People, potential and purpose – Leading the human way with Human Leadership Summit 2023

Compassion and self-awareness can help leaders analyze their own capabilities and improve their leadership skills. Assessment tests and mindfulness practices are some of the ways suggested to cultivate and experience empathy in order to make leadership more human.

To bring together the organizations that successfully execute human leadership and those who need inspiration and direction, Potential Project conducted the “Human Leadership Summit 2023.” The global research, leadership development and consulting firm has made its mark in 28 countries by helping make the work world more human. The organization is geared towards changing the mindsets and perspectives of over 5000+ leaders across diverse spaces.

Held in Bangalore, the event addressed and answered concerns regarding leadership in the uncertain digital age. The aim was to discuss insights and experiences on embracing a new playbook for leadership in these uncertain times – one where leaders balance their results orientation with care and compassion for their teams.

Hosted by the Country Director, Marut Bhardwaj, and Atul Padalkar, Client Solutions Lead & India Director, the event was attended by leaders from diverse organizations – both contributors to and supporters of the cause.

Rasmus Hougaard, Founder and CEO, opened the summit by citing the organization’s two-year research to explain how compassion (i.e., care for people) and wisdom (performance orientation) when combined lead to extraordinary employee engagement scores.

Parineeta Lakra of IKEA shared the company’s ideology that “children are the most important people in the world” and elaborated that recognizing and validating every voice is the future of the workforce. Shalini Nataraj, Maersk; Narayanan Balasubramaniam (Naru), Capgemini and S Sriram, Happiness Coach were panelists in a discussion where they provided solutions for doing difficult things in a humane way.

To prioritize people working for the greater good of organizations across the country, the hosts also launched “The Big Book of Human Leadership”. Compiled by Marut and Atul, the book highlights stories of challenges, initiatives, successes and reflections from a number of contributors, from HDFC to Lowe’s, making use of real-life lessons that can help leaders invest in collective growth by going beyond appraisals and reviews.

Of the contributors, Anuradha Razdan, Unilever, took the stage to recommend solutions to unlock the inner potential with the help of purpose and humanity; while Accenture’s C A Venkat shared his wisdom on leading for human performance, and how compassion equaled kindness, and Lowe’s India’s Ankur Mittal shared how to be more human in a tech-dominated world.

The purpose of this event was to make belonging the focal point of the workplace community. The goal for the future is to broaden the horizons both in spirit and in reality – to make work and the workplace more human. 

For 5 years, Marut Bhardwaj has been the Lead Global Partnerships & Country Director India. Being in the workforce for 24 years has driven her to utilize compassion to transform the workforce. She has trained close to 5000 employees and believes human leadership brings the potential of people to the surface. 

Atul Padalkar has been the Client Solutions Lead and India Director at Potential Project for 3 years.
With more than 2 decades of experience in business and leadership roles, Atul with his knowledge of mindfulness and self-awareness has helped ignite the conversation about and cultivate human leadership.