Testimonials

I met Diya in 2018, and over the last five years, we have had the opportunity to collaborate on a client engagement and work together on a thought leadership piece on cultural transformation and innovation, for a leading global publication, the latter being an ongoing project.
Through our interactions, I have come to experience and deeply respect Diya’s professional talents. She is effectively able to diagnose complex human dynamics including their root causes, and to understand and apply their connections to strategic decisions and their implementation. Going beyond diagnosis and design, she also empathetically comes up with action plans that address stakeholder concerns, and she demonstrates exceptional communication and influence skills. She sees the big picture, and is also able to attend to tactical details that make the difference between successful and unsuccessful implementation.
This unique combination of talents makes Diya a strong business advisor and leadership coach. And it is complemented by her social skills and an ability to work collaboratively in a cross-cultural team. I look forward to continuing to work with Diya, and wish her the very best as she expands and scales her impact.
Through our interactions, I have come to experience and deeply respect Diya’s professional talents. She is effectively able to diagnose complex human dynamics including their root causes, and to understand and apply their connections to strategic decisions and their implementation. Going beyond diagnosis and design, she also empathetically comes up with action plans that address stakeholder concerns, and she demonstrates exceptional communication and influence skills. She sees the big picture, and is also able to attend to tactical details that make the difference between successful and unsuccessful implementation.
This unique combination of talents makes Diya a strong business advisor and leadership coach. And it is complemented by her social skills and an ability to work collaboratively in a cross-cultural team. I look forward to continuing to work with Diya, and wish her the very best as she expands and scales her impact.
Dr. Linda Hill
Faculty Chair, Leadership Initiative & Professor, Harvard Business School
Among Thinkers50 Top Ten Management Thinkers in the World; Co-Founder Paradox Strategies
Among Thinkers50 Top Ten Management Thinkers in the World; Co-Founder Paradox Strategies

Diya is a client focused competent HR professional. Diya and I worked together during a very nascent stage in the development of BD India as an Organization. Diya brought conceptual ability, super customer focus, flexibility, rigour and agility to the table. Over a period of time, Diya established an excellent professional rapport with several members of the Leadership Team and was also trusted by them as a knowledgeable and Capable Partner. Diya is also able to constructively challenge existing thought processes whilst continuously aligning her model to the client's reality - an act that many Consultants fail to transcend. I have no doubt that Diya will continue to add value to her Organization and her customers. She has my best wishes and I will continue to watch her scale new heights.
Joydeep Mutsuddi
Business Builder, Global CHRO, Advisor and investor, Equity and inclusion advocate, Sustainability practitioner, Senior Partner, CEO Works; erstwhile CHRO at Becton Dickinson

A year and a half ago, I met Diya virtually to collaborate on creating a unique learning journey for women. I would have scarcely imagined that this chance meeting would transform into an incredible partnership of minds and hearts, and we continue to work on multiple leadership development programs. Diya brings in passion, honesty and drive in everything she does. Watching her engage with a complex network of stakeholders is inspiring, as she navigates conversations with ease, co-opting leaders to believe in and be purposeful when they invest in their talent. She creates a safe space for participants as a facilitator bringing in a rare and difficult combination of challenge with compassion. She dreams big for herself & the team and it’s impossible to be unaffected by her enthusiasm to drive change at scale! Organisations who want deep expertise in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion would benefit a lot by engaging with her consulting practice.
Shabari Madappa
Partner at Anekataa & Vistas Consulting, Vice President XLRI for Women (XL4W)

I worked with Diya as a part of the Core Team for up! SURGE. As the Program Lead, Diya displayed excellent execution and collaboration skills. She combines high energy and drive with a meticulous eye for detail. Diya works very well to pull together a team for a common cause. I greatly admire her enthusiasm, perseverance and passion for diversity, inclusion and gender equality.
Nirupama Subramanian
Cofounder of GLOW and My Daughter is Precious, Founder and CEO of Powerfulife Solutions, PCC Coach, Author of 3 books

