Rewriting 2030: Why Women Who Stay Silent Are Being Written Out of the Future

Ange Dove (00:06)

Welcome to You're the Boss of Your Business and Your Life, the podcast show where we empower you to escape the 9-5 and build your dream business from anywhere. I'm your host, Stav, business coach and your guide to turning your ideas into bold actions. Each week we bring you actionable advice and bite-sized tips and inspiring guest interviews to help you take charge, not just of your business, but of your life. Ready to make it happen? Come on in.

Okay, so I want to welcome today Parul Sharma onto the show and we're talking about the topic of rewriting 2020 Women Who Redesign, Reclaim and Rise. So let's just find out a little bit about what we're talking about today. So by 2030, the biggest gap between women who lead and women who lag won't be ambition or talent, it will be how quickly they rewire themselves in a new world of leadership, work and identity. So in this episode, Parul, who's a global HR leader, turned founder of Rewired by Parul, shares why women's voices are at risk of being erased in the very systems shaping the future and how to reclaim clarity, power and presence in the decade ahead.

So from boardrooms to startups, mothers to founders, PURL unpacks how women can redesign their inner patterns, reframe visibility and redirect their future maps to stay not just relevant, but respected and indispensable. So it's about rewiring the way we think, speak and lead in an era where technology is not only the tool, but the identity is the true power. So, Sharma, welcome to the show.

Parul Sharma(02:06)

Thank you, Ange. This is an honor to be here. And yeah, I'm looking forward to our conversation today.

Ange Dove (02:12)

Fantastic. Okay, so thanks for coming onto the show. So let's just start with the title of this at the moment. So you're talking about the topic of rewriting 2030. So in your own rewired power cast, you describe 2030 as a room. So what do mean by that? And why should women care now?

Parul Sharma (02:32)

Well, as I mean, according to me, 2030 is a room already being built today. And that is that is what concerns me a lot. Whether we talk about algorithms, hiring models, leadership tracks, they are being coded right now. So the rooms are already being prepared. They're already being built today. So that's where I'm coming from. That when we talk about 2030, it's not about how the world would look like, but how the world will look like for women.

women like us. So if women's voices aren't present, the future will be designed around someone else's idea of leadership, work or life. And that means women will spend the next decade again, adapting to rules that don't fit us instead of shaping the rules ourselves. So to give you an example, no one Google leaders or companies anymore. That's already outdated. The next generation.

The next generation types it straight into charge GPT or Gemini perplexity. It's your name, your story, your voice. If it is not in the systems, you're invisible. So the question is simple. Are you shaping the room or are you waiting outside for the for the permission to enter?

Ange Dove (03:52)

Nice, nice. Yeah, that's a really good point that the way people are searching has changed and you've got to be present and showing up for those searches, right? So it's not Google on its own anymore. Okay. So, so let me just track a little bit about your you and your business. And I just want the listeners to understand a little bit about what what got you here and why you're doing what you're doing today. So you left the corporate, the global corporate career to start your own business. And there's a lot of people listening today that are either doing that or they're starting to do that. So I'm sure they'll be very interested to know about your journey and to understand that you've succeeded in doing that and therefore they can too. So just let me know what that journey was like for you. What pushed you to leave and start your own business and what encouragement can you give to those starting out behind you now?

Parul Sharma (04:50)

Absolutely. So as you already said, it's what women are doing or planning to do. So for me also, it wasn't just leaving a job or a corporate career. It was about leaving the entire system. I took this decision. was difficult, but I did take that decision. I spent about 20 years in boardrooms, and no matter how much encouragement women get, the truth is we are still playing in the man's world.

And most of the time we are reaching to it instead of shaping it. We are still kind of reactive to our approaches. I mean, to the world, to the work environment, to the society that was created for men. And we women are just playing catch up. So even after two decades, I found myself editing my voice. I mean, if that can happen to me with titles and experience, imagine what it feels like for women just starting out or those returning after maternity or sabbaticals, they are already judged, already penalized and penalized for being women. And that is what kind of hit me hard. And it pushed me to build REWIRED. So the vision isn't just to give women a seat at the table, it's to create a world where women are not being punished for who they are, but they are recognized as the ones shaping the future in their unique way.

