Women Of The C-Suite: Yashu Kapila of BugRaptors On The Five Things You Need To Succeed As A Senior Executive
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Always aim to be the better version of yourself because moving forward always needs you to keep on learning and growing.
As a part of our interview series called “Women Of The C-Suite”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Yashu Kapila.
Yashu Kapila is the lady stalwart and the CEO of BugRaptors (A Seasia Group Company). Recognized as top 10 women of the year at WIT Awards Asia Series, she is a thought leader who works at promoting diversity initiatives, designing programs to create a progressive workforce, and fostering futuristic tech through quality assurance.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I started as a Quality Analyst in 2006 with an objective to explore the tech world. However, the industry gave me exposure to understanding the need for greater testing with a shift of greater focus toward sustainable technology & pleasing user experience. I saw quality assurance and software testing as a progressive opportunity to contribute to the existing and futuristic digital transformation goals while giving my career the necessary boost. And here we are! I am serving as a CEO of an organization that is building amazing tech journeys.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
Well! I am a person who sees special in everything. Be it our first client or any successful delivery, it always makes me feel delighted and more accomplished as the CEO of BugRaptors. However, if I need to share anything in particular, it would definitely be an employee story where we got a very passionate woman on board who had to quit her career as she needed to take care of her child.
She completely lost touch with the industry and then she wanted to give it a second chance after 5 years. She is presently working as a senior quality consultant and is doing exceptional work for our various important projects.
I am glad that we as an organization showed faith in her and set an example for all the mothers who are aligned to establish them as true corporate content. It was more of a step we took towards encouraging participation of women in the tech industry.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
My career journey has always been very amazing. However, if I recall when I first started as a quality consultant, I always end up finding my younger self funny for not asking things at times. It was the earliest phase of six months of my career when I hesitated to ask questions and I often ended up overdoing things in terms of testing.
So, the lesson that I learned and want to share with all the readers, both newbies and experienced professionals, is always to stay upfront when it comes to queries. Moreover, it makes me realize how hesitation ends your curiosity and keeps you deprived of knowledge. Therefore, one must never hesitate to have open communication as it is the key to a productive career.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
Indeed! Even if you have all the confidence, potential, and skills to be extraordinary, it is the support from some special people that helps you be persistent. If there was any person with whom I would like to share my success, it would first be my father who always kept me motivated.
Things have changed a lot as of now. However, when I started my career journey in 2006, the small towns of India still had a laid-back and orthodox thought process that restricted women to pursue technical professions. And being a woman of Indian origin, I too had to face so many difficulties making my way towards success. But I was one of those fortunate children who had their father standing by their side pushing them forward to do everything that their hearts suggested. I feel glad and even more lucky as my father always showed faith in me and encouraged me to be limitless in life.
As you know, the United States is facing a very important self-reckoning about race, diversity, equality and inclusion. This may be obvious to you, but it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you articulate to our readers a few reasons why it is so important for a business or organization to have a diverse executive team?
Be it the United States or any other part of the world, every organization, irrespective of the business and niche, needs to understand the importance of diversity when it comes to growth. To highlight a few reasons why diversity in executive staff is important I would say:
When you are aiming to serve different audiences, diversity brings you various perspectives for growth.
It allows you to improve your decision-making potential with more brains from different cultures involved.
Most importantly, it nurtures creativity and makes way for innovation allowing organizations to thrive.
As a business leader, can you please share a few steps we must take to truly create an inclusive, representative, and equitable society? Kindly share a story or example for each.
A few steps that I can mention taking inspiration from the practices we adopt at BugRaptors, here are the steps that can help enhance inclusivity, representativeness, and equitability in society:
No bias in hiring and promotions
Strong operational environment & ethics
A vision that sees growth for all
Effective retention
Welcoming the change (in terms of technology, processes, etc.)
Allowing people to take charge, collaborate, and make decisions.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Most of our readers — in fact, most people — think they have a pretty good idea of what a CEO or executive does. But in just a few words can you explain what an executive does that is different from the responsibilities of the other leaders?
From working on major corporate decisions to managing the overall operations and resources of the company, CEOs always have to take charge of things. Besides, I, as the CEO of BugRaptors work at harnessing modern tech to contribute to our vision of developing a QA-powered digital environment. Be it the introduction of Automation or establishing advanced test labs, we constantly work on tech initiatives that can make QA smart and swift.
