Chandni Kapadia: Asia's Most Trusted Leader 2022

WCRCLEADERS in conversation with Chandni Kapadia, Executive Director, GLS University

What makes a strong leader? What are your key leadership strengths are make the strongest attributes of success.

I believe becoming a strong leader is a process. You become stronger than before when you learn from your day to day experiences. A leader has to be flexible and adaptable to changes in his/her leadership style as per situation demands. You need to take some tough calls while at the same time you need to trust your people that they will do their jobs and give them the freedom of thought and actions. My leadership strength is believing in myself and my team!!

An acc o m p l is h m e n t t h a t yo u c on sider t o b e t h e m o s t si g nifi c a n t in yo ur c ar e er? What challenges did you face to reach to the success.

A leader would always have a lot of critics on his journey of success. Believing in yourself and your work makes it all easy. Life is nothing without challenges and it is what makes it worth living!! It was my dream come true when I directly got to learn from Mr. Calvin Klein himself while studying in FIT, New York, and eventually I went on to become the brand’s Country Head. Accomplishing even the smallest of dreams you had as a young girl, is always a big high for you!!

What is your vision and how do you share that with your shareholders, employees and others?

As an Executive Director of GLS University, my vision is to change how the higher education is perceived in our Country. The goals and vision of our university focus upon inculcating smart education and making them global and noble citizens of this country. Creating a world class university is what we aim for and for that we collectively work as a big team with shared goals and path of success. I believe no goal is big if you believe in it and collectively work towards it as a shared dream. It was our President Shri Sudhir Nanavati’s dream to make transform a 90 year old educational institution to a Private university & the journey to this transformation has indeed been phenomenal.

H o w do yo u i n t e g r a t e c o rp o r a t e p h il a n t h ro p y o r c o rp o r a t e so c ia l r e s p on s ib i l i ty a s a p a r t o f yo ur bu si n e s s s t r a t e g ies?

As a part of our corporate social responsibility, we run various blood camps, spend a part of our earnings on giving free education to deserving students from underprivileged backgrounds. Even during these unprecedented times of pandemic, we did our bit. We offer many schemes for our employees so that they never have to look anywhere else for their needs & they feel like they are a part of family even when at work Because of this most of our staff retention ratio is almost 90% and most of our staff leave the institution only post retirement.

One lesson that I have learned from life, is to be nice to people but not to let them walk all over you. I strongly believe in adapting to the circumstances yet staying true to myself as in the end what makes or breaks you is your inner self, and I feel that the cosmos will give you what you desire and truly deserve.

How do you drive business at global levels?

I have studied and worked abroad as well as in India. And both have different culture and Work ethics. I have been associated with the field of Education since a decade now. And certainly the education system is different here and abroad. In all these years I have established strong networks and have tried my best to give students an environment they would love to study. International Collaborations with different universities have provided an environment to grow for both the students and its staff. An educational institute should be such that students love to be a part of it.

H o w do yo u defi n e s ucce s s an d h o w do yo u m e as u r e u p t o yo ur o w n defin i t i o n? What is the most significant aspect of leadership?