Namalee Silva, Deputy General Manager and Head of Marketing at Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation, the country’s largest insurance company, weighs in on how women can sustain careerlong vision, overcome adversity and work-life balance, and the importance of diversity and inclusion.
Drawing from your own experience, how can women leaders sustain career-long vision?
Careerlong vision requires focus, and that needs passion. If you are passionate about what you do, that will give you the drive to confront and overcome life’s challenges and obstacles that stand between you and your goals. We often see women sacrificing their careers or other personal goals because of family commitments or other societal biases. However, with enough focus and determination, there is no reason why you should give up on your dreams. Each of us has a unique vision of what we want to be. We aspire to be something more in life, and we owe it to ourselves to give ourselves the best chance to achieve our dreams.
But passion alone is not enough; you need to back yourself with the appropriate education and skills to help you realise your vision and have the forbearance to build experience and learn from your failures and successes. As a mother of four and Head of Marketing at Sri Lanka Insurance, having that focus, passion, patience and ability to engage in continuous professional development has helped me to be where I want in life today.’
How should women approach adversity? What are some of the traits they should try to cultivate that can help overcome adversity?
The traits needed to sustain careerlong vision will also get you through life’s challenges. However, confidence is one trait I would like to single out here because it shapes a person’s approach to life, especially how they confront and overcome challenges. It’s not about avoiding problems, demolishing obstacles or triumphing over adversity, but it is about how we embrace those opportunities to become better people.
Confidence is necessary to approach adversity in the right spirit; a healthy belief in one’s abilities is something no one can take away. But it requires diligent work. Confidence is something you build with education, knowledge, skills and experience.
Why are inclusion and diversity important?
I believe diversity is an indispensable attribute in any context. It fosters cross-cultural thinking, brings unique ideas and points of view to the table, nurtures empathy and makes everyone feel like they belong, so naturally, you can only expect the best from everyone. For those reasons, Sri Lanka Insurance is committed to its culture of diversity and inclusion. We have a diverse customer and employee base cutting across cultures, demographics, gender, economic status, religion and more.
Diversity and inclusion unlock the best in our employees and help us understand the market intimately. In turn, we can build better insurance products and provide empathetical solutions and services that benefit individuals and society. After all, insurance enables economic growth as a financial intermediary and a provider of risk transfer and indemnification.
If there is one piece of advice you can give young women about work-life balance, what would it be?
Work-life balance is critical to sustaining careerlong vision and unlocking opportunities opening up for women.
The dynamics in society are changing from a man’s world to an equal world where more women are taking front row seats, running global companies and ruling countries than in any other time in history. While there is a long way to go, women must equip themselves to seize the opportunities and tackle the new challenges by becoming emotionally, intellectually and financially independent. So, be visionary. Be confident and fearless. Be you.
Improving work-life balance for women prompted us to develop an innovative insurance proposition for the market. Sri Lanka Insurance Motor Plus Ladies Only is the first-ever comprehensive motor insurance solution designed exclusively for women with unique benefits and features that will help them become more liberal and independent.
Even minor accidents can be a stressful experience, so we provide call and move services and 24×7 roadside assistance covering towing, tire changes and battery charging. If you are out of town, don’t worry. We will reimburse emergency accommodation costs under specific terms and conditions.
SLIC Motor Plus Ladies Only includes affordable insurance premiums, flexible payment plans, free personal accident cover, and cashless repair facilities. Repairs can be done at any of our SLIC Partner Garages, while reimbursement of claims below Rs75,000 will take less than three hours with no repair estimates and bills, salvage and labour, and after-repair inspection. We offer matchless loyalty rewards and discounts from our partners in healthcare and hospitals, beauty therapy, clothing retail, leisure and travel.