Growth at work isn’t a straight line; it’s a steady accumulation of choices, losses, small wins, and deliberate experiments. Over the last decade, I’ve learned that professional growth looks less like a ladder and more like a field you tend: some seasons you plant, some seasons you harvest, and sometimes you recover from an extreme climate. I say that as someone who has moved through multiple roles in the development and public-health space, and who has learned, sometimes the hard way, how to balance duty, responsibilities, grief, and ambition.
My career has been shaped by a mix of policy, program delivery, partnership building and fundraising. At the heart of that work is a commitment to improving systems and listening to communities, whether that meant strengthening national and international mandates with the World Health Organisation or leading multi-city program operations with a grassroots non-profit.
As Executive Director of the Community Aid & Sponsorship Programme, I oversee daily programmatic operations across offices in Pune, Mumbai, Raigad, Gujarat, and Delhi, aligning teams, donors, and programmes to ensure services reach vulnerable groups with dignity and equity. Before that, I served as Deputy Executive Director at the same organisation, and earlier, I supported fundraising and partnerships at the Centre for Mental Health Law & Policy, ILS, Pune.
My academic foundation, an MSc in Public Policy & Management from the University of Glasgow and a Master of Public Health (MPH) from the University of Pune, helped frame the questions I bring to the field:
What systems produce poor outcomes? How do we shift incentives? How do we measure impact?
A few practical lessons I’ve learned along the way helped me answer the question.
Show up — even when it’s imperfect. Early in my career, I learned that sometimes you take a role that doesn’t match your CV because it meets a need: financial, emotional, or logistical. That choice does not make you less ambitious; it makes you pragmatic. This is a theme I’ve reflected on on my personal blog: there are times when “do what you need to do for yourself” is the only intelligent strategy.
Invest in relationships and reputational capital. Networking without a hidden agenda, a check-in, a quick note, or a thank you builds the references you’ll need later. These aren’t transactions; they’re long-term professional currency.
Keep learning (deliberately). Upskilling doesn’t end when you land a senior role. It opens doors to different kinds of work, policy, program design, research, or even starting something new. Curiosity is a professional superpower.
Be tactical with conflict. Speak your mind, but do it with diplomacy. We are judged by how we talk about others when they’re not in the room. The tone matters. In my own reflections, I’ve urged people not to burn bridges or to let workplace frustrations define their reputation.
- Build measurable impact. Wherever possible, tie your work to data or clear outputs. In recent roles, I’ve focused on fundraising, operations and program improvements, and we’ve tracked real results: boosting funding and improving service efficiency are not abstract wins; they translate to more people reached and more stable programs.
But the career story isn’t just about metrics. It’s also about being human while you do the work. Loss and grief have been part of my journey, family illnesses and bereavements that coincided with critical professional moments. Those experiences taught me to be kinder to my decision-making brain when it’s cloudy; to prioritise immediate needs; and to accept that sometimes you must conserve energy to be effective later.
That exact mindset and emotional honesty is what I tried to capture in my personal post on professional growth: practical choices, boundary setting, and continuing to learn even when the map is foggy.
If you’re navigating your own path, here are three short, practical moves to try this quarter:
• Draft a one-page summary of your impact — projects, measurable outcomes, and who you partnered with.
• Reach out to two past colleagues or mentors with a short update (no ask attached).
• Pick one small skill to practice for 30 minutes each week — it compounds faster than you think.
Finally, the attitude you bring matters. Be humble about replacement, but nimble about action. The two aren’t opposites; they’re a productive tension that keeps you accountable and resilient.
“Humble enough to accept that you can be replaced and you cannot stay relevant forever without effort”, “nimble enough to take action when needed and draw your boundaries.”