CEO/CXO coach. I help people move from confusion to clarity. I can help you identify what is coming in the way of your or your team's success, work on it, and realize your true potential.

I coach CEOs and senior leaders through the moments that define them.

Not the strategy decks. Not the board presentations.
The moments when everything they've built stops working. And they don't know why.

The pattern I see:

A CEO calls me. Business is growing. Numbers look good.
But something feels off.

Key people are leaving. The leadership team isn't aligned.
Decisions that used to come easy now feel heavy.
They've had coaching before. Nothing changed.

So I ask one question: "What are you not seeing?"

Silence.

That's where the real work begins.

What I do:

→ 1:1 Executive Coaching for CEOs and founders navigating blind spots, loneliness at the top, and the transition from operator to leader

→ Team Coaching for leadership teams stuck in silos, cold wars, and performative alignment

→ Group Coaching for rising leaders developing executive presence, strategic thinking, and leading through change

→ Workshops on vision, mission, business strategy, storytelling, and leadership development

→ B-School Teaching as Visiting Professor at top management institutes in India

How I work:

I don't fix leaders. I hold up a mirror.

I help them see the systems they've accidentally created. The patterns that made them successful. And now hold them back.

Most leaders who come to me are smart, successful, and stuck.
They've achieved what they were supposed to achieve.
And they're asking: "Why does it feel hollow?"

That hollowness isn't a bug. It's a signal they've outgrown their container.

Who I've worked with:

I have worked with leaders from 100+ companies, including:

→ Large companies like Adobe, Cisco, Barclays, Wells Fargo, Salesforce.com, Disney, Reliance, TVS, Indian Oil

→ Growth-stage businesses like 91mobiles.com, Finzly, River Law, Intoglo

→ Institutions like ISB, IIT, Great Lakes Institute of Management

I am also a co-founder of way2top.com, where we help mid-career professionals find clarity on who they really are. And discover opportunities aligned with their identity.

Because knowing yourself without testing it in the real world is just overthinking.
And chasing opportunities without knowing yourself is building someone else's dream.

1000+ coaching sessions. 100+ CEOs and CXOs.
One belief: Your team's dysfunction is your leadership made visible.

If that lands, let's talk.

Ramkumar R

I turned a year older today.

And for the first time in a while, I feel like I'm just getting started.

Not because I'm bored with what I've built.
Because I just realized what's actually possible.

10 years ago, I walked away from my senior management position to become a CEO coach.

No playbook. No safety net. 
No proof anyone would hire me.

The first year was brutal.
By year three, the phone started ringing.

Since then, I've coached 100+ CEOs and CXOs.

This past year, I've been building with AI.

A small group of us, friends who genuinely care about this stuff, have been figuring it out together and teaching others as we go.

Watching my son apply what he picked up from my sessions with him was the best feeling.

Then he showed me something that seemed so unreal.

He planned his site, iterated through design phases, roasted his own work, fixed every flaw it caught, pushed to GitHub, and deployed to production.

All in a few hours.

I wasn't watching a tech tutorial play out.
I was watching my kid build something real.

I didn't think that was possible yet.

The last 10 years taught me that the right conversation can change a career.

The next 10 years will prove that the right tools can change what's possible.

Here's to the next chapter.

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Certification by IIT Madras and PeopleFirst Consultants. Guiding the development of others in a systematic way, at their ‘being’ (inner strengths and purpose) and ‘doing’ (mastering competences) levels. 

* One of four students in the batch of 343 to be awarded both the ISB Young Leaders Award and the ISB Torch Bearers Award

* Among the top 1% of alumni across batches to be featured in ISB Portraits, a book celebrating alumni achievements

Recipient of 3 Gold Medals, 2 Cash awards, 4 merit certificates and 4 scholarships

I coach high-stakes leaders (CEOs, CXOs) to shatter limiting behaviours and unlock peak leadership performance. Follow me to find out how.

Hi! I am Ramkumar. I help CEOs, CXOs, and senior management teams identify what prevents them from achieving their goals and break free to unlock peak leadership performance. 

