Veena Patil
Founder & Managing Director Veena World
A leader who knows the way goes all the way and shows the way. A go-getter, a lifelong learner, a prolific writer, and an optimist to the core, even after having travelled the world, Veena believes in holding on to her roots. She takes pride in the fact that she’s in a business of happiness and considers herself blessed, for she’s able to do her bit in showing the world to many travellers.
Veena Patil, with over 35 years of experience in travel and tourism and seven years at Veena World, has established herself as an exceptional entrepreneur and is a role model for thousands of women from all walks of life, including women entrepreneurs, who idolize her for her grit, hard work, perseverance, determination, business acumen and business ethics.
Veena empowers and engages with the people she is leading by being with them. She feels it is her responsibility to nurture the talent that she sees in the organisation irrespective of tenure or hierarchy. She always feels that a good human being can do wonders if leaders put effort to bring them up. So, a lot of her time is invested in sharing knowledge, training strategies, decision-making, and getting things done the quicker way. She teaches when needed, at the same time, she distances herself to observe how things are taking shape and if people are getting that sense of achievement as well as satisfaction.
Veena believes that every leadership trait that resonates with her should resonate with her team too. It should flow smoothly in the organisation. She is forthright in stating that she is truthful, ethical, transparent, polite, firm, and self-assured. She believes in learning from the past, being in the present, and keeping an eye on the future. She connects, motivates, and innovates and is also organised, decisive, and quick.
“We at Veena World have our own ten commandments and six principles that we zeroed down from the management jargon which is suitable for us. We use it every time while solving problems or making decisions or when we are stuck with to be or not to be kind of a situation.”
Veena says that every leader must be an empath. Unless and until they sense how their team feels, how their guests or customers feel, how their associates feel, and how their family feels, they are not going to be good leaders. In their organisation while working on any small or big project, they always think about other person’s point of view, which makes things easier, more result-oriented, and satisfying. True empathy is the foundation of successful leadership.
NEXT VACATION: Ladakh, Manali, and Pahalgam are on her agenda in India. She also looks forward to visiting Los Angeles, Scotland, and a few small towns in Switzerland.