Editor's note: You can follow Vineet Nayar on twitter at @vineetnayar .

I’ve often wondered about the book ‘Nice girls don’t make the corner office’ by Dr Lois P Frankel. The author cautions women that their careers could get sabotaged by “girlish behaviour” learned in childhood, such as working non-stop without a break, worrying about offending others, backing down too easily, explaining too much when asked for information or “polling” friends and colleagues before making a decision…

Just as I get concerned when women are stereotyped in the workplace, I worry when women in turn typecast the work environment and how they must change to succeed in it.

And then I look around at my own organization HCL with a sigh of relief. Looking at all our successful women leaders completely oblivious of such hypotheses as they go about their daily routine, I can quote Bollywood director Raju Hirani’s popular line without hesitation and declare: “All is well.”

Today I would like to profile one such woman leader in our organization. A woman who loves what she does and successfully integrates this passion and her own character into her work. While the narrative...

I was delighted to catch up recently with one of my teachers, and found her as passionate about educating children today as she was three decades ago, when I was in school. We had a great conversation, but I must admit to a sense of disquiet as I heard her opinions about the next generation.

Gen Y's desire to learn is lower than that of preceding generations; it doesn't have big dreams or huge aspirations; and the pursuit of instant gratification has compromised its values, she felt. Blaming parents who encourage children to take shortcuts, my teacher argued that this would result in low self-motivation, a lack of integrity, and societal distrust over the next two decades.

This conversation got me thinking. Does Gen Y run the risk, like every other generation, of being undervalued? Does it face the same problems that plagued the Baby Boomers for decades? I tweeted my teacher's opinions about Gen Y and started asking people these questions.

I have a nagging doubt that young people are misunderstood simply because they're very different from my generation. Gen Y's members listen to iPods, text their friends, and chat online even as they chase deadlines....