Choosing Leadership

with Sumit Gupta

A podcast for people who know deep inside that there is more.

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on Spotifyon Apple

Why Choosing Leadership?

This podcast is called “choosing leadership” – because that is what leadership is – a choice.

The choice to step into the unknown. The choice to see fear as a friend. The choice to take courageous action rather than waiting for readiness. The choice to see how powerful you are.

I choose leadership every time I record this podcast, as I have procrastinated on it for more than a year.

My invitation to you is the same – to “choose” leadership and to step up a leader in an area of life that matters to you – be it work, passion, health, impact in society, or something else.

I will be starting (and stopping) multiple series from time to time. All of them will focus on leadership – but they will look at it from multiple angles and perspectives.

This is what I do most naturally – to lovingly and gently provoke you to help you see your own light – to help you see what you are already capable of.

Show Format – Multiple Series

Leadership Journeys

In this series, I am celebrating leaders for the choices they have made, which are not always easy and comfortable, to get to where they are today. So that all of us can learn from their journey.

Can't Stay Silent

This series is about the courage to speak our truth and live authentically. For most of my life, I have kept my voice hidden beneath layers of fear and insecurity. In this series, I will express myself fully from the heart.

Humble Inquiries

In each episode of Humble Inquiries, we deliberately put ourselves in the uncomfortable space of not knowing the answer and humbly inquiring about these challenges – with the aim to provoke new thoughts, actions, and practices.

Recent Episodes

Leadership Journeys [89] – Glenn Puolos – “When I set my sights on things, I can get very focused on following up and sticking to the task”

This is the Leadership Journey series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

I believe we all have a lot to learn from each other’s stories – of where we started, where we are now, and our successes and struggles on the way. With this series of interviews, my attempt is to give leaders an opportunity to share their stories and for all of us to learn from their generous sharing. If you know a leader whom you would like to see celebrated on the show, please send me a message on LinkedIn with their name.

In the heartfelt conversation, Glenn shares the story of how he moved into sales early in his career, and how he has never looked back. He also revealed many other stories from his long career and the lessons he draws from them – which are not only useful to anybody in sales but any leader in my opinion. You will not want to miss this conversation.

You can find Glenn at the below links

In the interview, Glenn shares

  • My first job was as a civil servant. I worked for the federal government as a technical role in the weather department fixing electronic weather equipment.
  • I had a government company car. It was the crappiest car you could imagine and I think it was a Chevy Chevette.
  • My then boss always told me that I was in the wrong job. So I listened to him and I applied for a sales job and I ended up getting that job and leaving the government and going into the world of sales.
  • When I got the interview for the sales job they flew me to Montreal to visit and meet one of the owners. I was picked up in a B M W 750. And and I’m like, wow, I really need a job in Sales because I had just gone from a Chevy Chevette to a BMW 750, and that had a huge impact on me I was like “I gotta get me one of these things.”
  • The only reason I got the job was because I was the only one that followed up twice a day for 10 days. Their reasoning was that I would go to that length to keep the job. When I set my sights on things, I can get very focused on following up and sticking to the task  
  • I found it very difficult to learn the products at the beginning because I didn’t have any way to apply them. But once I got into the field, I started learning tips and tricks from the owners who became my mentors, and that’s where I started writing down the rules, which eventually became the book.
  • I resigned my job after I realized that my bosses were never gonna be my partners or see me as an equal.
  • After I retire, I’m planning on building the background to perhaps have a bit of a public speaking effort or just drift off into the sunset, play pickleball and relax. Book some speaking gigs and maybe do a bit of public speaking tours.
  • the biggest challenges were integrating our business into another bigger business that bought us and figuring out how to blend systems and people.
  • I learned was that the moment you realize you’re not getting the business leave, just end it and let other people fight for it because you are wasting time.
  • A rejection and a no is not a judgment on yourself. It’s a path towards finding the person that does need your product or solution at that time.

Leadership Journeys [88] – Chinmay Bhanagay – “Music helps me zone out, balance myself and get back the next day”

This is the Leadership Journey series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

I believe we all have a lot to learn from each other’s stories – of where we started, where we are now, and our successes and struggles on the way. With this series of interviews, my attempt is to give leaders an opportunity to share their stories and for all of us to learn from their generous sharing. If you know a leader whom you would like to see celebrated on the show, please send me a message on LinkedIn with their name.

In the interview, Chinmay shares how he wanted to stand out and that led him to entrepreneurship quite early in his life. He also shares the importance of learning as a leader, and how he learned and became good at sales. We also touched upon on his passion for music and travelling and how this helps him find balance and deal with the pressures that come with entrepreneurship. 

