Meet Meenakshi Iyer

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Meenakshi Iyer. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Meenakshi, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
Finding my purpose has been and is an ongoing journey. To me, purpose is the most impactful way I can engage with those around me. Purpose is the most creative way I can be of service, where I am, with what I have. My life and career have taken me places and brought me to incredible experiences, learning and growth. Thanks to an entire lifetime of living as the proverbial “outsider” – on account of the local language, culture, and my passport being different from the ones I was born into – my lived experience is all about hyphenated identities and a non-traditional career! 🙂 I’m a natural at thriving at intersections, People, Business, and Technology being key among them. “Stop, breathe, think, and then, act.” is my mantra.

My purpose is an amalgamation of all my experience AND experiences!

This is how I found my purpose of “Unpacking Leadership at the Messy Middle™” and helping co-create a Future of Work that works for everyone!

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I’m excited and proud to serve as the Founder and Principal at NorthStar Solutions and Services LLC, where I partner with CxOs and organizations with Unpacking Leadership™ at the “Messy Middle”! I help Executive and Senior leaders unlock the untapped potential of their Mid-level Leaders by setting them up for success, so that together, they can create sustainable business outcomes.

I prioritize supporting #WomenInTechnology, particularly those who speak English as an additional language, in their personal and professional leadership development journeys.

I have first-hand experience in being that mid-senior level leader who is always asked to do more with less, and who has to do ‘triple duty’ of managing up, down, and all around! Plus, as a Woman in Tech, who speaks English as an additional language, I realized that I have to constantly code switch to keep up in a culture that’s different from my own. I also noticed that the emotional labor that folks like me have to put in in predominantly English-speaking corporate environments, is hardly ever acknowledged or talked about! This is why I do what I do now!

I help my clients find human-centered ways of leading people and change, in a technology-driven world. I partner with leaders, teams, and their organizations in unpacking the power of “slowing down to speed up” and support them in strengthening their core human skills such as agility, collaboration, curiosity, empathy, and in making DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) integral to their team and leadership practices.

With my support, my clients craft a leadership stance that’s most authentic to them. In line with the “clear is kind” philosophy, I help them engage with others with care and candor. I help them learn how to separate signal from noise.

I provide Coaching and Training to individuals and groups in: Personal Agility for Leaders, Self and Change Leadership, Remote/Hybrid Leadership, Cross-cultural Communication, Delegation / Empowerment, Leader Development, and Team Effectiveness for Agile/Remote/Hybrid Teams

I design and deliver bespoke Leadership Development Training and Change Management Advisory Services to technology companies.

Unpacking Leadership™ is my specialty Leadership Development group coaching program for cohorts of mid-senior leaders within organizations. I have space for TWO 12-person cohorts of Unpacking Leadership™ in 2023, and starting 2024, I’m looking to serve 2-3 such cohorts every quarter. Book a complimentary 30-minute ‘Next Steps’ call with me to get the conversation started – https://go.oncehub.com/NorthStarAtWork

Additionally, two notable annual events I host are the Future of Work Virtual Conference, and Building My Runway – a Global Mentorship program for mid-career Women in Tech.

I am also the host of two livestream shows: Exploring Intersections, and The NorthStar Café, simulcast on LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube, where I speak with guests around the world on topics relating to Inclusive Leadership and the Future of Work.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three skills that have been most impactful in my journey are: 1. Connecting the dots – I have diverse interests, education, work experience, and lived experience. I have used all of it to create my unique tapestry of work that do in Unpacking Leadership™ at the ‘Messy Middle’. I have studied Science, Software Engineering, Business, and Human-centered Design and that’s what enables me to thrive at the intersection of People, Business, and Technology.

2. Curiosity – I have intentionally developed this skill and it has helped me immensely in being an empathetic Leader and Coach. Curiosity enables me to come into new places and unfamiliar situations with an open mind and heart. Curiosity also helps me check for and interrupt my own biases. It has helped me be a ‘learn-it-all’ leader

3. Collaboration – this has helped me build community and be boundaryless in my ways of working. “Collaboration OVER Competition” is one of my key operating principles of my business and has enabled me to be successful as a solopreneur. Over the course of my career, I’ve led teams in India and the US, and worked with folks from Australia, Finland, Greece, Italy, Morocco, New Zealand and Spain.

How would you describe your ideal client?
For my Unpacking Leadership™ group coaching program, my ideal client is a CxO / Senior Leader of a mid-sized Technology/Software/Product Development company who is invested in setting up their Mid-level leaders for individual and team success. They understand the importance of creating sustainable ways of working within the organization to create sustainable business outcomes. However, at the moment, they find themselves spending their valuable time and energy in managing the’ day-to-day’. They could use all the support they can get to unlock the potential of their mid-level leaders so that, together they can co-create sustainable business outcomes.

For my 1:1 Coaching services, my ideal clients are mid-senior technology leaders, and individual contributors looking to take their careers to the next level as impactful People and Change Leaders and are committed to doing the hard inner work that’s needed to accomplish this. They speak English as an additional language, and are looking to decolonize their hearts and minds, and their ways of working. They want to elevate their Personal Brand, enhance their visibility within the company, build better engagement with their remote/hybrid teams, and craft a leadership stance that comes naturally to them.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
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