In this episode, Julia speaks with Vijaya, a WE Explorer about her powerful reframing of vulnerability from weakness to strength. She was part of the Women Emerging expedition for women leading in India, in partnership with Buzz Women.
Vijaya begins by reflecting on how she grew up believing that showing vulnerability made you unreliable, less capable, and easier to dismiss. As a founder and leader, this belief pushed her into toughness, especially during the crisis year of 2020, when her organisation hit zero revenue and she carried the weight of answers she didn’t have.
Through the Expedition’s conversations, she realised that vulnerability is not the opposite of strength it is a form of strength. But it comes with boundaries. Her biggest insight: vulnerability should build trust, not become confession.
She talks about how leaders can reveal enough to be relatable, human, and accessible without destabilising teams or exposing themselves in ways that create long-lasting, unhelpful impressions. She also shares what she’s learned about leading across generations, and how every age group brings its own version of vulnerability to the workplace.
This episode is a reminder that leading is not about having all the answers. It’s about creating the space where honest conversations grounded, thoughtful, and human can happen.
About the Guest
Vijaya Balaji
Vijaya Balaji – CEO and Managing Director, Toolbox India Foundation and Principal Founder at Social Lens Consulting is amongst the pioneers in advising Nonprofit organizations on organization development and strengthening requirements. In her diverse experience working in the Social Impact Sector, Vijaya has worked as an Impact and Capacity building and Organization development practitioner, she has coached organizations over 750 + organizations, designed diagnostic and assessment tools and toolkits, and technology enabled platforms for organizations. Her experience built over the last 14 years includes the conceptualization of the capacity enhancement and organization development at The GROW fund, The Better World Initiative, Parivartan, the Social Impact Optimization Program, Forbes Fellowship and the Value Circle at toolbox INDIA.
Vijaya serves on the boards of 2 nonprofit organizations as part of steering them in the fulfillment of their strategic vision and goals. She is an evaluator at the Echoing Green fellowship, a past Advisory member of the India @75 – a CII Initiative and her podcast ‘covering ground ‘spotlights ground realities of social change making organizations. The Founder’s Table hosted by her brings the stories and journeys of founders and their motivations and challenges in navigating driving social impact
About the Host
Julia Middleton
Julia Middleton is the host of the Women Emerging podcast and a best-selling author of “If that’s leading, I’m in” as well as two previous books: “Leading beyond Authority” and “Cultural Intelligence”. She is deeply committed to helping people from all backgrounds to find their own approach to leading.
In 2020, Julia launched Women Emerging and in 2022 she lead an expedition of 24 women to find ‘an approach to leading that resonates with women’. She now leads expeditions with women all over the world based on 4Es methodology, discovered in the first expedition.
Prior to that, Julia was founder and, for over thirty years, Chief Executive of Common Purpose, which grew to become one of the biggest leadership development organisations in the world.
Julia is also an Ambassador for the Aurora Prize based in Armenia, on the boards of Alfanar Venture Philanthropy in the Arab World and Equality Now, which operates globally, and on the Advisory Councils of Fundacao Dom Cabral in Brazil and Synapse in Pakistan.
Born in London and brought up in New York, Julia was educated at French Lycées and graduated from the London School of Economics. She is married, with five children and lots of grandchildren.
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