The Girl With a Toy Plane ft. Jayada Pandit of KPIT

[00:00:00] My name is Carl Anthony, and I work in the automotive industry in Detroit.

[00:00:06] Sometimes that work encompasses future vehicle technology, and that's what we talk about here.

[00:00:12] For the most part, anyway, this is AutoVision News Radio.

[00:00:19] In early February of 1993, my parents gifted me a small Barnes & Noble, Webster's concise English dictionary does for me, and Journey, in the sense that she has traveled and continues to travel, all different types of roads, to live up to the special meaning behind the name her father gave her. By way of introduction, Jada Pandit is the head of marketing, branding the Women in Mobility Initiative at KPIT. Women in Mobility unites leaders from around the world to voice the changes needed on an individual and societal level to achieve greater equity and diversity within the automotive and adjacent industries. years back, for five years back now is when we went through the merger-demerger and as a very conscious call taken by the management to say we want to completely focus on engineering, mobility, automotive side of things

[00:04:22] and not be part of the IT side any longer.

[00:04:25] I think a very brave decision that was taken, more than 10, 15 years, be it within the pass car side or the commercial vehicle side, all global OEMs that we work with very, very closely. And today are the crux of the entire software defined vehicle journey, turning it into a reality for most, defining and helping and contributing on the success factors to turn making it a reality.

[00:05:43] Globally, KPIT is more than 12,000 individuals This entity, vehicle has evolved and evolved how? While it was just meant to be a medium of transport, gradually there were elements that came into it to make sure, considering that a person spends so much time in the vehicle, it can do so much more. And that's when we saw the evolution of connected part coming into it

[00:07:03] and the autonomous part that entire experience, how can we all collaborate to make it even better? How can we make it even safer? How can we make it even smarter? I think there is no part of a vehicle today that does not have new technology.

[00:08:20] Yeah.

[00:08:21] With fuel, with AI, with the engine side,

[00:08:24] with the design side, with the autonomous side,

[00:08:27] there is no section of a vehicle today an engineering line of business, we had a manufacturing line of business and there was at that time even a section dedicated to finance and I have had the opportunity to actually work within every line of business in different kinds of roles. I've had customers facing roles when there were few accounts that we were looking at,

[00:09:40] new accounts that we wanted to, new clients we wanted to work with. that there would be somebody called KPIT who is actually behind all that work collaborating with the logo that's on the car. That is interesting. I think that's cool. Because we do not think about what goes behind the scene. Yeah, yeah. What is invariably taken is what is flashed.

[00:11:02] When you get into the car, you turn on the engine last generation it was perceived to have a daughter in India. It was not taken as positively back then.

[00:12:21] And this was my father who had just a fresh out And then he had a second daughter, three years down the line. Again, joy, but with it also came this bit of, would have really been nice to have a son because some time with them over the next few hours. And we've come to actually how he's addressed these situations even later. I had great learning from that. But with all of that,

[00:15:01] the issue which is not getting sorted for almost a year, I think that is where my journey of giving that name and identity began. I think the ability to have so much success in Joel that you just give it out in Jared. Through him is where I have learned the power of parenting. I don't think we all realize the kind of power parenting holds.

[00:16:25] Not through words, but just through action.

[00:16:28] Yeah. We had one of our employees working on the shop floor who went to an area which was clearly marked off limits and unsafe and he happened to fall down. you ready for it? Yeah, I think till date, till date, when I look at a chair, I think the question I ask myself is,

[00:19:01] am I ready for it? Yeah, because the chair means so much more than the cushion that is that it has is to not question it. Nothing can speak louder than your actions. I see a lot of, and you're absolutely right when the questioning happens. You know, I see a lot of my colleagues, I see a lot of my friends out there, who, especially women, who first question why a particular it is for us to prove the best way to sign into that murmur is to have your success be louder. And that is what I think all of us need to do. Your Women in Mobility initiative. Tell us about that, Jada, because this fits the theme

[00:21:42] that we're talking about here. Tell us do not have to wait. So women in mobility, you know, this was started, initiated about, we're into addition for this time. So four years back, when I realized that it's not, that's when we said, let's get all of the women leaders who have done such great work and who are doing such great work together to just share their learnings and lessons as a first step to share their stories. It's not been an easy ride for anybody. Not everybody comes from a background where you have a very

[00:24:21] supporting environment at home. Not everybody comes from a background where education is Yeah. It was such a success. And you had so many emails that you end up staying all night. You end up staying up all night to get back to all the emails. Take us back to that first event and responding to those emails. What was that like? You know, everybody keeps talking about having a lot of passion for something. Everybody keeps talking about having a purpose in life.

[00:25:41] Sure. Right.

[00:25:42] I think that moment that night was, that truly a trajectory of a woman's career in technology is different from that of a man. We are in the same industry, we are in the same conference rooms and in the same boardrooms,

[00:27:00] but what is happening behind those screens is different. individuals, as a company, as an industry, can we now actually define a framework and take very structured actions to make sure that we actually see impact on the ground. So this mentorship program for the first time is meant to know what a leader in marketing thinks about. Irrespective of what I do, I could be sitting in front of my screen and coding. Can I put a larger impact to the code that I am putting in there? Can I suggest the way we say to the university

[00:29:40] students whom we speak to right? At the end of the day, from your work, you should be able to

[00:30:46] You're in this marketing role now with KPIT, but you have an engineering background, but that stems from what your father taught you on the manufacturing floor.

[00:30:51] How has all of that helped you be successful today, from the early years of your father

[00:30:57] to studying engineering?

[00:30:59] How has that helped you and prepared you for all the stuff you're doing with KPIT and everything

[00:31:05] you're doing with women and mobility? also on the work side from my father equally from my mother I would say and maybe another day we could talk about that but you know definitely just walking the top. Yeah. You know I think children do not and I can say this today while I raise my two songs I do not think we need to teach children by talking.

[00:32:22] I think we need to teach children by doing. But what he gave in my hands that day might have seemed like a plane, which truly was a dream. A dream and with the confidence that the field of technology is also meant for good. With all of that being said, everything we've talked about, Jada, and I've so enjoyed this.

[00:33:45] I've so enjoyed hearing your not need to wait to give. You do not need to get to give. I think we can all give as individuals, as professionals, as children, as parents, as students, as mothers, as colleagues, as friends,