Women leaders on vulnerability, strength, and structural changes in "Authentic Ascent"

An interesting panel discussion on the topic of "The Authentic Ascent: Leading with Vulnerability and Strength" took place at the 6th edition of the Women Disruptors Summit & Awards 2025. Industry pioneers gathered to talk about systemic changes that enable women in leadership positions in addition to their own personal journeys.Pritha Mitra Dasgupta, Chief Marketing Officer of Havas India, presided over the meeting, and panelists included: Kinnari Dave, Shemaroo Entertainment's Business Head for ShemarooMe Prachi Bali, Head of Saatchi Propagate and EVP Shwetal Basu, Polycab India's Senior Vice President and Head of Brand & Marketing"We are no longer applauding leaders who never flinch," said Pritha Mitra Dasgupta, who opened the conversation by saying .that the days of leaders who stood like rock without flinching were long gone. In actuality, we are admiring those who possess the capacity for tenderness, resilience, empathy, and ambition.She continued by asking Kinneri Dave how both astute strategy and flexibility are necessary to successfully navigate a legacy business through the digital maelstrom. "Could you describe a situation where you were able to bring things back on track when they were veering off course because of your transparency rather than just your strategic abilities?""When you take over a brand, a legacy brand as large as Shemaroo, the burden of the brand and the legacy is huge, and you're always on edge, making sure you're not denting it," Kinnari Dave said, citing a server crash as an example that demonstrated the leadership transfers.

I can clearly recall that five years ago, I oversaw product and technology for another company before taking the helm at Shemaroo.I remember clearly the day one of our servers broke and we lost a lot of data because it's a legacy brand and we had a major tech move. At that period, leading product technology for a heritage company felt extremely risky because of the media and people' doubts about a legacy brand going digital in comparison to Netflix. We told stakeholders, "Yeah, we've had a crash, lost data, and need time to figure this out," rather than jumping into solution mode, I said. However, we'll make sure that things return to normal. I then said to the crew, "All right, so this is where we are." Let's focus on finding a solution and separating the problem from the who.That made things more relatable and encouraged cooperation. Because we came together and worked as a single, cohesive team, I believe that's where we found the solution and recovered more quickly than anticipated.