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Welcome to Power Shift. A podcast hosted by Sandra Colhando — executive coach and co-founder of TransforMe Learning & Leadership Solutions. She has spent decades working with women navigating the most complex and least-talked-about phase of professional life. Season 1 is built around a single theme: The Inflection Point. Women who faced a moment that changed everything, and how they pivoted.
This show exists because there's almost no content built specifically for women in their 40s who are still building. Not winding down. Not ascending. Standing tall in the middle of a career that has 20 more years in it — grappling with fears and identity questions that most leadership content, still largely built around men, doesn't know how to address.
The 43-year-old CHRO wondering if the rules she played by still apply. The senior leader who was passed over and is figuring out what comes next. The founder who left corporate in her 40s and is still making sense of what that cost and what it gave her. The one who chose motherhood in her 40s while navigating a leadership role. This show is built for them.
Sandra isn't an outsider to this conversation. She's walked this road herself, and alongside hundreds of women she's coached. She doesn't interview — she becomes a confidante.
Subscribe to catch every conversation.
POWER SHIFT — EPISODE SCRIPT
[Bhavna Batra] | Season 1: The Inflection Point
Target runtime: 32–35 minutes
________________
[STANDARD OPEN — reuse this block every episode, swap only the bracketed guest intro]
00:00–00:38
SANDRA: "Hello and welcome to Power Shift. I'm your host and friend, Sandra Colhando. If you are a woman in your 40s, you already know that this stage of your career is nothing like you've experienced before. You're ambitious and armed with years of experience. And yet something underneath all of it is shifting. This podcast is a space deliberately built for that conversation. Season one is called Inflection Point. And every guest this season has lived through a moment that cracked everything open."
[SUPER, bottom left, small: Sandra Colhando | Host, Power Shift | Co-Founder, TransforMe Learning & Leadership Solutions]
[00:00:38 to 00:01:46]— [EPISODE-SPECIFIC GUEST INTRO]
SANDRA: "Please help me welcome Bhavna Batra. She's built her life on her own terms. She's not someone who fits into the boxes the world wants women to be built. The current Vice President of People at S&P Global, former MD of Management Consulting at PwC India, she is also an angel investor, an advisory board member — and someone who has spent 25 years travelling across 43 countries. Bhavna grew up as an army kid. She spent her childhood moving from city to city, from forests in Nagaland to the concrete jungle of Gurgaon, never staying long enough to put down roots. And somehow that became her superpower. Let's hear more about that and her Power Shift moments from Bhavna herself. Hi Bhavna, welcome to Power Shift."
BHAVNA [00:01:46 to 00:01:50] : "Thank you, Sandra. Absolute pleasure to be here with you today."
[SUPER, bottom left, small: Bhavna Batra | Vice President of People, S&P Global]
SANDRA [00:01:50 to 00:02:16]: "But before we get into the wonderful conversation that we've planned, can you tell our listeners what will be some key takeaways they'll be taking at the end of our conversation today?"
BHAVNA [00:02:16 to 00:02:35]: "The one thing that has always been very close to my heart — there's that saying, fake it till you make it. If nothing else, I hope that whoever listens has a takeaway that you don't need to fake it to make it."
> "YOU DON'T NEED TO FAKE IT TO MAKE IT."
BHAVNA [00:02:35 to 00:03:02]: "Being your authentic self, really taking on experiences and living them to the fullest, and balancing your head and heart as you do what context requires — that's truly what lies at the heart of architecting a journey that's both successful and satisfying."
________________
SEGMENT 1 — Roots: the army kid who learned to belong anywhere 02:00–05:30
SANDRA [00:03:02 to 00:04:24]: "So I want to start with what built you. You're an army kid, you've moved from city to city, you've travelled over 43 countries. I came from a space where I felt like an outsider too — being Anglo-Indian, growing up in North Delhi. How has that early experience of feeling new, of trying to create belonging, shaped you?"
BHAVNA [00:04:24 to 00:06:41]: "Being new in any context is frightening, because you're not sure where you fit in. And fitting in is such a comfort for all of us. Sometimes in that journey of wanting to fit in, we forget that our biggest contribution to that context is perhaps the freshness we bring — freshness of perspective, diversity of thinking. When I was the newest girl in school, it was really difficult. I don't think corporate organisations have anything on kids. Try being new in a classroom full of kids who've spent their whole life growing up around each other."
