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 Shrinivas C S for an exclusive interview with us. Shrinivas C S is an Entrepreneur, Leader, Educator, Consultant, Coach, Mentor, Trainer, Speaker, Influencer and Change Enabler. Let’s learn more about his incredible journey, his background, and his advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Shrinivas C S:
Could you please talk us through your background and your journey?
My professional journey so far has been with two major sectors namely the Pharma industry and the education industry. I also had a stint as a Solopreneur for a period of 8 years, during which I Specialized in working with high school children to enhance their Learning skills.
After my graduation from The Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Brindavan campus @ Bangalore, I took up some odd jobs for a couple of years. I joined as a Medical Representative in a Multinational Pharmaceutical company – Hindustan Ciba Geigy Ltd @ Gulbarga Headquarters in Karnataka state.
I used to utilize every available opportunity of Training and also, Marketing that was provided in the Quarterly sales meetings and New Product launches too.”
Thereafter, when Ciba merged with Sandoz in the year 1997, to form Novartis, I gained further exposure in a few significant product launches as well as Marketing strategies. I found my passion for Training in the year 2000 and quit the company to launch a small Pharma sales Personnel Training organization with 2 of my like-minded friends. After a very short tenure, I realized that it was not actually my cup of tea and it would take a lot of time and effort for me to make an impact in this area since most Pharma companies had their in-house training teams.
By some good fortune, I was pulled into the Education sector, when my first mentor introduced me to the huge opportunity of working with High school students. We took the less-trodden path of Enhancing the Quality of Learning in Students and helping them to become Confident Self Learners. From 2002 till 2006, We trained about 800 high school students while achieving great success in our endeavour.”
I found another Mentor in 2006, who introduced me to Teacher training and that is what I have continued to do till now, working with schools across Karnataka and the rest of India as well. I have also mentored several Teachers individually and in groups to become a Better version of themselves and achieve success in their Profession and career.
Currently, I am leading a closely-knit team of committed people in enlarging the scope of our work with students and teachers, apart from schools. We are laying out a platform to take our work online so we will be in a position to Impact lakhs of students and thousands of teachers, towards imbibing and integrating the best Teaching-Learning practices as required for real-time performance in the global scenario.
These opportunities helped me span a wide variety of domains like training, marketing, content creation, administration, and corrective actions in learning and behaviour.
How did you discover your passion?
Through iterative learning, practice, performance and continual progression intertwined with appropriate need based shifts in execution., both @schools level and individual levels with students, teachers and parents as well. Over the last 20 years, I have taken up numerous projects in my areas of interest.
Among those, I would simply give up on the activities I didn’t feel like pursuing in the long term. Also, I dropped out of several teams and projects, when I felt that they did not align well with my Mission and Goals.
In due course of time, these initiatives helped me identify the areas of my core passion – Training and coaching. It was essentially about arriving at a juncture to explore what really resonated with my personality and life choices.
How do you manage to keep going despite the challenges? What drives you?
Uncovering and challenging the myths, stereotypes and mundane elements of Teaching-Learning, mostly in schools and then in the ever-expanding number of coaching centres, is How I manage to keep going despite the challenges. My Ability to help children and teachers realize their true potential and then begin to work on their Strengths so that they are then quite capable of overcoming their few weaknesses and then growing beyond their own expectations of themselves is what truly drives me.
I believe in living the true meaning of EDUCATION, which means “To Bring out from within”. I have experienced that Every child is capable of learning in its own Space and at its own Pace.
It is important to understand children are shaped by their experiences and circumstances. It becomes the responsibility of parents @ home and teachers @ school to provide with Purposeful, Powerful and Productive experiences that can shape the Personality of children, while they choose to grow into the Responsible adults they always want to become.”
At EduVision TLS ( Teaching Learning Solutions) we envision a world in which all children have access to engaging and empowering learning environment that can help them improve their mental capability and emotional stability apart from intellectual ability, so they achieve harmony in life and profession. Becoming Confident self-learners first and then working enthusiastically towards building Responsible teams and communities, across the world.
