Don’t hesitate to get out of your comfort zone to explore something new: When I transitioned from Journalism to Strategy, I did not have a theoretical background in strategy. I did not know if I could pull off this transition well. However, from someone with zero theoretical background in strategy, I grew and matured in strategy over time and pursued courses in strategy. My strategy work was recognised at the Asia Pacific level in a couple of years. We may not know everything, but that is okay. We can always learn and explore new things. Unless we try, we do not know what we are good at and can excel in. Today, I am a full-time strategist, part-time student, and an author. You can do it all only if you are willing to explore yourself.
As part of my series about “individuals and organizations making an important social impact”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Sneha Sabu
Sneha Sabu is an international strategist, development thinker, multi-award-winning author, and motivational speaker who lives and works in Sydney, Australia. Her books Stay Safe with Ruby and Reuben and My Lost Pages won 15 international recognitions. Sneha has worked with 18 countries in the Asia Pacific region to make a difference in the lives of communities through country strategy formulation.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
At 23, I was a Chief Operations Officer of a Media Production House in India. In this role, I felt a sense of restlessness and the need to learn and grow. It was too early to head an organisation, and there was much more to learn. I resigned from my job overnight. I did not know what to do next. For a month, I skimmed through the job advertisements in newspapers. I knew I needed a job to pay my bills. I knew I did not want to do the job I was doing as well. That’s when I came across the position of Corporate Planner with World Vision. At the time, I did not know what corporate planning was. I got the role after an interview, and then it was a new beginning, and there was no turning back. I was trained in strategy and business planning and mentored by senior staff based in multiple countries who were former Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey employees. I saw in the field how strategies can make a difference in people’s lives and transform communities. This is how I began my strategy journey.
As far as writing is concerned, it was during Covid that I began to write again after a long break. There was a situation I encountered which broke me emotionally. I wanted to divert my energy into something meaningful, and that is when I began writing my first book. Though I started with a crime fiction, I wanted my first book to be meaningful. I wanted it to be effective. This is why I wrote Stay Safe with Ruby and Reuben. The book was written to create awareness among children on various issues such as good and bad touches, how to be safe while going and coming back from school, safe sleepovers and secret codes. The alarming number of child sexual abuse has burdened me. Creating awareness among children would enable them to respond better in situations that compromise child safety. I have also partnered with two not-for-profit organisations to make Stay Safe with Ruby and Reuben available free of cost in 26 schools across six states in the North-Eastern part of India. I believe my experience working with World Vision and in a children’s magazine helped me to write for children.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?
I do not run a company or organisation now. However, I can share my journey as a strategist. Two field visits changed my life as a strategist. When I visited the districts of Ballia, Lalitpur and Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh as a project evaluation, I saw how World Vision contributed to reducing maternal mortality rates in these districts. This was a learning curve that reaffirmed the belief that strategies can make a difference in people’s lives. However, when I visited Baran district in Rajasthan and saw how poverty has impacted the lives of children with malnutrition and hunger deaths, my perspective of strategy was shifted. It was not enough to confine to strategic and development models and concepts that worked well. There was a need to change strategies to cater to the grassroots realities. Customising plans to suit the needs of the end-user was validated here. From these visits, I grew in my strategy role over time and was responsible for preparing country strategies for 18 countries in the Asia Pacific region for Habitat for Humanity International. I also represented Habitat for Humanity in the UN Post Millenium Development Goals discussions to advocate for issues related to housing and homelessness in Bangkok.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
When I began my strategy journey as a fresher in the field, I was too naïve and did not know the realities. For this reason, I was reluctant to express my views openly in the first six months. Even when I was about to share an opinion when I heard a contradicting dimension, I shut down and withdrew into a shell under the assumption that I was wrong. During the recession, one of the organizations’ I worked for decided to pursue a growth strategy. It was not the right time to progress a growth strategy without undertaking an organisational capacity and risk assessment. Since I was not a mature professional in strategy at the time, I was reluctant to fight my case initially. I made very subtle diplomatic comments on the proposed direction and suggested a course correction, which did not receive a buy-in. At the time, my role ended in raising a concern and leaving it. In few weeks, I realised, it was a mistake not to voice and stand up for what I strongly believed in. So, I went for a second pitch of the concept, which was rejected again. The third time, I advocated with a group of influencers within the organisation with facts on why the rationale was inappropriate. This time, more people who believed in my approach were on board. I had a collective voice that could represent my proposal to the leadership. The third round was so influential that the regional office and the leadership applauded my intent and proposed shift and agreed that organisational capacity and risk assessment were necessary.
Can you describe how you or your organization is making a significant social impact?
I will not make tall claims of my contribution to making a significant social impact since the intensity of need is much beyond the strategic intent or the work we do. Here are few examples of my work. Through strategy formulation for not-for-profit organisations, I have played a role in making a difference in the lives of the community — through community-based sustainable development that responds to poverty alleviation and addressing housing and homelessness issues. This work has covered 18 countries in the Asia Pacific region.
I prepared a pandemic prioritisation matrix to help councils consider issues impacting the community while making decisions during the pandemic.
