I met Joti Balani during a Fempeak live mentorship session where I was a guest talking about Self-compassion. We connected over recognising the importance of kindness and empathy in the work that we do. Joti is Fempeak's Technology Adviser & Sherpani (mentor/champion) and I am the Kindness Sherpani. She is Managing Director of Freshriver.ai where they design human to machine conversations. Artificial Intelligence (AI) with Emotional Intelligence. Over the last 2 decades, she has led product and technology innovation at both startup and Fortune 1000 enterprises including Citi, American Red Cross, AT&T, Texas Instruments, Zayo group, Medocity, Anexinet and Cross River Fiber. Joti mentors rising product and technology women leaders helping them create their own personal and professional growth frameworks. She also founded the Sisters Circle, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering women and children with education and opportunity.
Part of the Kindness alphabet or A-Z I have created to help you to become kinder includes C for Courage. This is defined as mental or moral strength to persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty. When I have seen Joti work her confidence comes through her belief in what she thinks is important. She has the courage to speak up for what is not working especially in the technology field that is influencing all our lives. If we forget our common humanity when designing and creating products, the consequences could be disastrous. She is teaching the importance of empathy, kindness and humanity at the core of the technology being created and designed.
EI refers to the three E's, the 'economic' how do you create real value with the money minded world we live in, 'emotional' how do you make sure we are thinking about the human condition, 'ethical' are we doing the right thing?
The courage to say YES to what is important to us.
The courage to have a voice. Finding your voice. Trusting yourself the inner courage.
My mindset is: "Of course I can do it, I can figure it out. I can learn."
We talk about AI and getting people to wake up to how technology is monitoring our behaviour.
Courage recipe - Fuel Yourself (40:50)
Ingredients - Quiet time, Nature, Walking, Breathing, Boundaries.
Method -
Spending time with yourself. Getting to know how your wired.
Going out and being connected to the energy of nature feeds you.
When I go for a walk I listen to something that inspires me.
Or I take a deep breath with no head phones on.
Try this for three days.
Creating boundaries on how much time do I want to spend working and resting.
Write a lot.
Sleep.
Meditating, sitting very quietly and still.
Refuel yourself to have the energy to be courageous.
You are most vulnerable when you are not energised.
www.linkedin.com/in/jotibalani.
Note: Apologies on the audio cutting in and out when Joti is speaking. Thank you for listening and being patient with the sound.
