Exclusive Interview with Abha Maryada Banerjee
By Lucy Walton | 19 March 2014
‘NUCLEUS – Power Women: Lead from the Core’ is the first book of its kind on leadership for women which has iconoclast solutions from the World of Law, Leadership, Universal laws of nature and personal development. It carves a path for women desirous to be leaders or in leadership positions to pierce through the gender driven societies and build themselves up. A 544 page Super Manual, the book brings the woman back to herself and brings back her capabilities. While questioning the status quo in the World as far as women are concerned, the book also questions the status quo in the minds of women, seeking and sharing solutions on the ground. It will take women through their own process of holding a vision for themselves and build more leaders.
Why is women’s leadership a vision thought?
Despite years of education and development across the World, we find there is a paucity of Women Leaders. If not for corporates or politics, we do not find many Women Leaders. We find working women, women in business, but there are barely any visionaries there. The thought of women being a leader is neither propagated, nor do women themselves believe leadership is for them. Before we create leaders in women, women themselves have to embrace and internalise that they are capable of being leaders. It is my vision to inculcate this vision amongst women, that leadership is their possibility too. Once they have this vision for themselves and how they can reach that vision, we will see many more Women Leaders.
What is zero limitation?
Zero- Limitation is a term coined to refer to a mental-emotional state in the mind and body of a person, where outside limitations stop mattering and a person with the power of their own mind, capabilities and inner strength cross barriers and/or achieve anything.
Can you tell us a bit about mind quakes?
Change your thought, change your life!!! Mind Quakes is a term coined for Major Thought Shifts in the human mind, which can cause people to bring about necessary changes in their lives. It has been used for women, who are continuously living social perceptions and a shift in the mind about those perceptions, will clearly change the way they see themselves and their own potential. The analogy has been taken from Earthquakes (the seismic shifts in the deepest layers of the earth that cause massive earthquakes on the surface). Likewise, slight shift in thought, can change the way we conduct ourselves on the surface. We are creatures of perception and habit. Both these can be altered by shifts in the mind.
What are the four main lead-your-self concepts?
- Neutrality Zone: Situations and contexts are always neutral in nature. Solutions, ideas and money are all neutral in nature. These have no gender and men and women alike create value in these areas. But women approach these from a very social perspective, like women / or as they are expected to do, thereby clamping their ability to act fully. This is turn, always affects the results of what they are doing. This is one of the ‘conduct concepts’ for women, where they can ‘decide’ if they are approaching a situation as a woman/female or, from the neutrality perspective. A line has been drawn for women to identify if the context itself is neutral and if it is, they have a choice to act from being a woman or a normal human being.
- Womanecessity: Complexity to Simplicity: As women are now more educated and employable than ever before, their social presence has changed the dynamics in which they live or work. Constant information and expectation around who a woman is, can be and should be, has created complex and unpredictable environments. Instead of thriving in these, women are striving for keeping a hold over these environments, getting pushed around by the perceptions and expectations running through how a woman should be, or will be acceptable as. Womanecessity calls for simplifying life and its happenings, bringing the woman out of the social jungle back to herself, defining her own ‘who’ and ‘why’. This concept will completely eliminate her dependence on any social perceptions about how a woman is supposed to be.
- Womanon-fiction: This concept shows women how they are so very unique and how they can build / thrive from the place of uniqueness. The noise around women has created a fictional woman, who is perfect, beautiful, superwoman that is driving many a women across the world to compare themselves with something such. No such perfect woman exists and I have not met one. It is like women are pitched against themselves, fighting their own selves. Womanon-fiction is every real woman, unique, different, possibly imperfect and happy in that imperfection. She is on her own road to the perfection she sees in her mind for herself, unperturbed by social expectations.
- Womanucleus: This concept brings the woman at the centre of change. While there are voices raised every now and then by women, Womanucleus, shows how women themselves can be the change, how to cause that change and in turn, alter the way they have ever lived. It turns them into visionaries of their lives and environments, giving them the tools to take charge within their mind and body of these visions.
How does it feel to be the first female Indian motivational speaker?
I did not start out as a first. I was just following my vision to be excellent at People’s Development and be a catalyst for change. Eventual realisation of being the first, was amusing at first but became a matter of responsibility then. It has now inspired so many other men and women to take the path and I am grateful for where I am. I have come into a position of catalysing huge changes, which was the initial intent. Feels good
Can you tell us about your path that has led you to where you are today?
I am following my Vision/Calling/ Purpose of being a Voice for Change since the age of 17. I come from a family of professionals of modest living and four siblings. I was very socially inclined from the very beginning of my life and was a hyperactive child. Unlike other girls, I was more worried about cleaning drives, animals and standing up for the rights. I chose law as a profession, believing that it would help me understand ‘improvement’ etc at a deeper level and I would be in a position to fight against the wrong. However, ten years of law practice led to a new understanding that law is a mere tool, change happens within people and not outside of them. At the age of 34, I quit law despite protests from my family that it was a foolish move, but I wanted to re-educate myself in people’s minds, human behaviour and how to get people to change. I went back to school at 34, with 6 year old in the background, but a very supportive husband, who understood my need to follow my purpose. I moved out of India in search for this learning as it was not available in India. I wanted to know what was happening in the world in this field. After 2-3 years of learning, I began to speak at various forums in Asia, went through almost 60 courses, self-studied and read over 2000 books to understand what it really meant to talk change. There has been no looking back ever since. I was named top ten coaches in Asia Pacific, I’ve coached Olympians, movie stars, CEO’s and I’m one of the sought after Peak Performance, Mental Strength Coaches and Change Expert. As a speaker as well, I raised the bar for women and am one of the prominent speakers this side of the world. I was recently also named as America’s Premier Expert for leadership work. I’ve received an award for exceptional work in my field called the KARMA VEER Chakra Award, 2014, a global award for social justice, given by the United Nations and International Confederation of NGO’s.
What is next for you?
I have begun to write my next book on leadership from the eyes of a child / youth and have plans to take ‘NUCLEUS – Power Women: Lead from the Core’ across the world, so that we can change the way women have ever lived and give them control of their lives. My aim is to make the concepts and thought shifts in the book accessible to women across the world through different mediums.
