Taylor Swift’s recent concert in Singapore caused quite a diplomatic stir in South-East Asia. What if I say her concert caused a slight stir in my first ever travel plans to Singapore as well? My recent trip to Singapore was for a leadership development meeting organized by ‘Females in Mass Spectrometry’ (FeMS+). FeMS+ is a community started by women researchers for supporting women and their careers in mass spectrometry. The visa and travel for Singapore was quite straightforward and I didn’t face any issues. As the meeting coincided with Taylor Swift’s Eras concert dates, the hotels in Singapore were filled to capacity and I could arrange hotel booking only for a night. Notwithstanding the logjam it put in my travel plans, I started my journey from Mumbai armed with positivity, hoping to meet new people and gain insights about what it takes to be an effective leader.
And indeed, I did meet new people and the trip turned out to be great. Before jumping on to what were the learnings from the trip, I must thank and appreciate one of my favorite high school juniors who made it a point to meet me at a very short notice. With our sheer luck, we always get an opportunity to meet outside India, and it’s strange that even after twenty years of leaving school, we can connect right where we left. We thought of doing some sight-seeing together, were lost in the city and finally did what we do best, eat and talk! And the food was right on point. If somebody likes South-East Asian food, look no further. You’d get the best of varieties from every corner of the neighborhood, be it the very local Kaya toast, or the satays, barbecue chicken, coffee or the cheapest Michelin-star restaurant’s chicken and rice.
Coming to the learnings from the trip, my very first nugget of learning came on the day from the cab driver. He mentioned “Knowledge comes from books, but real wisdom comes from interacting with people”! And he couldn’t be far from the truth. After weeks of anticipation and completing assignments for the meeting, the organizers, coach and the selected participants met at Singapore Lipidomics Incubator (SLING, NUS). I knew the organizers virtually, although the excitement to meet them in real life was different. And the energy was palpable. Everyone had a different story; the unifying force was the willingness to learn about leadership. We helped each other figure and fill out coffee mugs and life trajectories. I am sure we all went with some anticipation. What we brought back was a confrontation of who we are, what we want and how we can achieve what we want? I did not anticipate we could figure out where we stand in our lives (of course with a little bit of nudge from our coach) within a span of a few hours. Maybe I will retrace a few steps back, and say this out loud, but the voices that push us back and the ones that lead us on are mirror images of each other. And this thought was reinstated by the eminent panelists too, who shared their trajectories and how a combination of factors led them to where they are at present.
The journey also led me to think that every scientific community probably requires a platform such as FeMS+ that supports women at different stages of their career. Had FeMS+ existed during my doctoral days, my career trajectory may have been similar albeit with a bolder approach. After all, knowing about your strengths and weaknesses can help you make concrete decisions. On a separate note, women should prioritize themselves, their careers and not shy away from attending conferences and meetings, even when they have to self-fund it. Self-funding these trips can be considered as long-term investments, which are mostly perceived favourably. And in a way, it also gives women a way to break out of their regular, monotonous life and instead channelize their energies on their growth!
In summary, I think leadership is a quality that is inborn and resides within everyone. What we require are a space where it can be nurtured, mentors who give you required feedback and a vision that you create for yourself and others. How do you achieve it? It’s your own journey, you can fail as much, retrace your steps that led to failures and take the learnings to forge a path that can take you and your organization/venture/team forward. It can be a lonely journey. Of course, if you have a tribe to fall back on, do fall back, get up, recharge and lead ahead. And that’s what the meeting was all about!