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 endeavour, we invited Shravan Shetty for an exclusive interview with us. He is an Entrepreneur, Leader, Coach, Educator, and Mentor. Shravan is the Co-Founder of The Bodhi Tree. Let’s learn more about his incredible journey, his background, and his advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Shravan:
We are aware of your contributions to the ecosystem; talk us through your background and your journey, please;
A bachelor’s in business management from Mangalore University led me to join the Founding Team at Greycaps India Pvt Ltd where I worked with the Founder closely. A role focused on content creation, program/student community engagement with exposure to corporate knowledge events fostered a deep understanding of Marketing as well as the school education system, stakeholders.
Post this a MBA at Ohio University (2005- 2006) beckoned leading me to be inspired to make a career move into the training and development sector. I worked with Accord Consultants Pvt Ltd, a pioneer in corporate training & development contributing across roles across sectors and working with a portfolio of 45 key clients.
This led me to loop to Greycaps India Pvt Ltd to head a unique portfolio as AGM, Human Capital Development. Two years in there helping the organisation acceleration helped me build a strong understanding of the intersection of education, employability and capability development of an individual through schools, colleges and corporates and the linkage pipelines for human capabilities development.
A personal circumstance of my fathers diagnosis of cancer launched me on to a freelance career in career coaching, corporate training, consulting and NGO capability development in 2010.”
The past decade and more has given me the opportunity to work with Fortune 500 companies, Top educational institutions such as Jain University, UpGrad, NSE, TISS in different capacities as well as social impact organizations such as the UNICEF, United Nations Development Program, Youth Co-Labs to mention a few.
In 2021 December, I Co-Founded a social sector organization, The Bodhi Tree with Deepti Natarajan, Social Sector professional and my long-term collaborator in this ecosystem. Currently, we are working in an innovative manner on different challenges faced by ecosystem stakeholders.
I have individual coaching practice and am constantly requested to speak at conferences, career development meetups and skill-building platforms as well. Have been featured on UNDP Sach Honge Sapne, Seekho, People Hum, as well as at conferences and panel discussions by leading educational institutions and corporates for their leadership summits.
How did you discover your passion in ‘Coaching’?
Academic setbacks and failures in Grade 11, Grade 12 led me to read self-help books and an intensive soul-searching exploration of trying to forge a life away from being a dentist
The failures led me to take up failing fast and taking risks at self-development in my undergraduate years leading me to participate in various competitions. This led me in my second year and final year to groom juniors for management fests.”
Through iterative planning intertwined with continuous shifts in execution for various groups, my people capability development skills were leveraged by my bosses in the organisations I worked at. Mr Giri Balasubramaniam, CEO of Greycaps and HBS Alumni and Mr Shivanand, Founder, Accord and XLRI Alumnus were key influences in shaping my journey and passion for coaching.
Over the last 20 years, I have taken up numerous people development projects in college and beyond where feedback on my ability to ” coach” has consistently been highlighted by stakeholders such as Dr Devaraj, My Principal at SDM College of Business Management and Mr Ronald Mendonca, my Mentor from Mangalore.
In due course of time, these factors and people helped me identify the areas of my core passion – coaching. It was essentially about arriving at my ikigai to explore what really resonated with my personality and life choices and what i am good at.”
How do you manage to keep going despite the challenges? What drives you?
My Personal Coaching Philosophy on Soch, Gyan, Karma, Tejas and Astitva drives me. Self-awareness of our thoughts ” Soch” leads me whenever challenges emerge to “gauge” if my “soch” and biases are my prison.
A change in my soch “Thinking” leads me to acquire the “Gyan” ( knowledge to make the comeback from the setback by (working)” Karma ” with my earlier experience as well as building thecourage to reskill, Upskill, Cross Skills to do what it takes to unblock/ unlock the “Tejas” within do myown ” inner work”
To reforge my “Astitva” as it gets impacted to always do what I do for myself and others with respect, dignity and empathy. Whether it’s my consulting work/coaching work / as a social entrepreneur. I believe in doing what I do with ” Dignity for self and others. I believe all people are capable of touching their heights of excellence provided they are ” Supported” and empowered.
It is important to understand people don’t care how much you know till they know you care.
Who do you believe has been the biggest source of motivation in your daily life?
