99DDC comes to your city!
Be there to witness D&I come Alive!
- Mumbai November 28, 2018
- Chennai December 7, 2018
- Bangalore January 24, 2019
There is growing evidence indicating that Diversity and Inclusion are critical predictors of organizational success. Managing a diverse workforce is a business reality, yet challenges exist. Leaders in the boardrooms are recognising the impact of D&I and often seek a toolkit that will enable inter-cultural competence. To maximize and leverage the benefits of the 21stcentury workplace diversity, companies will have to create a sustainable D&I model to not only ensure an inclusive environment within organizations, but also a powerful competitive edge in the marketplace.
However, is it really possible to disentangle the strands of D&I within the proverbial 99 days?
Award-winning social entrepreneur Dr Saundarya Rajesh, one of India’s most prominent diversity strategists who is credited with having ushered in the ‘second-career’ revolution for women professionals, believes it is. In an engaging, gentle, often light-hearted way, Dr Rajesh demystifies this vast subject of Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) for the business leader, the diversity enthusiast and even the young professional who is curious about this topic. Over a set of stories, anecdotes and thought blogs, this book sequentially uncovers what inclusion and diversity means and how this can be absorbed by just about everyone.
At the core of The 99 Day Diversity Challenge is the belief that the organizational practice of inclusion actually results in us becoming better human beings. For when we break down differences and create greater connectedness between people, we are building a better world.
What is The 99 Day Diversity Challenge?
These innovative and ground breaking training programs and workshops for professionals are designed keeping in mind the organizations’ need for retaining and building talent workforce through diverse and inclusive work practices, enabling a welcoming working environment and enhancing positive leadership skills.
The Diversity Immersion workshop aims to reveal the decision constructs that other best-in-class organizations have used to leverage the power of a diverse and inclusive workforce. This half-day session will enhance each participant to recognize what D&I means holistically for one’s own organization and create a blue-print to plan the way forward.
B-DivInE workshop unleashes the power of behavioural changes in addressing the concepts of Diversity and Inclusion for managers. Not travelling the beaten path of identifying differences and learning to synthesize them, the B-DivInE program looks at the inherent changes required in the psyche of the manager to lead diverse teams successfully. This half-day program is designed for senior managers, managers from all functions, leaders and change agents to experience the benefits of Diversity and Inclusion.
To address gender related issues, and to make the work environment more inclusive and diverse, training sessions on Gender sensitivity are critical. A gender sensitive and diverse working environment opens the widest possible range of life options for both men and women. This full day program will enable junior level staff, team leaders, managers, senior managers, change agents and leaders from all functions to develop a deeper understanding of gender diversity and recognize false assumptions and overcome stereotypes and manage unconscious biases.
This workshop on Hosting Inter-Generational Conversations helps in identifying generation gaps, leveraging generational differences and similarities for the growth of the organisation. This results in better employee engagement and more productivity. The half-day program is aimed at senior managers, managers from all functions, leaders and change agents.
Gender Intelligence Workshop is designed for Talent Acquisition professionals, and is aimed at addressing common challenges in acquiring diverse talent, and will provide answers on how to overcome them. The process of being aware, comprehending and applying Gender sensitivity is termed as Gender Intelligence. This full day program is ideal for senior managers, hiring managers from all functions, leaders and change agents.
Engaging men becomes crucial for the success of any gender balance agenda and goals of the organisation. This will increase awareness on unconscious gender biases and its cost in the workplace; improve knowledge on gender differences and enhance the ability to be a better communicator and team manager; and most important drive commitment from men professionals for a gender-fair workplace based on trust and respect. This half-day program is targeted at male leaders, managers & senior managers from all functions.
Intentional Career Pathing (ICP) is a flagship training programme for mid-career women professionals in India. One of the most innovative training interventions, ICP is a method of developing specific skills convergent with mid-term and long-term career milestones, which will enable women to pursue their career vision successfully and sustainably. ICP is a six months’ long training intervention that is designed based on experiential learning and research studies such as Career Trajectories of Men and Women in India, Career Enablers for Women, Flexible working and Work-life integration.
This training program is customisable within the pillars of the ICP requirements. The ICP training program has been successfully delivered across India in multiple organisations from diverse sectors.
The core objective of this workshop is capacity building of Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) members. This workshop is aimed at training ICC members to conduct formal investigation in case of a complaint, help them with interview tips while interacting with both the aggrieved and the accused, legal requirements while accepting a case, drawing conclusions, assessing credibility of the complaint and deciding on corrective action. This full day program, with the help of real-life cases, will help the participants from recognizing sexual harassment to handling incidents appropriately in the most efficient manner.
Women in Sales training programme is based on research that is aimed at enhancing the skills and behaviors of women sales professionals so that they can become outstandingly successful in their careers and steadily rise to leadership positions. This full-day program will help women professionals to analyse unstated, unmet needs of clients, negotiate effectively, exhibit executive presence and close business deals.
Everyday Leadership for Millennial Women Professionals is a training programme designed for early career women. This programme will help young women professionals in setting future direction for their careers, building commitment and creating alignment for collaboration at the workplace. This full-day program training programme will equip millennial women professionals with the tools that they need to grow and thrive.
Dr Saundarya Rajesh, a leading D&I Champion in India, is a successful social entrepreneur and an award winning thought leader who has been advocating the principles and aspects of Diversity & Inclusion through her articles published in leading dailies, and research papers that have won recognition internationally.