You can find Chinmay at the below links

In the interview, Chinmay shares

  • He comes from a background in enterprise sales and solutions but studied mechanical engineering.
  • I’ve been part of multiple roles in one company and has really given me a sense of how difficult the journey is but rewarding and how much fun it is to delve deep into different realms of the business and to understand different aspects of the business.
  • In college I started a company with my friend, selling t-shirts to colleges where we would customize, print and make t-shirts. I started enjoying that a lot more than actually starting for mechanical engineering because it I used to go around different colleges.
  • I’ve always enjoyed keeping my foot in different places and experiencing different sites of business or life in general as well.
  • I love being part of finance, part of the solution, part of enterprise sales and building relationships with clients and really understanding the problem statements and then consulting them or suggesting different solutions. 
  • In the near future we see ourselves being able to simplify the usage or the way people, consume services in a much more efficient and simpler way.
  • The challenge facing them is being able to operate lean, serving a broader range of customers and still meeting demands which lie outside the purview of the product solution you provide.
  • Personally, I handle challenges keeping myself occupied with certain hobbies. I play instruments I’m an active guitarist and I have a band I play with. This helps me zone out and also balance myself and get back on that the next day.  
  • I travel quite a bit and it’s all offbeat travel with my wife. We both love exploring places that people have not gone to, and we make video logs of it.

Leadership Journeys [87] – David Rodriguez – “We must not be slaves of what we are doing.”

This is the Leadership Journey series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

I believe we all have a lot to learn from each other’s stories – of where we started, where we are now, and our successes and struggles on the way. With this series of interviews, my attempt is to give leaders an opportunity to share their stories and for all of us to learn from their generous sharing. If you know a leader whom you would like to see celebrated on the show, please send me a message on LinkedIn with their name.

In the interview, David shares his story and the philosophy behind running a group of 8 companies and 130+ people. We spoke about the importance of being kind and transparent as a leader, and also the importance of delivering on what you have promised. He shares that business is not the only important thing and everything else that he spends time on a daily basis.

You can find David at the below links

In the interview, David shares

  • I wanted to develop the Spanish market and a UK company I was working for didn’t believe in the Spanish market. 
  • I quit my job and I mortgage of my house so I could start my company. Started on my own working from my parent house.
  • I hired my first employee who was my sister and she started doing call meetings, setting appointments etc.
  • I start getting customers and more customers and now we have like around one hundred forty employees, nine different divisions and different companies.
  • We are focused more on e-commerce and the entire digital business. 
  • I try to set up a really good relationship with people and they help me because always I have been helping them without expecting anything back
  • I don’t like to work with people that don’t work very well with teams especially those that don’t respect others
  • If my team does something wrong, we have to admit it to our customers and we pay for the mistake and vice versa. 
  •  It is important to be aligned with people that have, similar values as you have
  • You have to deliver what you promise and you should are not be slaves of what you are doing. 

Leadership Journeys [86] – Mohan Thas – “For a leader, it is important to give employees the freedom and the advice they need to get the work done.”

This is the Leadership Journey series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

I believe we all have a lot to learn from each other’s stories – of where we started, where we are now, and our successes and struggles on the way. With this series of interviews, my attempt is to give leaders an opportunity to share their stories and for all of us to learn from their generous sharing. If you know a leader whom you would like to see celebrated on the show, please send me a message on LinkedIn with their name.

In the interview, Mohan shared his family roots and connection to entrepreneurship. He shared many interesting stories from his experience as an entrepreneur – providing valuable lessons like how to hire well, how to delegate and scale, and the importance of trusting your intuition and following up. He also shares how he is a very simple man and finds valuable lessons from ancient 2000 year old classics like the Bhagavad Gita and the Thirukkural from India.

You can find Mohan at the below links

In the interview, Mohan shares

  • I’m the first this generation to be in business in my entire family from both my mom and dad’s side.
  • From a young age I used to see my grandfathers having lot of money, counting cash at end of the day, and this somehow made me get interested in business.
  • I resigned in early 2009 and then I started my company in April, 2009 along with my longtime friend.
  • I was earning very good, much it’s a very good lavish spending. I enjoying. . But the thing is you can’t see as a person, you cannot even more than 24 hours a day. So I believe on that since when I saw my grandparents. Okay, so they take even though, or they are in trading, if they want to take a leave or they want to take a risk, they can do easily
  • I want to retire by 45 years, so that’s what my aim is to get 30 years. start a business, earn lot of money. Retire at 45 and enjoy life. Yeah. 
  • I’m a very minimal person, a frugal person. I don’t. spend that was much of money. Yeah. Okay. So my needs are very small and and also I can take risk since I am started from the lower level.
  • So delegation is more important and we have to give freedom for them, and we have to give advice for them  get work done.
  • as an entrepreneur, if you are very much strong in sales and marketing, it’s very easy If you are a tech guy or a operational guy, if you don’t know sales and marketing then it’s very hard to sustain in the business.
  • you have to delegate to a person who knows very good in sales and market.  and you have to learn from them. , you should not just delegate. The sales and marketing is a different strategy.

