130: The Power of Collaboration: Sudhir Sahani on Lessons from the Development Sector

Shownotes:2018, was a defining year for me career wise, it was also the year when I was able to live up to my aspiration to contribute a percentage of my time pro-bono to the third sector. I had the opportunity to align and engage with PRADAN, a leading Indian charity working in the livelihoods space. This opened the door for some wonderful collaborations and strategic work with the organisation in the last 6 years. The person who enabled this partnership was Sudhir Sahni – our paths had intersected briefly in the past.A veteran of the Indian Advertising Industry, Sudhir made a deliberate shift to the non-profit sector after three decades, in the quest for work that aligned with his beliefs. At PRADAN Sudhir leverages his experience to foster partnerships and amplify PRADANs impact amongst external stakeholders.In the 130th episode of The Elephant in the Room podcast, Sudhir talks about his transformative journey from the corporate to the social sector; the intrinsic motivations that guided the move; his desire for a collaborative approach to work focusing on individual potential; challenges faced by the development sector; the evolving funding landscape; equity and inclusion in the third sector; a community centred approach to delivering projects; women in leadership; ….etc.We also spoke about the impact of Transformers an interview series featuring leaders and best practice from the third sector and Samagam, a multi-stakeholder platform conceptualised and hosted by PRADAN to facilitate dialogues and collaboration amongst the third sector, private sector and governments. It is great to call a fellow champion and ally for women in the workplace, a friend.To hear more about Sudhir’s transition to the third sector head to the podcast 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾Episode Transcript:Sudha: Good morning, Sudhir. Welcome to the Elephant in the Room podcast today. Thank you for being a guest.Sudhir: Hi Sudha, it's always a pleasure talking to you. Happy to be with you today. Thank you.Sudha: So let's get started. My first question to you is how did this move happen from advertising to the social sector or the impact or the development sector? Was this a planned move the? Last time I'd met you before you were with Pradan you were at Ogilvy?Sudhir: Yeah. I've had a wonderful career in the advertising world over almost about 28 odd years and I loved what I was doing. And I loved, the kind of influence it had on people, on consumers. So that was great. At some point I felt that my style of working and engaging with people was I would say far more collaborative than competitive, which is required in the corporate world. And for me, I think getting the work done was more important than getting credit for it.I was beginning to wonder whether at a certain point I may not be so fit for the corporate world going forward. And my learning curve was beginning to plateau. And I would especially find pleasure in helping people achieve their tasks and realize their potential the underdog performing was far more exciting, than the champion team delivering a winning campaign I felt that maybe I may have a far more, if I may say, you know, within quotes, socialist outlook. And was happier to create more equals within the team than, create or deal with unequals.So that was beginning to fester in my mind.A couple of campaigns that really excited me. One was The Pulse Polio Immunisation Campaign...