There is a strong sense of self actualization in one of the many famous thoughts of the Irish legend Oscar Wilde – “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken”. And this is something which Ms. Toshita Mody Kapoor iterates in her own way during this conversation. She believes that the belief in your own abilities and being true to yourself are the chief ingredients of a successful career. Ms. Kapoor exudes an impeccable air of confidence, in almost every facet of her life – A career woman, a wife, and, a mother of two adorable little girls. She tells us that she always was a confident person since her school days. Ms. Kapoor accepts that she was an average student as far as scoring marks are concerned. “It is the knowledge base that matters and not the marks that you conjure up”. She took part in every competition and was always known to her teachers and even principal as someone very naughty. “I was always naughty, but never evil”, she giggles. Being naughty in school gave her the much needed visibility. “You cannot be in your own hole or shell with all the knowledge. You need to share your knowledge without which it is rendered meaningless”. It is true that accumulation of knowledge is of no use unless that knowledge is spread.
Ms. Kapoor then reflects on her college days. She wanted to take up science but did not fare that well in Math. But she took that in her stride and went on to complete her graduation from Bhagat Singh college in Economic Honours. “Those three years were great. I never bunked any class, yet I enjoyed everyday and partied every afternoon”, she exults with happiness. She explains to us the importance of maintaining an equilibrium in life. “I also had the opportunity to meet some amazing professors who inspired me a lot”, she adds. She soon realized that bookish knowledge is redundant, and the fundamental knowledge about things is much more important. So she adds, “It is all about translating the knowledge gained from books to practicality.” Ms. Kapoor quotes a very adept example of practical application of ‘diminishing margin of returns’ by applying it to the household budget or planning the children’s education. On that note, she says, “It makes a really big difference if you have the ability to apply common sense in life”.
After her graduation, Ms. Kapoor opted for IIPM to pursue her MBA. She remembers that the time spent in campus was a fabulous fun ride. IIPM was where she decided which way she wants to go in her career, and during the two years in campus, she learned what HR actually entails. The knowledge of the market and competition was very helpful. She desired to kick start her career with a good brand name even if the job profile was not very prolific or up to her expectations. “The important thing when you start up is to take the opportunity and make the most of it by learning as much as you can”. Ms. Kapoor makes a strong point for youngsters as many of them today read too much into packages and not the organization. Subsequently, she joined British Airways where she worked at the back end team of customer services. “The job gave me huge insights into the world of the travel industry”. She also shifted to finance briefly before deciding to opt out, and come back to HR.
Ms. Kapoor then got an opportunity to work at GECIS which was the former name of Genpact as it was a GE owned company back then known as – General Electric Capital International Services. The job was to train people in corporate communication in English. But the job was based in Hyderabad and eventually she ventured out of New Delhi to take up the job. ‘Our lives are a reflection of our choices’, and Ms. Kapoor definitely feels that she made the right ones. “It was an eye opener. I got to know what customer service really means”. She says that her foot has been firmly on the career accelerator ever since. “It was a brilliant journey and even after spending 20 hours or so at work everyday, there was no fatigue, and the learning was immense”. She got apropos experience there through evaluation of almost 4000 calls, addressing client issues, and also employee issues. “That learning has stayed with me and helps me till date”, says Ms. Kapoor. She soon became a part of the leadership meetings where she communicated directly with senior management. “If you have an opinion and you are sure about it, you should voice it”, she affirms. But she also adds that the opinions should always make sense. She then moved back to Gurgaon where she became a master trainer and trained around 150-200 people. Later, she was promoted to a management role where she delivered leadership training alongside process and operations training.
