NADIJA TAMBIAH

She is the President, Legal, Secretarial and CSR, John Keells Group. She has a LL.B (Hons) from the University of Manchester, UK, and she is a Barrister at Law (Middle Temple), UK. She is an Attorney at Law, Sri Lanka, and an alumna of Waterford Kamhlaba United World College Southern Africa. She is the Head of the John Keells Foundation; the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of John Keells Holdings PLC, and is a member of the Group’s Diversity and Inclusion Initiative. She is a Director for several subsidiaries within the John Keells Group, and she is a Trustee of the George Keyt Foundation. She is also a Trustee of the Geoffrey Bawa Trust, Lunuganga Trust and is a Member of the Executive Committee of the Colombo Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art.  She is Vice Chair of the Women’s Director Forum of the Sri Lanka Institute of Directors (SLID), sits on the SLID Council and the Working Committee of the Board Secretaries Forum, SLID. She is a Lecturer and a Resource person on Negotiations, Corporate Governance, Corporate Responsibility, Law of Evidence and Contract Law. 

In 2014, she was ranked as one of the most powerful women in Sri Lanka. She is inquisitive and she has a constant thirst for knowledge. She is passionate about diversity  in the workplace. She Can and she is an empowered woman; Nadija Tambiah.
 

What is the most important attribute of successful leaders today?
I admire leaders who have empathy, but challenge their teams to be the best they can be, and encourage them to continuously keep learning, innovating and improving.  

 
What has driven you through life’s hurdles and obstacles?
Everyone has faced hurdles and obstacles in their lives.  I find that the mindset with which you face them is what matters.  I am a “can do” person and never believe that any path is closed.  I have an insatiable curiosity, which I attribute to my school which emphasized questioning the norm, community responsibility and the power of diversity. That ethos has stayed with me throughout my life. The ability to contribute to meaningful change in society has been a key driver for me. Luckily, very early in my career, I found myself in the John Keells Group which somehow played to my natural strengths and aspirations. Whilst, providing challenging and interesting work which required daily learning, it also gave me the opportunity to pursue other things that mattered. My involvement in the John Keells Foundation and their programmes on empowering women, whether through education, building livelihoods, or combating gender-based violence, and seeing the impact these programmes have had in transforming the lives of so many women, has given me a personal fulfillment I could not find elsewhere. My introduction to art and culture, initially through JKF’s programmes, to spotlight Sri Lankan artistic heritage and talent has led to me discovering new passions (and obsessions).  The Group Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative has given me the opportunity to personally interact with and make a difference in empowering women in the work place.

Do you ever think  - “Am I Crazy”
Of course! Constantly, especially wwhenever I decide to take the road less-travelled or when I’ve taken on an uphill task, and recently when I spent all my money on art! But this questioning is all part of weighing the pros and cons. I think it applies to so many of my life choices, whether its parenting, food, travel, shopping, reading or art. I have a lot more fun, when at first the choice seems crazy! 

 
How do you differentiate yourself.
My most important legacy will be my two daughters.  Giving them the strength and courage to be independent and responsible, whilst enjoying everything life has to offer, has been an incredible adventure; a journey which is constantly plagued with self-doubt.  With my work teams, I try to make each person the best they can be.  I am a strong believer that the best performers are those who are really enjoying the work they do. 

What is your “Why”

My “why” has evolved and changed through the many phases of my life.  It has ranged from the drive to study in my youth, to life changes made because of love in my early adulthood, to the overwhelming responsibility of having children. My two daughters inspired me to want to show them that as a woman, they can do anything. I come from a family of strong women and an active working mother. She laid the foundation that I had the responsibility to pass on to my daughters. I’ve also been incredibly blessed to have had an exciting and enabling work environment and bosses who have challenged me not to be complacent, and to constantly improve.  I love my work, the constant learning, and the constant changee. The JKH culture has always been a big “why” in my work life.  And now, as my career matures, like the peak of Maslow’s pyramid, the “why” has become the desire to make a positive contribution to the development of Sri Lanka, whether through JKH in catalysing our economy, in celebrating the unsung talent of our artistic heritage, empowering our communities through the Foundation initiatives or in giving impetus to the ambition of young women.

 
How do you keep yourself and your teams motivated.

As long as I am learning about new things, I am motivated.  I have found that my passion to try new things can also drive motivation in my teams as well. I try to create an environment which will enable each team member to contribute, learn and grow. It’s important not to punish failure or mistakes, these are all learning tools.

 
Have you been discriminated against?

My high school that was founded to combat aapartheid, was the same school that Nelson Mandela’s children’s and grandchildren studied at.  Although, we lived surrounded by the policies of apartheid, because of the school ethos, I did not feel that I was different to anyone else, because of my colour or gender.  I’ve always had a family who supported my education and work, whether it was my parents, my husband or my daughters. The JKH work culture measures only performance and ability and I’ve never been treated differently because I was female. Its only with hindsight that I’ve realized that my circumstances are very different to most women in Sri Lanka. The majority of Sri Lankan women grow up with societal and familial expectations that women, although educated must be the primary home-maker, child carer and take care of elderly parents. 

Their desire to also hold a fulltime job is rarely supported or rewarded. The spotlight on women in recent years and more recent sensitization of gender issues at work has educated me that this dual expectation of fulfilling a demanding job, whilst being primarily responsible for fulfilling the demands of the household is also a type of discrimination.  

I am excited to be a part of several initiatives which aim to improve gender metrics and workplace conditions.  Foremost, is the ONE JKH initiative on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion which formalized our ongoing series of researched interventions aimed at helping not only our female employees through life’s hurdles, but ensuring that everyone is treated with respect, and is provided with equal opportunities.  The programmes to support our female talent range from a tool kit to help new parents through the first few years, to employee supported childcare, mentoring, sponsoring and training targeted at women and leadership led targets. We are consciously driving important conversations around addressing unconscious bias which support levelling the meritocracy playing field. 

The Sri Lanka Institute of Directors and the Women Directors Forum also has initiatives which look at highlighting the availability of female talent and training for Women Director’s based on a programme initiated by the IFC. The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art also has programmes highlighting the talent of our female artists and careers for female Art Graduates.  Being a part of these initiatives has made me realize that I have been blessed to have had the background and opportunities I’ve had, and that I have an obligation to try and provide these same opportunities to other women as well. 
 

Your biggest regret? 
Not having time to everything I want to do.

Where do you see yourself ten years from now?
Still contributing and pursuing my passions but not at this pace!

How do you want to be remembered one day?  
As someone who inspired her children to be the best they can and as someone who made a difference.