As part of our ongoing quest to get you meaningful and powerful stories from India and around the world, we invited – Urmila Kandha for an exclusive interview with BrilliantRead Media. She is a Leader, Author, Coach and Consultant. Let’s read more about her inspiring journey and her advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Urmila:
We are aware of your contributions to the ecosystem; talk us through your background and your journey, please
I come from humble beginnings. Born and raised in the city of Nagpur in the state of Maharashtra, India, I graduated in Electronics and Power Engineering and spent close to 22 years of my life in this city before I moved outside my home to explore the world. As a child, I always loved writing a 5-liner essay of a cat or a whitepaper during Engineering.
I was fortunate that my parents and my grandma nurtured this love for writing to a point that I was able to publish 2 books on Amazon today and the 3rd one is underway publishing. At work, I collaborate with multiple teams and coach them to achieve their goals of digital transformation at scale leveraging Agile and DevOps.
Why did you choose to be an Author?
Writing to me always came as an innate passion. Something that I found extremely immersive, sublime and at times even cathartic. There are very few things that are soul cleansing and to me, this is just that.
Another key aspect of finishing a book, seeing it published and then having unknown readers connect with you and share their experiences around it is a great platform to meet like-minded passionate folks and learn from them. Any avenue to learn is always worth it.
Could you please share with our audience a little bit about your upcoming book, please?
This book is very different from my earlier 2 books namely ‘Essentials of Agile Transformation’ and ‘The DevOps Assessment Playbook’. My upcoming book is titled ‘When Things Change – Making Caregiving Sustainable in Crisis’
We all live in uncertain times and a crisis can hit us anytime. How do we face adversity and emerge stronger? What are a few personal rituals that we can acquire to bolster our efficacy and still keep us laser focussed on the situation that demands our complete attention and energy?
Caregiving during critical illness coupled with pandemic pressures is extremely intense and family caregivers experience an intense burnout from a plethora of dimensions.
What are some of those few things that they can do to take better care of themselves and ensure sustainable caregiving? No Gyan, no jargon but tried and tested experiences from my personal diary when my mother was hospitalized for 55 days and later passed away.
Everyone who goes through one such crisis has a story and how we emerge from this crucible depends on our self-talk and individuality. The intent of this book is to make a difference in the lives of millions of people who are going through personal traumas of varying intensities while taking extreme ownership with a human giver syndrome.
Even if I have made a personal difference to 1 reader through this book, I have achieved my goal.
What challenges/obstacles did you face in your journey so far?
I think life takes us through its peaks and troughs and writing at any point in time will be associated with all of these situations. The last many months were particularly challenging when I discovered my mother diagnosed with cancer and the emotional rollercoaster experienced thereafter.
I strongly believe that in any such soul-stirring ordeal, it is always good to reflect on the depth of life and not compromise your values of life. Having a deeply rooted purpose and acceptance of undesired outcomes with a neutral mindset helped me to stay grounded in crisis situations and that is what helped me personally in my journey so far.
How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
I love doing whatever I do, whether it is my professional responsibilities, or it is activities bridging leisure. To be honest, being carefree & not involved in any kind of work gives me more pressure and stress!
What are some of the strategies that you believe has helped you grow as a person?
There are a few:
1 – Practising Personal Agility
2 – Taking extreme ownership and responsibility for my actions while accepting my vulnerabilities
3 – Being dependable; when I commit, I do no matter what
4 – Being punctual
5 – Practising gratitude rituals
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
I will say it straight that there are many factors but if you really have to have the key elements then to me these are the ones:
a) Whatever you do, do wholeheartedly
b) Take responsibility for all your actions and never compare people and situations
c) If it’s your life, it’s your problem; so, own it and work on it
d) Accept your vulnerability; ask for help but own the outcomes
e) Every experience has a lesson; either we win, or we learn. Embrace it wholely
You are always positive and motivated, what keeps you going?
Being laser focussed even in crisis with a deep-rooted sense of purpose is what keeps me going. Mingling with music especially Zen meditation and listening to podcasts around leadership and differentiating behaviours have also been a great source of interest to me.
Watching documentaries on Netflix with my children is another favourite pastime. Reading uplifting material or watching TED talks is yet another capsule that boosts my spirits.
At work, I feel elated when I have been able to solve a problem that was demanding and helped me acquire great insight and learning in the journey of solving it. All of these coupled with great professional and personal relationships have helped me build psychological safety with my teams and helped me achieve my professional goals with ease.
I also read work by people I admire with uplifting material that reminds me of the power we all have within us.
Last but not least when I see that I have made a difference in any situation – personal or professional, it instils an immense amount of personal satisfaction that propels me to move forward.
What advice would you give students and young professionals who want to have a successful career?
As a novice, you are just like a seed that can be planted and grow well with the right amount of nurturing and psychological conditioning. It is the attitude that you bring to the table that differentiates you from others. Skills can always be acquired.
A successful career is earned after many nights of toil, relentless pursuit of your goals and being passionate and resilient in the most difficult times. It is effortless to fall back; it takes courage to stand up and swim against the currents and the journey matters.
There is so much to be shared, but this conversation limits how much I can communicate on this platform. Students and young professionals can reach out to me on LinkedIn with their specific queries.
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.