“IT IS EASY TO MEASURE WHAT YOU MANAGE BUT IT IS DIFFCULT TO MANAGE WHAT YOU MEASURE”
Ms. Kapoor then became part of Genpact where she got more clients and this was at a time when Genpact was going global. She also developed a lot of knowledge transfer tools. “The essence was to capture a particular knowledge, create a process around it, and then operate the training”, she explains. Back then it was like a revolution in the IT/ITeS sector. Through a JV with NIIT, Genpact underwent a change in their training function by developing various training modules. Her role was to manage corporate marketing and customer loyalty. “It was different but a challenging role with 4000 clients to maintain”. The role demanded a lot of measurement and understanding of reasons and then embedding them all. Ms. Kapoor reminds us of an old saying in business, “It is easy to measure what you manage, but it is difficult to manage what you measure”. And hence, the age old management philosophy-if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. She was involved in managing NPS – (Net Promoter Score) across 400 accounts and 3000 senior management client organization. “NPS gave me the boost, and I achieved results successfully because of collaborative efforts”. Ms. Kapoor’s achievement can be reflected in plentitude as customer loyalty jumped to 51 per cent from 39 per cent at Genpact. This is one of the highest in the world! There were customer service forums that were built on the basis of client issues, challenges etc. “We instilled thought leadership and also evaluated future needs of Genpact”, she adds. Her efforts were rewarded as she is now the AVP for Training at Genpact.
Coming on to basic differences in corporate communications in IT/ITeS, Ms. Kapoor explains that the underlying difference is that this industry is B2B and unlike B2C, where communications are much direct. Here, they have to be more subtle. To sum it up in brief, she defines three things that are critical. One is frequency of communication, next is the timing, and the third is the ability to communicate in a crisp and clear manner. She ascertains, “Since you are communicating with senior management, you need to have the ability to get your message across with minimum words”.
Prioritizing is something that Ms. Kapoor is very particular about. She believes that it is more important for women to do so because one needs to keep it real always. “As a woman, you have got to have the skill of multi-tasking”. She thinks that children will always need their mother as much as they do when they are young. In life, Ms. Kapoor feels that women have more responsibilities. From being a career woman, a mother, a wife, to being a good daughter-in-law and a homemaker, Ms. Kapoor states how a woman has to fulfill the need of being the best in all the mentioned roles. “And, then you have to attend family functions and look good in all of them”, she smiles. She claims that the only way to handle all of these is by enjoying all of it. “You have to enjoy it to make it better and you need to be honest to yourself to make things easier”, she exults, displaying high degree of self belief.
Ms. Kapoor’s leadership style is adaptive by nature. “I have mentors and I adopt different styles from them”. She adds that one can have a democratic set up but there cannot be any democracy because, at the end of the day, it is all about serving the bottom lines and doing well for the organization you are working for.
In her view, in corporate communications, there are two aspects – employee facing and corporate facing, of which employee facing is really vital. “Your employees need to be empowered with knowledge and constant learning, else, they will not perform, and your organization will eventually become weak”, she opines.
That in the true sense is the value of internal communication as one has to get their own house in order before they think of venturing outside. Ms. Kapoor believes that the impact of technology on communications has been exponential. “Without technology or social media, my teams will have to sit for 20-22 hours to communicate, and it still won’t help”. She points at aspects like mass mailing and assures that without technology, communications will be ineffective.
Transparency and proactiveness are the keys to customer loyalty according to Ms. Kapoor. She also is very clear on her corporate grooming essentials. “Grooming has to be perfect. Style and formality needs to be maintained, and you cannot interpret that in your own sense”.
Ms. Kapoor shares some personal and candid details with us. She has two daughters- Nysha (3) and Amaira (1). Her husband is an exporter and also lead keyboard player in a band named ‘Mrigya’. Ms. Kapoor also reveals that she is quite an outdoor person and loves trekking, rafting, hiking etc. “Thanks to river rafting, I have three slip discs in my back”, she adds. Well, that does not stop her from anything. Add to that a certificate in canoeing from Michigan State University. Other than all of these, she is equally good indoors. “I love to cook, sit with my daughters for hours and paint, and play with them”.
Coming to the end of a gripping conversation, Ms. Kapoor’s advice to the young aspirants is to enjoy what they study and learn as much as possible. “Do not go for bookish learning only because it will not lead you anywhere. And, remember that, first impression is not the last impression, but it is a lasting impression”.
She closes with a very spirited idea of her vision in life, “My vision is to be a woman in every sense of the word. Be classy and at the same time, be productive”.
Even though Oscar Wilde died almost 111 years ago, powerful and self-made people like Ms. Kapoor make you feel that thoughts are timeless.
Cult would like to wish her a life full of that beautiful essence of femininity par Fun and frolic with family performance. Hats off to her !!!!!!
