GM Club

Navya, very often, disconnected a call or left in the middle of a meeting. After a week of being her mentee, Aisha knew for certain that her mentor Navya had a kid whom she was extremely concerned about. Perhaps the main reason why Navya used to either put on hold or disconnect a call if she saw her kid on-call wait. Everything else had to wait. Navya would first take that call, address the issue on hand, only then attend to anything else – which was either the call she had abruptly disconnected or the meeting she had excused herself from.

Navya was one of the members of the Senior Leadership Team, at Erudite Consulting, where Aisha had joined for her internship, earlier this month. A fresh management graduate, from a two-tier management institute, Aisha knew about the corporate ways of the world, only from what she had learned within the haloed chambers of her lecture halls. Which is why, the smart and quick learner, Aisha was keenly absorbing all the lessons that this one month was giving her. She was extremely fortunate to have been assigned with Navya as her mentor. There was no one better than Navya to be her first mentor.

Navya had an experience of more than two decades and an exemplary career history. Aisha had checked LinkedIn for her details before her day one at work. Navya had risen from the ranks and had done it all. There was no fooling around with her, she knew it all, as she had clearly gotten her hands dirty, and can still do if required. But now, Navya lets her team take the lead. She coaches and mentors her team very effectively. Many of her juniors are now managing their own accounts and some several accounts, independently. She is always there for any support and guidance should they need.

Aisha was left unsure and confused on multiple occasions when her call was disconnected by Navya. Though Navya was prompt to call her back, yet Aisha assumed she was low on priority on Navya’s checklist. After all, Aisha was there only for a month. Chances of her absorption in Erudite Consulting would largely depend on Navya’s feedback. Aisha even checked with some tenured folks who were working with Navya, and they all assured her there was nothing to worry.

In week three, some high-value and critical accounts required Navya to jump in and do some firefighting - an impactful word Aisha had learned recently, and also started to love. This required Navya to be at client locations, for important and at times long-drawn meetings, and as a result couldn’t be in the office to mentor Aisha. Realising Aisha has limited time to spend with her, she asked her to accompany her to these client visits. This would entail Aisha would have to report to work and leave with Navya the moment she leaves. There was no assurance of when she would be back, no assurances of lunch, no assurance of any break either. But Aisha was gung-ho and all set for the learning experience she wasn’t going to miss.

Day one of the drive, Navya shared some invaluable mantras. Aisha found her tan spiral notebook pages being filled quicker than the times she’d spent in the lecture halls of her institute. Every word Navya uttered were lessons that no book, no faculty had ever shared. This was real learning. She thanked her stars for this opportunity of a lifetime. She was going to make the most of this internship.

But there were awkward moments. In the middle of taking notes, Aisha would hear: “Ha beta, today I will come back and make sevai vali kheer with dry fruits no kishmish. Just like my baby likes. Okay?” Navya’s chain of thoughts though were never lost. Max she would ask: “Where was I?” and continue from where she’d left. 10 minutes into the conversation and Aisha almost noted in her diary: “Sure, sure. I will get your registers, pens and also the coloured chart papers. Do you also want me to get a new set of sketch pens for my baby?”

This was not all. In what were easily about 10 calls, on day one that Aisha spent with Navya, these and several more critical matters were apparently taking a lot of Navya’s bandwidth in her parallel universe. By the 4th such interruption, Aisha knew when it was time to give Navya her space, even though both were sitting next to each other in the rear seat of their chauffeur-driven sedan on a busy Delhi road. So, Aisha applied her Emotional Intelligence (one of her favourite lessons in her management years) and appeared to be engrossed in traffic and the greenery when the situation so warranted.

And then, Navya had to take leave for three days. Why, was not clearly known. As a backup, Aisha was now assigned Ruhi as her mentor. Ruhi had a similar background and experience but was way more bindaas. Clearly, a very different personality and temperament than that of Navya – a leader Aisha had started to revere.

The lessons Ruhi shared were no less great. But she also shared laughs and would often be seen kidding around with the team. A side that Navya maybe did not have, or at least did not show.

At the end of the third day, Ruhi told Aisha: “Tomorrow Navya is back and you will be back to her. I am always here. Hop in if you have any questions.” Aisha nodded. Ruhi laughed out loud: “Now Navya will take her next leave in September when the first-term exams are scheduled. Man, she worries about that kid – a bit too much we think. But then, we are all members of the GM Club.” Surprised, Aisha had not heard about the club all this while and was scared to ask about its membership details. She assumed it must be a club open to members only to the leadership team of Erudite Consulting. Ruhi was quick to put her misery to rest. “The GM Club – The Guilty Mom Club,” and broke into her signature laughter again.