Sacredness, to me, is about honoring the deeper connections we share as human beings. It is
one of my core essences in the Women Emerging Expedition framework, which explores
qualities that shape how women see themselves and show up for others. Sacredness is
spiritual, but not always religious. It’s intimate, sometimes cosmic, often quiet, and always
deeply personal. Sacredness lives in small things: the morning sun, the songs of birds, the bloom of a flower, the resilience of my plants. Nature is my teacher, my spiritual companion, my mirror. While I may not fully understand spirituality in an academic way, I know I am spiritually inclined.
I was born into a Brahmin family, but I never saw that identity as a source of pride or power. If
anything, I questioned it. Why was I born into this family? What is the purpose of my existence?
These questions began in childhood and have stayed with me. And maybe that’s what
sacredness is too, a willingness to ask, to wonder, to not know.
How Spirituality Has Taught Me About Leading
I connect to different paths. While I practice Hinduism, I also feel deeply connected to
Buddhism. During a time of deep trauma, after surviving sexual violence, my mother handed me a picture of Sai Baba (a 20th-century Indian spiritual leader known for his teachings on love, equality, and
service). I began to chant his name. Almost instantly, something shifted. My pain didn’t vanish,
but I felt held, anchored. Since then, I have spoken to the picture as if he were alive, listening,
guiding, holding me. He has not just been a deity for me, but a companion in the darkest
moments of my life. I learned that sacredness is companionship. Leadership, I’ve learned, is not
always about solving or fixing. It’s about being present, holding space, listening, anchoring,
while also allowing yourself to receive support. True leadership includes vulnerability,
companionship, and the courage to face life’s joys and struggles alike. The same is true for Buddha.
One story that has stayed with me is when Buddha asked his
disciples if they were willing to accept the suffering that comes with human birth. I imagine
sitting with Buddha on a peak, saying yes, not passively, but consciously, to joy, challenges,
silence, and questions. Choosing my path, fully, means embracing both growth and struggle,
with wisdom and presence. This belief allows me to see my experiences, even the most painful
ones, as part of a larger journey. I learned that sacredness is acknowledging and acceptance.
For women leaders especially, this means acknowledging the full spectrum of our experiences,
our ambitions, our doubts, our challenges, while creating space for others to do the same.
Both, in their own ways, remind me that leadership is not about control or hierarchy, it is not
perfection or stoicism; it’s being fully human while guiding and uplifting others.
Sacredness and Women’s Leadership
When I reflect on the greatest spiritual leaders Buddha, Christ, Sai Baba what stands out is that
they rarely defined themselves through identity. They led not as “men or women,” but as vessels
of values that transcended gender, culture, and even centuries.
As women, we often lead from our identities. We name our struggles, our silence, our
oppression. This naming is necessary and powerful. Yet, sacred leadership asks something
more radical of us: to see dignity not only in ourselves as women, but in every being. Not
because of identity, but because every creature is inherently worthy.
This subtle shift moves us from demanding recognition to embodying values that create
recognition.
How Sacredness Flows Into My Leadership Today
Sacredness shapes my daily leadership in tangible ways:
● When I speak with my managee, I see her not as a subordinate, but as a fellow human
being whose growth I am walking beside.
● With my manager, sacredness shows up in how I choose honesty over pretense. For
example, instead of hiding my struggles when I feel overwhelmed, I openly share them.
This has not only built trust but has also created space for more authentic conversations
about well-being and work.
● With the girls I work with at my organisation- KickOff Solutions, sacredness is in the
small, everyday gestures. It’s listening to their fears about marriage pressures or job
rejections. It’s in reminding them that their voice matters, even when society tells them
otherwise. These moments of listening without judgment, of walking beside them, become acts of leadership as much as any strategy or plan.
Sacredness, then, is not abstract. It is how I frame conversations, how I delegate with
care, how I hold boundaries without losing warmth.
A Ritual for Everyday Life
When chaos comes, I remind myself to pause and ask: Is this in my control? If not, can I let it go?
This question has become a simple ritual I return to again and again. I share it here as a practice
you, too, might try when feeling overwhelmed, it brings lightness to the heaviest of days. The
next time you feel weighed down by work, family, or the expectations you carry, pause for a
moment. Breathe. Ask yourself these two questions. You may find, as I have, that it brings
clarity, peace, and the courage to move forward.
Walking Each Other Home
In the end, sacredness is about wholeness. As women leaders, we bring our motherness, our
resilience, our tenderness. Sacredness teaches me to hold these not as burdens but as gifts.
It is not a lofty ideal, it is a lived practice of walking together with compassion and courage..
Leadership is not about titles or ladders. It is about presence. It is about creating spaces where
others feel seen, anchored, and enough. And most importantly, it is about remembering that we
are whole, we are connected, and we are always- always- walking each other home.
About the Author:
Poonam Chakraborty is a changemaker with 8+ years of experience empowering youth through organizations like Teach For India. A survivor and the first girl in her village to attend an English-medium school, she transforms pain into purpose, championing education, resilience, and community change. As Operations Head at Kick Off Solutions, she uplifts girl leaders through sport and storytelling.