Leadership Journeys [85] – Smiti Bhatt Deorah – “Be comfortable with the idea of being uncomfortable”

This is the Leadership Journey series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

I believe we all have a lot to learn from each other’s stories – of where we started, where we are now, and our successes and struggles on the way. With this series of interviews, my attempt is to give leaders an opportunity to share their stories and for all of us to learn from their generous sharing. If you know a leader whom you would like to see celebrated on the show, please send me a message on LinkedIn with their name.

In the interview, Smiti shares her journey as a woman leader and the kind of unique challenges it presents. She talks about how she was raised as second to none and how led to confidence and growth as a leader as she is on a mission to create happier workplaces. She gives practical nuggets of wisdom from her life and simple advice for leaders when it comes to dealing with the challenges that come with leading by example.

You can find Smiti at the below links

In the interview, Smiti shares

  • I think as a person your Priorities and your ambitions in life keep changing over time. As you grow, as you experience more of the world, you realize that, okay, this is the right fit for me.
  •  I do love technology, It’s not like I cannot code for the life of me, but I realized that maybe business is something which I’m more interested in. 
  • One of the major things which women, not just leaders or otherwise, lack today is self-worth which comes from the lack of support, which comes to men naturally from their peers. 
  • General stereotyping definitely affects the way one thinks and of course eventually has a major impact on ones growth.
  • Men are naturally accepted as leaders as compared to a woman who have to prove herself to then be accepted as a leader.
  • I’ve been lucky enough to have a great family support structure, not just from my parents, but also like from my in-laws and that has helped in my own self-confidence.
  • my mom always had that ideology that she’ll not make her girls feel any lesser than the boys and overprotect us.
  •  to create happier workplaces, to create digitized programs through which in a hybrid work setup, you can actually bring employees closer together to the organization, make them more productive, uh, reduce attrition, increase retention overall. 
  • So employee retention has become very big problem, not just in one country, but globally
  • biggest challenge from an Advantage Club’s perspective, which we see today is the is that there’s so much to cover and there is so little time to cover so much.

Leadership Journeys [84] – Markus Weubben – “You need to surround yourself with people who are better at things than you are.”

This is the Leadership Journey series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

I believe we all have a lot to learn from each other’s stories – of where we started, where we are now, and our successes and struggles on the way. With this series of interviews, my attempt is to give leaders an opportunity to share their stories and for all of us to learn from their generous sharing. If you know a leader whom you would like to see celebrated on the show, please send me a message on LinkedIn with their name.

In the interview, Markus shares his story of starting as a scientist and and his growth as a leader. He shares about some of the important but difficult lessons that he had learned along the way. He also explains how he has invested in his own leadership and now continues to grow the next level of leaders in his organisation as they scale .

You can find Markus at the below links

In the interview, Markus shares

  • how he founded his company in 2015 and their main focus was on increasing the customer lifetime values.
  • In his young years he always wanted to achieve more, he wanted to play a lot of basketball and be successful and just create things and create something out of his own hands. 
  • When you’re really in charge, you need to understand everything and be realistic and honest to yourself in order to see when things are not running right and when you need help.
  • as an entrepreneur, one of the key things you need to do is you need to surround yourself with the people who are better at things than you are not.
  • I think it’s important that we focus on the learning and development aspect because times and society is changing.
  • In my company, we have flexible working hours, but we don’t allow people to work at night because we believe we are humans and need to interact.
  • I’m very reliable, so when I say something, I’ll get it done. If something doesn’t go well, I try to always be there
  • I never demand anything from my employees that I’m not doing myself. I can’t demand anything from people that I’m not really showing.
  • So when there are setbacks, it’s really around what can we do to be better next time.
  • thing that worries me in terms of maybe the business is the way that we sometimes lack to accept the opportunities and innovation. We are focused on the risks and things that could go wrong if you were employing new technologies.

Leadership Journeys [83] – Gabriel Jarroson – “On Saturday & Sunday I’m gone. There is nothing you can do to reach me.”

This is the Leadership Journey series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

I believe we all have a lot to learn from each other’s stories – of where we started, where we are now, and our successes and struggles on the way. With this series of interviews, my attempt is to give leaders an opportunity to share their stories and for all of us to learn from their generous sharing. If you know a leader whom you would like to see celebrated on the show, please send me a message on LinkedIn with their name.

We spoke about his interesting story of starting multiple companies in the last 15 years. He shares how he has learned the value of meditation, slowing down, and keeping your balance over the years, and how he maintains boundaries between work and his personal life now. He also shared a dream which keeps coming back to him, and we explored trusting our intuition and what it could mean.

