Hello, everyone. I'm Anupama Toshniwal. I'm a global engineering leader in semiconductors, building high impact teams and delivering innovation. Today is about speaking up and how voice fuels innovation.Let me start with a question. How many of you have ever stayed silent and regretted it? Say type your sonu in the chat. It might have been in a meeting, in a one on one, or in a moment when you sense something was off, but said nothing. Have you ever walked away from a situation wishing you'd spoken up? I would type yes myself too, so you're not alone. That feeling doesn't just stay with us. It shapes outcomes, decisions, and culture. In my work leading complex technical teams, silence can mean missed innovation, missed fairness, and missed delivery. So this talk, it's not just about personal growth, it's about leadership that scales. The kind that unlocks high performance by making speaking up non negotiable.

And the courage I'm talking about isn't loud and flashy. It's the kind that says, do the right thing, even if it's uncomfortable. So let me take you back to where my journey with that kind of courage began. Imagine being the youngest person in a room full of elders. In my culture, speaking against or correcting or challenging an elder was unthinkable. But one day, my elderly aunt asked me to do just that, tell the eldest man in our family not to eat something that was not good for his health. Was I supposed to obey one elder by contradicting another? I was in a fix. Still, I walked up to him and said it. The room froze. Then something unexpected happened. Not anger, but admiration. They called it courage. But for me, it wasn't about being brave.

It was about doing what was right, even when it was uncomfortable. That moment shaped me. I don't like the version of myself that stays silent. I realized that courage is in the absence of fear. It's the choice to prioritize integrity over comfort. But here's the catch. As we grow up, especially in the workplace, that voice gets quieter. We start second guessing ourselves. We fear consequences, judgment, reputation, and power dynamics, and so we silence ourselves. So let me ask you, was that young girl wrong to speak up? That girl was me, and I carried that moment with me ever since. Because doing right doing what's right might not always be comfortable, but it's always worth it. And if we agree she did the right thing, then why are we so quick to silence ourselves? The truth is we don't lose our voice.

We just learn to hide it. But leadership starts when we reclaim it, when speaking up becomes not just a choice, but a responsibility. As the music plays, take a minute. Think of a time you spoke up or stayed silent. What did it teach you? Not speaking up is a choice and often a costly one. It can mean mispromotions, staying invisible, or letting buyers slide by and challenge. And the hardest part, these moments are invisible. They don't come with warning signs. They are disguised as silence, as subtle decisions. And now every one of us has a responsibility to speak into that silence. This was a story that I relate, which was a turning point, not just in how I lead, but in how I speak up for what matters.

I was in a performance review meeting with three other male managers. We were discussing a billion female engineer, someone who had come delivered a critical piece of work. But when it came to her waiting, it was lower. Why? She didn't she wasn't vocal in meetings. She worked independently. No one questioned it. The room just moved on. I sat there stunned. What just happened? I knew it wasn't right, but I had a choice. Stay silent or speak up. So I interrupted. Can we go back and review her contributions again? And once we did, the room shifted. Her rating was raised. Her manager later called to thank me, that if I hadn't pointed it out, it would have been a big mistake on his part, and he hadn't even realized it. And he said he will never repeat it again. That's the ripple effect.

And I want I wanna pause here to say kudos to my manager for creating the kind of environment where I feel safe to speak in the first place. This was just one performance review, one meeting, but these moments are everywhere. Hiring decisions, promotions, project leads, budget approvals, funding, board decisions. Unfairness all often happens, not because people are malicious, but because no one questions it. And that's where personal responsibility comes in. It's not someone else's job to call it out. It's ours. Think about your own career. Have you ever seen something unfair and stayed silent? What might have changed if you'd spoken up? Now let's talk about the ripple effect. We are all role models, whether we realize it or not. Every time you speak up, every time you challenge an arm or take a stand, someone is watching.

And your team, your peers, your family, your kids, and they are thinking, if she can do it, maybe I can too. That's the power of one voice. Your courage gives others a mission. Now speaking up doesn't always change the outcome. Sometimes the distance stays the same, but the culture shifts. Every time you speak, you send a signal. This is a place where courage is welcome. This is a place where truth is safe, and that changes everything. Now each domino on this slide represents more than a word. It represents a culture shift. When one person speaks up with courage, they create influence. That influence fosters psychological safety and safety fuels innovation. So speaking up isn't just about preventing harm, but it's about unlocking the next brilliant next brilliant idea. Innovation thrives in spaces where it's safe to disagree. That's why psychological safety isn't soft, but it's strategic. It's the foundation of better outcomes, better teams, better cultures, better decisions.

