At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring meaningful and powerful stories from India and around the world to empower and motivate our growing community. As part of this endeavor, we invited Indra Dhar for an exclusive interview with us. Indra is a Leader, Social Entrepreneur, Motivational Speaker, Life Coach, Trainer and NLP Facilitator. Let’s learn more about her incredible journey, background, and advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Indra;
Could you please talk us through your background and your journey?
It all started in 1991, during the time of Kashmir militancy. Thousands of families got unsettled but luckily my family was not nearly as affected. My brother was in Ireland at the time, and since we were financially well-off, he pushed me to help the women earn a livelihood. We wanted to empower them and therefore I started the knitwear business of IDI Exporters, while I was working as a physics professor.
After many years of entrepreneurship, I thought I needed to do something more to help people on a much larger scale. Not that I ever stopped being an entrepreneur, but that feeling of wanting to do more was there to stay. As an entrepreneur, I’d learned the hard way what exactly people required and what they would ignore for themselves. And hence, my journey as a life coach began.
How did you discover your passion as a ‘Coach’?
Like I said, I wanted to do something extra for the people in general. I wanted to do something, particularly for working women like me who were trying to balance between home and work. I started thinking about my true purpose in life, and I realized I wanted to help others with logical thinking and a practical approach.
So I explored and learned about Emotional Intelligence and NLP in-depth and wanted to coach others with everything that I’ve learned. I also felt the need to spread awareness around bullying and ragging because of the tragedy that struck my family. My nephew, Aman Kachroo, was killed by ragging in 2009. That changed my perspective a great deal and I figured that that was my calling.
How do you manage your different endeavors? What drives you?
I don’t really think about how many different pies I’ve got my hands on. I just keep my head down and keep working hard. Besides, I love multitasking. And working for so many different causes gives me some kind of strength to keep going every single day. It motivates me.
And to be honest, it does make me feel good when I see that I’m adding value to the lives of others – whether it’s a little bit or a lot.
Who do you believe has been the biggest source of motivation in your daily life?
Hmm, let me think… Not sure about daily life, but I can give you an overall idea. I’d say there are different sources of motivation for me. Obviously, the most important factor is my family. Every family has a culture and set of ideals that they are brought up under.
From my father’s side of the family, it was that we had to do something for others and help people around as much as we can. My brother gave me the push, and I was lucky to have my husband and his family have a similar outlook on life. My father-in-law contributed immensely to the cause when he told me that I could use their residential home to start the venture.
Also, when you work with your people, work doesn’t feel stressful. I look forward to going to my office everyday, and being with the women at IDI. I learn from them and hopefully, they learn from me too. It gives me satisfaction and motivation to go on and go ahead.
What are some of your strengths that you believe have helped you grow as a person?
Multiple strengths? Okay.
Quick decision-making power. I can think on my toes and it has always served me well.
Being empathetic. Since I want to help people, it helps to have an empathetic outlook towards life and not rely much on cynicism. The ability to accept others the way they are is something I respect.
Taking responsibility. I take responsibility for all my actions, and also for the people directly or indirectly associated with me. I treat everyone around me as family – even in my IDI office, or anyone that I’m working with.
Taking risks. I don’t mean the investment risks obviously. But more like I can take risks in a different way. I can open a school or an NGO at any given time even if I’m not completely sure that it’ll work. But it’s a risk I’m willing to take because at the end of the day, even if it helps five people, that’s good enough for me.
Having managerial abilities. I know how to delegate and manage others. There are people at IDI who have been working with me for the last 30 years. We don’t have an employer-employee relationship anymore, but when it comes to work, they know they can bank on me to lead the way.
In your opinion, what are the keys to success?
Some of the strengths I mentioned are my keys to success as well. I take responsibility for my actions, I have an empathetic attitude towards the people I work with. And over the years, I’ve realized that it helps when you’re action-oriented and you take calculated risks.
Also, the more we go beyond our comfort zones, the better we get in life. Besides, keeping an open mind and exploring new things has to be key to success. I’m also against bitching about others and it helps me remain calm and grateful.
What advice would you give to our readers?
I’ll tell you what I always tell everybody. There are 5 pillars of emotional intelligence. Practice them. Even if you’re not born with them, you can master them with enough practice.
We’re not here to give up without trying, we’re here to develop self-awareness and master emotional intelligence. If you’ve got empathy and self-awareness, you’ll master the art of social skills, self-regulation, and motivation as well. But these are things you need to practice.
And you need to have the ability to talk to yourself because it’s the beginning of making you a positive person. Teach your own mind how to stay positive. Change your way of thinking if you have to, but if you remain in a positive state of mind, you can excel in any role – be it a corporate leader or a homemaker. In a lot of ways, EQ is more important than IQ. If you’re empathetic and have developed that positive state of mind, you’ll be successful at anything you do in life.
Last but not least, what about your journey makes it satisfying/exciting?
When I see the growth of people I work with, that does feel satisfying. Or the people I’ve coached… when I see them become independent and be the best version of themselves, it feels good to be a part of their journey.
When I listen to them and they feel lighter, that’s the most satisfaction I get. I feel like I’ve truly accomplished something if I can be a good listener. And as far as excitement goes, my work with the NGOs – Aman Movement and Children Hope – does excite me. To see the kids grow and carve out a path for themselves feels exciting to be a part of.
In a nutshell, I’m more about the journey than the destination, and I try to impart that outlook to every person that I associate with.
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