You can find Gabriel at the below links

In the interview, Gabriel shares

  •  I’ve been  an entrepreneur my whole life when I was, 13 started. Learning html, css, creating websites and actually trying to sell them to friends of my parents.
  • No one in my family was an entrepreneur, but, My family had an entrepreneurial spirit. I would say a project spirit, like if you wanna go after something, go do it.
  • I was really passionate about building a business and I really to make it, whatever that means. And for me, when I was really young, 18, 20 was have a business that grows, that exists that, is a real business, not just a hobby. And so the first thing that I did was I was starting a new business every week, every month. That was obviously a mistake I’ve come to realize.
  • It’s actually my first exit that I mentioned, and I realized that wine is a terrible business because white is heavy and so it’s very expensive to ship. Shipping is by weight.  and it’s also very fragile so it breaks, you have to send it again.
  • when you’re investing in a startup, you want to reduce. , everything that can go wrong. There’s this thing that says anything that can go wrong will. And so you wanna reduce all of those potential problems, shipping, but even, production, there’s, raw materials that you gotta have. There’s production in itself, the assembly line. So many little things that can go wrong.
  • If you wanna succeed, you are going to have at some point to work super hard for some periods of time. Maybe when you’re when you’ve made it, you can relax
  • I’ve learned that the importance of self-care, if you wanna work hard and be able to keep doing this in a long time, you gotta, take care of yourself, not do it not burning out and meditate
  • the only way to be sure to fail is to, forfeit and abandon. But if you keep going, at some point, something is gonna happen.
  •  learned the value of your, reputation, your kindness, being nice to others. That’s something that I, completely didn’t care about at the beginning. 
  • On the side, helping coaching entrepreneurs, helping them grow, develop their business and also I’m, helping the companies that I invest in grow.

Leadership Journeys [82] – Philippe Birker – “The real skill of a leader is to acknowledge their own flaws and mistakes.”

This is the Leadership Journey series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

I believe we all have a lot to learn from each other’s stories – of where we started, where we are now, and our successes and struggles on the way. With this series of interviews, my attempt is to give leaders an opportunity to share their stories and for all of us to learn from their generous sharing. If you know a leader whom you would like to see celebrated on the show, please send me a message on LinkedIn with their name.

In the conversation, Philippe shares his journey – which started in the German countryside, then led him to start a nightclub, and later became a social entrepreneur and co-founder of multiple organisations. We spoke about culture, what it means to genuinely take care of your people, and how to keep balance while doing all of that.

You can find Philippe at the below links

In the interview, Philippe shares

  • How as a child they didn’t have much money and started earning at the age of 14 years then my exchange semester in 2010 at a university in South Africa.
  • I’m very extroverted, I have a lot of energy but I don’t fit very well into existing structures
  • Got very deep into impact entrepreneurship and nightlife in my twenties. 
  • I had a nightclub in Amsterdam for three years and I worked in different impact entrepreneurship. 
  • I always wanted to go back to the countryside and have a bit more nature around me this got me back into agriculture.  and then into the amazing potential of regenerative agriculture to essentially reverse climate change
  • He and some of his friends bought an older abandoned village in Portugal and the idea was to basically rebuild the village as a community.
  • I was introduced to social entrepreneurship, and since then, I basically kind of shifted my personal mindset and goal from basically earning money while having fun, to actually having a positive impact.
  • I started a foundation with two of my best friends called the Love Foundation where we basically organize parties to fundraise money for water projects. 
  •  Climate change is the biggest threat that we have at the moment to our planet and to our own human well-being as well.
  • one of the core issues that we are having in our society is the fact that we are very disconnected from nature. Human beings have the tendency nowadays to see themselves outside of nature. 
  • I look at what are the things that I’m good at and that I enjoy. What are the things that I’m not good at, but I really want to get better at, and I enjoy them, and what are the things that I’m not good at, and I don’t enjoy. and one of the things that I’m good at, but I don’t enjoy them and I try to do not much of the end of the parts, which I’m not enjoying.

Leadership Journeys [81] – Leslie Kivit – “We need to restore trust in companies”

This is the Leadership Journey series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

I believe we all have a lot to learn from each other’s stories – of where we started, where we are now, and our successes and struggles on the way. With this series of interviews, my attempt is to give leaders an opportunity to share their stories and for all of us to learn from their generous sharing. If you know a leader whom you would like to see celebrated on the show, please send me a message on LinkedIn with their name.

In the interview, Leslie shares how travelling to China opened up his perspective and helped him become an entrepreneur. He also shares his vision of trust and transparency that he sees in the world of HR in organisations. We also explore how every leadership journey is also a personal journey, he shares how he has grown and evolved over the years.

You can find Leslie at the below links

In the interview, Leslie shares

  • That he has been working in the HR space for about 15 years where he mostly worked within startups and also into scale up.
  • He describes himself as a leader who has strong hands-on experience.
  • I studied and worked at the same time which was very beneficial for my own development.
  • I started to work for booking.com and I think this was personally the first company where I truly experienced, professionalism in a way and hyper-growth and the use of data to make really good decisions.
  • I had the support also of my parents and that was great. But I also realized this kind of pushed me to go out of my comfort zone so I decided to do an internship in Shanghai China because I felt that I needed to do something that was not very obvious.
  • I think we can Restore trust to become more transparent, to become more clear and to overcommunicate on the expected impact, right before we actually start a work. 
  • It’s becoming more and more important that employees would also like to have a stronger say to have more access in the organizations that they work for so they would like to influence a certain process.