Who do you believe has been the biggest source of motivation in your daily life?
My biggest source of motivation in my early life was the challenge of remaining on TOP of my Learning process, set by my grand father, as a precondition to his story tell-ing conversations with me. As I grew up, I had my high school English teacher who motivated me to be prepared for the lessons even before a teacher started the lesson, as a marker of Intelligence.
During college, it was the ambience and atmosphere of the campus, where we had students from across the country which motivated me to stay on top of performance ladder. Only later, I realized it was a bad idea as a motivating factor because it made me start doubting my own ability. Soon, I began to find from within me, that Real Motivation is always a Consequence of Enhanced capabilities.”
When you are truly capable, you are naturally motivated…has been my Teaching Mantra for students and teachers ever since. I have had several coaches, trainers and mentors in my life. If I have to point out ONE, it would be my Mentor and trainer Dr.C G Nagaraja of Mysore, who not only challenged me but also very ably and diligently facilitated my learning of skills, attitudes and behaviours that have Enabled me to do what I am doing now.
Later on, many Masters have added on to the Foundation that he helped me construct for myself, so I continue to enjoy the process of doing whatever I am doing till now. To be very specific, in the last three years, my greatest source of motivation in daily life has been my daughter Chinmayi, whom I lost in a car accident in January 2021.
She has inspired me to convert my MESS as a Parent to My MESSAGE to Parents, Teachers and Students across the country. Every day, I continue to draw lessons out of her life that enable me to stay on course of Helping children to become the best version of themselves,.. and then Achieve beyond their current best.
She is my biggest Strength, Anchor, Motivator & Enabler. (SAME) My Commitment to be a lifelong learner, so I am able to ASK from others to be lifelong learners is Definitely the one factor that continues to Motivate me in daily life.
What are some of the strategies that you believe have helped you grow as a person?
There are a few:
1) Being AWARE so I am ALERT
2) Always being Curious and Confident
3) Taking Ownership and Responsibility for my actions.
4) Courage to challenge the status quo and achieve the desired results and then,
willingly let go of the Authority for the achievements.
In your opinion/experience what are the keys to success?
LEADERSHIP – in my experience is the key to Success and fulfilment.
(a) L – Learning everything that you NEED to achieve everything that you WANT.
(b) E – Experiment with your learning till you get results.
(c) A – Applying the results in solving Real-time problems.
(d) D – Dedicating time and energy towards Enriching oneself continually.
(e) E – Educating people in every possible ways they are willing to learn.
(f) R – Replicating more people who are willing and capable of doing what you did.
With
(g) S – Sincerity
(h) H – Honesty
(i) I – Integrity
(j) P – Purpose, Power and be Productive
What advice would you give to our readers?
Look at Teaching, Training or Coaching not just as a job function, but as a collective domain comprising several responsibilities. You should be able to identify, learn and then apply the key skills and personality traits required to succeed in branding, influencing, impacting people with products and services, or any other area of making yourself VISIBLE, HEARD and KNOWN, so you can reach out to more people who truly need help.
Most people, even if eager and enthusiastic, get lost or confused within the first 4-6 years and find it hard to switch roles after that. Career decisions require a long view of what comes after and a good understanding of personal skills and ambitions. Make informed choices and build a professional life that empowers your lifestyle.”
There is so much to be shared, but this conversation limits how much I can communicate on this platform. Students, Teachers, School owners and young professionals regularly reach out to me on different platforms with their specific queries.
Last but not least, what about your journey makes it satisfying/exciting?
Getting great feedback from those who have been inspired through my very limited social media content as of now, through my coaching sessions/programs which amplifies my energy to deliver more value to them. Seeing Mental and Emotional shifts in my clients and in their journey makes it extremely satisfying because I see their success as the fulfilment of my Commitment.
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.