the entire entire mission of vision around rewired and why I started was because in my corporate career, I felt that everything was more like reactive for women rather than being surrounded like, okay, this is let's do the maternity leaves. Let's do the paternity leaves. Let's do the mental health thing around menopause or harm. The point was that why are we playing reactive? We were playing being reactive because whatever those norms were or policies were or the structures were, they were decided by men and for men. They were never decided for women. And that's what hit me hard that even after so many years, we're just trying to catch up to that place. So this was something that inspired me to build REWIRED. If you talk about challenges, mean, the challenges

that I faced and I'll be honest, I'll be really truthful here. They were real. You lose your title, your structure, the validation to prop hub because unfortunately the world still looks for titles rather than your experience. I mean, even after a global presence, if I still go out, it feels like that I have to justify my existence and that kind of makes you like it makes you feel small and that I mean, you face self-doubt, identity laws, and the silence of starting again from zero is, it's not easy. That's the real challenge. But the biggest challenge was internal, rewiring my own belief that my voice mattered without the logo of a global company behind it. And I mean, that inspired me actually to give it a name called REWIRED because I feel that

One, women are wired in a certain way. We follow patterns. It's very difficult for us to kind of accept the change. And that's where I think I bring the neuroscience part. And I would like to tell women that I know it's not easy. I've gone through it. And I'm sure many of you are also going through it. But the first step is to start rewiring the way we think. I think that's what pushed me to build REWIRED.

Ange Dove (08:41)

Yeah, yeah, for sure. I think a lot of running your own business is it's it's 80 % mindset, right? So that really plays a huge factor. You've got to be prepared mentally for the new role and the adjustments that that creates. So I can completely, completely relate to that. And I think a lot of people out there can as well. So so tell me about rewired. What is this that you've created since you've left corporate?

Tell me about exactly what that involves.

Parul Sharma (09:14)

So I'm still creating it. So that's the good part. And I always believe it's a learning process. Every day is a new learning. So Rewrite by PowerRole is a platform to reinvent the identity and prepare women for the next era. The world is throwing uncertainty at us, whether it is job losses, resignation, identity shift. And I see that not as a threat, but as the biggest opportunity. For too long, women have been pulled into structures, as I said, Bill, by

by men years back. Every policy has been reactive. All the responses are after the fact. I believe it's time to flip the script. Women must take charge, reinvent their identity and design the world that works for them. A world where they are not, they're not being penalized for being themselves and their policies, structures, norms are created by them and for them. So the world should be around them and we should be the one participating in making those decisions. So through products like Rewired Atelier, which is going to be small circles, Rewired Vault, which will be a combination of different tools and courses and something that I'm calling as Rewired Power Rooms, where I'll be doing small room workshops. I'm going to provide science-backed strategies and AI-driven tools.

to help women design their future in their own voice and use technology as their ally, not as something, one more thing, which is going to add to their problem. So I think we women need to change the way we look. We need, because the world is changing, that's the fact, and it's changing pretty fast. It's changed, I mean, whatever our generation saw, the speed is five times more. So if we do not change the way we think, we will not be able to change our identity. And the time has come where I because everything is so chaotic outside. I think we we should take the advantage of that chaos. And I believe women are fantastic at taking care of chaos. We all do in our daily lives, managing homes, managing family work. I think I think it's very easy for us once we put our mind to it. And that's where I'm going to connect with each and every woman, whether they are moms, founders, doctors, lawyers, corporate leaders to look at the next 20 years from your own lens what you want it to be. And starting from your brain, ending with tools created by you and for a world that finally works for you. So that's REWIRED.

Ange Dove (11:57)

Nice, love it. Love it. So I think the tech part of it as well is just so helpful because I think you have people in different groups, those that will just run with it, right? Just go straight ahead with it. Others that are, don't know how to do this. This is not for me. As you said, it just adds stress a lot of the time. So actually you offering that service where you can guide them and for them to be able to run with especially AI now because you say it's just changing so fast. Saying you don't know isn't an excuse. You use it or you get left behind now.

Parul Sharma (12:29)

I mean yeah, because I mean, and when I see it, I say I'm saying this from a lens of a of an HR person who is not a techie, who has not done coding, who is not an engineer. My my I'm coming from a perspective that we women need to adapt AI or technology, not from a perspective of creating something, but from a perspective of feeding your voice, whether it's AI data automation, it's nothing but something that is being fed into a system. And which gives you an output. unless you kind of put your words, your voice into that system, the output will be biased. So what I'm trying to create here is I'm not trying to make every woman a techie or fantastic developers, but I'm trying to tell them to use AI or technology as something that assists them. Make it your PA, make it your personal assistant. Try, try make it a tool that you can use.

to make your life easy rather than just making it more complicating by adding things. We do that. That's how we are.