Our embracing of D&I principles truly determines how we live and work meaningfully—in this delightful collection of stories, anecdotes and life situations. Dr Rajesh drives this message home emphatically.
Organizations which practise the concept of diversity and inclusion are more creative and adaptable. They usually live longer and beat others in terms of growth and profitability. I also feel that companies having diversity and inclusion provide the right platform to foster happy, involved and closely knit teams. Having pioneered the concept of diversity and inclusion along with spearheading the work for providing second careers for women, Saundarya is the best person to write The 99 Day Diversity Challenge. Having walked the talk, there is no better person to elucidate and throw more light on diversity and inclusion.
I find great value in both the concepts around inclusive leadership and the stories that reflect these concepts in The 99 Day Diversity Challenge. Very innovative and engaging! Dr Rajesh has chosen a unique format that appeals both to the head and to the heart.
In this day and age of multicultural workplaces, no topic assumes more importance than diversity and inclusion. A lot of workplace issues can be resolved and a happier workplace can be created by understanding these two concepts well. As they say getting from ‘0’ to ‘1’ is the most difficult part in any transformational journey. They also say a job well begun is half done. Dr Saundarya through her work in this area for several years is best-placed to author a book on this topic. She explains the basics and weaves in stories and exercises to make this book a very engaging read. Ninety-nine days is all it will take for you to be well on your way to making your workplace an inclusive one.
The cultural and cognitive diversity of our workforce enables us to make path-breaking content, ‘think big’ and explore new avenues of growth, including those that fall outside traditional industry norms. Being an inclusive organization is not a choice; it is a necessity for business success—Dr Saundarya’s book The 99 Day Diversity Challenge uses the unique and unexplored style of storytelling to illustrate this emphatically.
Organizations with diverse and inclusive leadership at the top create a better world where individuals and organization not only grow, but they also thrive, get more out of their talent and therefore deliver better performance. Dr Saundarya Rajesh’s passion for creating inclusive cultures and helping women with potential achieve their career goals is unshakable.
Business case for diversity and inclusion has been well researched, established and unequivocally proven. And yet progress has not been adequate whether in public or private enterprises due to multiple reasons—cultural, historical, conscious and unconscious biases. That’s why D&I has to be championed by the CEO/head of the organization with passion, conviction and commitment. Dr Saundarya has researched and championed women’s workforce participation at multiple levels for two decades. She is internationally recognized and respected for her deep insights into theory and practice of D&I. I invariably came away with new perspectives on the subject after interacting with her and attending her sessions/workshops. I cannot think of a better person to write a book on D&I than Saundarya, and I am convinced that the book will exude her passion and in-depth understanding of the topic.
A simple, practical and engaging read on diversity and inclusion, presented innovatively. The stories shared are profound and relatable. Saundarya’s 99 Day Diversity Challenge has something to offer to all who wish to be part of or create a diverse and inclusive ecosystem.
Diversity is a business imperative; inclusion, a behaviour, an attitude. This distinction is brought through beautifully in The 99 Day Diversity Challenge by Dr Saundarya. A must-read for all D&I enthusiasts!
We live in a strange, shrinking world, where distances between people are getting minimized but identities are either fading or growing sharper. Organizations being a reflection of society, diversity and inclusion become a wonderful lever to support employees play to their strengths and expand human possibilities. With her pioneering and path-breaking work in the area of diversity and inclusion, the publishers could have found no better person than Saundarya to write this book. Her experiences and insights are sure to be enlightening and inspiring for readers and with her compelling style of writing, she will be engaging and thought-provoking too.
Inclusion and diversity are integral to attracting and retaining the best talent in the market as well as providing exceptional service to clients in a fast-paced and ever-changing business environment. I have worked closely with Saundarya in the inclusion space for many years, and her subject matter expertise in the field is unmatched.
Diversity and inclusion are driving Intel’s transformation and growth as a company. Diversity invites different perspectives, experiences and ideas to our company and to the many innovative solutions we deliver to markets around the world. We believe that diverse teams, thinking and leadership styles create more opportunities for innovation, creativity and strategic thinking.
I haven’t come across a book on diversity and inclusion that is so compelling with personal anecdotes, yet outcome-driven and organization focused. Dr Saundarya has taken a very non-linear approach in delivering her product with substance and character that has her signature all over it.
By engaging the reader in a combination of riveting storytelling, roleplays, quizzes and practical tools, Dr Rajesh invites us into a CEO’s world and his/her journey to becoming an advocate for diversity and inclusion. The 99 Day Diversity Challenge is filled with real-life, practical examples of strategies and techniques that can be used to shift mindsets and drive meaningful change.
Dr Saundarya Rajesh is uniquely positioned to write this book because she has lived this journey personally and has been a teacher and collaborator to both individual women and their companies for a couple of decades. This book synthesizes her best thinking and experiences. The ability to have a handy resource as reference when you are on your company’s inclusion journey is critical. This is the book you want in your arsenal. Be sure to get your advance copy!
I think Dr Saundarya Rajesh is most qualified to write on the topic of D&I as she has great passion for the subject combined with the gravitas of research over many years. I also think that she has moved beyond qualifications and made a change in the society with Project PUTHRI. She has also created a huge influence in the way subliminal gender bias has been addressed in the Indian workplace and that is showing the way for organizations to put this on the top of their agenda—something that was never spoken about.
Dr Rajesh’s book cleverly weaves D&I theory with masterful storytelling—a must-read for any professional looking to broaden one’s understanding on this pressing corporate need.