The program, up! SURGE is curated and delivered by a team from XLRI for Women (XL4W), led by Diya Kapur Misra. It is a brilliant platform for women to open their eyes to the possibilities for achieving their dreams! I have been a speaker at up! SURGE since its inception in 2021, and have really enjoyed the sessions. The passion that Diya demonstrates for the growth of women leaders is infectious and is going a long way to build the pipeline of women leaders for CXO roles in India. Diya is a seasoned facilitator, who brings tremendous energy and insight as the key anchor of the program, and creates a great connection with the participants by sharing her own stories and personal anecdotes.
Pankajam Sridevi
Managing Director, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (India)

In one word if I have to say she was my “mirror” who enabled me to understand who I am. She is a fantastic person to interact with and her ability to bring out the right perspectives and insights about individuals is her best competency. Diya, you will always be remembered for your great personality , grace and customer service.
All the best
N M Sarma
Founder & CEO, Phygital Insights India Pvt. Ltd; erstwhile Vice President at TCS

Diya and I worked closely together to build the leadership and talent consulting practice at Korn Ferry India. She is a master at quickly assessing and responding to complex situations, as well as an expert problem solver. She is also one of the most persistent people I know, working around every barrier until the goal is achieved. Add her warm heart and sparkling personality, and you get an unbeatable combination!
Kathy Uroda
Leadership Development Consultant and Executive Coach, Principal Consultant at Korn Ferry

Diya is an accomplished professional who brings a great balance of conceptual thinking, strategic ability and an intuitive sense of on ground reality. I reported to her for almost one year and found that she is a very trusting and empowering manager. She offers a great level of autonomy, whilst coaching her team members in critical areas, which make her a delight to work with.
Kamini Saberwal
Sr HRBP - E&Y, People & Culture Change Leader, Multi-Cultural Ambassador
Diya is a name that vividly brings to mind a charming disposition with a steely determination. Someone who is a rationalist but is comfortable riding the duality of reason and passion. Focused, goal oriented, to the exclusion of all else, perfectionist, does not ask for a quarter- but will often give the quarter. Sets standards for herself accordingly and does not entertain thoughts of 'if not then what'. It is always 'is'.
A natural leader she can be awe inspiring, for she has the skills and gall and an excellent combination of head and heart. If she's doing something then it will be the best she can, and she 'can' a lot. 'Dependable' and impeccable 'integrity' in every relationship she lives will be the best words to describe the way she lives.
I recall ever so often saying "if Diva's doing it, it will get done, and it will be the best anyone can do"
Manju Bhandari,
Senior Trainer and Consultant MBA and other Competitive TestPrep. and Admission Consulting; Erstwhile teacher at Modern School, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi

Diya joined the HR team at Cadbury as the OD Manager for the Sales and Marketing and she managed to create a positive impact in a short period of time. Diya's strengths in conceptual clarity especially in the area of LMS , Org Design and change Management coupled with great business understanding helped us deliver the much awaited learning academy to the client function.
Diya was a pleasure to work with. Always curious; she managed to understand the organization and its culture quickly and was promoted as the AVP - Commercial HR in less than a year.
Keith Mendez
Sr. Vice President Global People Services at Mondelēz International