My book Stay Safe with Ruby and Reuben was written to create awareness among children on a range of issues such as good and bad touches, how to be safe in school, how to be safe while going and coming back from school, secret codes, and safe sleepovers. I worked with multiple not-for-profit organisations to make the book available free of cost to children in 26 schools in North East India. With the growing number of child sexual abuse across the world, creating awareness is one of the steps that would help children to respond in situations that compromise their safety.
I believe preparing strategic plans for local councils in Australia helps respond to social, economic, environmental, and civic leadership issues impacting the LGA. Addressing and responding to these issues through strategies is a strategic approach to social impact.
Can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted or helped by your cause?
In late 2024, I came across a school teacher who was a victim of abuse as a child. Today, she is an instructor who has read Stay Safe with Ruby and Reuben. She carries the book wherever she goes — the school where she is a teacher, the market and when invited to a friend’s place. She shared this in a conversation with her: “This book has changed my life. I speak about its contents to every child I come across. If I had this book as a child, my life could have been different.”
Are there three things the community/society/politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?
Mainstreaming child protection and awareness education as part of the school curriculum, workplaces and employees, establishing child protection/child crime watch in all schools and residential areas, and policy and legislation that punishes abusers and protects victims from the stigma of discrimination are few actions that can help deal with the problem better.
How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?
Leadership is the ability to influence, empower, uplift, change and bring a difference in the lives of people around us. Strategic leadership transforms people’s lives in different contexts through plans and initiatives. As an author, two of my books aim to bring lasting change in society and change thought processes to drive change.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.
- Be a true masterpiece of yourself: We compare ourselves to someone else for their talent, skills, looks, or other qualities they possess. In this comparison, we forget everything about ourselves. As a child, I have come across these comparisons. As I grew, I always had to acquire or be in someone else’s shoes to gain acceptance. I was constantly reminded of how I should act, behave, and live — a popular mass’s ideal state of being someone. Over time, I realised I did not want to be someone I was not. This was the most significant turning point in my life. I became more original and stopped being someone I was not. This carved a niche and uniqueness for my identity. While I fought my battle to help people understand what I am, they see me for what I am today.
- Be the change you want to see: From a 3-hour workout routine, when I stopped exercising, it led to excess weight gain. With a combination of PCOS, insulin resistance and thyroid antibodies, the food lover in me gained weight, which made the doctors categorise me as morbidly obese. I found it hard to lose weight. Though I realised the need to shed weight to be healthy, what was important was accepting the journey, the transition, and the change as it is. The weight loss journey is not an overnight process. It is time-consuming, and I need to work at my pace. I do not believe in a fad diet but in a sustainable, slow process. I wanted to embrace my change and be what I am as a starting point — and that is what exactly I did. I want people to accept other fellow humans as they are, and this change begins from within. I love myself and my body. Of course, I want to transform to be healthy, but that should be at my pace and my choice.
- You need not know everything: I moved to Australia in 2009 after I got married. When I came here, I had no job, family, or friends. I did not know anything about the country, career, or work. It was a different world to which I was alien. When you are thrown into the ocean, you learn how to swim over time, discover and learn things you did not know, establish yourself, and adapt to your environment. We are human, and we are made to adapt to our environment. You may not know everything in this new world, but time will unleash and help you understand what you didn’t know. In Australia, we had a common language, English, but when I lived in Thailand for two years, most local people around could only speak Thai. I have learned to adapt and try to communicate in different forms, even when language is a barrier.
- If you believe in something do something about it: We all have a role to play in improving the lives of children. Creating awareness among children is a step we can undertake to enable children to react in circumstances that compromise their safety. This is what my children’s book Stay Safe with Ruby and Reuben does. We are all blessed with different skills, and we can all do our part in our small ways to make a difference.
- Don’t hesitate to get out of your comfort zone to explore something new: When I transitioned from Journalism to Strategy, I did not have a theoretical background in strategy. I did not know if I could pull off this transition well. However, from someone with zero theoretical background in strategy, I grew and matured in strategy over time and pursued courses in strategy. My strategy work was recognised at the Asia Pacific level in a couple of years. We may not know everything, but that is okay. We can always learn and explore new things. Unless we try, we do not know what we are good at and can excel in. Today, I am a full-time strategist, part-time student, and an author. You can do it all only if you are willing to explore yourself.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I want to create a world free from abuse for every child. To begin with, I want every school in Asia and Africa to integrate awareness education as part of the school curriculum. Not every child can afford a copy of Stay Safe with Ruby and Reuben — I want to make it available free of cost to every child who cannot afford a copy.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Be a true masterpiece of yourself. You have only one life, which is meant to be yours and not anyone else’s. Unless you live as yourself, you will never be the masterpiece of your identity and self in your limited time on earth. You are worth it, and so is everything about you. For that reason, not for a second do we want to be someone we are not.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
I would like to have a private breakfast with Oprah Winfrey. I have read about her difficult and challenging childhood. Considering the children’s cause I support; I think Oprah will understand the need for awareness creation among children well.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Please visit my website www.snehasabu.com. You can contact me via my website or keep yourself updated via the website.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success in your great work!
Social Impact Heroes: Why & How Sneha Sabu Is Helping To Change Our World was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.