One of Sri Lanka’s accomplished and dynamic business leaders, Stasshani Jayawardena shares the secret behind her success, the vision for herself and the companies she leads, and how she inspires and motivates others to strive for excellence in a culture that fosters diversity, equality and inclusion. With over a decade of experience at Aitken Spence PLC, where she serves as the youngest and only female board member, Stasshani leads the tourism cluster of the group, which includes hotels, destination management, and overseas travel.
She leads several key strategic teams as a member of the Board of Directors of Aitken Spence PLC, Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings PLC, Stassen Group, Lanka Milk Foods (CWE) PLC, Aitken Spence Aviation (Pvt) Ltd, and Western Power Company (Pvt) Ltd., She was appointed to the Board of Directors of Melstacorp PLC and Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka PLC in September 2022.
In addition to her responsibilities at Aitken Spence PLC, Stasshani holds various leadership positions in industry organizations like The Hotel Association of Sri Lanka, the International Chamber of Commerce in Sri Lanka, and the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Tourism Steering Committee. In 2020, she became the Chairperson of the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon (EFC) Hotels and Tourism Employers Group and joined the PWC NextGen Advisory Board. She also represents Aitken Spence PLC as an Ambassador for the Target Gender Equality initiative of the UN Global Compact and is a member of the Austrian Business Circle in Sri Lanka.
What is the secret behind your successes, building a career and leading companies amidst challenging market conditions?
My one-sentence answer is “I continue to be God’s work-in-progress and whatever success I attribute it to God’s Grace”
The more elaborate one – I started my career more than a decade ago as a non-paid trainee at SLIC and Aitken Spence Travels. Then as a Management Trainee at Aitken Spence. The journey enabled me to take a deep dive into gaining exposure in several key businesses across the Group and delve into a lot of personal research into various industries. I was fortunate to gain some hands-on experience with special projects for Stassen Group, and Melstacorp Group along with other volunteer projects to sharpen my skills.
Some of my most valuable lessons, learning various skills and wisdom have been imparted from what I refer to as the manual for life – the Bible – and through my grandparents and parents who live these principles. I was shadowing a true entrepreneurial visionary; my father Deshamanya Harry Jayawardena and an extraordinary, strong, and graceful lady in my mother whilst being exposed to various perspectives of global, political and business leaders from a very young age. I am grateful for international mentors and expertise (as well as the Matriarchs, Patriarchs, NowGens and NexGens of various global family businesses), imparting sound advice along my journey that has entailed truly unique scenarios/ experiences that require me to wear multiple hats at any given time.
I decided long ago that I will strive to make sound decisions true to my principles, be courageous where I must and strive to do right by the multi-disciplinary multi-generational group of personalities I work with, and the organizations I am a part of. Understanding the fundamentals of how socio-economic environments have unfolded across time and expertise with the correct attitude, integrity and spirit of teamwork is key to leading companies in challenging market conditions.
My quest towards continuous learning for growth, being curious to question the status quo and being courageous to push boundaries whilst striving for transformation with new and innovative ideas continues.
What is the vision you have for yourself and the companies you lead?
My Vision for the Group of Companies is – together with the respective teams – to build synergies across the companies and regions we operate in. To take the respective brands to the next generation with the core values of integrity, sustainability, entrepreneurship, empowerment, and equal opportunities; whilst harnessing creativity and innovative talent and the transformative experience and information-enriching power of technology and data.
What is your approach to leadership? How do you inspire and motivate teams to bring their A-game to the table at all times?
Being on the Board of Aitken Spence, Melstacorp, Lanka Milk Foods and several other companies offers me a significant responsibility as well as an opportunity to influence those who work with me.
The inspiring interactions over the years have inculcated in me, the relevance of responsibility, the spirit of service and the importance of entrepreneurial leadership. I was taught the importance of wisdom over knowledge, to have grace where misconceptions, misinformation, mansplaining, and treacherous behaviour run awry and to be courageous to do the right thing with integrity. I have strived to bring change where possible and to persevere when the climb is steep.
I encourage whoever I cross paths with and my team not to be afraid to be of integrity in their dealings, to challenge the status quo be it in their professional or personal lives, to build confidence and be true to themselves as they embark on a journey of growth.
How do you manage work-life balance?
What ‘balance’ looks like for each person will invariably differ. It is essential that you give yourself the time to learn and understand what balance is for you as an individual and strive to achieve a sense of balance. There is no quick fix or correct path – just do what works for you – it is a journey as you progress through the different phases of your life.
I’m a firm believer that one should exercise the muscles of one’s spirit/ soul, mind, heart and body and work on these aspects simultaneously. This is important and I find many link health and well-being most to the physical body but it’s extremely important to pay attention to the spiritual, mental/psychological, and emotional spheres of your life as well. Having a solid support system in place is also important and that too can vary depending on the individual.
In what ways are you creating a culture that fosters diversity, equality and inclusion at Aitken Spence?
At Aitken Spence, our effort has always been to enable an equal playing field for everyone to access the opportunities our companies have to offer based on their merit and performance. We also strive to ensure the voices of our women at Aitken Spence are heard when making decisions by making sure there are positions for them around the table. Aitken Spence was one of the first companies in the World to sign the UN’s Women’s Empowerment Principles to illustrate our commitment to achieving gender equality in the workforce.
I encourage whoever i cross paths with and my team not to be afraid to be of integrity in their dealings, to challenge the status quo be it in their professional or personal lives, to build confidence and be true to themselves as they embark on a journey of growth
We are looking at driving our gender and inclusivity agenda which is in alignment with current national initiatives. At Aitken Spence PLC, female representation on the Main Board is 11% and 40% in the overall workforce. Female representation is at roughly 27% at the senior management level and 15% in the Group’s tourism sector. These are numbers we are actively working towards improving with targeted efforts.
More recently, the Group’s initiative on ‘Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I)’ under the theme ‘Freedom to be me’ was launched at the Spensonian Convention. As a progressive step in this direction, parental leave was enhanced, including the duration of maternal leave being extended to 100 days and the introduction of paternal leave. Furthermore, in our continuous journey to become a better place to work, an employee engagement survey is being carried out to better understand employee experience, morale, and perceptions of a leading employer, which will shed more light on DE&I as well.
What advice would you give young women aspiring for greatness in their careers and life?
Understand Your God-Given Purpose for Your Life. Be inspired – Be relentlessly curious – Be constantly passionate – Love what you do – Believe in yourself – Set yourself exceptionally high standards/goals and Do the right thing (even when no one is looking or no one will) – all whilst being aware of your immediate sphere within which you can influence transformation and leaving what is beyond your control to God who works in mysterious ways.