My clients include 
* large corporations like Adobe, Cisco, L&T, Thyssenkrupp, Bosch, Barclays, Wells Fargo, Vodafone, HP, Alstom, Disney, Danfoss, Reliance Industries Ltd., Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Bharat Petroleum, Salesforce.com, Sundaram Finance Group, Times Internet, TCS, and TVS
* small and medium businesses like 91mobiles.com, Anabond, Amrutanjan, Finzly, Rajaram Legal, Intoglo, SunEdison,
* prestigious educational institutions like Indian School of Business (ISB), Great Lakes Institute of Management and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).
* individuals who want to work on their aspirations or overcome challenges in living their purpose. 

I am a certified Executive Coach from the Coaching Foundation of India (CFI), certified in Coaching with Depth (all three levels) from IIT Madras, certified in Advanced Team Coaching from the Coaching Foundation of India (CFI), a certified Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) Master Practitioner, an MBA from the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, and a gold medalist in engineering from Delhi College of Engineering. 

Music is another big part of my life. As an award-winning mridangam artist, I’ve performed in over 1000 concerts across the world. Teaching music is something I truly enjoy. I work with students from ages 3 to 80+, meeting them where they are and helping them grow at their own pace. My approach blends empathy and coaching principles with traditional music teaching, helping students not just in music but in their personal growth too.

If you’re a leader looking to grow or someone passionate about learning music, I’d love to connect. Let’s explore how we can learn and grow together.

Executive coach to 100+ CEOs/CXOs | Turning leadership struggles into success stories

"What would you do if your salary dropped to zero?"

I asked a CEO this during a coaching session.

He paused.

"Probably teach leadership."

"How long have you been thinking about it?"

"Five years."

He went quiet.

"I'm earning well to NOT do what I actually want to do."

His salary wasn't compensation.

It was a bribe to keep showing up to someone else's dream.

The highest-paid people I coach are often the most stuck.

Not because they lack options.

Because the cost of change looks higher when you're earning well.

But they never calculate the other cost.

The cost of five more years of "this is fine."

The cost of watching someone with half your talent build what you secretly wanted.

The cost of retiring and realizing your best years went to a company that replaced you in 3 weeks.

That cost doesn't show up on a payslip.

But you still pay it.

He didn't quit the next day.

He got clear on what he was built for and what he'd regret not doing.

Four months later, he's building a leadership academy.

Earns less.

Sleeps better.

Shows up different.

His words: "I didn't change careers. I stopped lying to myself."

Your salary isn't your worth.

Sometimes it's the exact price of your silence.

If you want to find out what you're built for:

→ way2top.com

---

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86% of Indian professionals are planning to change jobs.

Even those who got a 20% hike.
Even those who got promoted.

The foundit Appraisal Trends Report 2025 found this.

And the reason isn't money.
74% got an increment.
They're still looking.

A hike doesn't fix the wrong career.
A promotion doesn't fix the wrong fit.
More money in the wrong direction is still wrong.

The ones who leave aren't running from bad jobs.
They're running from themselves.

They don't know who they are.
So they can't recognize what fits.

The ones who stay?
They know their identity.
They know what energizes them.
They know what drains them.

So when they look at their role, they can answer:
Does this align with who I am?

The 86% can't answer that.

They're switching jobs hoping the next one will tell them.
It won't.

You can't find the right opportunity until you know who you are.

Go to https://lnkd.in/gJhdXah6

You'll do pre-work, then we'll spend 90 minutes together where you'll walk away with complete clarity on who you are and exactly which opportunities align with your identity.

I asked a burned-out executive what was draining her.

"Everything," she said.

I pushed her to be specific.

It wasn't the workload.
It wasn't the long hours.
It wasn't even the pressure.

It was this:

Smiling in a meeting 10 minutes after her boss humiliated her in the hallway, in front of her team.

Then acting normal.

Then doing it again the next day.

That gap between what you feel and what you're allowed to show?

That's where burnout lives.

Not in your packed calendar.

In the performance of being okay when you're not.

Most leaders think burnout is about doing too much.

It's not.

It's about pretending too much.

Pretending you're fine when you're furious.
Pretending you're confident when you're confused.
Pretending you're aligned when you're screaming inside.

The exhaustion isn't from the work.

It's from the acting.

And the worst part?

You can't fix burnout by clearing your schedule if you're still performing a role that isn't real.

Discover who you are when you stop performing.

Start here →

https://lnkd.in/gZTqxjpJ

---

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Women get promoted less.
Not because they're less capable.
Because they're sponsored less.

