Devika Das

Devika Das

Devika Das is a speaker, trainer and C-suite coach, specializing in leadership transformation. She uses the principles of psychology to enhance the professional influence of senior leaders.

Devika’s international career spans 25 years living and working in the Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions. 10 of those years were spent in mainland China, working in training and consulting.

Devika works with international clients in small groups or one-on-one settings.

She uses coaching tools that she developed at INSEAD as part of her thesis research. These tools help shift coaching conversations from mere transactions to being transformational.

Expertise

*Identifying dysfunctional leadership styles and transforming them into impactful executive presence

*Developing personal leadership styles, including an adaptable and authentic signature voice, creating values, purpose and legacy

*Leading with night vision – coaching on reading power dynamics

Experience

Devika has coached senior executives from a wide range of organizations and industries, including retail, banking, law, media and infrastructure.

As a graduate of INSEAD’S Executive Masters in Clinical and Organizational Psychology (EMCCC), her interests are interpersonal perspective, leadership dynamics within groups and teams, and organizational change from both a micro and organizational stand.

She is currently working on her second book, looking at presence in women executives, due to be published in October 2019.

Devika is a member of the International Society for Psychoanalytical Study of Organizations (ISPO).

Devika assures confidentiality to all her coaching clients.

Personal

My mission is to show the world that if they want to have an authentic executive presence or an impactful persona, they should look inward first. Focusing ONLY on the outside of presence is akin to building a sandcastle… a small force can destroy it.

If you want authentic presence, you need to evolve from within with mature reflection.

As a child growing up, I was socially awkward and shy. I felt invisible and dreamed about being able to own the room and have an undisputed presence.

​As I grew older, I continued to be an awkward misfit, desperately trying to fit in. I read books on everything from confidence, gravitas and charisma to executive presence, but they only seemed to talk about the external aspect of presence. None of them talked about issues of cultural diversity, imposter syndrome, inner theatre etc.

The examples shared were usually of white men talking to a large, rapt audience. The narrative didn’t include me – a brown woman – or in fact any person in a minority.

Initially in my quest to ‘be seen,’ I spent a lot of resources trying to fix the outside. I went to Milan to learn formal dressing, went to the oldest finishing school in the world in Switzerland for a diploma in international etiquette, and received a training license in corporate etiquette from Washington D.C. But all of that was a quick fix until I attended INSEAD to learn about the importance of inside-out change.

As I understood how mature reflection could change my persona, the mask I showed the world became more authentic and genuine. I now want to do the same for others – to show them how to look inside and find their authentic signature style of leadership.

It is all within us!

One more thing about me… I am a mother of two fantastic women who are confident, independent and early learners of loving themselves.

Journaling, art, exercise and mindfulness keep me centered, and I use all of these in my coaching practice.

MORE ON : www.COREexecutivepresence.com