Gazal Kalra, Co-Founder, Rivigo
Interview requests may not always get her to open up talking about herself. Gazal Kalra would rather talk about her organization. Women of Mettle is probably one of the rare exceptions. An hour-long chat with her reveals her genuine efforts towards making lives easier for truck drivers in India. Sarada Vishnubhatla comes away impressed by her drive, zeal and value systems.
“For me every day it is like playing the last ball. And oh, I must almost always hit a sixer,” says Gazal Kalra, Co-Founder, Rivigo.
Gazal feels that building an organization is like nurturing a child. The natural love towards the entity must be balanced out with effective delegation of responsibilities.
She believes: “It is about finding the heart connect in whatever you do.”
Born in 1985 in Mhow in Indore district of Madhya Pradesh into a military family originally belonging to Haryana, Gazal grew up hearing stories of atrocities on women. Her lament for the lack of strong women role models from Haryana found answers later in life when Kalpana Chawla, the Indo-American astronaut and the wrestlers – Phogat sisters – came into limelight.
“My parents brought me up as a girl who can do what others think I cannot do. I grew up as a tomboy but being the eldest child, I took on more responsibilities around the house but I would always strive to do things differently,” shares Gazal.
Gazal is an IIT-Delhi alumnus and holds an MBA degree from Stanford University Graduate School of Business besides a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Post studies, Gazal joined hands with Rivigo’s Deepak Garg and realized the challenge on her hands.
“Logistics is a tough sector and I often would be the only woman in the trucker circles working with them. Many times, I would be asked how come I chose to work in this sector. I became aware that logistics in one domain where there are negligible women role models for any aspirant to follow,” she reveals.
Stereotypes do not matter to Gazal. She feels they exist only because people are mostly unwilling to understand a context. She says: “For me, actions speak louder than words, so I would rather show them how to do things differently. I have tried to change peoples’ views in this sector by spending time with truckers at their warehouses and today, I have made good friends with some of them.”
Humility helps one achieve much in life she feels. What keeps her grounded is ‘acknowledging failures’ just like success is celebrated. She explains: “Humans fail. Failures indicate to areas of improvement. You can create only when you are fearless. I believe in keeping achievements real and not let it feed the ego. Willingness to destroy what you have created and having the ability to start from the scratch again leads to the best model you can build.”
Gazal does not allow her innate compassionate nature to make concessions when she needs to take hard decisions.
She adds: “Our society is quick to judge any one as a ‘too tough’ boss or ‘too soft’ to handle tough situations. It does not matter to me if people think I am harsh because it is not a popularity contest. To be fair is more important for me than being nice because people may not agree with the outcome if they feel you have been unfair.”
Gazal’s drive comes from her beliefs that excellence is for every day, there are no shortcuts to hard work and pretense cannot survive for long but authenticity can.