There's a difference between a mentor and a sponsor.

A mentor says: "Here's some advice."
A sponsor says: "I'm putting your name forward for that role."

A mentor gives you their time.
A sponsor gives you their reputation.

I've coached leaders across Fortune 500 organisations.
I see it in tech, finance, consulting.
The industry changes.
The pattern doesn't.

A senior leader takes a younger man under his wing.
Brings him to meetings.
Mentions his name to the board.
Fights for his promotion.

The women on the team get mentorship groups and training programmes.

It happens because people sponsor those who look like them.
And at the top, most rooms still look the same.

Mentorship groups don't open doors the way a sponsor does.

Promotion isn't a formula.
It's a decision made in rooms where your name comes up.

And your name only comes up if someone puts it there.

If you're a woman: stop looking for more mentors.
Start focused on finding a sponsor.

If you're a senior leader: don't just mentor the women on your team.
Sponsor them.
Say their names.
Open the doors.

This Women's Day, I hope you find the person who puts your name in the room.

P.S.  And I hope you know your direction well enough to show them exactly where to point. That clarity is what way2top.com helps you build.

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She found out from her own team member.

"Rajesh already told me to change the approach."

Rajesh was her boss.
He had called her direct report. Directly.
And never told her.

This is the skip-level meddler.

A leader who goes around their direct report to the layer below.

Why does it happen?

• Impatience. They want it done now.
• Control. They love being in the details.
• Distrust. They won't say it out loud.

The fallout is immediate.

• They lose credibility with their own team.
• The team learns who the real boss is.
• They find out about their own project last.

If this is happening to you:

It's not your competence.
It's your boss's inability to let go.
Next time it happens, name it directly: "I need to be in that loop."
If they respect you, they'll adjust.
If they don't, it's time to think about your next move.

If you're the one doing it:

You're not being helpful.
You're eroding their authority.
Stop. 
Next time, send it to them first. 
Let them decide how to handle it.

You hired them to lead.
Let them lead.

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I used to think CEOs were different from me.

Then I coached 100+ of them.

The brutal truth:

Before coaching Fortune 500 leaders:

• They've made it. They're fulfilled.
• They must have clarity I'm missing
• They don't question themselves like I do

After 1500+ hours in the room with them:

• They're wrestling with the same doubts
• They're just better at performing confidence
• Many feel more lost at the top than they did climbing

I stopped seeing titles and started seeing humans.

The CEO comparing himself to his board chair.
The entrepreneur wishing for the CEO's structure.
The board chair envious of the entrepreneur's freedom.

Everyone's looking up at someone else.

The founder wants the VP's team.
The VP wants the CEO's authority.
The CEO wants the founder's vision.

The mirror moment:

When you realize the person you're measuring against is doing the exact same thing.

We're all figuring it out. Some just have corner offices while they do.

That realization freed me from chasing someone else's definition of "made it."

Who are you still measuring yourself against?

---
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Every company I coach has two meetings.

The one on the calendar.

And the real one.

The first one looks great.

Everyone nods.
Everyone agrees.
Decision gets "made."

Then the meeting ends.

Two people by the coffee machine.
A Slack thread.
A "quick call" 20 minutes later.

By morning the decision has quietly changed.

If your team does this, it's not a them problem.

It's a you problem.

People don't feel safe disagreeing in the room.

That's literally it.

The fix isn't more meetings.

It's making the first one the real one.

People speak up when they know it's safe to disagree.

Here's what that looks like:

A VP once said "I think we're solving the wrong problem" mid-meeting.
The leader paused, said "tell me more."
The whole room shifted.

Here's how to signal that:

-> Ask "what are we not saying?" before anything is finalised
-> If nobody pushes back, people don't feel safe. That's your signal to actively invite it.
-> Stay visible after the meeting ends. That's when the real feedback comes.

Right there is your culture audit.

The best teams I work with don't agree on everything.

They fight it out in the room.

And walk out aligned.

Does your team have a "meeting after the meeting"? Be honest.

P.S. One CEO started ending meetings with "if you disagree, say it now." 
First time, silence. Third time, someone spoke up. 
That's when everything changed. 
He kept showing up the same way. That's what made it safe.

______

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Your body will tell you if you're in the right career.

