The role is very technical because ultimately they have to be thinking about pricing our products, and the fee structure that we are setting. They are constantly analysing the data that is sent to them and the data that is sent out. They are the custodians of the data that gets sent out to our clients. This is why it is important for them to spot mistakes immediately and that is why the role requires individuals of high degree technical proficiency.
Once you get to a space in your career where it is impossible to take a lot of time out of the office, this sort of programme allows one to both school and work . On how hard it was to get into Harvard, she explained that the standards are very high and effort is put into a really good screening tool in the sense that one has to really think about what it is that they want to do. Part of the screening process is firstly for them to screen you, but also for them to give you an indication of what it is going to be like.
She is married and has a four year old son. She explained that she does not like the concept of work life balance. "The term ‘work life balance’ assumes that your life is made up of work and everything else is other. In the reality of our lives, you are not only doing work and 'other'." In our daily lives we are doing work, plus family plus health; we are multi facet individuals." In order to make it work, one has to be ruthless with their time. We have to understand what we need to do in any given hour of the day, and then give our full attention to that which we have to do.
What sets her apart and what got her to where she is now in her career
She humbly declined to describe herself as better than anyone else out there. She however indicated that one of the things that got her here was that she was lucky enough to find something that she enjoys doing. You might find that person X is better at a role than person Y. If X hates this role however, in reality, X will not be as good at it as a person who enjoys it. She was very fortunate to have found something that she enjoyed early on in life.
“All of that collectively is our reputation. We have investments where we need to make money for our clients and then everything else is our client service. The biggest way to lose a client’s trust is to put out the wrong numbers into the industry. All of this collectively is our reputation. We had 40 years to build it and it can take just one day to lose it. It is our responsibility to make sure that we never lose it.”
Her time at Harvard Business School
Seema studied a leadership course with Harvard Business School. The program is a type of executive MBA. The Harvard business school does not offer an executive MBA. They offer a standard MBA and have three courses which are pitched at three levels of management and progressive management which are focused primarily on leadership development. The program she did was over an 18 month period and consists of a modularised format with three of the modules requiring one to be on campus for two week periods. This was one of the appeals of the programme. An MBA is for students tipically between the ages of 25 and 35.