Kajal Mahindrakar

I attribute my success to my family, which is a big component of it. My family has supported me through all my career moves, the crazy hours I work, even when my kids were young. I never had them complaining about me not being around on certain days. They understood that this is alright, and it's okay for mom to be working. It feels like this is norm now, but when you live and go through it every day, it's a big deal. I also see that influence my kids in a very positive way - they're seeing me work, my work ethic, and I think it reflects in their day-to-day things and how they approach stuff when it comes to their studies and school. They're always on top of things, and I feel that there is some part of me doing this on a regular basis which kind of translates into how they approach things. Beyond family, I would say my mindset of always being in that problem-solving mode - being very determined, wanting to see it through, being focused, and getting across the finish line. I see that in myself every single day, every minute of what I do.

The best career advice I’ve received is to take on change bravely and take the leap, even when I don’t have all the answers. I’ve learned that confidence doesn’t come from knowing everything in advance, but from trusting that I will figure things out along the way. This mindset of embracing uncertainty while committing fully to growth has shaped how I approach every major career decision.

My advice to young women is to be brave and take the leap, even if you experience self-doubt. It is natural to question yourself, but it should not stop you from moving forward. Trust your ability to learn, adapt, and navigate challenges as they come. Confidence is built through experience, and growth happens when you step forward despite uncertainty.

I think the biggest challenge and opportunity right now is AI, because I am in product and technology. We're adapting to it very rapidly, and I'm finding that right balance between ensuring that your people are coming along in this journey, ensuring you're building products and your clients are also coming along in the journey. It's very transformational in terms of how all the restructuring and everything is happening in product and technology. Sometimes it's as fast as we share something today, and by tomorrow it's obsolete. It's literally that fast. Getting your team to still feel empowered and giving them the right tools and opportunity to get a complete grasp on this transforming world with all the work that is happening - it's almost like a second job. You have a daytime job, and then you have all these things that you need to learn to keep up at a much rapid rate. We've been through so many transformations in our entire life, but we've not seen this level of disruptive transformation which moves at the speed of light. The positive side is that it multiplies in terms of what you can do with all these tools and technology around you, but as we are transforming, we are just in that phase where you have to learn much more rapidly than you've ever done it in your life.

Honesty and a very good work ethic are most important to me. That is something that I definitely lead by example. I have a reputation at work in all these years - when something gets assigned to me, it gets done. There's a lot of trust, credibility, and confidence that I can get it done because I have that work ethic. I drive it with a lot of ownership, and I will try to unblock every possible obstacle to make things happen, whatever creative ways I need to leverage. I will make the right connections, I'll talk to the right people, but I'll keep it moving further along. I think that reflects in what I do every day, and that's what every leader who I've worked for would even describe me as.