In this 6‑questions‑in‑7‑minutes interview, Professor Pete Alexander talks with Rashmi Sharma, a social‑science researcher, teacher, and business communication specialist. Rashmi explains that the best part of her industry is meeting diverse people and building transparent, reliable communication channels. She promotes her upcoming book, STEM of Communication, arguing that communication should be viewed as a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics discipline, emphasizing precision and intentionality. Her advice to leaders focuses on two points: leadership is an attitude, not a title, and effective communication must be two‑way, avoiding linear, one‑directional channels that can become toxic. She stresses listening and inclusive dialogue to foster trust and performance. Rashmi recommends fellow educator and keynote speaker Rebecca Morgan for future podcast episodes. She recounts her first job after an MPhil in sociology, working as a field investigator for the International Council for Research on Women on a domestic‑violence project called Safe India, which sparked her lifelong passion for empowering women and children. Finally, she shares how listeners can connect with her via LinkedIn and email.
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This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are and and what you do.
Thank you, Professor Alexander, for having me here today. I'm Rashmi Sharma. I'm a social science researcher, a teacher, and a business communication and relationship specialist.
Rashmi, it's so great to have you on the show. Question number 2: What's the best thing about working in your industry?
So the best thing about working in my industry is I get to meet lots of people. And I have an opportunity to interact with various kind of people and establish an open communication channel to build reliable and transparent communication to create thriving business relationships.
Oh, neat. Question number 3: I have a book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
Uh, so I would definitely like people to read my upcoming book, which is called STEM of communication. Communication is science, technology, engineering, and maths. So we— I deliberately emphasize that communication is not something comes from the social sciences. It has a science involved, it has a technique involved, lots of tools are there for communication, and it's engineering how you craft your communication. That's the engineering part of it. And maths— how much and how many and where. The words has to be very, very precise to bring the right amount of emphasis you want to bring or cultivate or harvest from your communication. That is very important. So I would like to say that the importance of communication cannot be overemphasized. Across all the industries, as a team player, as a manager, as a trainer or a coach, or as a leader, we all know that an active and intentional communication builds and nurtures the relationship.
Absolutely.
It brings the— it also brings the desired confidence, comfort, and that difference in the business environment where we meet, interact, behaves and work every day. We all thrive in a place where we feel accepted as well as we felt— feel heard. So if those key ingredients are missing, it becomes just a workplace. So that relationship of communication is very, very important, no matter which Industry work across all the platform. We have so many tools and techniques available, but how to utilize them efficiently and bring the desired thriving environment and culture altogether is a, is a skill.
Very well said. Thank you. Question number 4, other than the generic work harder, have a great attitude and care for customers, What advice or insight would you give to other business leaders?
So I, I would like to emphasize on two things. I know that leadership is a very, very popular and it's a kind of buzzword across all the businesses, industries. People are like, claim to be a leader or they are referred as a leader. But I would say that leadership is more of an attitude. It doesn't matter that which title you belongs to, you have to have that attitude. Whatever role you are playing right now, whatever role set you are assigned or given to perform, you always have an opportunity to bring leadership skills within that domain. And the second thing I would like to say, that communication is not a linear equation. By linear equation, I mean that you have to have a channel for communication rather than just making it a one-line straightforward go, no, no scope for any other route. Then it becomes a toxic communication because the other person or other employee or the organizational culture get impacted by not been heard. So that all the great leaders or the community people, managers, team leaders, I have only one advice: to be a good listener, to become a good communicator. Once that feeling comes within the perspective of that a team has a feeling of taking care, that they have a say in what they do every day, they feel they are inclusive, within their team, within their organization, within their organizational culture. And if, if the team is able to relate their roles with the big picture of the organization, there comes the— then comes the positive and our desired results, rather than just following an order, giving an order, and somebody's following. It doesn't doesn't fetch much these days. So that is a very, very, very key aspect. I, and I call it, it's kind of a derailment because you are not giving any channel for a two-way communication. So the, so the results got derailed. And over a period of time, we lose control over it because then it's very hard to rebuild the trust and the relationship because it has never been heard.
Very well said. I totally understand and can— I like how you emphasize that as it's not a linear process, just one-way communication. It's very insightful. Question number 5: What other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
So as I see that your podcast has a wide variety of people coming and sharing their experiences from a different role set, different different titles. I definitely like to see more educational leaders, trainers, coaches, influencers on your podcast. A name which is just right now coming to my mind is Rebecca Morgan, who is— she's a great keynote speaker here in Silicon Valley, and she has lots of publication and lots of insight, business insight, firsthand experiences, and working across the world. So she brings lots of inclusive and diverse experience on the platform.
Perfect. I'll reach out to Rebecca. Thank you for that referral. And our final question, question number 6: Please tell me about your first job.
So my first job, once I did my MPhil in sociology, I got hired by ICRW, which is International Council for Research on Women, and I was hired as a field investigator, and I worked on a project on domestic violence. And the project called Safe India. And I worked with the victims of domestic violence, both women and children. And that, that job gives me a real picture of society where half of the population lived under some kind of a violence and poverty and having no say in their own life. So that Jobs gave me a passion to work for children, work for women who can be the future of our society and giving empowering them. Not only we empower their own life, but we empower our community, we empower our society. And not, not the feeling of not having that say or any, anything, uh, which not helping them to be, be a decision maker in their own life is very, very overwhelming. And as a young graduate, I had a tremendous emotional ups and downs working with them, but that gave me a passion to work for children forever.
I love that. What a powerful story. Thank you for sharing that. So Rashmi, thank you so much for being on the show. How can people find you?
So I'm very, very active on LinkedIn. You can find me on LinkedIn, Rashmi Sharma, or you can reach me via email, rashmikanway@gmail.com. I will put my email on the chat. So you can, we can keep it on the podcast.
Wonderful. So this is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. For more insights and ideas, please go to LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, or iTunes and search for the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.
