The Right Shift Fittest 40above40 Awards, in association with BW Businessworld and ITC, took centre stage at the Taj Santacruz, Mumbai, celebrating leaders who have turned health and fitness into a foundation for professional success. The evening, part of Right Shift’s Lead Fit Summit, honoured 40 inspiring figures from India Inc. who exemplify the balance of ambition, endurance, and mindful living, redefining what it means to lead from the front.
Also Read: Right Shift Fittest 40above40 Celebrates India’s Health-driven Business Leaders
These honourees represent the growing realisation that fitness and leadership excellence are inseparable. The event also marked the next phase of the initiative, which urges leaders to adopt a holistic approach to personal wellness and organisational performance.
Wellness As A Leadership Multiplier
The Right Shift Lead Fit Summit 2025 featured sessions demonstrating how wellness enhances decision-making, creativity, and productivity. In Fitness Shapes Better Leadership & Decision-Making, senior leaders discussed how physical stamina translates into sharper strategic thinking and calmer execution under pressure.
Leaders Urge Holistic Approach For Workplace Wellness highlighted how India Inc. is reimagining success by prioritising healthier work cultures.
Sessions such as Unshakable Within: Building Focus, Balance & Emotional Strength, Integrating Health, Balance, and Longevity and A Vision For Wellness: Why Leadership Begins With Health explored how sustained wellbeing fuels consistent performance in the boardroom.
Inspiration Beyond the Boardroom
Celebrity speakers Sudhanshu Pandey and Amit Sadh brought personal stories of strength and purpose. In ‘True Contentment Comes From Surrender Rather Than Pursuit’, Pandey shared the value of inner calm over external validation, while Sadh’s ‘We’re All Gladiators Fighting Our Own Battles’ inspired audiences to cultivate endurance as a mindset.
Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik, featured in Beyond The Mat: Sakshi Malik's Second Innings Of Inspiration, spoke about resilience, reinvention and the pursuit of purpose.
Women wellness leaders led a transformative discussion in Beyond Strength And Stereotypes: Women Redefining Fitness, Balance, And Self-Care, sharing how women executives are integrating balance and empathy into leadership.
The summit also featured reflections on mindful living and nutrition, from The Performance Plate: Redefining Nutrition For Energy & Clarity and Nutrition For Leaders: Eating Right For Energy & Endurance, to Small Steps, Big Gains: A Fitness Mantra and Balancing Screen, Stress, and Self Care.
Success’s New Code
Sessions such as The Endurance Code: Fitness, Focus & The Fire To Keep Going, The Core Of Success: Strength, Consistency & Reinvention, and Fit To Fight, Fit To Lead: The Lionheart Mindset established a clear link between physical discipline and professional excellence.
Dr Preeti Zhingiani and Dr Aditi Govitrikar, in The Art of Ageless Living, explored the importance of consistency, recovery, and emotional health in sustaining vitality.
"With Right Shift, ITC set out to prove that ambition doesn’t fade with age. With the Fittest 40above40, we brought together and celebrated leaders who showed that experience and endurance go hand in hand. The event also marked the brand’s first step toward a fitter India. We are grateful to all the inspiring leaders across genres, who came together to discuss and share insights on health, mindfulness and work-life balance, collectively demonstrating that true strength isn’t about age, it’s about consistency and making the right shifts at every stage in life”. said Ali Harris Shere, BU Chief Executive, Snacks Foods & Beverages, Foods Division, ITC Ltd.
“The Right Shift Lead Fit Summit and 40 over 40 India’s Fittest Leaders initiatives reflect a fundamental truth, that health is the ultimate leadership tool. A clear mind, disciplined body and balanced lifestyle translate into sharper business judgement, higher productivity, and a more positive culture. India Inc. is entering a new era where leadership will be measured not only by financial success but by how holistically leaders live and lead,” said BW Businessworld’s Chairman and Editor-in-Chief & Founder, exchange4media, Dr Annurag Batra.
“This movement is about redefining ambition. The leaders we celebrated show that the ‘right shift’ towards wellness is not a luxury but a necessity for sustained growth and happiness,” he added. |
