SpeakIn Champions the Future of Leadership with Back-to-Back Leaders Guild Dialogues in Mumbai and Delhi

In an era of rapid transformation, leadership is evolving beyond hierarchy to embrace influence, adaptability, and continuous learning. SpeakIn, Asia’s leading expert-learning platform, recently concluded two editions of the SpeakIn Asia Dialogues – Leaders Guild in Mumbai and Delhi. These power-packed gatherings convened top industry leaders, CXOs, and experts to explore the shifting paradigms of leadership, talent management, and the evolving workplace, with the theme “The Role of Menotring and Coaching in Building the CEOs of Today and Tomorrow.”

As businesses strive to build resilient leadership pipelines, structured mentoring programs and executive coaching are proving to be essential tools in talent development. Leaders shared success stories of how mentorship has empowered young professionals, accelerated career growth, and bridged generational gaps in organizations. 

Mr. Richard Rekhy, Vice-Chair of Grant Thornton Bharat, emphasized during the Delhi Edition, “The role of mentorship is not just to pass on knowledge but to cultivate the next generation of visionary leaders who can navigate complexity with confidence.”

The 9Cs of Mentoring—a transformative framework unveiled during the Delhi edition—became a cornerstone of the dialogues. The framework includes:

1. Connect: Building authentic relationships.
2. Care: Prioritizing empathy over transactions.
3. Character: Cultivating integrity-driven leadership.
4. Conscience: Leading with purpose and ethics.
5. Culture (Sanskaar & Sabhyata): Embedding values into growth.
6. Capabilities: Developing future-ready skills.
7. Courage: Inspiring bold decision-making.
8. Co-Learning: Fostering mutual growth.
9. Completion: Treating mentorship as a lifelong journey.

Deepshikha Kumar, Founder of SpeakIn, mentioned, “The 9Cs of Mentoring are not just a framework—they’re a blueprint for cultivating leaders who drive meaningful change. Our dialogues bridge knowledge with action in this complex professional landscape.”

With Gen-Z now comprising nearly 30% of the workforce, organizations are recognizing the urgent need to rethink traditional talent strategies. Mr. Anuj Tyagi, MD and CEO of HDFC ERGO, aptly noted during the Mumbai Edition, “Gen-Z is redefining the workplace with their values of purpose and flexibility. Organizations that adapt to this shift will lead the future of work.” The Leaders Guild series facilitated insightful discussions on how organizations can foster mentorship, inclusion, and agility to stay ahead in this changing landscape.

The Mumbai edition of the event set the stage for thought-provoking conversations. Prominent speakers, including Ravi Kant (Former Managing Director, Tata Motors), Ajay Thakur (CEO & Managing Partner, TGI SME Capital Advisors; Former Head, BSE), Alok Jain (President, Viacom18), Anju Jumde (HR and Admin, Aditya Birla Money and ARC Business), Mahesh Gera (Group CHRO, Rustomjee), Naushad Noorani (Group Head – Organization and Talent Development, RPG Group), Nimisha Rana Pathak (She/Her, CHRO, Alvarez & Marsal India), Priti Singh (Chief People Officer, Universal Sompo), Priya Prasad (Chief Human Resources Officer, IndoStar Capital Finance), Samir Parikh (Founder, Naman Staffing), Shivanand Sinha (Partner, McKinsey & Company), Smita Puranesh (she/her/hers, Head of HR for Digital (JioHotstar) and Sports Business), Sonalika Bhaskar (Talent Management, Huhtamaki), Sriram Iyer (Chief Executive Officer, HDFC Pension Management Company Limited), Sudhir Warier (Head of Learning and Development – Home Business, Reliance Jio Infocom), Sunder Natarajan (CFIRM, CHRO, IndiaFirst Life), Supratik Bhattacharyya (Talent Officer, RPG Group), and Vivek Jain (CHRO, Capri), who shared their perspectives on reshaping leadership. 