BHAVNA [00:06:42 to 00:07:08]: "I realised I don't have to, on day one, be their person. It's okay to evolve into that. It's okay to discover, and it's okay to not be the person for everyone, because you never can be."
> "IT'S OKAY TO NOT BE THE PERSON FOR EVERYONE."
SANDRA [00:07:48 to 00:09:27]: "I remember wanting to hide my differentiators for most of my life — where I came from, my background. Even when I immigrated to Australia, I just wanted to fit in. When I started owning the difference instead, doors opened. It's like a puzzle — if you don't own your piece and try to align to someone else's, there's always a gap."
BHAVNA [00:09:27 to 00:10:18]: "The puzzle isn't static, Sandra. Today the puzzle is this, tomorrow it expands. It's like Lego — you start with a piece, then you add another, and you create a city."
________________
SEGMENT 2 — The loneliness nobody talks about, and the four buckets
05:30–13:30
SANDRA [00:10:47 to 00:11:36]: "I want to flip that to loneliness. You've lived nearly a year in Europe. When you're always the new person — without romanticising it, without calling it resilience — what did loneliness actually look like, and how did you process it?"
BHAVNA [00:11:36 to 00:11:46]: "That's not a dimension we talk about too often, because you like to give the illusion of perfection sometimes."
SANDRA [00:11:46 to 00:12:04]: "The social media version of it."
BHAVNA [00:12:04 to 00:13:45]: "Absolutely — the Instagrammable version of life. Fantastic, but probably in the middle of a very messy situation in its own right. In the first ten years of my career as a consultant, I travelled extensively. I've missed weddings, I've missed birthdays, I've missed celebrations. I really believe there's no right or wrong, but in hindsight, I may not have done all of it."
BHAVNA [00:13:47 to 00:15:29]: "The reality of loneliness was — you have full days, and then you come back to an empty hotel room. I would miss rajma chawal. My ultimate comfort food is namak ajwain ki paranthi, which my mother makes with butter on it. It's not that I couldn't make it — it meant I had to make it, and it wasn't quite the same."
BHAVNA [00:14:13 to 00:16:31]: "I realised I needed connection with my family, my friends, to keep me sane. And even in the midst of hectic travel, it's important to find moments of joy in little things — my Darjeeling tea, just the way I want it. I love photography, I write a little English poetry."
SANDRA [00:18:16 to 00:19:15]: "You don't need to leave your country to feel loneliness. You could feel it in your own organisation, in your own home, with your loved ones — and I say this with a lot of experience. There are times I've had everyone around me and still felt really lonely. I went to Ananda for three days once, just to run away from it all. People there were dealing with real trauma, real disease — and they'd ask me why I was there, why I was lonely, when everything in my life looked fine. I felt guilt-tripped for feeling lonely when things were going okay."
SANDRA [00:19:15 to 00:19:45]: "And I realised — emotions come for a reason. The more judgement we put on emotions, the more trapped we feel in them. That guilt didn't make me feel less lonely. It's okay to feel lonely. It's a phase, as long as you go deeper and ask: what am I actually crying out for?"
> "THE MORE JUDGEMENT WE PUT ON EMOTIONS, THE MORE TRAPPED WE FEEL."
BHAVNA [00:20:55 to 00:21:10]: "There is a difference between loneliness and being alone. It's very important to acknowledge that."
> "THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LONELINESS AND BEING ALONE."
BHAVNA [00:21:10 to 00:23:23]: "As a coping strategy, I think of four buckets in my support system. One — people I go to solve problems for today. Two — people I go to debate and ideate for tomorrow. Three — people I go to for the toughest criticism and resistance, because like most human beings, I'm sensitive to criticism, so there's just a handful I'd take that from. And the fourth bucket — extraordinarily important — is your emotional and psychological electrolytes."
[CARD: Bhavna's four buckets — build one line at a time as she names each]
BHAVNA [00:23:47 to 00:24:24]: "You will give, give, give, give, give. But energy is like a bank account. It needs to be replenished."
> "ENERGY IS LIKE A BANK ACCOUNT, IT NEEDS TO BE REPLENISHED."
BHAVNA [00:24:45 to 00:25:47]: "My executive coach is part of that group. I remember calling a very senior leader — he continues to be the CHRO of the company I was with before this consulting firm — and I told him I couldn't deal with politics, it was too much. And he said: then resign."
