Leaders

Women leaders are increasingly shaping organisations not simply through representation at the top, but through the breadth of experience, adaptability and perspective they bring to leadership. Their journeys often demonstrate that leadership is shaped less by a linear career path and more by the ability to navigate change, embrace unfamiliar responsibilities and continue evolving. 

After two decades of senior leadership across global financial services, Rubana Pestonji Sachdev is building Joviraahh — bringing together her experience in leadership, governance and transformation with her interest in the questions that shape how people and organisations navigate change.

At 25, Rubana Pestonji Sachdev remembers boarding a flight to Hong Kong and turning left for the first time. She was travelling business class, on her own merit. It was not simply about the seat, but what it represented: a goal she had set and worked hard to realise. Fifteen years later, another milestone arrived when she became a Board Director at 40.

Between those two moments lay a career spanning hospitality and global financial services, across capital markets, banking, governance, compliance and transformation. Along the way came setbacks, unfamiliar environments and increasingly complex challenges — each requiring her to learn, adapt and find her way. Today, she is asking a different question: what can she build with everything she has learnt?

Learning to find her way

Rubana's education wasn't linear. She studied in the UK, including at the London School of Economics, and went on to pursue management education at ISB. But she believes the most important part of those formative years was not the pedigree of the institutions. It was understanding what stays with you when you enter unfamiliar environments. “When you move at a young age, the values you carry come to the fore and reinforce your identity,” she reflects.

That belief system came from her parents and grandmother, who instilled in her the importance of education, independence, hard work, persistence, and humility, while also encouraging ambition.

Her return to India after LSE brought a different kind of learning. She struggled to find her first job, arriving for walk-in interviews as a fresh graduate and discovering that neither her degree nor her preparation automatically translated into opportunity.  

She was the first in her family to work a corporate job, and had no professional network to lean on. A childhood friend, already a few years into hospitality, coached her: from how to present herself and look the part to learning how to read a room, and helped her land her first job with the Taj Group. 

The experience was an invaluable life lesson. It taught Rubana the practical importance of preparation, presentation, and networks, and that sometimes, you simply have to adapt and figure things out as you go.

That ability to adapt became a defining thread through Rubana’s career. From hospitality, she moved into Morgan Stanley’s outsourcing unit as a Management Associate, with stints in London and New York, before joining Credit Suisse, where she worked with Asian sovereign funds. At BNP Paribas, she moved through increasingly senior leadership roles, from Business Manager of the outsourcing unit to Executive Committee Member, Chief Operating Officer of the Securities entity and, ultimately, Head of Compliance for India, supporting a 15,000-person organisation.

Courage, humility and the art of the pause

Ask her what she has learnt about leadership, and she doesn't reach for a single trait. Being younger than many of her peers meant learning to lead through influence before she held formal authority, relying on her team's expertise, listening more than she spoke, and building credibility.

For Rubana, leadership is courage paired with humility: the courage to make an unpopular call, say what others would rather not hear, or ask the questions no one else will; and the humility to know that conviction is not the same as being right.

She has also learnt the value of the pause. Some of the most important work is quiet: clearing obstacles, listening, and creating space for people to think. Rubana believes the questions we ask shape the choices we make, and the choices we make shape the impact we create.  

Asking what comes next

Every corporate chapter before this had ended somewhat circumstantially, without another role lined up. This time carried a different, more deliberate pull. Rubana wanted to draw on what she had learnt to help organisations and individuals navigate growth and change. She also wanted to be more present for herself, her family and friends, rather than constantly being “wired and tired.” 

Joviraahh is being built with that intention, bringing together her experience in governance, leadership and transformation with her passion for mentoring, women's development, inclusion and social impact. She sees it as a house of leadership, advisory and conversations, exploring the moments before transformation — the conversations, questions and shifts in perspective that shape what comes next. It is a transition Rubana describes as organic and almost ordained, and one she is thoroughly enjoying.

Women, leadership and choice

Rubana prefers to share what has worked for her rather than tell others what they should do. Her message to women stepping into senior roles is simple: stop thinking of yourself as a ‘woman leader’; you are a leader. She is equally candid that all senior careers involve trade-offs, and that women may face additional ones shaped by expectations and circumstances. Balancing is unrealistic and futile; integration is more realistic. For her, it has meant owning her career, building her ecosystem and investing in herself.

It is the same philosophy Rubana brings to Joviraahh: creating space for leaders and organisations to step back, gain a different perspective, and make more considered choices about how to move forward. 

Rubana Pestonji Sachdev, Founder, Joviraahh

Rubana Pestonji Sachdev has over two decades of international experience spanning three continents in some of the world's leading financial institutions. Having held leadership positions such as Board Director, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Compliance Officer, her career has been shaped by moments that demanded both courage and reinvention.