A key theme that emerged was the role of coaching in preparing future leaders. Mr. Ravi Kant mentioned, “Leadership today is about empowering others—mentorship is the catalyst.”

Continuing the momentum, the Delhi edition brought together another set of industry experts, including Suresh Narayanan (Chairman and MD, Nestlé), Dr. Aarti Gupta (CIO, Family Office DM Gupta & Managing Partner, Anikarth Ventures), Aditya Vikram Jain (Executive Director and Office Leader – India Capability Center, Boston Consulting Group), Anand Ranganathan (Professor, Special Centre for Molecular Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru University), Anil Wadhwa (Former Ambassador & Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs), Ankit Jhamb (Chief Learning Officer, Grant Thornton Bharat), Arif Unia (Founder, The Laundry House), Arun Anand (Author, Columnist, and Journalist), Prof. (Dr.) Nirmaljeet Singh Kalsi IAS (Retd.) (Former Chairperson, NCVET, Govt of India & Former Additional Chief Secretary, Punjab), Jagdish Mitra (Founder and CEO, humanizetech.ai), Jyoti Malhotra (Managing Director, Volvo Car India), Mumtaz Patel (Delegate, All India Congress Committee), Sheetal Verma (CLDP, L&D Specialist, Taylor and Francis Group), and Sushil Baveja (CHRO, Jindal Stainless). 

Conversations in Delhi revolved around leadership resilience, the importance of purpose-driven organizations, and strategies for managing multi-generational workforces. As he defined the 9Cs of Mentorship, Mr. Suresh Narayanan remarked, “Mentorship builds leaders who navigate complexity with heart and wisdom.”

By fostering engaging discussions and exchanging valuable insights, SpeakIn’s Leaders Guild Dialogues reaffirmed the necessity of staying ahead in leadership innovation. The Leaders Guild series highlighted that mentorship, co-learning, and adaptive strategies are non-negotiable for organizations aiming to thrive in the new era of work.

About SpeakIn

SpeakIn is Asia’s largest digital campus for 1:1 coaching and group speaker sessions. Helping enterprise learners solve their professional problems of leadership, motivation, diversity, sustainability and more, the sessions are delivered by a highly curated network of global CxOs, SMEs, Thought Leaders and Certified Coaches. Headquartered in Singapore, SpeakIn continues to serve marquee clients like Prudential, BMW, DBS, HDFC and more. Over 1.5 million professionals in 8 countries have learnt on the SpeakIn platform. Fun fact, SpeakIn owns the largest network of over 30 speaker bureau’s globally. Please feel free to see more of us at www.speakin.co.

About Asia Dialogues – Leader’s Guild

Speakin Asia Dialogues Leaders Guild is a curated network of Asia’s top regional and global experts to learn, engage and network. The Leader’s Guild network engages over a series of in-person round tables held across Asia-Pacific where top thought leaders and learners engage and come together. With discussions, discovery and networking at its core, Asia Dialogues Leader’s Guild brings together influential voices on business, politics, socio-economic areas and beyond. By 2025, Asia Dialogues Leader’s Guild has held more than two dozen in-person influential round-tables across India, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia and Indonesia. At Leader’s Guild members have learnt in-person from region’s top leaders including Amitabh Kant, India’s G20 Sherpa and Indian Administrative Services Officer (Rtd.) Government of India, Suresh Narayanan, Chairman and MD Nestle India, Paul Dupuis, Fr. Chairman and CEO of Randstad Japan, Ravi Kant, Former MD and Vice Chairman Tata Motors, Manoj Kohli, Former MD Softbank India, Low Peck Kem, CHRO and Advisor WD, Public Services Division, Government of Singapore, Herman Cahyadi, Chief People Officer, Gojek Indonesia, KV Rao, Chairman & Director, Tata International Singapore, Elvira Jakub, CEO of Dentsu Indonesia and many more. These gatherings have been instrumental in fostering impactful discussions on leadership, innovation, and personal transformation. The most recent events were in Mumbai Asia Dialogues – January 27th | Delhi Asia Dialogues – January 29th.

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