WIM Top50 2nd Annual Conference - Being a Corporate Athlete at Work
The Second WIM Top50 Conference titled under the theme - Being a Corporate Athlete at Work was held on the 26th of July at the Galle Face Hotel Colombo, attended to by close to 170 participants comprising of both genders and across middle and senior management of many diverse organizations.
The Conference provided the platform for 4 guest speakers and 5 panel discussions to deep dive into topics and areas not spoken and discussed out in the open, and comprised of experienced senior professionals as well as the new Gen Millennials
The conference began with Swim with the Sharks - by guest speaker Ramya Weerakoon who shared her personal stories of failure and success
And who left a key message – with the audience of "That we need to start listening before we start speaking"
The topic of Integrity your best ornament - was well received by the audience as it was felt that it was an absolute appropriate topic of discussion at this point in time in our country the Public and Private sector mixed panel of P.S.M.Charles, Lopa Rahman, Shikha Nag, Indira Malwatte - ably moderated by Panel Chair - Nisthar Cassim. On the importance of Integrity in the work place and the sharing of their stories and the key messages of walk the talk and the importance of ethics, values and honesty in the both the public and private sector was endorsed by all speakers
Dr. Rohantha Athukorala – conducted a prelude to the next panel on the current economy, the tourism industry and the difference between a professional and corporate athlete – and the challenges the corporate athletes faces in their long sphere of work of 30-40 years
Fighting the system - Rohan Maskorala, Dawn Austin, Dr. Rohantha Athukorala and Shehara De Silva- Panel Chair- Gayani De Alwis shared their views and experiences on the The importance of the Private and Public sector working in harmony, and the role of the business community in the Be Positive movement was well received.
And the Panel Chair summarized the panel discussion "To fight the system one must conquer your mind first while you constantly juggle around to achieve peak performance under challenging situations to achieve physical, emotional, mental and spiritual resilience"
Women at the Bar - Mr. Kalinga Indatissa PC – gave an insightful journey on the history of the legal profession in Sri Lanka and the challenges faced by Women at the Bar- and the role of the BASL in promoting and assisting the up and coming Lady lawyers to face up to the challenges and overcome the obstacles
Creating what's next-Getting out of your Limo - Varuni Amunugama, Linda Speldwinde, Lakmini Wijesundera, Marise Deckker - led by Panel Chair- Heminda Jayaweera had a focused discussion on Innovative approach to the business world and the success stories and the boundaries that the ladies on the panel had broken to achieve the current status of Success!
Panel Chair Heminda said "It was great to chair such a diversed and exemplary panel of very successful women entrepreneurs. The common message was the focus on innovation in their respective organizations and the continued focus on it for further growth."
Another interesting section on How to Get along with men at the workplace was discussed by Panelist - Tania Polonnowita, Anusha Gallage, Kishani Jayasinghe, Minha Faiz- duly moderated by Panel Chair- Asitha Pinnaduwa the stories on Glass ceilings and colour ceilings, the #metoo were enlighting to the participants.
The Conference focused on giving the the Millennials the opportunity to give their perspective on work, life and in generally how they see themselves in the future The panelists comprised of Jerome Morritt, Tharindi Thalahity, Janani Pushpanathan, Fazeen Rasheed - abled chaired by Panel Chair - Archana Law gave the older audience a lot to think about and were very inspirational from those so young.
Dr Sulochana Segera – spoke on the topic - Be Original- with a key message that showed the values of originality and never to imitate and be someone else.
The day ended on a high with key note speaker - Mrs Shika Nag - an internationally renowned TedX speaker and a Mrs India World of 2016 on the subject of Lose some Battles to win a War - She shared her stories of work life balance, common problems the women face in both personal and professional life, and the needs of changing mind set and social norms to overcome the issues of the Woman Corporate Athlete
All in all it was a day of deliberations, sharing of experiences and the taking back for implementation the lessons learned!