The companies with the most psychological safety are also the most innovative, and that's no accident. Every voice you empower adds a domino to the chain of progress, and the first domino is always courage. Voice changes the game, So be the one who tips the first domino. Now let's make this real. What's one word you associate with speaking up? Type it in the chat. Correct. Yes. Very powerful. Value. Very true. That's what we are talking about as well. Thank you. So this is what it is about. Confidence value courage. Thank you. So if there's one thing you take away from today, let it be this. You've heard the stories. You felt the pull of your own moments, the ones where your voice mattered, and you already know what's right, this is your moment.

Choose one just one situation this week, a meeting, a decision, a conversation, where you'd normally stay quiet and then speak and this then do it again. When speaking up becomes a habit, not a hesitation, you don't just lead. You give others permission to do the same. So now that we have seen how war shifts in a room, let me show you the recipe. It starts with integrity, knowing what's right. Then, personal responsibility, choosing to act. These are your internal levers. Together, they unlock the next layer, courage, the moment you speak. That act creates psychological safety, and your voice makes it safer for others to use theirs. And that's the tipping point. When people feel safe, they stop holding back, start showing up, contributing, and that's when the magic happens. Because teams that welcome diverse perspectives consistently outperform those that don't. Yes.

Speaking up corrects bias, but it also sparks the next big idea. Culture, creativity, and courage, they're not just connected, but they're how high performing cultures are built. So this is your roadmap. These are the steps that turn moments of courage into cultural transformation. This is a strategy I have used and seen work in the fast paced, high stakes semiconductor environments. Now, I want to show you what this actually looks like in practice. Not in theory, but in real high stakes environment, where silence could cost millions. The stay next story isn't just about engineering. It's about how integrity, responsibility, and voice came together in a moment that changed everything. I'm not sharing the story because I did something amazing, but because you will face the same moment.

And when it does, I want this voice I want this story ringing in your ears. I was trying to bring up a setup, and it just didn't work. We were very close to the deadline. Something was clearly wrong. I flagged it to my manager. He said just hack around it and keep going. So I did to keep things moving and keep him happy, but I couldn't let it go. Quietly, I kept testing behind the stee scenes, trying new experiments. Something in me knew this isn't just right. When nothing added up, I escalated it. Not to my manager, but to the chip lead whom I trusted. Someone who created space for hard truths. We found a critical bug. One that would have caused the chip dead on arrival. It also impacted two other chips built from the same code base. Because I spoke up, we caught it. We fixed the issue. Millions in revenue protected.

Credibility with top tier customers preserved. And that decision didn't come from following the chain of command. It came from choosing personal responsibility over comfort and from working in a culture that supported safety and enabled truth. It may have looked just like an engineering issue, a bug fix of back then. But in hindsight, it was a business critical moment, one that required someone to speak up, protect the outcome, and preserve trust. And when trust is protected, something bigger happens. You create space for innovation. Now innovation isn't always about new features. Sometimes, like in this case, it's about preventing failure before it happens. Because someone had the courage to ask the hard question, and the environment and the team had a culture that welcomed it.

This moment was not about job title or authority. It was about choosing courage over comfort. Because you don't need a title to lead, you just need the courage to go first. And when you do, others follow. You don't need a title to lead. You just need the courage to go first. Every movement started with one person who was willing to go first. So when that moment comes, and it will, your voice shakes and your heart pumps and your fear says stay quiet, I want you to speak anyway. You're not just speaking for yourself and honoring yourself. You're speaking for everyone who needs to hear it can be done, and the magical ripple effect follows. So before you leave this room, decide, What's one moment this week where you will speak up instead of saying silent? Write it down. Own it. Make it nonnegotiable.

Courageous leadership isn't about being fearless. It's about using your voice as a strategic instrument for change. Because silence may feel safe, but it preserves the status quo, and that doesn't move us forward. We are here to transform how leadership shows up, especially in industries like ours. That young girl from my story, she didn't realize it then, but speaking of that day, planted a seed that led to this moment right here with all of you. Today, she speaks not for approval, but to challenge systems, influence outcomes, and open doors for others, and so can you. So here's what I'll leave you with. Your voice is not just personal. It's powerful. A lever for culture, a signal of integrity, and a catalyst for trust. Use it. Normalize it. Lead with it. Be bold.

Speak anyway. Lead forward. And if this message resonated, I'd love to stay connected. You can find me on LinkedIn. Let's keep leading this conversation together. This is how we lead the next era of innovation by changing the conversation. Thank you.