Purushothaman challenges common corporate assumptions: that diverse candidates do not exist, seniority brings freedom to lead authentically, opportunity is a fixed pie, and hiring an inclusion officer solves inclusion. Network homogeneity, conformity pressure, scarcity thinking, and powerless roles make those apparent explanations misleading.

Homogeneous networks can make qualified candidates invisible to hiring managers
Pressure to conform may intensify after reaching senior leadership
Treating opportunity as a fixed pie turns inclusion into perceived loss
An inclusion officer without budget, access, resources, or mandate cannot redesign a system
Color-blind language can deny materially different lived experiences

“this idea that the pipeline is broken is one of the myths or one of the things we need to change”
Deepa Purushothaman · 31:00

“this idea that one person or a role or a checkbox is going to fix what we're really talking about is another delusion”
Deepa Purushothaman · 32:00

#inclusion#hiring#meritocracy#corporate-culture

Hot Take· 2

Hot Take23:30

Not Belonging Can Become a Leadership Advantage

Purushothaman argues that women of color are entering a rare leadership moment as the workforce becomes more diverse and organisations re-examine race and inclusion. Experiences of exclusion, global identity, and multilingual life can become practical assets for designing workplaces where more people belong.

Women of color will form a growing share of the educated workforce
Organisations are calling more diverse leaders into positions of influence
Experiences of not belonging can sharpen awareness of exclusionary design
Global and multilingual experience can improve leadership in diverse workplaces
Companies still need to create space for different leadership styles

“we have a lot of experiences of not belonging and as a result we can help create workplaces that where people belong”
Deepa Purushothaman · 24:00

“we have these unique things that make us really desirable and so we just need to make space as companies for us to lead and…”
Deepa Purushothaman · 24:30

#leadership#workforce#belonging#diversity

Hot Take53:00

High Performance Should Not Excuse Toxic Behaviour

Purushothaman calls high producers who escape consequences for racism, sexism, or other harmful conduct “toxic rock stars.” Keeping them in power tells everyone that output matters more than people, so organisations must impose consequences rather than repeatedly accepting lack of understanding as an excuse.

High producers often receive exemptions from behavioural standards
The problem extends across racism, sexism, and other forms of harm
One misunderstanding may be correctable, but repeated behaviour needs consequences
Tolerance communicates the organisation's real priorities
Removing impunity is part of culture design

“sometimes high performers get away with really bad behavior in companies it's not just racism it's sexism it's all the things and there's no penalty…”
Deepa Purushothaman · 53:00

“we're basically asking corporate america to retire their toxic rock stars because they're actually creating cultures that suggest we care about you know performance over…”
Deepa Purushothaman · 53:30

#toxic-leadership#accountability#culture#performance

Explainer· 4

Explainer08:00

What Missing Representation Quietly Teaches You

The absence of Indian women in mainstream media left Purushothaman without visible reference points for identity, beauty, or professional possibility. She argues that standards absorbed from media can erase identity and continue influencing people before they consciously recognise their source.

Mainstream representation of Indian women was nearly absent during her childhood
Beauty and acceptability standards often exclude women of color
Those standards arrive from many directions and can operate unconsciously
Missing professional representation can silently imply that you do not belong

“until a few years ago i didn't see myself on television or even in social media in any capacity”
Deepa Purushothaman · 08:30

“when you don't see it you question if you can be it”
Deepa Purushothaman · 10:30

#representation#media#beauty#identity

Explainer32:30

The Airplane Carry-On Test for Exclusionary Design

A simple carry-on compartment exposes how one design creates different experiences for a short woman, a mother travelling with children, and a taller man who never considers the problem. Purushothaman uses the analogy to show that workplaces also produce unequal experiences upon entry because many intended users were absent from the original design table.

The same overhead compartment creates different burdens for different travellers
Those burdens begin immediately upon entry rather than after an explicit exclusion
Designers may overlook needs they never personally encounter
Women and women of color were largely absent from early workplace design
Inclusive redesign requires affected people at the table

“our experience of how the airplane shows up for us as a short indian woman as a tall black woman mom and as a white…”
Deepa Purushothaman · 34:00

“women and women of color weren't there in the original design so it makes sense that it doesn't work for all of us”
Deepa Purushothaman · 35:00

#design#inclusion#workplace#systems

Explainer38:00

The Goldilocks Trap: Always Too Much or Too Little

Women can be told to improve their appearance and then criticised for looking too polished, trendy, young, sexual, or unlike a conventional executive. Purushothaman argues that chasing the supposedly correct presentation can drain power because the standard keeps moving; the more durable aim is to choose what makes the individual feel powerful.

Appearance feedback often contradicts itself
Women of color also face sexualisation and fetishisation
Professional seriousness is frequently coded through dominant-group appearance
Age creates another moving standard for who is allowed to seem powerful
Self-defined presentation may still attract backlash but preserves identity

“it's like not the right temperature no matter what not the right too much too little”
Deepa Purushothaman · 40:00

“in order for us to feel powerful like truly powerful as women and women of color we need to do what also makes us happy…”
Deepa Purushothaman · 42:00

#appearance#gender#power#workplace-bias

Explainer48:00

How Small Remarks Accumulate Into Erasure

Purushothaman places microaggressions and overt racism on a spectrum, focusing on both intention and impact. Repeated questions about birthplace or English can communicate non-belonging, while persistent name confusion and disbelief that a Black professional is the expected expert turn an individual into an interchangeable stereotype.