[No callout. Hold the beat after "then resign."]
BHAVNA [00:25:47 to 00:27:01]: "Because if you don't have the ability to deal with politics, you don't deserve to be where you are. Maybe that was the verbal slap I needed to come out of my pity party. It's also about realising that one person or two people in your life cannot play all the roles. So stop putting that burden on them — and on yourself."
> "ONE PERSON OR TWO PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE CANNOT PLAY ALL THE ROLES. SO STOP PUTTING THAT BURDEN ON THEM, AND STOP PUTTING THAT BURDEN ON YOURSELF AS WELL."
[Full quote card — attribute to Bhavna Batra, VP People, S&P Global]
________________
SEGMENT 3 — Unicorn and enigma: single, successful, unapologetic
13:30–18:30
SANDRA [00:30:28 to 00:31:21]: "When we connected a few weeks ago, you used the words unicorn and enigma. You said a single, successful woman in India is a unicorn — people don't know whether to ask about your kids. What has that looked like for you?"
BHAVNA [00:31:21 to 00:32:58]: "Countless times, someone starts a conversation with, 'so how old are your children?' And I say, no children, no husband at the moment either. That qualifier, in an Indian context, is sometimes considered jarring. There's a worldview that at this age, this should be your phase of life. It's not that you consciously want to break a stereotype — you're just living your life the way it makes sense to you."
BHAVNA [00:33:54 to 00:34:03]: "One of the interesting questions I've heard is — 'but you're so intelligent, you really enjoy interacting with people, how come you're not married?' And I'm like, what does that have to do with each other?"
SANDRA [00:34:24 to 00:34:41]: "How do you respond to that?"
BHAVNA [00:34:41 to 00:35:40]: "My instinctive response is that I don't think there's a correlation between intelligence and being single — considering the majority of the world isn't single, but quite a few are intelligent. Humour is a great tool to deflect. But that's deflection. Sometimes I've asked — how is this anybody's business other than mine? What value is this question bringing, other than satisfying curiosity? Organisations are not families — and we should be fairly okay to say that."
SANDRA [00:37:10 to 00:37:26]: "Our partner Gatik always pushed us to call ourselves a tribe, not a family. A tribe works together toward the end goal. Family is different."
________________
SEGMENT 4 — Calling out bias, and being called "emotional"
18:30–23:30
SANDRA [00:37:36 to 00:38:53]: "How do you deal with bias that's sometimes conscious, sometimes not? Did you find a formula?"
BHAVNA [00:39:14 to 00:39:50]: "Don't brush it under the carpet. Deal with it. It's a little like there's a glass that's broken — why do you have to walk on that glass? Let's pick it up, otherwise it's going to hurt someone."
> "WHY DO YOU HAVE TO WALK ON THAT GLASS?"
BHAVNA [00:39:50 to 00:41:04]: "Sometimes the person having that conversation with you doesn't even recognise there's a bias playing out — that's where social conditioning comes in. Acknowledging it, and having the courage of conviction to address it, is more often than not useful."
SANDRA [00:41:04 to 00:41:11]: "Give me an example of showing that courage in an organisational context."
BHAVNA [00:41:11 to 00:41:48]: "If someone very senior makes a comment, it may not be prudent to tell them off in the moment. But ten minutes later you can say — could I have a word with you separately? There are other contexts, where you have equity and openness, where you address it right then."
SANDRA [00:41:48 to 00:42:11]: "I always say giving feedback is an art, but receiving feedback is a finer art."
> "GIVING FEEDBACK IS AN ART, BUT RECEIVING FEEDBACK IS A FINER ART."
[Quote card — attribute to Sandra Colhando, Host, Power Shift]
BHAVNA [00:42:11 to 00:42:50]: "There's no harm in being emotional as a person. I've heard, over 20-odd years, 'why are you so emotional about this?' And I turn around and say — being emotional and being passionate — if I was a male colleague, would you still call me emotional, or would you use different language? Surface it. Deal with it."
> "IF I WAS A MALE COLLEAGUE, WOULD YOU STILL CALL ME EMOTIONAL?"
