health care system. However, with the modern evolution in every field, the health delivery system is also experiencing a boon of more diversified and brazen initiatives. Women are taking up career opportunities which align with their interests and skill sets. Although I was already lucky enough to work with (and under) the same kind of great women leaders, I applied for the leadership program earlier this year to hone my professional skills further.

And as luck would have it, I received a communication from Dr Rashmi ma’am a few days later to let me know that I have been selected as one of the proud winners of the IWDA L’Oreal Women’s Leadership Grant. The year of 2020 had been extremely cruel to me with the sudden untimely demise of my father and the uproar of the progressive waves of COVID-19 pandemic which forced me to stop my clinical practice in its cradle. Assuring the wellbeing of my family was my only priority, while still trying to tackle the very real threat to my professional future. I was stuck in my mundane routine and reluctant to do anything out of the box or even test the waters.

However, after just the two hours of our first session with Dr Rashmi ma’am and Niket sir I could sense that things around me were reacting to my changing attitude towards work and life. By session three things started to take a turn for good, and under the guidance of Dr Rashmi ma’am and Niket sir I started learning about the importance of taking initiative, following my passion and being unconventional. These changes happened to me in a very subtle yet noticeable way. I would make notes during the sessions and do reruns of these notes almost every night before bed. By that time I had also started scribbling in the journal that Niket sir gave us.

Although I have always been determined, honest and hardworking, the sessions helped me understand my hidden subliminal traits like being tenacious, empathetic, and pragmatic. The one-on-one sessions were beautifully designed to help us with non-traditional professional development and career advancement. Every week Niket sir walked us though the qualities on a good leader in a systematic way. A good leader must walk the talk, stay true to their character, be authentic, and not just lead by example but also welcome feedback and constructive criticism.

I was very deeply influenced by one of the sessions where Niket sir talked about how change can never happen in isolation, but by empowering both ourselves and the ones around us. Every great leader must have an infallible support system, which in my case is my family. Thanks to this program, the concept of mentorship is not elusive to me anymore, and it could massively influence my academic trajectory. Also, I now understand more than ever before that a leader must love what they do. How a good leadership is driven by passion but also resilient enough to tackle the roadblocks effectively. My personal journey in this program is like coming out of a cocoon. Rashmi ma’am’s guiding light, and Niket sir’s thought provoking Q & A sessions were like fodder for my hungry brain. Every day we have so many fleeting thoughts which, when given a focused direction, could take us to the heights of success. Sir gave us the freedom to discuss such unfiltered thoughts with him. This has been a life transforming experience for me and I am extremely grateful to Dr Rashmi ma’am and the entire IWDA for giving me this once in a life time opportunity. I feel both humbled and honored! Thank you!

Dr Pooja Arora Mrig

I would like to thank the IWDA and Dr Rashmi Ma’am for providing me the opportunity to be a part of this enriching leadership program. Such programs are indeed needed for the advancement of our society especially of women who can be great leaders but are not able to harness their own potential. The program was remarkably conducted by coach Mr Niket Karajagi who provided insights on the qualities of an able leader. He guided us on how to

build self-confidence and step out of our comfort zone. The strategies suggested by him to manage time and increase productivity were helpful and practical. The session on emotional intelligence was stimulating and made me aware of the importance of empathy and self-regulation in our profession as well as in our relationships. The finest part of the workshop was the leadership journal that made me ponder about learnings from my own life. It enabled me to analyze my strengths and weaknesses to bring about the best in me. It made me aware of my own values and what mattered to me the most. Overall, the program has encouraged me to grow professionally and personally and build a life that is inspiring and Meaningful.

Dr. Aditi Singh

I always wanted to be a medical entrepreneur, and aspired to have my own clinic one day, one that would provide world-class treatment with cutting-edge technology and expertise available to all my patients. So despite coming from a non-entrepreneurial background, I had dreamt big and wanted to take up this humungous task of setting up my own practice. When I first came across this IWDA L’oreal Leadership Program, I realised that this is exactly what I needed to achieve my goals and make my dream of medical entrepreneurship a reality. I was ecstatic when I learned that I had been selected for it.

Sessions with renowned leadership Coach Niket Karajagi sir proved to be a very unique experience as I had not done these kind of lessons ever before, and he has a knack of reading through your personality and bringing out the best in you, through you. Conversations with him have been a complete eye-opener and have helped me to walk more confidently towards my goals. The sessions with him had an unbelievable impact on me and my outlook on things! They gave me a fresh perspective on things and a much-needed boost towards my various goals in life, be it pertaining to career or personality. I am eternally grateful to Dr Rashmi Sarkar ma’am, for this unique concept, and to L’oreal for providing us with this opportunity, and to Niket Sir for his outstanding ways of grooming people to attain their best persona. I am very thankful to sir for his guidance, mentorship and wisdom that, I am sure, will help shape me and my career in the future. Thanks once again!