Ange Dove (13:39)

That's right. And with AI, there's so much it can do to help and just speed things up. So I think starting a business today as well has never been easier because you've got these tools there to help you where you didn't have before. And it helps in every aspect of your business. It's really, really wonderful. Okay. So I've heard you mentioned before about this something you coin high functioning silence in women leaders, right?

What do you mean by this and how is it costing women power today?

Parul Sharma (14:12)

When I say high functioning silence, it's when a woman looks powerful on paper. High flyer, LinkedIn has flourished. She's delivering results, hitting numbers, even running teams. But her own voice is absent from the conversations that shape the direction. So I mean, if I have my own podcast and I call it a Rewired Powercast,

It's a 10 minutes monologue from me when I'm kind of touching on these topics. And I want to highlight that even when things look very glossy and very great on paper, but ultimately every woman is going through a struggle inside. I have seen women design strategy decks, not only to stay quiet when it's time to present. I've done it myself. The system rewards execution but ignore silence. So it codes women as absent when they are actually carrying the work. They are the one who's doing the work, but but we are we are behind the scene because it makes it easy for us. And I mean, it's when when when a room full of 60 percent men, you would you no matter what level you are, you will still feel small. And I'm and I'm telling this not from my own thoughts, but I have spoken to so many women in past 20 years at all levels. And I haven't found a single one who says that, I'm 100 % sure I know I'm going to rule the room. The moment she enters the room, there's so much noise that it's just too much for her. So that's where I call it like high functioning silence. Like everything is great, but you're not who you are.

Ange Dove (16:04)

Okay, all right, you've got your own voice. Okay, so what's the solution then? How do women get their voice back?

Parul Sharma (16:11)

The solution isn't being louder. That just adds pressure according to me. It's rewiring the loop if I say in my language that keeps your best ideas stuck in your head. That's why I dedicated a number of months to design the model, which I call the 3M power rule within the rewired structure. And it's built for breaking the mental loop first, recalibrate the way you show up and map your ideas into action. So I, what I feel that as a woman, because we follow a pattern, it's important for us to kind of break the mental loops that are running in our mind. I can't do this. Maybe I'll not be able to do this. Those are thoughts is just keeps on going in our mind. I mean, I'll be honest if I'm sitting here in a, in a podcast, there are, there are a number of thoughts which are going in my mind. Will anybody hear this? Will men? understand what I'm trying to say. Will women understand what I'm reaching? Like that's the fact that's how we are. And that's why my approach is very neuroscience based. And I am looking at solutions where we can change the way we think. And that's why I say reinventing the identity because what we think is what we are. And if we do not change the way we think, we cannot be powerful or flourishing in the world which is about to come. So, so yeah.

Ange Dove (17:33)

So I'm interested in, like you mentioned the world, word neuroscience. So how does that fit in? If you can just explain the term and how rewired as a solution brings that in to to help.

Parul Sharma (17:47)

So when I say neuroscience and I'll be honest, I'm not I'm not a doctor here. I'm just an HR leader who is who has studied a lot to understand how the brain works. And when I talk about neuroscience at this point, I'm trying to I'm trying to put in place the way we think and how the patterns in our brain work when it comes to everyday work. So I am looking at only two theories here. One is the theory of neuroplasticity, that what you think you become.

That's one and and the cognitive theory where you kind of think about something and you try to change it. So my point here is that we don't we don't need to deep dive into the details of science or neurons or anything, but we are trying to figure out why are we thinking in a certain way and it's very important to break that pattern. So it's I mean, if you if you read about me on my website. I keep on stressing on this point about the patterns that we follow because that's how women are wired in terms of their brains. We, if we create, we create our own system in our mind and we kind of start developing our personality over that mindset. So that's the peak point. If we break that pattern, if we, if we break the, the baby pink half the battle is one. So all I'm trying to understand and kind of correlate and bring it into perspective from rewired is to break the pattern women have been following for last 20 or 30 years that this is I need to do my graduation. I need to do my master's. I need to join a job. And that's how the job will take me manager, senior manager, director, VP. And and that's how I retire. But the moment.