Leadership Journeys [80] – Caleb Avery – “When I’m getting anxious and overwhelmed, it is because I am spending too much time on things that I have no ability to change.”

This is the Leadership Journey series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

I believe we all have a lot to learn from each other’s stories – of where we started, where we are now, and our successes and struggles on the way. With this series of interviews, my attempt is to give leaders an opportunity to share their stories and for all of us to learn from their generous sharing. If you know a leader whom you would like to see celebrated on the show, please send me a message on LinkedIn with their name.

In the conversation, Caleb shares how his entrepreneurial journey started at college going door to door when he was only 19 years of age. We spoke about how the role of a founder or leader changes as their company grows to more than 50 people. He shared the challenges that presents as you have to learn to let go and trust others, and how invests in his own learning in this process.

Caleb discusses the challenges he faced while going door to door and trying to sell their payment processing services to small business owners. He shares how this experience helped them to handle rejection and empathize with people. He also talks about the importance of leading by example and how a founder-led sales approach is crucial in the early stages of a business.

Caleb emphasizes the importance of pushing oneself out of the comfort zone and doing things that they may not be incredible at, to help the organization grow. Finally, we discuss the importance of feedback and being open to suggestions from investors, the board, and the team. Overall, the conversation is an inspiring and educational look into the journey of an entrepreneur and the challenges they face along the way.

You can find Caleb at the below links

In the interview, Caleb shares

  • my entrepreneurial journey at 19 by co-founding , uh, credit card processing business when I was in college. And started my career going door to door, selling payment processing services to small business owners over time, scaled up that business.
  • a buddy of mine at the time, uh, we were talking about this idea of credit card processing and ni neither of us really knew anything about credit card processing at that particular time.
  • I learned, in that experience was really, the, this idea of rejection and how to handle, the rejection, not take it personally, how to overcome those objections and really. Taught me a lot about, how to sell, how to empathize, with the people you know that you’re working with.
  •  it’s easy to fall into the trap of focusing on the things that, you’re good at you enjoy, and you could basically do on autopilot. Like that’s the kind of comfort zone, for an entrepreneur. And oftentimes like, that’s where you decide to go start a business.
  •  it’s easy to fall into the trap of focusing on the things that, you’re good at you enjoy, and you could basically do on autopilot. Like that’s the kind of comfort zone, for an entrepreneur. And oftentimes like, that’s where you decide to go start a business.
  • for the organization to grow and for you to evolve, into that c e o role, you have to push yourself out of that comfort zone and say, Hey, here’s something that I need to go do.
  • I’m an entrepreneur, at heart that’s what my business needs and you have to have leaders in the right roles within the organization that have that desire and intense focus.
  • leader myself, empower them to have the ability to institute, follow and maintain those processes without me, getting in the way.

Leadership Journeys [79] – Shay David- “In our life as entrepreneurs, we are always high on life.”

This is the Leadership Journey series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

I believe we all have a lot to learn from each other’s stories – of where we started, where we are now, and our successes and struggles on the way. With this series of interviews, my attempt is to give leaders an opportunity to share their stories and for all of us to learn from their generous sharing. If you know a leader whom you would like to see celebrated on the show, please send me a message on LinkedIn with their name.

In the interview, Shay reveals both the very practical data-driven as well as grounded spiritual part of himself, and how he balances both in his day-to-day. We spoke about his vision for the future, how he deals with often debated topics like AI and unemployment, and how entrepreneurship is different now than when he started his first company.

You can find Shay at the below links

In the interview, Shay shares

  • That he has been working in the HR space for about 15 years where he mostly worked within startups and also into scale up.
  • He describes himself as a leader who has strong hands-on experience.
  • I studied and worked at the same time which was very beneficial for my own development.
  • I started to work for booking.com and I think this was personally the first company where I truly experienced, professionalism in a way and hyper growth and the use of data to make really good decisions.
  • I had the support also of my parents and that was great. But I also realized this kind of pushed me to go out of my comfort zone so I decided to do an internship in Shanghai China because I felt that I needed to do something that was not very obvious.
  • I think we can Restore trust to become more transparent, to become more clear and to overcommunicate on the expected impact, right before we actually start a work. 
  • It’s becoming more and more important that employees would also like to have a stronger say to have more access in the organizations that they work for so they would like to influence a certain process.

Leadership Journeys [78] – Manish Godha – “There is no right or wrong way to be a leader/entrepreneur.”

