S4E165: Who Decides Who Leads? Pankaj Raj on Boardroom Bias, Gender Pay Gaps and What Real Allyship Looks Like

Who decides who leads?

In this episode of The AboutHer Show, Dr. Sangeeta Relan sits down with Pankaj Raj, Co-founder and Director of Search Value, and a man who has spent over 16 years quite literally deciding who gets to the top.

Pankaj was recently inducted into the Board Stewardship Hall of Fame as a Steward of Corporate Governance, recognition that sits at the exact intersection of leadership, accountability, and human capital that AboutHer was built to explore.

This is not a comfortable episode. It’s an honest one.

We talk about what power looks like from the inside of an executive search firm. We talk about the moments compensation becomes a barrier for women candidates, the clients who resist, and the mandates that hang in the balance. We talk about what genuine allyship demands, not in theory, but in practice, in the boardroom, in the brief.

Pankaj also shares his own story, from HUL and insurance marketing to building a firm on nothing but referrals and reputation, and what that quiet, trust-first journey reveals about visibility, risk, and the choices men and women are permitted to make differently.

And then, The Reveal. Because we believe you can’t really know someone until you know the little things.

🎙️ The AboutHer Show is a Feedspot Top 10 Women’s Podcast, a platform where women are centred and men show up as allies.

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