Map Your Ascent: Ashwini Balasubramanian on Change, Vulnerability, and Building Influence

Ashwini Balasubramanian, Vice President of R&D for Transportation and Energy Business at 3M and former Harley-Davidson leader, joins Jacqueline to discuss her debut book, Map Your Ascent, and the lived experiences that shaped it. The conversation centers on navigating change, especially through career pivots, motherhood, and moments of personal uncertainty.We discuss how to move from survival mode to thriving, why generosity matters more than transactional networking, and how vulnerability can become a leadership strength rather than a liability.Key topicsAshwini shares the car accident that became a major inflection point in her life, pushing her to stop waiting for the right moment and start thriving instead of merely surviving.In the book, the core framework is the three Ps: personality, perspective, and presence.Personality is about understanding your wiring, belief systems, belonging, and which habits or assumptions no longer serve you.Perspective is about using different lenses to navigate change, broaden mindset, and adapt to new environments and roles.Presence is about showing up with impact, not just visibility, and influencing people, products, and environments in a meaningful way.Ashwini explains what it means to be rooted in transition, using her early career dress choices as a metaphor for fitting in versus becoming herself.Motherhood became another major pivot point, especially when pregnancy made testing work on vehicle test tracks physically difficult and forced her to adjust how she worked.A manager’s insight reframed her thinking: a temporary situation is not the same as a limitation.She shares how her friend Artie showed up consistently during a difficult season involving family needs, gestational diabetes, a new job, and an early delivery.The conversation highlights the women’s employee resource group Ashwini helped start and how vulnerability helped create community across multiple locations.Ashwini explains that shame fades when you recognize that many life circumstances are not self-inflicted and are often outside your control.The book’s generosity section argues that true influence is built through consistency, character, and care for people, not transactional networking.She reframes reputation as a byproduct of how you show up over time, not something you can manufacture like a brand.For people facing job market instability, she advises not to blame yourself, ask for help, and lean on the tribe you have built.The episode closes with Ashwini reflecting that writing the book was an act of trust in herself and a way to help others harness change more confidently.ChaptersChapter 1: A turning point00:00 - Welcome, Ashwini Balasubramanian and the theme of mapping your ascent01:04 - The car accident that changed how Ashwini viewed survival and ambitionChapter 2: The three Ps07:24 - The three Ps framework: personality, perspective, and presence12:46 - Learning to stay rooted while moving through major transitionsChapter 3: Motherhood and identity16:04 - Motherhood, maternity clothing, and the shift from fitting in to being herself17:16 - Pregnancy on test tracks and redesigning work around physical reality20:27 - A manager reframes motherhood as a temporary situation, not a limitationChapter 4: Support and vulnerability21:54 - How Artie’s steady support became a model for real friendship and care25:08 - Starting a women’s resource group and turning vulnerability into actionChapter 5: Generosity and influence30:01 - Why generosity, not networking, is the foundation of lasting influence33:48 - Why change rarely asks for permission and how to face career disruptionChapter 6: Closing reflections39:18 - The win in this season: saying yes to writing a book and helping more peopleGet The Book: Map Your Ascent https://amzn.to/4zuJJZ1Visit Ashwini's website https://mapyourascent.com/Connect with Ashwini on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashwini-balasubramanian/