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Integration of Career And Family - Padmasree Warrior Padmasree Warrior is a vice president at Motorola, a world leader in communications and embedded electronics with annual revenues in excess of $28 billion. Warrior spearheads Process Technology development for Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector (SPS) headquartered in Austin, Texas. Warrior's focus is to drive a leadership technology roadmap that positions Motorola SPS as a premier system-on-a-chip provider. She plays a key role in transforming her company's technology innovations and intellectual property into customer-focused solutions that provide market value. She leads a large organization of technologists and innovators to deliver platforms that catalyze Motorola's SPS portfolio as the "Digital DNAtm, The Heart of Smart" in embedded electronics

Following are the thoughts as expressed by Padmasree at Expression's - A seminar and panel discussion on Workplace Challenges and Career/Lifestyle choices Indian Women face in America, organised by NetIP, Austin, TX.

I wish to thank all of you for taking the time to be here on a Saturday afternoon. I know how precious weekends are to call a timeout from the daily grind. I hope you find this session enjoyable and somewhat useful.

My thanks also to NetIP-Austin for pulling this event together and giving me an opportunity to share my experiences with you. And that is exactly what I will be doing sharing my personal experiences as a Indian woman, partner in a dual career marriage, mother of a small child and as a 16-year high tech professional in Corporate America. I want to emphasize that everything I say is based on my experience, therefore it is simply a personal truth and may NOT be a universal truth. There is a lot of subjectivity involved, so take it with a large grain of salt.

I want to focus my perspective on two topics:
• Integration of career and family
• Contributions to Corporate America as an Indian woman

First - family and career: How do these two fit together or do they? Absolutely, they do. For me it was never a choice between one and the other. I value both and continue to strive for success in both. I do not view career and family as a balance between two opposing poles. Instead, I view life as integration between four aspects; my Family, my Work, my Community and my Self. My vision is to have seamless integration between all four aspects. OK, so that is a vision. How does it really work on a day to day basis? Let me tell you, with a great deal of effort it is not easy to do. I find that to realize this effective integration it takes:

• A lot of planning
• Flexibility
• Being creative

Planning or being organized helps, because it allows me to deliberately allocate chucks of time to the four aspects of my life. I essentially dedicate weekends for family and friends. Other than doing e-mail, I spend most weekends spending time with friends to enjoy desi potlucks, Indian music and occasionally watch Hindi movies (which is one area I am always behind on and in a catch up mode trying to keep up with the latest Hrithik Roshan phenom et al). My work consumes my weekdays taking up 60 to 80hrs. I make it a point to dedicate some time, and get involved with community activities to serve on various Education Boards and Texas State Councils. It is important for me to give back to the community I am part of. For myself, I find relaxation in exercise, meditation and prayer, gardening, arts and crafts.

However, what is most challenging about seamless integration, is dealing with the unexpected. What do you do when your child suddenly develops a strep throat or ear infection and needs you at home, the same day when you have an important business engagement? Be calm and take a few deep breaths! There is no black and white answer, no right or wrong way to deal with situations like that. This is where flexibility and support from your spouse or life partner is critical. More importantly, it is essential to be comfortable with whatever decision you do make.

Creativity plays a role in trying to include my 7-year old son in everything I do. For instance, I travel a lot on business and of course, he used to hate that. Now we sort of make a game out of it. With all the international currency that I collect from my trips, we designed our own version of "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego" and research various countries together. He learns geography and I feel less guilty. So being creative about involving my kid in my work, and taking the time to involve myself in his work helps us both.

Let me switch to the second topic: Contributing to Corporate America as an Indian woman. I want to stress three key points around this subject:

Become a subject matter expert - know your domain and master its content. Gain recognition as a knowledgeable person in your field. Look for ways to apply your expertise and expand your skills. This is perhaps the most important factor in contributing with confidence.

Take initiative and demonstrate self-motivation - the fact that you are an Indian woman in a male dominated corporate culture is a distinction that is thrust upon you. It is a reality and there is not much you can do about it. So the question becomes- Where do you go from there? You can view it as a disadvantage, and become discouraged; or have the initiative and self-motivation to leverage it. Take the latter approach. The fact that you are different and tend to view things from another angle does add value to the corporation, if you take the initiative to demonstrate that value.

Lastly, combine the strengths of your Indian heritage with the values of American corporate culture to create an unbeatable leadership combination. Indian heritage emphasizes a holistic approach to things. This helps us see the big picture in a professional setting. Intuition is another strength of the Indian heritage - this helps us to be perceptive in a business environment. Being tolerant and inclusive are the foundations of our heritage. These make us more prone to teaming in a corporate culture. On the other hand, American corporate culture is pragmatic and results oriented. It is important in this culture to have a goal and deliver to that goal. Can-do approach is valued. There is an underlying sense of humor in the day to day American corporate environment that is refreshing and a delight to work in. Think of the combination of the two;

• Holistic, yet results oriented
• Intuitive with a can-do attitude
• Tolerant and inclusive with a light hearted sense of humor

Don't you agree that it results in a terrific leadership combination?

With that I would like to conclude my comments.

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