I first met Diya when I was CEO of Roche Diabetes Care India, and exploring a partnership to build a culture of innovation in the company. We finally had the opportunity to work together after I joined Biocon Biologics. Diya has represented Dr Linda Hill and Paradox Strategies in India, and has been a wonderful partner for us since October 2019. She has played a key role in our transformation journey as an organisation and an executive leadership team.
Diya has really understood our organisation, the business and the vision of what we wanted to create. This, coupled with her innate ability to engage impactfully with leaders, has enabled her to add significant value to us. She grasps things intellectually, quickly, and then leverages her effective communication skills and high EQ, to facilitate powerful conversations with leaders, one-on-one and in groups. She designs solutions with a good balance of strategic perspective and attention to detail, and then executes them with high impact. Over the last fifteen months, she has executed the Collective Genius culture diagnostic, helped us analyse the results to draw deep insight, and then designed and facilitated multiple working sessions - to percolate the insights, create an impetus for change, and drive behavioural shifts.
I have found in Diya a true partner who has a strong point of view and the courage to assert it, but also the ability to ask the right questions, to listen and to respond with fresh ideas and insight.
Gaurav Laroia
Chief Strategy Officer - CareCentra, Strategic Advisory Board - Mobio Interactive; former Senior Vice President, Chief Strategy Office and Head of Business Development - Biocon Biologics

I had the opportunity to partner with Diya for a project related to building selection and interviewing capabilities for senior leaders. She brings to the table a great degree of business understanding and deep expertise in HR and Talent processes. I experienced her as an insightful advisor in the talent assessment and development space - who is able to understand the deeper context of client organization and is able to design high quality solutions. She also came across as a credible facilitator who is able to very effectively anchor sessions for senior business leaders. She has exceptional ability to bring together her conceptual expertise and powerful observation skills to conduct very effective leadership assessments and provide meaningful feedback. I would strongly recommend Diya for projects in the Talent and Leadership Development space.
Shailesh Deshpande
H R Consultant; formerly Vice President & Head - Talent & Leadership Development Godrej Group
Diya has been working with us since September 2023 on a leadership building journey for our top 35 leaders. We decided to work with her on this crucial need for our business seeing her responsiveness and high initiative, and have developed a fulfilling partnership over six months.
Diya met and asked the right questions of various stakeholders to understand our organisation and requirements well, and turned around a high quality design in a short period of time. She then worked effectively with me, my business HR and corporate HR teams to plan and take the design to execution. Her impressive facilitation of the two-day workshop with our leaders demonstrated a deep subject matter expertise, as well as maturity and experience as a leadership facilitator and coach. She had consistently high energy throughout the intervention, and was able to draw out our leaders to openly surface challenging issues. She effectively built a connect with the leaders while also holding them accountable and pushing back when required - firmly but nicely. Her professional yet warm demeanour, coupled with the different exercises and tools she used, helped my team to move many steps forward in the two days we spent together. We are now working with Diya to build on the progress made so far with our leadership team, and I look forward to our continued partnership.
Diya met and asked the right questions of various stakeholders to understand our organisation and requirements well, and turned around a high quality design in a short period of time. She then worked effectively with me, my business HR and corporate HR teams to plan and take the design to execution. Her impressive facilitation of the two-day workshop with our leaders demonstrated a deep subject matter expertise, as well as maturity and experience as a leadership facilitator and coach. She had consistently high energy throughout the intervention, and was able to draw out our leaders to openly surface challenging issues. She effectively built a connect with the leaders while also holding them accountable and pushing back when required - firmly but nicely. Her professional yet warm demeanour, coupled with the different exercises and tools she used, helped my team to move many steps forward in the two days we spent together. We are now working with Diya to build on the progress made so far with our leadership team, and I look forward to our continued partnership.
Managing Director
A global, best-in-class organization

Diya brings passion, purpose and expertise into leadership development. She makes the leadership conversations an absolute delight and action-oriented. She is an amazing listener and non-judgmental, besides being adroit in asking powerful questions. I had an opportunity to interact with her during a consulting engagement wherein my previous company engaged Korn/Ferry. Diya, single handedly helped us conceptualize, ideate and deliver the project to perfection. Diya brings exceptional facilitation skills in handling top-leaders conversations and demonstrates deep expertise in art and science of talent development. Besides being an exceptional leadership talent professional, she is a humble and authentic person who connects well with her audience. She has all the makings of a great executive coach. Her understanding of leadership competencies and behaviours is exemplary. Given a chance, I'd like to work with Diya again in whatever capacity it is feasible. She can not only lead a project independently but can also partner in a complimentary way to deliver a fantastic experience. I wish her all the best in her future pursuits.
Himanshu Saxena
Founder & CEO - Centre of Strategic Mindset, Design Thinker & Mindfulness Practitioner
#Global Top 100 MG Coaches in Strategy, Purpose & Culture
#Global Top 100 MG Coaches in Strategy, Purpose & Culture