This is the Leadership Journey series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

I believe we all have a lot to learn from each other’s stories – of where we started, where we are now, and our successes and struggles on the way. With this series of interviews, my attempt is to give leaders an opportunity to share their stories and for all of us to learn from their generous sharing. If you know a leader whom you would like to see celebrated on the show, please send me a message on LinkedIn with their name.

In the interview, Manish shared the secrets behind his calm and balanced answers to my questions. We also talk about why there is no one right or wrong way to be a leader and an entrepreneur and unpack some of the unconventional choices he has made. He also shared his vision for the future as he looks to take his organization to the next level of growth.

He also shares his thoughts on entrepreneurship and how to deal with setbacks. He emphasizes the importance of having a growth mindset and building expertise to provide the best value to clients. Additionally, he talks about his interests outside of work, including reading about fundamental sciences and building audio equipment. Overall, the conversation provides insight into entrepreneurship, renewable energy, and personal interests.

You can find Manish at the below links

In the interview, Manish shares

  • My father has a background in engineering, power production, and power generation, so I became interested in those fields and got an opportunity to work on solar power.
  • As a chartered accountant, you definitely gain exposure to how enterprises use technology, especially in their business processes and overall enterprise resource planning.
  • You have to choose a few things that are fixed and non-negotiable, and other things will then fall into place around those choices.
  • Most entrepreneurs, especially traditional ones of my generation or the one before, tend to have this tendency.
  • One of the challenges is how to continue building, growing, and refreshing your expertise in your business.
  • We have to have the right set of people who share a growth mindset and are willing to build expertise in themselves and provide the benefit of that expertise to others.
  • Things have a way of taking care of themselves, and we just have to ensure that we learn the right things and continue to persist
  • I love reading a lot of things of a fundamental nature, like aspects of physics and the laws of basic sciences. They have quite a calming effect.

Leadership Journeys [77] – Sooraj Jayaraman – “A leader is a normal person who has the ability to find Superman in his team.”

This is the Leadership Journey series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

I believe we all have a lot to learn from each other’s stories – of where we started, where we are now, and our successes and struggles on the way. With this series of interviews, my attempt is to give leaders an opportunity to share their stories and for all of us to learn from their generous sharing. If you know a leader whom you would like to see celebrated on the show, please send me a message on LinkedIn with their name.

In the interview, Sooraj shared his creative side as he also has a popular youtube channel where he makes web series and short films in the Malayalam Language. We also spoke about his transition from technology to sales, and how creativity is very important in sales as well as leadership.

You can find Sooraj at the below links

In the interview, Sooraj shares

  • when an opportunity comes to you, if you are hesitant to, uh, even attempt that you never know that’s what you are missing. 
  • I always enjoy solving problems instead of just doing for one company or one organization.
  • So we are, our YouTube channel is called we are a Sambhavan which stands for Awesome. So the motto is like, we are awesome. It’s not only us, but everybody in this world is, awesome. , that’s the kind of message you want to put across.
  • I used to write blogs a lot, so when blogs were popular long back when I was in Toronto so we. Same thing. I take this experience, uh, of my life and put that in a very,  comical way.
  • everything I have done in that video production is self-taught. YouTube is my group till now. So I go and uh, view stuff, you know, how to edit a video and how to shoot a video about lenses to use.
  • creativity and playfulness play in your journey as a leader, obviously like that in the communication conversations this skill, uh, really gives an advantage over, anything else. It becomes an icebreaker. 
  • creative person, which certainly creates curiosity on the other person.  in the business aspect, it helps in conversations. A beautiful conversation sometimes, and suddenly you hit with another person who says, I always wanted to be an actor.
  • every leader should be creative. If not, you want, because every, the problems you face on a day-to-day basis, you need creative solutions.
  • if you want your people to listen to you, you must first listen to your people then. You get into their life, you understand what they’re feeling, you know, their difficulties, their happiness.

Leadership Journeys [76] – Manoj Dhanotiya – “I have nothing to loose and whatever I have is enough”

This is the Leadership Journey series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

I believe we all have a lot to learn from each other’s stories – of where we started, where we are now, and our successes and struggles on the way. With this series of interviews, my attempt is to give leaders an opportunity to share their stories and for all of us to learn from their generous sharing. If you know a leader whom you would like to see celebrated on the show, please send me a message on LinkedIn with their name.

In the conversation, Manoj shares how growing up in a small town and then living in the United States shaped him as a person. He shares that his next level of success is not about him but something much larger than himself, and how he runs away from negativity and only chooses to focus on opportunities and growth. He shares that his confidence comes from the fact that he started from nothing and he has nothing to lose.

