Leadership Journeys [176] - Manisha Kumar - "I don't make what I do become the locus of my identity"

Choosing Leadership with Sumit Gupta

This is the Leadership Journey series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

I believe we all have a lot to learn from each other's stories - of where we started, where we are now, and our successes and struggles on the way. With this series of interviews, my attempt is to give leaders an opportunity to share their stories and for all of us to learn from their generous sharing. If you know a leader whom you would like to see celebrated on the show, please send me a message on LinkedIn with their name.

Join us in this insightful interview with Manisha Kumar, Chief Operating Officer at Global Hospitals, as she shares her inspiring journey from an engineering background to leading a group of hospitals in India.

With over 12 years of experience in the healthcare industry, including managing hospitals during the challenging times of COVID-19, Manisha offers invaluable insights into leadership, navigating stereotypes, and the importance of intuition in decision-making.

Her story is not just about overcoming challenges, but also about finding strength in diversity and making a real impact in healthcare.

Tune in to gain practical wisdom for your own leadership journey!

You can find Manisha Kumar at the below links

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/kumarmanisha/
• [e-mail]

In the interview, Manisha shares

• "I've been in the healthcare industry for over 12 years now, I've run a lot of hospitals, large multi specialty hospitals, commissioned hospitals from scratch, managed COVID in the worst of times."
• "I was very interested in finance. So I majored in finance and I was trying for a lot of consulting placements, with McKinsey and the likes."
• "Healthcare was and has been, one of the most unrealized industries; it's just been up and up."
• "There were a lot of layers of stereotypes for me initially when I entered. I felt that there was some kind of at least an unconscious bias for somebody who didn't come from a medical background or didn't have that much experience."
• "I decided to play to my strengths and to deepen my learning curve, I moved out of my strategy role."
• "In healthcare, we are a service industry, and it's largely people-driven. Whatever digitization, automation, it's basically a people service industry."
• "I think intuition is very important. So as you were talking about the future, right? This is like there is something ahead for you that you have in your mind. I think more than your mind, if there's something which is more emotional or more heart-based for you."
• "I think for a leader, three things are very key. One is leading by example, which is what I practice, day in and day out. So I take the first step and then have everybody follow me."
• "First, I'll tell you about the COVID time. I think then it was very kind of, we had to think out of the box and think on our feet. We really had to invent solutions at times."
• "I try to detach myself from work as far as possible when I'm in my personal space. Because hospitals, we are a 24 by seven environment. It was inevitable for the first five, six years of my work, I would keep getting calls from work, even in the nights, and I'm continuously embroiled in work."