An Avid And Quick Learner
Shikha Sharma is one of the few financial leaders adept at managing change. She has, in fact, always been ready to take up new challenges. In 2009, since she joined Axis Bank, the third largest private sector bank in the country, there has been no looking back. She has been deftly managing the bank’s growth and has steered it through several ups and downs, including the new non-performing assets (NPA) recognition norms.
Over the years, Sharma has focused on strengthening the bank’s retail business and expanding the scope of its investment banking and advisory franchise. Under her leadership, Axis Bank has expanded its balance sheet from Rs 1.47 lakh crore to over Rs 6 lakh crore.
Recently, the board again reposed faith in her abilities and continued her appointment as MD and CEO for another five years.
Sharma’s journey in the financial world has been one full of challenges and new expectations. In her earlier stint at ICICI Bank, she was called to set up ICICI Securities, a joint venture with J P Morgan then, where she wet her toes in investment banking. Later, another opportunity came along when she was asked to lead the group’s foray into life insurance. That’s when she headed ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.
“The choice of which road you take will shape who you become. For me, more often than not, I chose the road less travelled. And it has indeed made all the difference,” she recently said at the IIM-Ahmedabad Commencement Address.
One of the keys to Sharma’s success over the years has been her ability to learn, and to keep on learning and growing against all adversity. In an increasingly changing world, the ability to learn is a tool.
She said, “We live in a world where the rate of change is constantly increasing, the effectiveness of our response strategies is increasingly uncertain, the number of variables at play is higher, and there are very few situations where there are clear right answers. How do you thrive in such a VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) world? My answer has been simple — with learning agility.”.