You can find Manoj at the below links

In the interview, Manoj shares

  • Pressure is simple. If you create hurdles which are unachievable, basically, then you have pressure. You know, if you know your limits and you try to build around it. I don’t think there is any pressure. 
  • Change is not pressure. Change is okay. Change will happen. Change has to happen.
  • For a first generation entrepreneur, there are no choices, you are molded by direction You. It is always just the direction you want to grow towards and Are you content with what you are.
  • When you attain certain level of maturity, it’s not like we are like very successful, but our mindsets have changed. Now we are content in terms of what we are doing, not in terms of what we are, but content, what we’re doing. 
  • It’s not about me anymore, it’s more about making a contribution, helping people lead better lives or do better in their business.
  • I will not deny that I am not working for money. Money comes automatically with it, it is just part of the process. The more known you are, the more your product is doing, better automated that comes in.
  • I’ve realized that you cannot do everything alone. You need to have team and finding the best person across the world, challenge is global then is something you have to figure it out if you can build a great.
  • You have to make it easy for others to work with you. That is my landing. Otherwise, we used especially in India when I came back here, use the different culture. 
  • If you make it easier for people to work with you, and if you create a opportunities to grow, that is the only way you can avoid electrication is the only way you can avoid bonds and people will work with you.
  • Being positive is something I totally believe in, it’s simple. If somebody’s not positive, he may have his own reasons. I am always positive no matter what.

Leadership Journeys [75] – Ben Demiri – “When people are self-actualized, they are confident and contribute more to business”

This is the Leadership Journey series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

I believe we all have a lot to learn from each other’s stories – of where we started, where we are now, and our successes and struggles on the way. With this series of interviews, my attempt is to give leaders an opportunity to share their stories and for all of us to learn from their generous sharing. If you know a leader whom you would like to see celebrated on the show, please send me a message on LinkedIn with their name.

In the heart-felt, Ben shares his vision for a better world, and included a call for all leaders to embrace their humanity. We talk about learning and integrating the feminine side of humanity, and how he sees exchange and making changes in small increments as the way to create tectonic shifts in the way leaders and companies operate today.

You can find Ben at the below links

In the interview, Ben shares

  • The most defining moment I would say is when I was asked to step into a C E O role, which was through a mentor of mine.
  • It starts with a gradual degree of holding responsibility and really, taking it closely when it comes to both the execution, and also the nurturing element, making sure that things really fall under your care.
  • Gradual ascend in leadership positions has really created a much necessary awareness that things are complex.
  • It is very easy to say I care about this or I care about people, but it’s very difficult to take care, especially when in the heat of everything. So you’re have to have balance. 
  • we need to recognize the reality that sometimes there’s simply very little choices depending on where you are and the environments, the microeconomics. So you’ve got to sometimes do what you’ve got to do, but I always think there is a degree in that decision making. 

Leadership Journeys [74] – Sunny Ray – “Money reminds me of asthma, when you don’t have it, it’s like the world is ending”

This is the Leadership Journey series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

I believe we all have a lot to learn from each other’s stories – of where we started, where we are now, and our successes and struggles on the way. With this series of interviews, my attempt is to give leaders an opportunity to share their stories and for all of us to learn from their generous sharing. If you know a leader whom you would like to see celebrated on the show, please send me a message on LinkedIn with their name.

In this open and honest conversation, he shares how living in Canada but having Indian roots has shaped his personality. We also discussed the role money play in our economic and psychological worlds, and how he sees Bitcoin as the future. Sunny also shared the difficult challenge they faced in 2018 and how they challenged and won against the Indian government in the Supreme Court of India.

You can find Sunny at the below links

In the interview, Sunny shares

  • Combination of curiosity and money coupled with my engineering degree gave me the ability to  read the white paper, not be and start tinkering and playing and learning and this led to my obsession with Bitcoin. 
  • India everyone loves cricket and in Canada everybody’s loves football. I didn’t want to around people who only talk about sports, so I started India’s first Bitcoin meetups which eventually grew to even larger ones.  
  • When growing up in Canada, I realized that kids took a lot of this for granted where else in Kolkata life was tough. It was a struggle to even have one meal a day. It really helps shape your view because you start to realize that the world is not like.
  • Our goal is really to let people know that, once they get into Bitcoin they can have flexibility and they have options  if they need to buy something from Amazon or acquire a gift card.
  • I highly believe in connecting with people and talking to them and not just sitting behind a computer and programming and hoping that, you’ll hit the mark.

Leadership Journeys [73] – Barnaby Dorfman – “It is really important to connect with people as people”

This is the Leadership Journey series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

I believe we all have a lot to learn from each other’s stories – of where we started, where we are now, and our successes and struggles on the way. With this series of interviews, my attempt is to give leaders an opportunity to share their stories and for all of us to learn from their generous sharing. If you know a leader whom you would like to see celebrated on the show, please send me a message on LinkedIn with their name.

In the interview, Barnaby shared his early fascination with technology, the challenges of leading a distributed and remote team, and what he has learned by leading across cultures and geographies. We also talk about the importance of quarterly planning, agile, and his plans to travel as he enjoys his sabbatical with his family.