Also, I am responsible for overseeing the strategic direction of the organization such as change implementation and long-term business planning. From fixing the proposed plans to harnessing productive business decision-making, I take care of everything that helps maintain accountability with the board.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a CEO or executive. Can you explain what you mean?
Okay, so there are three very big myths which I as the CEO of the company has experienced.
CEOs have no bosses: CEOs are always accountable to answer the board of directors.
CEOs have all the answers: CEOs are humans too which means it is not always necessary for a CEO to know everything. Learning is a continuous process for all.
CEOs are not approachable: CEOs are curious brains that are always looking for ideas to prosper. Besides, they have the responsibility of managing the employees, staying in sync with the board, and ensuring effective relationships with clients, and all of these tasks need a person to be extremely humble and warm.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women executives that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
Though things have been changing for good, I believe there is some consistent unconscious bias that female executives have to face compared to their male counterparts. These are most commonly related to social stigmas like cultural preconceptions, sexual hostility, and of course selecting women candidates to take the C-suite positions.
The organizations like BugRaptors that take constant reforms on encouraging women leadership by fostering 70 percent women leadership and enforcing strong policies against any harassment or bias, I believe there is still a long way to go.
What is the most striking difference between your actual job and how you thought the job would be?
The moment I took on the position of CEO, I was well prepared for how things can turn unexpectedly. However, to look from afar and to work in reality are two different things. Being a CEO, you always need to keep hustling since you are the person on which the entire organization counts. Be it improving the organizational environment, managing operations, introducing new technologies, or taking decisions, it needs you to be hyper-active in order to sustain the competition and keep your organization going forward.
Is everyone cut out to be an executive? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful executive and what type of person should avoid aspiring to be an executive? Can you explain what you mean?
In my opinion, I believe not all are cut out to be executives. It is because of the human characteristics that we have as individuals. For instance, some are good at coding while others are good at making strategies and leading projects. It means all of us to have our own unique talents and expertise. Besides, the truth is we can always explore our capabilities and push ourselves beyond our imagination to pursue great things.
As far as the traits that make a person a more successful executive is concerned, I would say it is the ability to communicate, understand, and persuade. These factors help you establish yourself as a people-pleasing person making it easier for a person to align with people, and allowing them to align with your very own thoughts when required.
It would be wrong to say what type of people should avoid aspiring to be an executive as aspirations are vital to progress in life. However, people who hesitate to communicate and cannot manage the stress of wearing multiple hats whenever necessary might find it difficult to take on executive positions.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)
Always aim to be the better version of yourself because moving forward always needs you to keep on learning and growing
The CEO is answerable to everyone, from employees to the board, so be ready to work for everyone.
We control way less than we think we do and therefore it is necessary to be prepared
You own your business and therefore never let your business define you as a person. Things do not always happen how we plan them to be.
Have fun when you get a chance because it is up to you how you balance your work and your life.
I work in the beauty tech industry, so I am very interested to hear your philosophy or perspective about beauty. In your role as a powerful woman and leader, how much emphasis do you place on your appearance? Do you see beauty as something that is superficial, or is it something that has inherent value for a leader in a public context? Can you explain what you mean?
As they say, beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, I believe all women are beautiful in their own way. Though appearance is an important factor when you need to represent yourself before the world, it is more of the personality that makes you more likable. Rather than the term beauty, I would say grooming is an important concern that executives should work on. This may include wearing the right clothes and carrying yourself properly as they are the part of your personality that helps you create the impact.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
Freedom of thought! I believe everyone must be respected for their perspective and their say. I always believed that one can learn from anyone, irrespective of age or experience. Moreover, learning from perspectives allows people to understand each other, making the world a better place to live.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them
If there were any person whom I would like to meet for breakfast or lunch, it would be Indra Nooyi. I have talked about her in my previous interviews as well. Having an Indian origin, she has led a remarkable journey inspiring several women to aim and take the executive role at organizations.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!
Women Of The C-Suite: Yashu Kapila of BugRaptors On The Five Things You Need To Succeed As A Senior… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.