Anu Chowdipura of Intuitive: Are You Asking Your Employees to Dance?
“When you feel included and heard, you are motivated to perform above and beyond.”
Diversity that comes with race, ethnicity or gender creates a diverse mindset in the workplace and when this diverse mindset is honored and we lead with inclusion it propels innovation.
When Anu Chowdipura was two-and-a-half years old, she got into the family medicine cabinet and drank an entire bottle of cough syrup. Events like these were not uncommon for young Anu as she was a very mischievous child. When her mother would try to discipline her, Anu would cry. But her father, who played an influential role, would sit her down and teach her the value of not breaking down over things that were not important. As she grew older, her parents continued to instill the importance of being strong and making good decisions.
Anu grew up in India as the eldest of three children and many cousins. “You are older than your siblings and your cousins,” her father would tell her. “You need to lead by example and make the right decisions.” He taught her to go above and beyond her responsibilities and find a way to contribute to the community.
As a result of her father’s expectations, caring for others and making sure everyone felt included became second nature for Anu. “My father laid the foundation for who I am today,” says Anu. “He helped me understand the importance of contemplating my choices and trying to make the right decision.”
Anu is now the Director, IT Applications at Intuitive. But her career journey was not a straight line. Anu, like many women, took a break in her career to raise her son – in fact not one but three breaks.
Anu was never really interested in technology or programming. “I’ve always liked working with people more than machines,” said Anu. “At one point, I even tried my hand at architecture but soon realized I couldn’t draw anything beyond a straight line.”
Anu earned a degree in Computer Science and Engineering where she met her husband and pursued her MBA in Marketing and Human Resources after marriage. Her MBA was one of her proudest moments as she graduated with a University Gold Medal for topping her class with the highest GPA. After her MBA she joined a startup in India, worked there for two years and then had her son. Her career was going exactly as she had planned.
Then her husband got a job in the United States.
“I wasn’t sure what I should do. Having my husband overseas in the United States was not part of my plan,” said Anu. “But then a colleague told me, ‘you have already planned a break to be with your newborn so why not join your husband and explore a new country?’” It was good advice so Anu went.
After a year in the United States, Anu began to think about finding a job. But being an immigrant on a spouse visa made it difficult and she began to worry. Like many who are trying to return to work, she began to second-guess herself. It was an anxious and unsettling phase for Anu. She knew she had the technical background and a great education, she just needed to find a foothold in a role that she was passionate about.
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After many conversations she found a role as a programmer. It wasn’t a role that she was excited about, but it was her first step back towards the career and life she wanted to design for herself. “I was learning and contributing, which was rewarding in itself, even if I wasn’t passionate about the day-to-day tasks,” said Anu. “It’s important to take a good opportunity even if it’s not exactly what you want to do, especially if you are reentering the job market.”
After two years in her role as a programmer, Anu felt comfortable taking another break. This time it was six months and she used her time off to focus on her next career move. The result was a business analyst role at Chevron, which was much more in line with what she wanted to do; solve business problems and work closely with people. After delivering on her project, Anu decided to take her third break, this time to spend time with her son who she felt was growing up too fast.
The wonderful thing is that during her third career break she was offered a role that allowed her to work and balance her life to be around her son when she needed to. “It was an amazing opportunity,” explained Anu. “It was a role where I got to help a friend set up their operations in the United States plus bootstrap a start-up. After a two-year break from my IT career I decided to bounce back into an IT consulting career, something I had always wanted to do. With the support of my husband I was able to travel when required to the client’s site for three years before I joined Lam Research and then moved to Intuitive in my current role.”
“When you feel included and heard, you are motivated to perform above and beyond.”
“Intuitive has been an amazing place to work,” said Anu. “It is the place where I have been able to apply my early life learnings and my father’s mentoring about being inclusive and putting people in the center of the decisions we make. It has helped my team achieve their maximum potential.”
Inclusion & Diversity is an important part of how Intuitive operates. “When you feel included and heard, you are motivated to perform above and beyond. Diversity that comes with race, ethnicity or gender creates a diverse mindset in the workplace, and when we honor this diverse mindset and lead with inclusion it propels innovation.”
But this, too, was something that Anu learned with experience.
“There was an example in the office where on Fridays my team rounds everyone up for lunch,” said Anu. “But one day, a team member who was of a different ethnicity from most of the other team members, came to me and said, ‘when you round up everyone for lunch, you make sure everyone is invited, which does not come naturally to many.’ I was so grateful for this conversation. It helped me realize that diversity is just the first step, and diversity does not work without inclusion. It may seem small, but it is important to make sure everyone feels included.”
“There was another example of inclusion that I remember very well,” said Anu. “During a training, the instructor gave an example of how companies often treat new employees differently during meetings. We often don’t ask their opinions because they’re new. We don’t value their opinion because what could they know? I had never thought how this view made people feel excluded and likely affected their performance. They don’t feel valued or included. This was something I had never thought about,” explained Anu. “If you don’t include intentionally, you exclude unintentionally.”
Anu has a mantra that was shared by her Inclusion & Diversity driver at Intuitive, which she uses to remind herself of the importance of diversity, inclusion, and belonging.
“Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance.”
“…And belonging is knowing the words to the song,” said Anu.
“It’s important for companies to go beyond diversity and emphasize inclusion and belonging if they want to have employees that perform above and beyond their everyday tasks.”
Anu’s father was her role model. He taught her to care for others and make good decisions. It’s a lesson that she still carries with her today and it permeates throughout Intuitive. The result is a company that is consistently ranked as a Best Place to Work by Glassdoor and other publishers. Now, thanks to her father’s patience and teaching, Anu is a true leader in diversity and inclusion. It’s clear that her father would be proud to see that Anu always makes sure that all of her employees are asked to dance.
Anu Chowdipura is no stranger to taking multiple breaks in her career. She is an advocate and champion for those returning to work. She believes strongly in creating pathways for Returners to advance their careers. She leads the Women in Information Technology (WIT) Employee Resource Group (ERG) to encourage women to find their voice, have a strong self-esteem at work, and be their own advocates.
