In the early ’90s, a young electronics graduate named Shubhangi Purandare found herself exactly where everyone else in her shoes landed: IT. But while the machines made sense, it was the people who lit her up. “I realised I enjoyed working more with people than with machines,” she says. And just like that, a career in education took root.
Her first step was teaching IT at Jnana Prabodhini and later at Aptech, setting the stage for a journey that would eventually span classrooms and boardrooms across the country. A move to Pune after her daughters were born gave Shubhangi the pause she needed to pivot and pursue an MBA. The shift unlocked possibilities. “It allowed me to get managerial roles immediately,” she says. But students never left the frame. She took up lecturer roles in MBA colleges, drawn instinctively to the energy of young adults and the scale of what was possible through them.
from classrooms to nationwide collaborations
It was at NIIT Ltd that the scale dial turned up.
“I didn’t know when I started handling large projects,” she reflects. “But I learnt quickly; when large teams are involved, communication and collaboration are everything.” That belief was tested early when, as a part of the Microsoft IT Academy program, she led a pre-service teacher training programme for over 30,000 teachers; a collaborative effort between Microsoft, NIIT, and the Maharashtra State Board of Teacher Education.
It didn’t just earn her an innovation award. It also earned the project a mention by Bill Gates in The Times of India. “That was the sparkling beginning,” she says, “of my journey with samaj, sarkar and vyapar.” (Community, Government and Enterprise)
There was no looking back. Shubhangi went on to implement the ICT@School project across 1,500 schools in Maharashtra, deepening her love for impact at scale. “If any work is worth doing in a country this large,” she says, “it’s worth doing at scale.”
But she also faced the flip side: “Making a large-scale change in our systems is important, but what about each individual? How can we create space for individuals to answer their own calling without having to fit conventional paths?”
She found the answer by creating space for introspection and personal meaning in an often impersonal world, an answer she discovered only by exploring her own interests.
Shubhangi took a break to address health issues. Shifting to part-time lecturership, she learned yoga, picked up painting as a hobby, engaged with spirituality, and read a lot of nonfiction. She says revisiting “Business as Unusual” by Anita Roddick completely changed her perspective on work and life. As time went by, her values stayed; only the vehicle changed as she made an organic shift to the social sector.
personal meaning in the professional world
Years of leading large, diverse teams taught Shubhangi that scale without alignment leads to collapse. Her personal journey and multidisciplinary experience gave her the tools to unify teams spanning generations, educational backgrounds, and worldviews. It also gave her a new language for empowerment, based not on answers but on inquiry.
“Through my journey, I’ve found that leadership is not about having all the answers. It’s about asking the right questions so that people find their own solutions,” she says. “Using this approach to leadership, I’ve been able to empower individuals – colleagues, clients and mentees – in all my professional roles. It has made my work about giving back, rather than gaining titles or status for myself. That has given me immense joy.” Over time, she’s extended that joy to mentoring business owners and young professionals alike.
Her belief is that professional value doesn’t lie in narrow expertise alone. “There are experts. And then there are multi-potentialites,” she says, smiling. “This awareness has enabled me to develop a personalised, inquiry-based approach to helping others find meaning in work.” As a mentor to small business owners, young professionals, and university students, she has helped many mentees to boldly address and scale their businesses or the scope of work.
leadership and legacy: creating the next generation of leaders
Shubhangi acknowledges that the idea of leadership today has evolved tremendously from a few decades ago. “In the ’80s and ’90s, leadership was the privilege of a few. One leading, others following was the norm.” But after having worked in various roles in social sector organisations, she sees it differently.
“Each of us must invest in personal leadership. We’re all equals now. And leadership is about communication and collaboration, especially if we want to bridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots.”
“Impact is not ‘what you’re doing’ but ‘what you’re being,’” she says. “Through my work, I want to encourage more people to be socially aware, so that they can use that awareness to drive impact at scale in businesses, whether for-profit or not-for-profit.”
In a world that glorifies aggressive tactics to achieve one’s goals, Shubhangi offers another route: intentional and purpose-driven.
leadership as inner work
Shubhangi sees leadership as inward work, shaped by one’s relationship to oneself. Her parting words to young professionals are both grounding and galvanising. “We can bring peace to the world,” she says, “if each of us is at peace with ourselves. You’re not the giver; you receive far more than you can ever give.”