Seemingly simple origin questions can signal that someone is perpetually foreign
Repeatedly confusing two Asian colleagues' names communicates that neither is fully seen
The harm compounds when correction is ignored for years
Well-intentioned language can still create exclusion
Specific impact statements can make correction clearer

“maybe it's not supposed to be offensive but it makes me feel like i don't belong”
Deepa Purushothaman · 48:30

“as a person who already feels not seen to be called the wrong name for years”
Deepa Purushothaman · 49:00

#microaggressions#racism#belonging#workplace

Story· 4

Story01:30

Growing Up Neither American Enough Nor Indian Enough

Purushothaman describes growing up as one of very few people of color in a small New Jersey town, without language at home for discussing race. Visits to India reinforced the same feeling from the other direction, leaving her to conclude for years that something was wrong with her.

She was one of two or three people of color in a school of 500
Her immigrant parents emphasised hard work rather than discussing race
Children in India also treated her as visibly different
She initially personalised a wider experience of not belonging

“that sense of not belonging has followed me i think and i've had to do a lot of reprogramming around it”
Deepa Purushothaman · 01:30

“for a long time i carried that like there's something wrong with me”
Deepa Purushothaman · 03:30

#belonging#identity#childhood#immigration

Story04:00

Told She Could Be Anything—But Still Expected to Marry

Purushothaman grew up in a household that encouraged achievement while still carrying patriarchal expectations about women's roles. As a teenager, she resisted being assessed primarily by marriageability, and her mother later faced community judgement because she did not arrange her daughter's marriage.

Her father encouraged ambition but repeatedly invoked the son he did not have
Few women in her extended family worked outside the home
Relatives focused on marriage and children over her interests or studies
Community pressure also targeted her mother

“i can be anything but that's not necessarily the history of the lineage that i come from or the examples that are around me”
Deepa Purushothaman · 04:30

“my entire worth was are you you're you're of marriageable age your parents should be arranging your marriage”
Deepa Purushothaman · 05:00

#gender#family#marriage#culture

Story13:30

The Illness That Forced a Different Definition of Success

Leaving Deloitte took Purushothaman roughly three years and followed an intense period of relocation, marriage, major client work, and 20-hour days. Eight months away showed her that she could live without the institution and that her values had shifted, even though she had no next big role lined up.

Purpose questions preceded the final exit by years
A high-intensity project coincided with serious illness
Doctors warned that the travel-heavy lifestyle was incompatible with recovery
Time away loosened the job's hold on her identity
She left without requiring the next opportunity to be bigger

“i was working 20 hours a day in a really intense situation just having gotten married just having moved all these things”
Deepa Purushothaman · 14:00

“that eight months one showed me that i could have a new life and i would be okay because when you're someplace for 20 years…”
Deepa Purushothaman · 14:30

#burnout#health#career-change#identity

Story19:30

Ten Late-Night Dinners Revealed an Unmet Need

Before leaving Deloitte, Purushothaman began meeting senior women of color to understand how they combined purpose and corporate life. One-to-one meetings grew into ten dinners across the country, where conversations routinely lasted until 3 a.m.; the repeated loneliness and navigation stories eventually became both her book and In Formation.

The exploration began as one-to-one conversations, not a planned company
Her coach suggested testing larger dinners in several cities
Senior attendees repeatedly shared kindred stories of loneliness and challenge
The concept evolved further when COVID changed the delivery model
The community later recreated the intimacy through virtual gatherings

“we did 10 dinners across the country and they were not like planned dinners there was no like agenda they were just getting together to…”
Deepa Purushothaman · 20:00

“momentum and such magic in those rooms that i feel like we've been able to recreate with information even though it's all virtual”
Deepa Purushothaman · 21:30

#community#entrepreneurship#customer-discovery#women-of-color

Takeaway· 1

Takeaway26:30

Three Patterns From 500 Interviews With Women of Color

Purushothaman highlights three recurring findings: widespread unexplained illness, competition among women produced by scarcity, and increased pressure to conform at senior levels. Together they challenge the idea that corporate advancement is simply a neutral merit contest.

Two out of three interviewees reported illness, often without a clear diagnosis
Stress and being unseen appeared alongside pain, rashes, headaches, and fertility issues
A perceived single chair for women encourages competition instead of support
Senior promotion can increase rather than reduce pressure to censor and conform
The patterns point to structural conditions rather than individual deficiency

“two out of three of the women of color i met and i would argue now that i've met a thousand women of color my…”
Deepa Purushothaman · 26:30

“there's one chair that's been designated for a woman or a woman of color so if there's one chair you and i are going to…”
Deepa Purushothaman · 27:30

#research#workplace-health#scarcity#conformity

Frameworks in this episode

Composite Leadership Model

Listen Then Take Measured Action

Power of Me and Power of We

Shedding and Carrying

Stay-or-Go Culture Diligence

Ten-Minute Gut Check

Work Obituary

Insights & moments

⚡Myth Buster· 1

Four Inclusion Fixes That Do Not Fix the System

◆Hot Take· 2