It is with great joy, deep respect and profound conviction that I nominate Sailaja Manacha for the Muriel James Living Principles Award. This award recognizes individuals who embody the values and principles of transactional analysis (TA) in their lives, work and community. In every dimension of her professional and personal presence, Sailaja exemplifies the spirit of this award.
Sailaja is the founder and principal of Physis, a pioneering learning and leadership practice dedicated to enabling individuals and organizations to flourish. Through Physis, she has built a vibrant community that integrates TA with coaching, leadership development and personal transformation. Her work spans corporate boardrooms, community spaces, therapy rooms and training groups, always anchored in the conviction that people have inherent worth and potential.
As a teacher, supervisor, coach and facilitator, Sailaja draws on TA’s foundational values: autonomy, awareness, intimacy and the striving for growth (physis). She lives these values not only in what she teaches but also in how she teaches — with respect, openness and a deep belief in the OK-ness of each person. Her clients and trainees often describe her presence as “enabling,” “grounding” and “transformational.”
Sailaja is the author of "Step Up: Women, Leadership and the Power of Your Voice," a widely acclaimed book that captures her commitment to expanding leadership conversations. In "Step Up," she draws on both TA theory and her lived practice to help women leaders break free from scripts that silence them, reclaim their voice and step into leadership with authenticity and strength.
This book is more than a manual for leadership. It is a lived testimony to TA’s principles applied in the world — offering women not just strategies, but also strokes, permissions and redecisions that empower. Through "Step Up," she has carried the essence of TA into spaces far beyond professional training, making it accessible and relevant to a global audience.
A significant focus of Sailaja’s work has been with women in leadership. She has consistently created spaces where women can explore the invisible injunctions and drivers that shape their professional and personal lives. By offering safe, challenging and affirming environments, she helps women undo limiting scripts, strengthen their Adult stance and step into leadership roles that are congruent with their values.
Through her individual coaching, group programs and organizational interventions, Sailaja has been instrumental in advancing gender equity — not by rhetoric, but by enabling real and sustainable personal transformation. Her work reflects the TA values of dignity, respect and mutual recognition.
Sailaja’s work is not limited to women alone. In collaboration with colleagues, including me, she has been instrumental in shaping The Men’s Circle — a pioneering space for men to explore identity, vulnerability, power and responsibility. This initiative is a testament to her inclusive vision: Real transformation requires conversations across gender, where men and women alike can engage with their social conditioning, scripts and choices.
The Men’s Circle reflects Muriel James’ vision of living TA principles in everyday relationships. It is a space where empathy, accountability and authentic dialogue are fostered — and Sailaja’s leadership in co-creating and facilitating this space has been remarkable.
Colleagues across India and internationally speak of Sailaja’s unwavering commitment to collaboration and community. She has mentored and supported countless practitioners, always with a spirit of generosity and conscious reciprocity. She embodies TA’s ethic of “I’m OK, You’re OK” — treating every interaction, whether with a client, trainee or peer, as an opportunity to affirm dignity and foster growth.
In supervision, she creates spaces where vulnerability is met with respect and where learning is co-created rather than imposed. In leadership roles within the TA community, she has consistently prioritized integrity, inclusivity and sustainability.
The Muriel James Living Principles Award celebrates those who live TA’s principles in the world. Sailaja’s life and work are a living expression of this. She embodies:
Sailaja Manacha’s journey is not merely a professional success story. It is a life lived in congruence with TA’s most cherished values. She has extended TA beyond the consulting room and the training hall into books, boardrooms, communities and cross-gender dialogues.
Her work touches lives in multiple geographies and contexts, always with the same grounding principle: that every person is worthy of respect, every relationship can be a source of growth and every community has the potential for transformation.
For her unwavering commitment to the principles of TA, her pioneering contributions to leadership and gender equity, her courage in creating inclusive spaces and her embodiment of TA values in every sphere of her life, I wholeheartedly and proudly nominate Sailaja Manacha for the Muriel James Living Principles Award.
She is, in every way, a living testimony to the power of TA in action.