________________
SEGMENT 5 — The protection trap: dropping the balls, asking for help
23:30–29:30
SANDRA [00:48:00 to 00:50:15]: "One of the mind traps we talk about is the protection trap — you've spent years building a persona: hardworking, go-getter, woman leader. Anything that challenges that, you block. What happens when you're actually dropping the balls, and you don't want the world to see it?"
BHAVNA [00:50:15 to 00:51:04]: "That's a really tough one, honestly. I don't have a ready formula. But under it all is a sense of vulnerability — fear of being judged. Am I good enough? And there's a second, harder question: do I feel like I'm good enough?"
> "IT'S NOT WHETHER I'M GOOD ENOUGH THAT IS THAT QUESTION, IT IS WHETHER I FEEL I'M GOOD ENOUGH."
[Quote card — attribute to Bhavna Batra, VP People, S&P Global]
BHAVNA [00:51:18 to 00:54:23]: "Categorise what is absolutely non-negotiable — where you cannot drop the ball. Then be emotionally detached and fairly ruthless: is the world really going to collapse if I drop this one? Or is there a backup I can lean on? That's an exercise we've got to do regularly, otherwise our ability to balance everything takes a beating."
SANDRA [00:54:23 to 00:55:07]: "What if you can't see any of those balls anymore — you need help, but you've built a space where asking feels like weakness?"
BHAVNA [00:55:07 to 00:56:29]: "We can always ask for help. It requires putting the ego aside and first accepting that I need help — asking yourself permission. Then it comes back to those four buckets. There's a reason every game has a timeout. In the game of life, you've got to give yourself timeouts as well — because the person who judges you most harshly is you."
> "IN THE GAME OF LIFE, YOU'VE GOT TO GIVE YOURSELF TIMEOUTS AS WELL."
BHAVNA [00:56:42 to 00:56:55]: "Everybody wants a piece of you. But the person who needs the biggest piece of you is you yourself. Stop feeling guilty about making that time."
> "THE PERSON WHO NEEDS THE BIGGEST PIECE OF YOU IS YOU YOURSELF."
BHAVNA [00:57:06 to 00:57:35]: "I live just across the corridor from my parents, and there are times I say, I just need to be by myself. It's taken a while to not feel guilty about that."
________________
SEGMENT 6 — Closing formula: the trust equation
29:30–32:30
SANDRA [00:58:04 to 00:58:41]: "If you were to offer our listeners a Power Shift formula, what would it be?"
BHAVNA [00:58:41 to 00:59:11]: "One of the things I love is the trust equation — trust equals credibility plus reliability plus intimacy, divided by self-interest."
[CARD: Trust = (Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy) ÷ Self-interest]
BHAVNA [00:59:11 to 00:59:55]: "One — we've got to earn our seat at every table. The world doesn't owe us anything just because we do what we do."
> "WE'VE GOT TO EARN OUR SEAT AT EVERY TABLE."
> "JUST BECAUSE WE DO WHAT WE DO, THE WORLD DOESN'T OWE US ANYTHING."
BHAVNA [00:59:55 to 01:02:08]: "Two — notwithstanding my title, which can change any given point in time, I'm fundamentally a human being, and human relationships matter. Three — be honest with yourself. Don't be politically correct with yourself. It's not like women work for pocket money — we work because we need our own identity and financial independence, just like anybody else. But also be true to your purpose."
> "IT'S NOT LIKE WOMEN WORK FOR POCKET MONEY."
________________
[STANDARD CLOSE — reuse this block every episode]
32:30–33:30
SANDRA [01:02:08 to 01:03:16]: "Thank you so much, Bhavna. This is exactly the kind of conversation Power Shift was built to have. You built your own definition of home, of success, of what it means to show up — even on the days you didn't want to."
SANDRA [01:03:16 to 01:03:38]: "For everyone listening — an inflection point isn't always a dramatic epiphany. Sometimes it's a missed birthday. Sometimes it's a feedback that stings. The point is: you get to decide what the shift means. And you get to keep deciding."
> "AN INFLECTION POINT ISN'T ALWAYS A DRAMATIC EPIPHANY."
SANDRA [01:03:38 to 01:03:49]: "Share this with one woman who needs to hear it today. And I'll see you in the next episode."
[CLOSE CARD: From the newest girl in school to Vice President of People at S&P Global. — Bhavna Batra, Vice President of People | S&P Global]
End episode here. Everything after is off-mic chat.