Nithya Krishnan, Trend Micro: “Go with the dream of growing within the profession and become a leader”

In a conversation with DQ Channels Nithya Krishnan, Director, Marketing – India & SAARC, Trend Micro.

The challenges of being a woman executive in a top role 

The question is largely based on perception and would vary from individual to individual and organization to organization. What might be labelled as a challenge or barrier for one might not necessarily be the case for someone else. Leadership in its true sense means motivating, delegation, collaboration, communication, influence, knowledge, respect and the ability to constantly learn and change. These aspects of leadership are common for an executive in the
top role, irrespective of gender.

Educational Background 

Bachelor’s degree from Jyoti Nivas College, Bangalore and MS, MBA from Johns Hopkins University,
Maryland.

Family Background 

Born and raised in Bangalore. Parents, Brother, Husband, Mother-in-law and our new family member – my baby boy, are the key strengths.

Working in the Male-dominated field of IT

I wouldn’t necessarily look at it in this way, and while it’s true that males outnumber women in IT, the situation is changing. Diversity in the technology industry workforce worldwide, not only India has been a topic of deliberation for a long while.

Numerous reports suggest that the ratio of women opting for STEM courses in their academics and technology streams in the careers is not sufficient. As per certain statistics, for every female engineer in a tech
company in India, there were three male engineers. Irrespective of whether we work in a male-dominated environment, its aspects such as talent, hard work and professionalism that final count.

Does a Glass ceiling exist? 

Not that I’m aware of. However, I’m not naïve enough to dispel that it might exist. However, with more and more women occupying the corner office across corporate India, making a significant contribution through their talent and leadership, the Glass ceiling might soon be a myth of the past.

Some of the women stalwarts in the Industry like – Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairperson, SBI; Vinita Bali, MD of Britannia Industries; Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo has paved the way for other women to follow suit.

Hobbies
Love to explore and travel

Future plan 

Go with the dream of growing within my profession and become a leader the youngsters can look up to.

• Your Fitness Mantra: Yoga
• Your De-stressing Mantra: My baby and our evening
  walks
•  Where you like to shop? New York
•  Your favourite holiday destination: Bahamas

@Workday
• Wake up at 6 AM
• Morning activities: Morning walk, yoga
• Leaving Office at 5:30 PM
• 1st half in office: Most productive
• Lunch: Time to network
• Post Lunch: Team interactions
• How you spend your evenings: Family and home
• Sleep time: 10 PM