You can find Barnaby at the below links

In the interview, Barnaby shares

  • How his father’s filmmaking helped him in early adoption of technology which led him to writing codes as a kid. 
  • That the role of a CTO, is really about working with people and helping them in innovation and development.
  • Great leaders are able to really observe and have empathy and understand what other people are going through, what motivates people to do and achieve things. 
  • That helping people with curiosity and also helping them get past their fears and all the reasons why you can’t. 
  • How it is important to connect with people as people so that you are able to communicate you goals to them.
  • It is important that you have structure, humans are creatures of habit and if you don’t create structure, people will create their own structure and those structures won’t be aligned. 
  • I left my last role and just decided that it was time for something new and take some time off. 

Leadership Journeys [72] – Gaurav Sabharwal – “You can’t do business in isolation, no matter how intelligent you think you are.”

This is the Leadership Journey series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

I believe we all have a lot to learn from each other’s stories – of where we started, where we are now, and our successes and struggles on the way. With this series of interviews, my attempt is to give leaders an opportunity to share their stories and for all of us to learn from their generous sharing. If you know a leader whom you would like to see celebrated on the show, please send me a message on LinkedIn with their name.

In the interview, Gaurav shared how entrepreneurship is in his roots, and that has always meant he is comfortable taking risks. We also spoke about the importance of OKRs, the role of intuition in his decision making, and the importance of being present and keeping the balance between work and family.

You can find Gaurav at the below links

In the interview, Gaurav shares

  • I decided to help my father expand his business in the US rather than spending ours doing jobs during school break. 
  • Growing up I always saw my family talking about business on dinner table and that had a huge impact on me, how I looked at life and at business. 
  • Our biggest challenge as a company would be trying to emerge as a mature player in this space that we are creating.
  • As an entrepreneur, sometimes you get so absorbed with the passion of your business that you tend to ignore or miss on things which are beautiful and which will not come back in your life again.

Leadership Journeys [71] – Shakun Sethi – “You need to be you because if you’re not being you, how will you make things work?”

This is the Leadership Journey series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

I believe we all have a lot to learn from each other’s stories – of where we started, where we are now, and our successes and struggles on the way. With this series of interviews, my attempt is to give leaders an opportunity to share their stories and for all of us to learn from their generous sharing. If you know a leader whom you would like to see celebrated on the show, please send me a message on LinkedIn with their name.

In this open and honest conversation, Shakun her personal story of living in the Netherlands and how that led her to start a company in an otherwise taboo industry. We also spoke about what gives her the confidence and grounding to lead her team, as well as the importance of slowing down and establishing clear boundaries.

You can find Shakun at the below links

In the interview, Shakun shares

  • One of the problem I had when I was starting my company was that it was difficult for me to go into an sex store and look around while asking questions.
  • I lost a lot of friends when I started my company because I come from a culture where talking about sex openly is a taboo
  • Demand is completely, nullified. Everybody has a demand, everybody wants it.
  • Due to the nature of my company, we started facing problems like banks would not allow us to have a bank account, PayPal and Stripe flagged us too.
  • Starting a company in an otherwise taboo industry led to the realization that this is not something bad or wrong, and then internally you feel okay, you feel more confident, you feel more open while otherwise.
  • After my 12 or 13 hours shift when I lie down in the bed, I have a smile on my face. I know that, we are onto something big and what we are building is like we are in a position to make it.

Leadership Journeys [70] – Jay Goldman – “The annual performance review is really a terrible practice that came out of a very different era.”

This is the Leadership Journey series on the Choosing Leadership Podcast.

I believe we all have a lot to learn from each other’s stories – of where we started, where we are now, and our successes and struggles on the way. With this series of interviews, my attempt is to give leaders an opportunity to share their stories and for all of us to learn from their generous sharing. If you know a leader whom you would like to see celebrated on the show, please send me a message on LinkedIn with their name.

In the interview, we talk about the importance of continuously learning and growing over time, and the challenges as you move from an IC to being a manager, and then a manager of managers. He shares the importance of EQ as well as IQ, the importance of self-awareness, and how he has learned to do performance management and feedback conversations very differently from most companies.

You can find Jay at the below links

In the interview, Jay shares

  • Different people have different motivations that drive them forward. For me, learning is one of those. So I always look for opportunities to be learning and growing,
  • Sometimes those challenges feel insurmountable in the moment, but when you look back, you can see. The amount of growth and development that’s happened in them
  • those inflexion points teach you a lot about how to think about your own time, how to think about the leverage effect of your time
  • The most humbling moments are the moments where I’ve. Let go of something and my team has done a much better job than I would’ve done with it.
  • The feedback that is gonna drive real performance is given as close to the incident where the feedback was generated as possible. So you can course correct as early as possible.
  • We are always smaller than we will be in the future, and so as a leader, that means that I will always have a larger and larger team to lead