The power of being multidimensional: A woman's strength lies in honoring all her identities

For too long, professional women have been told to compartmentalize their lives. Be the lawyer at work. Be the caregiver at home. Be the leader in the boardroom. But never all at once, and certainly never in ways that challenge conventional expectations of what a "serious professional" looks like. 

This pressure to fit into singular boxes doesn't just limit women - it limits what organizations can achieve. The best leaders I know don't succeed despite their multidimensional lives. They succeed because of them. 

My journey into law began traditionally. I trained in contract review and negotiations, learning the technical precision the legal field demands. But my real education came from my mentor, Milla Rahmani, who guided me in my career. She didn't just teach me how to redline documents or negotiate terms. She taught me how to approach clients, how to discern what truly matters in a negotiation, and how to provide legal counsel that serves the broader business context. 

What made my mentor exceptional wasn't just her legal expertise; it was her ability to see the whole picture. She understood that legal decisions don't exist in isolation. They affect people, relationships, business outcomes, and organizational culture. That holistic perspective is what I carry into my spiritual practice, and what I bring back into my legal work. 

This integration didn't happen overnight. For years, I kept these parts of myself separate - the serious lawyer during business hours, the spiritual practitioner in my personal life. But as I advanced in my career, I realized the artificial divide was limiting my effectiveness. The skills I was developing through Reiki - deep listening, energetic awareness, presence under pressure - were exactly what made me a better lawyer. Keeping them separate served no one. 

As a Reiki healer, I work with energy, intuition, and presence. These aren't soft skills divorced from professional competence; they're strategic assets. When I'm negotiating a high-stakes contract, my ability to read the room, sense underlying concerns, and remain grounded under pressure comes directly from this practice. When I'm providing legal counsel to leadership, my capacity to see beyond immediate legal risk to long-term relationship implications is informed by both disciplines. 

The myth that women must choose between being taken seriously and bringing their whole selves to work is just that - a myth. In reality, the most effective leaders are those who integrate multiple dimensions of themselves into their decision-making. Empathy, intuition, spiritual grounding, technical precision, strategic thinking, and relational awareness aren't competing qualities. They're complementary. 

I see this playing out across my career every day. As a member of Litera's Board of Directors in India, I bring both legal rigor and human-centered perspective to governance decisions. When I speak to students through mentorship programs about pursuing legal careers, I don't just talk about technical skills. I talk about building resilience, maintaining balance, and defining success on their own terms. 

The legal industry, like most professional fields, has historically valued logic and intellect while undervaluing emotional intelligence, spiritual practice, and holistic thinking. But the challenges organizations face today - rapid technological change, global complexity, ethical dilemmas around AI - require leaders who can integrate multiple ways of knowing and being. 

This International Women's Day, I'm advocating for something simple but radical: workplaces that allow women to bring their whole selves to work. Not as a favor, not as accommodation, but as strategic necessity. 

When organizations embrace multidimensional leadership, they gain access to deeper wisdom, broader perspective, and more sustainable decision-making. When women stop compartmentalizing and start integrating, we become not just competent professionals but transformational leaders. 

When I tell people I'm Deputy General Counsel at a global legal technology company, they nod with recognition. When I add that I'm also a Reiki healer, the response shifts - curiosity, sometimes skepticism. 

The assumption is clear: seriousness and spirituality cannot coexist. You must choose one identity and commit. I refuse. Because the power isn't in choosing one identity. The power is in refusing to choose at all. 

Komal Dave is Deputy General Counsel at Litera and a member of the company's Board of Directors in India.