Close your eyes for 60 seconds.

Picture yourself five years from now.

Same role. Same company. Same routine.

How does that feel?

If the answer is "fine," you're good.

If something clenched, keep reading.

A man I coached did this in our first session.

He went silent for almost a full minute.

"I felt sick," he said.

"Not anxious. Physically sick."

He was 39. Good title. Good salary. 

But the thought of five more years made his body revolt.

The assessment showed why.

His Artistic interest was in the 95th percentile.

He craved creative work. Experimentation. Building new things.

His current role? 90% process management and compliance.

He hadn't created anything new in four years.

"My body knew before I did," he said.

He moved into a product design role.

Different industry.

The dread disappeared.

Your body knows.

Give it 20 minutes to speak.

Free assessment: https://lnkd.in/gBd-CRsY

Free personality and career reports. 
Detailed career map for INR 2,999

---

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9 out of 10 people regret rushing their career choice.

Not making the wrong choice.

Rushing it.

I've coached over 100+ CEOs and founders.
And I see the same pattern every time.

They picked a stream because their parents said so.
A company because it had a good brand.
A role because it was the only offer.

Every decision made in a hurry.
Every decision without data.

15 years later, they're sitting in a role that doesn't fit.
Wondering how they got here.

You didn't make a bad choice.
You made a fast one.

The people who feel aligned in their careers didn't get lucky.
They just slowed down long enough to see clearly.

They looked at who they actually are.
Their personality. Their values. Their interests.

Like realizing you're energized by building systems, not managing people.
Or that you value autonomy over prestige.
Small truths that change everything.

And then made a choice based on evidence.

Not speed.

This is the process we've built at way2top.com.

A few hours of pre-work you can do at your own pace.
Detailed reports about who you are and what career opportunities fit you.
A 90-minute call to identify the opportunities that actually align.

No rushing.
Just clarity.

Because the cost of speed isn't just regret.
It's 15 years in the wrong seat.

If you're ready to slow down and get clarity on who you are and where you actually fit, start here:

https://lnkd.in/ghpbK8V2

Your friend just quit their job.

Posted about their new chapter.

You liked it.
Commented "So happy for you!"

Then you closed the app.

And sat with a feeling you couldn't name.

Not jealousy.
You're genuinely happy for them.

But something else.

Like watching someone walk through a door you've been standing outside of for years.

They figured it out.
Why can't you?

Your friend didn't have more courage than you.
They had more clarity.

They knew what they were walking toward.
You're still figuring that out.

Without clarity, courage just looks like recklessness.

The assessment gives you clarity.
What actually drives you.
What you care about.
What fits your wiring.
What kind of move makes sense for YOUR wiring.

Not your friend's.
Yours.

Maybe your door isn't quitting.
Maybe it's a different role.
A side project.
A skill you need first.

20 minutes to find out what door you should be walking through.

Get your clarity -> https://lnkd.in/gteGAS5w

---

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Someone will ask you today.

"How was your weekend?"

You'll say "Good." Or "Too short."

And you'll move on.

But the real answer?

"I spent most of it dreading today."

I've coached hundreds of people who spend their weekends in survival mode.
Saturday: recovering from the week. 
Sunday: dreading the next one.

The weekend isn't a break. 
It's a holding pattern.

One client told me: 
"I wasn't living on weekends. 
I was just not-working. 
There's a difference."

She was right.

We spent time mapping what energized her versus what drained her.

She loved working with people and creating things. Her job? Spreadsheets. Compliance. Reporting.

Five days a week doing work that had nothing to do with how she was wired.

No wonder weekends felt like survival.

She moved into learning and development. 
Training design. Working with people.

Three months later: 
"My weekends are weekends now. 
Not just the space between two Mondays."

If "how was your weekend?" makes you flinch this morning, that's your answer.

You don't need more resilience. 
You need different work.

20 minutes. Free personality and career insights. 
Full career map for ₹2,999.

https://lnkd.in/gd_V7kkV

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Every idea I couldn't build before, I've built this year.
Nothing changed except one tool.

I coach CEOs for a living.
I am not a developer.

Six months ago, I couldn't tell you
the difference between a function and a variable.

That matters. Keep that in mind.