Diya is a true thought leader in leadership transformation and DEI. It’s been a real pleasure partnering with her and experiencing the energy, organization and thoughtfulness she brings to everything she does. Diya works incredibly hard to maximize value for her clients and partners. Her leadership of the up! Surge Program is a masterclass in how to develop high quality programs with tangible and sustained impact.
Anuradha Rai
Founder, PeopleWorth Pte Ltd.; formerly Vice President at Credit Suisse

Diya has exceptional project and client management skills. She is extremely analytical and has a great eye for detail. Diya constantly challenges and stimulates the thinking of those around her which makes it extremely interesting and rewarding to work with her. I wish Diya the very best and look forward to working with her again in the future.
Sonali Kumar
APAC Head of Talent & Head of HR, Singapore at Zurich Insurance Company Ltd

I got to know Diya well during her stint as the Commercial Business Partner in Kraft-Cadbury India. To use a cliche, Diya 'adds value' (& substantially at that), to whatever she partners or works upon. She has a genuine interest in doing the right thing for the business & brings a very solution oriented attitude which is very unlike the typical HR person! While her conceptualization abilities are what are most talked about, what’s not so well known is that she does the execution equally well.
Naveen Keswani
Growth Leader - Infilect Tech. & Meteora Consulting - Driving growth for CPGs; former, AVP Customer Marketing at Kraft-Cadbury

I had an opportunity to meet Diya during my TALENTx7 Certification sessions with her. She is a highly engaging, smart, and interpersonally gifted professional. Diya was always prepared to review the contents for each session. Overall, I found her to be a skilled, experienced feedback coach.
Kenneth P. De Meuse
Ph. D., Founder and President at De Meuse Leadership Group

Diya led a major PMS project when I was heading the Human Resources Department at Rogers in Mauritius. She demonstrated the ability to adapt to the local culture whilst proposing very practical solutions to the organisation. Diya is above all very professional and is a creative person. Last but not least, she has a high degree of sociability and connects positively with people.
Eddy Jolicoeur,
HR Consultant, Trusted Advisor & Mentor; ex CHRO of the Rogers Group, Mauritius

Diya is an outstanding HR professional. She has an innovative perspective on leadership development. I was highly impressed with her approach in talent assessment & designing a customized leadership development programme for Gunebo. She uses a lot of creativity by blending classroom concepts with real life practical experience. Her inputs add value to the clients.
Sandeep Deshpande
CXO with proven track record of transformation, turn around & growth in Manufacturing, Projects & Services sectors

I reported to Diya as the HR Business Partner for the Southern Sales team for a period of 16 months, when she was the Commercial HR Head for Sales & Marketing at Cadbury’s.
Diya brings a great combination of left and right-brained thinking as a manager. Despite her busy schedule, she was able to keep a strong finger on the pulse of the organisation. She has a keen insight into people’s motivations. She mentored me from a distance and gave me space to experiment in my role. I completely treasure my feedback sessions with her because she always helped me uncover layers to myself. She is all straight-talk and has a no-nonsense approach, which I admire. She is able to push people and bring out the best in them, all the while bringing “heart” to the experience. I hope I get to work with Diya again in the future.
Aparna Sekhar
India HR 40under40 Leader, Sr Consultant - Talent & Performance - Cargill

