Devika Bulchandani: How to Succeed Day by Day and Avoid Burnout
“What makes us women is, at the end of the day, our intuition, our hearts, and our ability to lead differently. That I take very seriously,” said Devika Bulchandani, global CEO of Ogilvy and a 2022 NYWICI Matrix Award Honoree. Here is what she had to say about putting your best foot forward.
How to bring positive energy to the workplace:
Devika referred to the need to radiate good energy, which requires taking care of yourself. Once she gets home, “it’s like my battery switch just goes off. And I’ve realized how important it is for me not to have the guilt of keeping that switch on, and to be able to switch it off so that I can replenish myself. [It’s important] for me to say ‘no’.”
Being a leader requires being open-minded:
“I’m also a big believer in introspection,” said Devika. “You can’t understand how to treat others if you don’t understand how to treat yourself. You can’t understand how to run organizations, or how to be a leader.” “My personal experience taught me to say, before I ask others to understand me and sit in judgment of them, I have to open my own mind.”
The best road is not the easiest:
“New ideas, creativity, all these things don’t happen because we have a smooth pathway. There’s going to be challenges,” said Devika. “No great idea ever started, and somebody said, ‘Oh, my God! That’s so easy.’”
On being a Matrix Award winner:
Devika mentioned that her mentor, Nina DiSesa, had previously been honored at the Matrix Awards. “She’s such an important person in my life,” said Devika. “To be able to share that with her, I can’t even describe it.” Devika found out about being a Matrix honoree before introducing Nina, making the award even more special. “To tell me in that moment, before I introduce Nina, and the way they told me to say you go up on that stage, not as someone who’s just introducing her, but as the next Matrix honoree you go, I don’t know how to explain it.”
Take it day-by-day to achieve your goals:
Map out your short-term goals and be actionable. “The goal is to wake up tomorrow morning and put one foot forward, and to make sure that everything that is in your means and your control you are doing,” said Devika. “Then you wake up on Thursday and you do the next foot forward.”
Thanks to Devika Bulchandani for joining us on WomenHeard, the NYWICI podcast! You can listen to Devika’s complete interview and all of the episodes of WomenHeard here.
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