Because this year, I built a deep psychological assessment tool.
One that draws on frameworks I've spent
10 years developing in coaching rooms.
It now reaches people I'll never meet in person.

Bharani and I built core parts of way2top.com with it.
A platform helping mid-career professionals
figure out where their life is actually going
and what careers fit them best.

I built an action items tracker for my son and me.
We tried many tools in the market,
but couldn't find any we were happy with.
We would start and soon give up. 
We use the one I built every day.

I built a learning portal for him.
Not a generic app.
Something that aligns with how his mind works.

The tool that made all of this possible?
Claude Code.

Now here's what I really want to say.

I know what it feels like to have an idea
that lives in your head for years.

You can see it clearly.
You just can't build it.

Everyone you approach
either doesn't understand it,
or quotes a price you can't justify,
or hands back something that isn't quite it.

That feeling doesn't go away.
It just gets heavier.

Claude Code wasn't easy.
There were evenings I nearly gave up.
Code that broke in ways I couldn't explain.
Concepts I had to sit with for days.

The mirror moment:
Somewhere in all that frustration,
I stopped asking, "Can someone fix this?"
and started asking, "Why is this breaking?"

That's not a coding question.
That's a thinking question.
First principles thinking.

I didn't expect a tool to push me there.
But it did.

The brutal truth:
The idea in your head isn't stuck
because you lack technical skill.
It's stuck because you handed it over
before you understood it well enough yourself.

That's the real gap.
Not the code. The clarity.

💬 What's the one thing you've been waiting to build?
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Imagine it's February 2027.

One year from now.

Same role.
Same company.
Same commute.

How does that feel?

If something just tightened in your chest, that's not anxiety.

That's clarity.

Your body knows what your mind keeps negotiating with.

Another year of this has a cost.
Not financial.
Something you can't get back.

Another year of Sunday evenings with that weight.
Another year coming home with nothing left.
Another year wondering if this is it.

You've been wondering for three years now.
Maybe four.

We built an assessment that takes 20 minutes.

It shows you who you are.
What drives you.
What kind of work actually fits.

20 minutes now, or another year wondering?

Start here: https://lnkd.in/gzBvJVVt 

---

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There's a version of you that shows up on weekends.

More curious. More energetic. More present.

And then Monday comes.
And that version disappears.

This isn't a work-life balance problem.

It's an alignment problem.

The weekend version of you?
That's closer to who you actually are.

The weekday version?
That's who you've been trained to be.

The gap between those two people?
That holds your career answer.

I coached a woman who spent weekends
mentoring college students.

Weekdays, she ran procurement.

She dismissed the mentoring as a hobby.
But it was a signal.
Pointing to what she should do full-time.

Today she runs learning and development
at a mid-size firm.

Same seniority. Same salary bracket.
Completely different person on Monday morning.

Your weekends are trying to tell you something.

Not sure what they're saying?
We help you decode it.

We have a 90-minute session.
It connects who you are
to the right market opportunities.

Start here: https://lnkd.in/gfQXS6G8

What would you have done if you were Anthropic?

Pentagon demanded tweaks to AI safeguards or lose everything.

$200M contract gone.
Access to classified networks gone.
Labeled a supply chain risk.

Their crime?

Two contract lines.
No mass surveillance of Americans.
No autonomous weapons.

Anthropic CEO publicly: "We cannot in good conscience accede to their request."

Hours later, OpenAI signed the Pentagon deal.

Altman said they share the same values as Anthropic.

The market didn't buy it.

ChatGPT uninstalls surged 295% overnight.
One-star reviews spiked 775%.
Claude hit #1 US App Store.

Altman admitted the deal looked "opportunistic and sloppy."

The mirror moment:

Anthropic negotiated for months.
When final terms crossed their safeguard lines, they walked.

Not impulsive courage.
Knowing where your line is.

The brutal truth:

After 1000+ sessions coaching leaders, I see the opposite everywhere.

Smart people saying yes to things that conflict with who they claim to be.
Calling it pragmatism.
Telling themselves they'll protect values from inside.

Then wondering why their team doesn't trust them.
Why culture feels hollow.

The market has a long memory.

Customers watch what you do when it costs something.

The mirror moment isn't when opportunity knocks.

It's whether you know yourself well enough to answer correctly.

