Article
Quiet Power: Leadership That Learns, Listens, and Leads
Power in Corporate Leadership
The perceived tension between risk aversion and progressive change is largely a misunderstanding. It is not about saying “no” to new ideas; it is about asking the right questions before saying “yes.”
- Bhavna Singh - Head of Legal, Allstate India
As a general counsel (GC), I have learned that durable influence comes from creating the conditions in which others can do their best work. Quiet power shows up in how we design environments that are safe, principled, and enabling. For young women lawyers in particular, psychological safety and consistent mentorship are not soft ideals; they are the scaffolding that lets talent take risks, learn in public, and grow. When people trust that questions are welcome, that credit is shared, and that feedback is fair, they step forward. Over time, these small signals change careers.
A GC rarely seeks the spotlight, yet the role shapes culture every day. Governance is not a binder on a shelf. It is how decisions are made, how tradeoffs are weighed, and how integrity is protected when no one is watching. When legal sets clear expectations and models steady judgment, compliance stops feeling like a checklist. It becomes a lived value that travels across meetings, emails, and hallway conversations. That is quiet power at work.
The perceived tension between risk aversion and progressive change is largely a misunderstanding. It is not about saying “no” to new ideas; it is about asking the right questions before saying “yes.” What are we solving for, what are the second-order effects, what guardrails keep us safe while we experiment? Framed this way, legal becomes a partner in innovation. Teams do not feel policed; they feel supported to move faster with clarity.
Influence across functions and geographies grows the same way. You listen first, learn the operational reality, and translate strategy into practical choices. You make it easy to do the right thing by reducing friction, by clarifying roles, and by escalating early when needed. You sponsor people who may not yet see themselves as leaders and you make room at the table for voices that might otherwise be missed. None of this is theatrical, yet it moves the organization forward.
What endures is not a single bold stance but the accumulation of principled choices. Quiet power does not compete with vision. It enables it. By building trust, asking better questions, and holding the line on values, legal leaders help companies progress with confidence and keep that progress sustainable.
Quiet Power in Public Service
Quiet power in service is about showing up with patience and purpose. Real change begins when trust is built, when people are heard, and when solutions are allowed to grow from the ground up.
- Smita Singh - IRS/Additional Commissioner of Income Tax, Govt. of India
In government service, true impact often comes not from what is visible but from what endures. The policies we design, the linkages we create, and the opportunities we enable often take years before their impact becomes clear. For me, quiet power lies in perseverance, in continuing to show up, build trust, and plant seeds of change even when the results are not immediate.
Outside of work, I have been fortunate to engage in community projects that reflect similar values of inclusion and empowerment. One such initiative was Project Musavir, where women from marginalized urban villages were connected with student teams from Enactus Lady Shri Ram College and other universities. Many of these women had never held a pencil before, yet with patient mentoring they began to create Madhubani art and eventually found markets for their work. What started as hesitant sketches became confident strokes, and the quiet transformation of self-belief was far greater than the revenue they earned.
A similar lesson emerged from voluntary efforts in financial literacy and inclusion. Early conversations were met with skepticism, as families often viewed insurance or pensions as luxuries. Change came gradually through patient dialogue and community sessions. The pandemic underscored the need for security and trust, and slowly participation grew. What began as awareness turned into ownership, showing that persistence and empathy can shift even long-held beliefs.
These experiences outside the formal structures of government reaffirmed a conviction shaped through my public service: that the public sector’s greatest strength is not only its reach but its ability to act as an enabler. When it listens deeply, builds bridges across civil society, youth, and institutions, and allows solutions to grow from the ground up, change becomes sustainable. India’s dairy cooperative movement, which transformed the country from a milk-deficient nation to the world’s largest producer through brands like Amul, succeeded for precisely this reason: partnership, patience, and shared ownership of outcomes.
That, to me, is quiet power in governance. It is the ability to create ecosystems where inclusion is co-owned and where trust, empathy, and persistence allow change to take root in ways that endure.
Quiet Power in Building Inclusive Innovation
Quiet, steady action may not create fanfare, but they build trust and capacity that endure. I have seen real transformation happen when leaders listen carefully, create space for team members to step into client-facing roles, and instill confidence in those who might otherwise hold back. These small, consistent decisions shape an inclusive culture where innovation thrives.
- Sushmita Das - Senior Director, FTI Consulting
In my work at FTI Consulting, I have learned that leadership is not only about delivering high performance in technical areas such as legal technology. It is also about shaping environments where people feel valued, included, and inspired to bring their best ideas forward. Wearing multiple hats in this role is both a responsibility and a privilege. It allows me to focus on leaving things better than I found them and building a legacy rooted in innovation, inclusiveness, and the passion of teams that believe in what they do.
Quiet, steady actions have taught me more about impact than any single bold gesture. Creating a resilient and inclusive team culture takes time and consistency. It is in the small decisions—listening carefully, creating opportunities for others to step into client-facing roles, instilling confidence in people who might otherwise hold back—that transformation begins. These steps may not generate immediate attention, but they build trust and capacity that endure over the long term.
I believe strongly that inclusion and meritocracy are not at odds. When leaders set the tone that equal opportunity matters and that no one will be judged unfairly, performance improves because people bring their full intelligence and creativity to the table. This is particularly important in dynamic, cross-border fields like legal technology, where collaboration across cultures, functions, and geographies drives innovation. As part of FTI’s Global Steering Committee for Women’s Initiatives, I have seen how diverse voices contribute to stronger solutions, often without much fanfare, but with measurable results.
I often remind myself that talent can exist in unexpected places and that leaders have a duty to identify and nurture it. By creating structures that empower people, organizations not only benefit from better outcomes in the present but also lay the foundation for resilience in the future. To me, that is the quiet power of leadership: to listen, to enable, and to let others rise in ways that strengthen the whole.