“I can deal with any type of stressor now.”
"As a leader, when we are going through a lot of pressure, we internalise it. We look and act very composed, calm, but inside, there's a lot of anxiety." – Dr. Ishani Roy
Dr. Ishani Roy is the founder and CEO of the social impact business Serein Inc. With a PhD in Applied Mathematics, she founded Serein. Serein uses science and technology to increase inclusion in the workplace.
Over the last 8 years, the company has grown to work with over 350 companies across 20 countries. With this exponential growth, Ishani's responsibility as a leader increased. She had to travel, handle difficult meetings and manage her team remotely. In addition, with a small family, she had to manage the demands on her personal time. Slowly, these demands affected Ishani. She started to sleep less and felt the drain on her emotional energy.
Ishani sought coaching to gain practical strategies that allowed her to grow as a leader and take her company to a bigger scale.
In coaching, we
Built her toolkit of strategies to handle challenging situations with calm, focus and positivity.
Identified habits and practices that increased her physical and emotional energy and balanced her personal and professional priorities.
Looked at what her businesses need from her as CEO to expand further.
Click the picture to hear Ishani talk about what she enjoyed most in coaching (50 sec):
Within a couple of months, Ishani reported higher energy and less anxiety. New micro-habits of mental fitness allowed her to remain focused and minimise distractions during her workday. She established regular self-care habits, including better sleep, exercise and nutrition.
"A lot of it was just a light bulb moment. Instead of having that calmness outside and internalising a lot of pressure, I would feel the calmness and the contentment both outside and inside. It was cyclic. So, once I felt motivated to handle many of these things and not be impacted by them, it automatically made me eat well, sleep well, and exercise a lot more. And once I started doing all those things, a lot of my time and productivity came back. So, I became way more productive, and I started doing a lot of things with joy." – Dr. Ishani Roy
With that productivity came an ease in tackling challenging tasks.
"I tell people these days that whenever I have to do something difficult, I put it on top of my list and get it done. Once I finish it first and well, the rest of the day goes very productive for me." – Dr. Ishani Roy.
Within a few months, she started delegating tasks to team members. She invested more time and resources into the business, including hiring new staff to focus on high-impact activities, such as speaking at the Skoll World Forum or SOCAP.
Ishani has found a renewed energy to push her business to expand and set her goal to grow into 30+ countries. In coaching, I have seen Ishani's resilience, intellect and grit. I have no doubt that Ishani will quickly achieve this goal.
"I can deal with any type of stressor now." – Dr. Ishani Roy
Ishani came to coaching at a time of rapid business growth. She recognised that she needed new habits and practices to grow into the leader she was meant to be. She found new practices to handle stressors, improve her wellbeing and increase her resilience. And Serein continues to expand rapidly, providing services to make the workplace more safe, equitable and inclusive for everyone from a minority group. Find out more about Serein.
Ishani took part in my mental fitness coaching journey, which equips leaders with practical strategies to respond to life's challenges with a positive rather than a negative mindset.
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If you want to listen to Ishani tell her story, listen to this 3-minute recount of her journey.
