Pankaj Gupta, Senior Vice President

China and North Asia Operations at L'Oréal

Like most professionals in multi-country jobs, travel has been an integral part of my work for many years. The simple act of meeting people in their home environments builds a connect that is such an important pre-requisite for work. All this stopped in 2020 with Covid. As I grappled with work from home and the endless video conferences, I noticed the need to be more engaging in my communication. That is when I reached out to Soundari to sign up for her online story telling coaching. “Learning how to communicate with stories set me up for success, and that is exactly what I want to do for you”, I still remember her saying. And true to the claim, Soundari was committed to understanding my context and adjusting her pace and style to my needs. For example, she noticed that I needed time to prepare before speaking. So she encouraged me to make short videos of my narrations after the sessions using my phone and message to her. It also helped that she had a successful corporate career before she became a coach, which means that her language and examples were easy for me to relate to. Over the 4 sessions, I learnt how to present my messages in an engaging way without rambling! In these times of hybrid working, this has been a very useful skill.