And what's happening right now as a fact is women are being laid off. And that's the number that that number is beyond as compared to where men are because women are in roles which are mostly being automated now. So that is it is it. And and the problem is because we are as I said we follow a pattern women are not able to accept those changes which is leading to mental health issues stress anxiety all sort of problems which is taking women back. And that is one reason why women are still hesitating in kind of adapting AI. Because they don't feel safe, they don't think that's something that they can do because they've been taught that's not a part of your journey. You are a marketing person, you are an HR person, you are a doctor, you're not a techie, so this is not for you. And men are running with AI and technology as if it's a trophy.

That's where I want to bring the neuroscience perspective of breaking the loops, breaking the pattern. So that's the force.

Ange Dove (20:47)

All right. So it's being conscious as well of the way we think and knowing that the way we think actually affects what we do and what we believe and it will affect your end results as well. So, yeah, we definitely need to be aware of that. OK. And although you've spoken just now about it's the women mainly that are getting laid off with all these redundancies that are going on now because

the changes in technology and AI. And we've all seen it. And it is a different future. as you said, it's a different we were brought up to expect life to go a certain way, as you mentioned, go to university, get a job, retire. And the reality is that the job scope and life in general is just so much different now. And we can't be looking at that.

that journey in the same way anymore. And as you say, it does give people a lot of opportunities. and as you say, sometimes when one door closes, another door opens. So we do have opportunities. And if you look at it the right way, you'd be able to see the opportunities. But if you don't look at it the right way, you're blind to those, right? So it's not a case of that there aren't opportunities. It's just you're not seeing them because you're not looking in the right way. Right? Yeah. So women do have opportunities. They do have opportunities today. But then on the reverse of that, if women, if we could say, okay, they have opportunities, why do they need a platform like Rewire?

Parul Sharma (22:30)

Well, there are a couple of points here that I'll try to focus on. One, there are a lot of opportunities. And if the listeners kind of look back to what I'm talking these days is it's not about titles. It's about the identity and the power you have. So, yes, there are a number of opportunities out in the market. But you need to, again, you need to look at them differently. Portfolio careers are booming like anything project-based work, freelancing. There are number of things women can look at. But yes, I mean, why do they need opportunities like rewired or platform site rewired? Because one, there are more than two and a half billion women on this planet. And I don't think we have enough platforms yet because ultimately, as I said, with opportunities come struggles, with situations comes problems, and with opportunities come different type of challenges.

So while the opportunities are present, are we ready to kind of take those opportunities? I don't think so, because I have spoken to a number of women who left the work, who left the corporate career, including myself, as trying to still work on their own identities because they still feel that that was the route. That is how the world works.

That's what now is changing. The world is not working in that straight line. It is a completely different curve and we need to adapt to it. So opportunities are still there, but they look very different. And why we need platforms like rewired is to change the way you think so that you take advantage of those opportunities and don't lose time in kind of still thinking, should I do it? Should I not do it? Will it be fine?

Leave the way I work. mean, I think I think that's where we need to kind of look at. I think platforms like Revired will come handy to all the women who are at this point trying to figure out what's next for us.

Ange Dove (24:42)

Okay, all right. So as we're heading towards 2030, it's not too far off into the distance now really. If you could leave the listeners with one challenge for 2030, what would that be?

Parul Sharma (24:58)

I continue to what I was saying. Stop waiting to be ready. Being ready is a myth. 2030 is already under construction. If you are silent, you're invisible to the future. So just get on with what you know. Just jump in it.

Ange Dove (25:16)

Yeah, just take the leap. Lots of people have done it. They've succeeded. And this analysis paralysis, as we call it, where people overthink things and it stops them from actually taking action. So I always say that you can learn a lot of things, but knowledge itself is doesn't have any value at all if you don't apply it. So you've got to take the action. So I think that's a good challenge to lay before people today as we as we wrap up this podcast.

So thank you so much for being on today and giving us your valuable time and your wisdom here as well. So tell us where can people find you?

Parul Sharma (25:56)

So I'm very easily found because I've kept everything at the same name, rewired by Parul. So the best way to reach out to me is LinkedIn with my name, Parul Sharma, and also my company's name, rewired by Parul. You can find me on Instagram.