Read the full transcript of Sheila Gujrathi’s talk titled “Shattering The Glass Ceiling By Finding The Right Mirrors” at TEDxSanDiegoWomen 2024 conference.
Listen to the audio version here:
TRANSCRIPT:
The Boardroom Scene
You deserve a seat at the table. Picture this: you’ve just become CEO of an exciting company. You’ve been preparing for months for your first board meeting. That morning you put on a beautiful bright dress and feel full of confidence.
But as you open the doors to the boardroom, the color seems to drain from the scene. You face a sea of pale skin, gray hair, and the same blue suit. Or perhaps a whole lot of fleece vests. Everyone is named John or Mark or maybe even Ted.
There are no mirrors, role models and leaders in whom we see our own reflection. Your confidence deflates, tension builds, and fight or flight kicks in before you utter a word. I’ve been in some version of this room thousands of times as a rising executive, CEO, board director and chairwoman of multiple biotech companies. I would walk into these rooms with my “I got this” game face on, but I brought with me the fear that I may not actually belong there.
I had grown so comfortable being uncomfortable that it became normal. According to Forbes in 2023, only 10% of Fortune 500 companies are led by women, the highest percentage since the list’s inception more than seven decades ago. It’s time to expand our perspective and the opportunities available to us. We now know how much representation matters and that representation comes in the form of mirrors.
The Power of Mirrors
Mirrors have the power to transform the way we assess ourselves and our potential. When we see others like us who have faced and overcome similar struggles to achieve success, our belief systems change. Possibilities become realities. If she can do it, so can I.
Mirrors aren’t just role models. They’re also people who truly see us, hear us and understand all that we’re capable of. They reflect our brilliance, believe in us and our dreams and have our backs. When we have mirrors in our lives, we know that we belong and we are not alone. To truly move forward and reach our goals of gender equality and safe work environments, we need to move beyond the proverbial glass ceilings and shift our focus to accelerating and amplifying our growth with powerful mirrors.
Yes! Woo! Woo! Woo!
Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo!
Woo! Woo! Woo!
How to Create Mirrors
So how do we do that?
First, it starts with ourselves and holding up our own mirror, understanding who we are and how we process the world around us. When I held up my own mirror, I realized that the fear that I didn’t belong started as a young immigrant girl growing up in New Jersey. The only brown kid in a sea of white, where neighborhood kids scrawled, “Indians go home” in front of our house. That fear continued into adulthood and on my professional path as I did my best to prove myself with increasingly prestigious positions.
I didn’t have the insights then that my insecurities and doubts allowed others to treat me poorly and that my shame spurred me to treat myself worst of all. I didn’t know that the glass ceiling that I had heard about since I was a little girl wasn’t just above me, it was inside of me too. This is a common story and the challenge that many women, people of color, and other marginalized populations face.
My inner work has helped me to understand that the societal, cultural, and familial conditioning and trauma that we experience in our lives form the inner critics, limiting thought patterns, and damaging beliefs. Holding up that mirror and seeing my true authentic self set me free. You must embrace and value yourself completely, committing to whatever it takes for you to believe in your worth, strength, and authenticity.
And when you know thyself, hang your own mirror with pride.
Surrounding Yourself with Mirrors
Next we must surround ourselves with mirrors. It wasn’t until 2021, decades into my career, when I helped to form a group called the Biotech CEO Sisterhood, that things really changed for me. For the first time I walked into a business room filled with talented, accomplished, and powerful women CEO trailblazers and I felt safe and relaxed. I was met with smiles, hugs, and the inherent understanding that I was good enough.
I didn’t have to spend my time and energy proving that I was worthy of being there. And I had two pretty mind-blowing realizations.
First, that this is what the majority must feel like all the time. It’s why they never question their enough. They see their reflections everywhere they look. And second, once I truly knew what belonging felt like, I would never settle for less.
These feelings would be my new normal. According to Pew Research Center, women have made up more than 50% of college degree holders for the past two decades.
So many of us are fully leaning in and daring to lead. A McKinsey study found that 80% of women want to be promoted. Women of color are even more ambitious, 88% of us want to be promoted.
But even when we go to all the right schools, earn the best grades, and get jobs at great companies, the doors don’t open for us the same way. We don’t have the networks or a whole host of powerful people willing to take our call simply because they see themselves in us based solely on what we look like. That’s why we must surround ourselves with mirrors and create what I call a personal board of directors.
A strong and diverse network and community of people who see your inherent value, talents, and capabilities. They are willing to invest in your success. From mentors who help you face challenges and pick yourself up when you fall, to sponsors who encourage you at just the right time and share your name when you’re not in the room.
And with their support and your confidence, you have more power than you realize.