With decades of experience in leadership training and personal development, Shireen Naqvi has worked with everyone from CEOs to underprivileged youth. As Founder of SoLF and Senior Consultant at Carnelian, she’s helped redefine leadership in Pakistan. In this conversation, Shireen reflects on her work, challenges, and the everyday actions that shape a nation.
Synergyzer: With a business background, what led you to choose impact and leadership development over a traditional career path?
Shireen Naqvi: Life is a business, and business is life. Both require sincere relationships, vision, plans and passion for duty. Knowing who you can be for yourself and others matters. Business and life demand service to humanity, to rise above your standards as they were yesterday. Whether you are a boss, spouse, sibling or parent, you must stretch and raise the bar continuously, challenge to, drive to, stumble, fall, and rise again.
A 9 to 6 job never felt enough; there is just too much to do. Projects to build, businesses to launch, places to see with family, schoolwork with the kids, cakes to bake. Entrepreneurship is liberating. The risk is high, but that’s the thrill!
Synergyzer: How can organisations prioritise emotional intelligence without compromising performance?
Shireen Naqvi: EI is now being recognised across organisations as the difference between mediocrity and star leadership. The EI philosophy is slowly gaining ground. There is curiosity, acceptance, and a growing understanding. The real challenge lies in moving from ‘head to hand’. As we say, “Safai nifs imaan hai,” yet look around. Beliefs only become values when lived. That is where we are with EI, still mostly talk. But we must not wait. The time to act is now.
Synergyzer: What inspired your shift from corporate consulting to founding Amwaj in 2017?
Shireen Naqvi: It was a natural transition. In corporate consulting, we promote progress and that same spirit drives everything I have founded: the School of Leadership, SoLF, Amwaj, and even the bakery, restaurant, and tailoring shop I set up for young people with hearing impairment. They all reflect one message – personal, social, and economic empowerment. I believe in living what I teach. As they say, “Walk your talk,” but I prefer, “Talk your walk.” Real conviction and credibility come from being hands-on, winning, failing, and getting back up. The rest are just words.
Synergyzer: What was SoLF’s mission at its 2012 relaunch, and how do you select initiatives like SDG bootcamps or SHAMS to align with it?
Shireen Naqvi: SoLF’s mission has always been to grow human capital. In 2012, I handed over leadership to a new generation; the same happened at SoL. Since then, both organisations have evolved with bold ideas and impactful projects. SoLF now works across Pakistan, cutting through gender, economic, and sector barriers, while SoL’s alumni have engaged 5.4 million youth through 180 organisations in over 70 locations. At first, many educators opposed us, saying we were ‘ruining’ the youth; now they want to collaborate. Investing in youth leadership is key to developing Pakistan.
Synergyzer: How important are grooming and soft skills for young professionals?
Shireen Naqvi: A CV gets you through the door, but it is the soft skills that help you stay and succeed. A few years ago, a senior academic set up an IT centre in Lahore and asked us to design a parallel soft skills programme, he knew technical know-how. But that alone was not enough. That belief is now widely shared: without emotional intelligence, even the best skills fall short.
Synergyzer: What is being missed in the way we are educating our children today?
Shireen Naqvi: Our education system has flaws, just like any other. It is the tarbiyat that has gone wrong. A child is prepared for a value-centric life of humanity before they are five years old. It is our parenting that is going haywire. Parents are not able to understand and manage the needs of their childran. Parenting needs to be institutionalised. Education is the mind; tarbiyat is the heart-and-soul.
Synergyzer: What makes a partnership like IlmPossible truly meaningful?
Shireen Naqvi: There is a difference between the words ‘customer’ and ‘partner’. A customer complains; a partner plays on the same team. We have always partnered with our project assignees and have not only enjoyed working together, but we have also mutually grown in the process. Even when we work with our vendors like hotels, suppliers, and printers, we have partnered with them and raised the bar for each other every time we conclude a project.
Synergyzer: With 25 million children out of school and rural barriers high, especially for girls, what keeps you going?
Shireen Naqvi: A Chinese proverb says, “If you want growth for the short-term, grow rice. For the medium-term, plant trees. For the long-term, develop people.” That is what we are doing, and it takes time. When I see my graduates working in communities, I know the change has begun. Reaching 25 million will not happen overnight, but the tipping point will come, and then growth will be exponential. I nearly gave up once, but my mentor Kamran Rizvi reminded me: “Do not tell God how big the storm is. Tell the storm how big your God is.” I have never looked back since.
Synergyzer: Has there ever been a moment that pulled you back from losing hope?
Shireen Naqvi: This occurred on the 6th day of our annual youth leadership development programme. After going through a rigorous and gruelling five days and nights of training, when the mega-huge hall in the conference hotel was vacated, I could not see the carpet. It was littered with garbage. I almost gave up. Having voiced this immediately, my 300 participants returned to the hall and cleaned it up in 11 seconds. I knew then what I was doing mattered and was impactful.
Synergyzer: What are your growth plans for SoLF in the next 3–5 years?
Shireen Naqvi: SoLF is led and driven by my very capable colleague and director, Mariyam Irfan. Her team is truly a dream team. Not only have they spread their work all over the country, but they have enormous projects up their sleeves for the future. I am a guide for them, standing by when needed. The rest, they do themselves. Once the vision of an organisation is brought to life, goals, projects, acts of love, and results begin to happen naturally.
Synergyzer: You have trained everyone from students to parliamentarians. How do you tailor your message?
Shireen Naqvi: What do we all want out of life? Health, respect, and happiness. No matter what the assignment or with whom, I carry with me and propagate the message of love and compassion. At that level, everyone unites. There are those who resist and create instances that are counterproductive to growth. Be persistent, hold their hand, give them the attention they seek, and they, too, start walking with you.