I have worked with Diya in Kraft-Cadbury India in her roles as OD Manager and AVP - HR for the Commercial (Sales & Marketing) function. She brings a potent combination of analytical rigour, sharp communication as well as soft skills to the table. She successfully tailored HR imperatives to align with & give impetus to business imperatives. Her key areas of impact were talent strategy for commercial, incl. recruitment, performance management. development & key talent retention strategy for managers and the front-line. She consistently demonstrates meticulous planning and execution. She also feels genuinely for people, their development & careers. She has been a key contributor to our excellent business results.
Ashish Pisharodi
External Advisor to Bain & Company; former Managing Director - Philippines, Vice President at Mondelēz International

I have had the pleasure and privilege of knowing Diya since 1999, and working with her across different situations. Her client focus and commitment to excellence make her an asset to any team or organisation. She has tremendous energy and drive, as well as sound critical thinking and analytical capabilities. Leveraging her vast and varied experience, she creates and designs beautifully and also executes effectively. Diya is a deeply reflective and naturally gifted people's person, with strong business acumen and outstanding communication skills - this makes her a unique and highly impactful professional.
Harish Devarajan
Leadership Coach (MCC) & Consultant; former Head HR of Unilever

During the first time I worked with Diya we started to build a culture of continuous innovation in my organisation. Her strategic and holistic approach towards it was impressive. And she immersed herself in our organisation and teams as a trusted member, fostering debates and co-creating with leaders, the future.
Lately we are working together on a publication and Diya’s quality of thinking, her ability to generate ideas, as well as her writing skills and ability to express things in a clear and compelling way are amazing. She has a very collaborative working style, we build on each others’ ideas and complement each other as a team based on our strengths. Always a great pleasure to work with Diya.
Dr. Christiane Hamacher
Board Member, Advisor and Mentor; former CEO of Biocon Biologics; former Head Region Asia Pacific, Member of the Pharma Executive Team, Roche

I met Diya 22 years back as a Management trainee in Hindustan Lever. In her project stint at our factory she made immense contributions in designing and facilitating an intervention to bring the factory management on one page regarding productivity improvement plans including a detailed execution agenda. The quality of her thinking and execution of the intervention were at par with best in class and considering her age and experience then, the result was way beyond what we expected. Over the years, I saw Diya grow from strength to strength in her different roles within Industry and in Consulting. She pitched and sold an integrated leadership development architecture to us at Glenmark, and impressed us deeply with her quality of thought, willingness to invest in the design by understanding client readiness, and turnaround in short timelines. Most recently, Diya was lead thinker and facilitator in a DEI journey that we crafted for the top 80 leaders of Amazon India (in collaboration with Korn Ferry). A path-breaking initiative, this paved the way for future investments in DEI in the company, globally. Diya brought a great combination of head and heart, connecting as effectively with our senior business leaders as with diverse employees from across under-represented cohorts in the company.
Amazon India has also been partnering with Diya and the XL4W team on up! SURGE, a powerful program to nurture women leaders for C suite roles. Diya’s stewardship of this initiative, right from its conceptualisation to marketing and scaling it, has been inspiring.
Diya is a rare breed - a great colleague and a wonderful business partner to work with..
Swati Rustagi
CHRO PayTM; former Director HR at Amazon

My coaching journey with Diya has been a “Reset” for me in my career. It first helped me identify my blind spots - things that I had not paid enough attention to over the years. She then helped me map my aspirations to focus goals for our Coaching. As a Coach, she is non judgmental, insightful and patient. Through the process, Diya helped me discover my own strategies and action plan by asking the right questions. She was always there to listen, question assumptions, push me when needed - all with a lot of care and kindness. Diya’s coaching and guidance has made a huge positive impact on me as a professional
Chetna Choudhary
Senior Director, Supply Chain
A leading, global FMCG company
A leading, global FMCG company
Share Your Feedback
If you have worked with Diya Kapur Misra and would like to share your feedback or add a testimonial, please enter the details here.
We thank you in advance for taking the time to do this, and will get in touch with you once we receive your feedback here.
- connect@powerofi.co.in









