Light Does Not Apologise for Shining
Dr Anjana Vinod is the Founder and Director of Impact Enhancer, an image consulting and corporate training practice she has run for twelve years. She is a PCC-level ICF certified coach, a certified PoSH facilitator, an author, and a TEDx speaker, and has held visiting faculty roles at IRMA, ISDI Parsons, and upGrad.
Holding the Container
Q1. There is usually work that happens with no name on it, no metric attached, and that most people around you probably do not notice. What is the most important thing you do that fits that description?
The work that happens with no name on it, for me, is what I call holding the container. Before any program begins, I spend hours, sometimes days, understanding the invisible architecture of a room. Who are these people, really? What are they afraid of? What have they stopped believing about themselves? What do they need to hear that no one in their organisation will say out loud?
No one sees that. I call it the S.E.E. principle, See, Encourage, Enable. Most of these moments don’t have my name attached to them. There is no metric that says, “Because of this conversation, someone stayed, grew, or found confidence again.” Yet I believe those invisible acts create visible outcomes over time. Like stitching behind a piece of embroidery, the back may look messy and unseen, but without those stitches, the picture in front would never exist.
Careers Are Rivers, Not Ladders
Q2. Most careers have a decision that looked wrong from the outside and turned out to be exactly right. What was yours, and what did it teach you that no formal experience could have?
There was a point in my career where I walked away from what looked like a stable, prestigious path and took a most defining decisions, choosing purpose over predictability. There were moments when stepping away from conventional paths and investing in coaching, facilitation, and work that aligned with my values appeared risky to others. But I discovered something profound: careers are less like ladders and more like rivers. A ladder demands climbing in one direction; a river finds its own course.
From the outside, it looked reckless. Why would you leave a sure thing? What if it doesn’t work? For me it was all about my A.I.M, Alignment with values, Impact over image & Meaning over momentum. What it taught me is that C.L.A.R.I.T.Y is not given to you by an institution. It is earned in the silence after a brave decision. Commit before you’re certain. Let go of the version of success others designed for you. Accept that discomfort is not a detour, it’s the path. Remind yourself daily why you started. Invest in your craft like someone is watching, even when no one is. Trust that the right rooms will find you. Yield nothing that is essentially yours. Sometimes the right decisions look wrong until time catches up with them. That decision taught me who I was. And I would not trade that education for anything.
Design for the Monday Morning
Q3. What is the most widely held belief in your field that you quietly, or not so quietly, disagree with?
The most widely held belief in L&D is that behaviour change happens in the room, and the idea that leadership development is primarily about acquiring more knowledge. I disagree. Fundamentally.
The room is a spark. What changes behaviour is what happens in the forty eight hours after, the first conversation. Knowledge matters, but transformation rarely happens because someone attended another workshop or read another book. I believe people don’t change because they know more, they change because they see differently.
We have built an entire industry that measures learning by attendance, feedback scores, and smiling faces at the end of Day Two. And then we wonder why nothing really changes. In my experience, sustainable growth comes from self-awareness, reflection, and courageous conversations, not simply from accumulating information. If I could give our field a North Star, it would be this: design for the Monday morning, not the Friday afternoon.
A Lighthouse Does Not Chase Ships
Q4. There is a version of visibility that requires performance, constant output, constant presence. And there is another version that is just being findable in the right places. How do you think about the difference?
I believe there is a difference between being loud and being known. A lighthouse doesn’t chase ships. It simply stands with clarity, and ships find it. Early in my career, I thought visibility meant saying yes to everything and being everywhere. Over time, I realised that sustainable visibility is less about volume and more about value.
Visibility built on performance alone can become exhausting. Visibility built on credibility becomes enduring. From a body of work that speaks with consistency. From relationships that were built with genuine attention, not strategic calculation. Presence is not loudness. Presence is resonance.
Diamonds in a Riverbed
Q5. If you were briefing a conference organiser on how to actually find the best speaker for a topic rather than the most familiar one, what would you tell them?
I would tell them to look beyond popularity and look for resonance. A famous voice is not always the most meaningful voice. The best speakers are not the ones the audience has already heard. They are the ones who will say the thing the audience has been almost thinking but never quite articulated. Ask yourself five questions, a simple VOICE test:
Voice & Values: Do they have a point of view, or just a topic? Does this person genuinely care about the subject?
Originality: Have they said something in this field that others have not said yet? Do they bring a perspective, not just slides?
Impact: Can they point to changed thinking or changed behaviour, not just applause? Have they transformed people, not merely informed them?
Credibility: Is it earned through genuine work, or borrowed through association? Have they lived what they speak?
Energy & Engagement: Does the room lean in, or lean back? Can they connect, not just present?
The best speakers are often like diamonds in a riverbed. They may not sparkle from a distance, but once discovered, they leave a lasting impression. Even if most familiar speaker are often the safest choice, they are rarely the best one.
Light Does Not Apologise for Shining
Q6. There is a particular way ambitious women in India are expected to be visible: enough that people notice, not so much that people are uncomfortable. How have you navigated that?
This has perhaps been one of the more nuanced parts of my journey. There is an invisible line many women are expected to walk, be confident but not intimidating, ambitious, but not “too ambitious”, visible, but not too visible.
Over time, I stopped trying to manage everyone’s comfort. I remind myself that light does not apologise for shining.
The navigation, for me, has not been about calibrating how much of myself to show. It has been about being so grounded in my purpose that the discomfort of others becomes information, not instruction.
As a Facilitrainer, I thing I always do in my sessions is insist on self-introduction and that too in the end, its to ensure I share my achievements with all the passion I achieved it with and ensure its not intimidating before the session but leaving the audience feel proud and take the best.
From Credentials to Contribution
Q7. If you could change one thing about how your field identifies, develops, or elevates expertise, what would it be?
I would shift our focus from credentials to contribution.
Right now, expertise in our field is largely credentialed by institutions and validated by other experts. Which sounds logical, until you notice that the people most transformed by a facilitator are rarely consulted. The learners. The participants. The managers who sent their people to a program and watched something shift. Because expertise should not only be measured by how many people know your name, but by how many people are better because your path crossed theirs.
The best in our field deserve to be found. The current system, too often, rewards the loudest résumé. I would like to change that.
Dr Anjana Vinod is the Founder and Director of Impact Enhancer. This interview was conducted as part of the Draupadi on the Dais Interview Series.