5 Lessons from Shailja Saraswati on the Twin-Track Journey of Leading 

Most stories about leadership begin with a grand promotion, a corporate title, or a public breakthrough. Shailja Saraswati’s story begins with the invisible work—the “scaffolding” that no one sees. 

Before she became the Founder of the Unstoppable Network, before she was a media leader with over 25 years of experience, and before she was a renowned leadership coach, she was a woman realising that her “corporate skin” had become too tight. Her feathers and wings were starting to come out, and she knew she needed a new way to lead that didn’t require abandoning herself. 

Looking back, Shailja sees her journey not just as a series of positions on a CV, but as a “twin-track journey”. One track is visible to the world; the other is the deep, spiritual, and internal work of developing inner authority as a woman who is leading. 

Leading Often Starts with Inner Authority 

One of the earliest chapters in Shailja’s true emergence was self discovery through spiritual practice, a path she anchored herself in after the loss of her father in 2005. This “off-field training” became her superpower, allowing her to lead without collapsing into “executive distortion”—the invisible shift that happens when leaders lose their centre under pressure. 

She believes that leading through uncertainty requires more than just intelligence; it requires presence. As she observes, “If they are not present, if their breath is not aligned, if they are not in the moment… the decisions they make are terrible”. 

Why Self-Leadership and Alignment Matter 

If leadership is an external expression, self-leading is the internal engine. Shailja treats her life like a mission, starting each day with a commitment to her mind, body, and soul. For her, leading with confidence is about clearing the “negative banter” from the subconscious to meet the world as a “white canvas”. 

She encourages leaders to view themselves as a “work in progress”. Shailja describes herself beautifully: “I’m a work in progress. Underneath there’s a lot of construction work happening. It’s the building, which is just scaffolding. It doesn’t have doors and windows… and I’m just building. It’s never finished”. 

Trusting Your Intuition When Leading 

Shailja believes that trusting your intuition when leading allows you to enter a “flow state” where your energy and words are perfectly aligned with the moment. 

This alignment creates a presence and aura that naturally attracts others. By leading with resilience, she has learned to lean into the “nervous energy” of new challenges, using it to push her intellect and senses into new zones of growth. 

Purpose-Driven Leadership Through Storytelling 

For many women, the journey to the top can be lonely and guarded. Shailja’s vision for purpose driven leadership is different: it is rooted in community and the power of sharing stories. She believes that women process stress and find clarity through expression and connection. 

Leading with purpose means recognising that leadership isn’t confined to a corner office. It starts the moment you wake up. Shailja reflects, “Leader is not only somebody who’s picking up a laptop and sitting in a fancy car… the moment I put my feet down, I’m a leader”. By leading with courage and sharing our “unstoppable” mantras, she believes we don’t just change our own lives, but also change the world around us. 

What Shailja Leaves Us Thinking About 

1. Developing inner authority as a leader is the only way to avoid the trap of performing leadership for others. 

2. Self-leadership is a daily practice of managing your own mind, body, and soul; it is the most difficult but essential task. 

3. Trusting your intuition when leading creates an alignment that makes your voice relevant to the time and space you inhabit. 

4. Growth creates “nervous energy”; leading with resilience means leaning into that energy instead of running from it. 

5. Purpose driven leadership is a “twin-track” journey—you cannot have the visible success without the invisible inner work. 

To hear Shailja Saraswati reflect on the “unstoppable” journey, inner authority, and the spiritual practices that anchor her approach to leading, listen to the full episode of the Women Emerging podcast. 

About the Author:

Shailja Saraswati Varghese is the Founder of Unstoppable Network and creator-host of Unstoppable Woman. With over 25 years in global media and content across Omnicom Media Group, WPP, Discovery Networks, National Geographic–FOX, and Zee, she has worked at the intersection of content, culture, brand partnerships, storytelling, and growth across markets.

Her work focuses on helping founders, experts, and senior leaders build trust, authority, and structured influence through leadership positioning, personal branding, podcast-led IP, and content systems that evolve into monetisable business assets.

An ICF-trained PCC-level Executive Coach, Shailja also works with founders and CXO teams on Decision Stability Under Pressure — strengthening judgment, clarity, consistency, and visible authority in high-stakes environments. She has coached and mentored over 1,000 leaders and has been recognised as ET Panache Woman of the Year 2024 and Woman Advertising Maven 2024 by Adtech Today.