My Younger self at the age of ” 17 years” when faced with academic failure and mockery and me in my“30s” as I battled well and supported my Dad as he fought cancer and the challenges he left for me when he passed away in 2014.
My wife, Nisha has constantly supported me through these phases of setbacks. Nisha accepted me and married me even when she knew the intricacies she chose to be with me despite the challenges that come with inter-faith marriages.”
Since the past few years, Boki our cat has graced our lives and showered us with unconditional love and is a constant reminder of self-care as well. My friends have also been very supportive.
What are some of the strategies that you believe have helped you grow as a person?
There are a few:
M – Measuring effort in small steps
A – Acknowledging my resourcefulness
S – Savings/Investments thinking consistently as a mindset
T – Taking the effort to convert Ability toskill by taking risks & venture into uncharted territories from running financial literacy sessions to working pro bono on specific projects
E – Empathy for others and Self
R – Reflect on my Failures as well as success in equal measure/Recalibrate my approach to career and Life.
What are the business mantras you have embraced as you sought to establish your success story?
P – Prepare
O – Opportunity identification
W – Win-Win relationship with stakeholders
E – Ensure value benefits (Tangible/intangible takeaways ) for all
R – Recognise the support provided for my success and acknowledge it 1 on 1 and in public
Please share with us, how do you motivate your clients?
– I help clients understand their journey by helping them get out of their own head.
– Build their map of the world and discuss and explore how the map is helping or not helping them.
– Tell them their own story and check for “biases” and “self-limiting beliefs”. Build a strong focus on the client helping them help themselves.
– Help them see where they see themselves as ” Giants” and ” Dwarves” ..
– Align it to the “real world ”
You are always positive and motivated, what keeps you going?
My motivation comes from reading books and connecting with people from different walks of life because I enjoy it. I am trying to set boundaries which take practice so that I don’t get bogged down by problems of stakeholders in my life and my career spheres I am trying to schedule a daily appointment for self-care, even if it’s just alone time.
I have started journaling in Freeform as well as using “The Daily Stoic” by Ryan Holiday. I also have begun to listen to podcasts as well apart from reading books and watching ted talks.
Last but not least when I see my work impacting and helping people be they clients or beneficiaries it gets me positive and motivated.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
> We are the keys to unlock solutions for stakeholders so that success comes to us
> Success is constancy to purpose
> Curiosity to understand myself and others and their related pain and what ” pain” they want to manage is key
> Leveraging the Resourcefulness of ourselves and our stakeholders is a great approach
> Implementation of effort and documentation of outcomes is a crucial catalyst
What advice would you give students and young professionals who want to have a successful career?
Look at your careers as a set of mini journeys that add up to a longer journey. Ask yourself ” Why” you are doing what you are doing. Maintain an inventory of your skills and document your effort and how it’s shaping up, how you are putting it to work. Build and create conventional, unconventional and convenient career pathways for yourself.
Reflection journal on what steps you took the previous year was convenient ( Low hanging), conventional ( going with the organisation flow ), Unconventional (what did you do that was different?), Make informed choices and build a professional life that empowers your lifestyle by consistently saving/ investing for life goals as well as for career-focused up-skilling, Reskill and cross-skilling. Keep seeking mentors in your career space or outside it.
Mentoring can unlock opportunities and self-awareness. Also as you grow older take up a mentoring role. Take up a social cause, read up on it, build your problem-solving skills to help someone beyond your circle of friends and family.
Last but not least, what about your journey makes it satisfying/exciting?
I received recognition as an outgoing student award in my undergraduate years. In my MBA, my leadership skills as the president of the class, 2006 was acknowledged by Ohio University. Accord gave me a “Make it happen award” in 2008 for my exemplary contribution.
Getting great feedback from those who have been inspired through my social media content, through my coaching sessions/programs amps up my energy to deliver more value to them. Seeing shifts in them and in their journey makes it satisfying because I see their success as my success and their breakthroughs as mine.
My work since 2011 in the social sector providing career guidance for disadvantaged young people across underprivileged communities is gratifying and I draw a lot of energy from my commitment to this cause.
Of late, our work in the social sector as ” The Bodhi Tree ” is very satisfying as we work with diverse stakeholders from the underprivileged to key collaborators.
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.