P.S. If you're struggling to answer that question, if you don't know where your line is, that's the work. At way2top.com, we help leaders get clarity on who they are and which opportunities actually fit. Pre-work, followed by a 90-minute session where it clicks.

https://lnkd.in/gr3kjyAC

When you tell friends you're thinking about a career change, you get advice.

Lots of it.

"You should start a business. You've always been entrepreneurial."

"Just take a break and figure it out."

They mean well. 

But they're advising based on their experience, their personality, their risk tolerance.

Not yours.

I coached someone whose friends kept pushing him toward a startup. He had the ideas. He had the energy when he talked about it.

But his data told a different story.

Openness at the 28th percentile. Conformity as a top value. 
He didn't want to build in chaos. 
He wanted to build within systems that already worked.

If he'd followed their advice? 
He would've burned out in six months, resenting every unpredictable day.

The right move for him wasn't a startup. 
It was a leadership role at a company where he could redesign broken processes from the inside.

His friends would never have suggested that. Because it wasn't exciting.

But it was right.

He told me later he finally felt like he could breathe. 
Like the path made sense for the first time in years.

Your friends can't see your data. But you can.

Free assessment. 20 minutes.

https://lnkd.in/gJ6gp6rD

There's a military doctrine called "shock and awe."

Overwhelming force. Massive bombardment. 
Total destruction of the enemy's will to fight.

Sometimes it works. 
When the opponent's forces are fighting for something they don't believe in, they collapse quickly.

Sometimes it doesn't. 
When the other side is fighting for survival, 
for identity, for something bigger than themselves, 
the calculus changes completely.

When people are fighting for survival, for identity, for faith, 
force alone doesn't break them.

External pressure doesn't weaken resolve. 
It often strengthens it.

I see this in organisations.

A new CEO comes in. 
Restructures everything. 
Fires half the leadership team. 
Announces a "bold new vision."

Shock and awe.

Sometimes it works. 
When people were already checked out.

But when people believed in what they were building? 
When they cared about the mission? 
When their identity was tied to the work?

Shock and awe doesn't inspire them. 
It turns them into your fiercest opponents.

Before you tear something down, ask yourself one question.

Do the people inside this organisation still believe?

Because if they do, force won't break them. 
It'll unite them against you.

If you're a new leader walking into an existing team, 
pause before you tear things down.

Ask one question first: 
Do the people here still believe in what they're building?

If yes, your job isn't to demolish and rebuild. 
It's to earn the right to lead what already exists.

Force without understanding is rarely the answer.

📖 Leadership lessons from the war | Post 3

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The World Economic Forum says 40% of skills will change in 5 years.

That's not the scary part.

The scary part is what people do next.

92 million jobs will disappear.

So everyone is scrambling for answers outside themselves:

• "What industry is safe?"
• "What skills should I learn?"
• "What role should I move to?"

Wrong questions.

Because the answers keep changing.

Your core motivations don't.
Those are yours.

No job board can tell you this.

So the real question isn't "what's safe?"

It's: "What drives me?"

Because when you know what drives you:

• New industry? Pick the one that fits what you stand for.
• New skill? Pick the one that connects to what drives you.
• New role? Pick the one that honours your core motivations.

The world will keep shifting.
You don't have to shift with it.

Start there.

Not with the resume.
Not with the market.
Not with the algorithm.

With yourself.

That's not soft advice.

That's your competitive edge.

Discover what drives you and find the career path that fits → way2top.com

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If you've been stuck for more than a year, I want to tell you something.

You're not confused.

You're self-aware.

Confused people don't feel stuck.
They just drift.
They take the next thing that comes along. 
They don't question it.

You question it.

That restless feeling? 
That nagging sense that something doesn't fit?

That's not a problem.
That's the part of you that knows before your brain catches up.

The issue isn't that you don't know what you want.
The issue is that you know, somewhere deep down, that what you have isn't it.

Most people distract themselves before they have to admit it. 
They take the promotion, the next project, the next thing. 
You didn't.

I've coached people who were "confused" for three, five, eight years.

Every single one of them, when we reviewed their patterns together, said some version of the same thing:

"I already knew this. I just didn't have the words."

You're not starting from zero.
You're further along than you think.

You've been noticing small misalignments for years. 
Moments that didn't feel right.

What you need isn't a new direction.
It's a language for what you already feel.
You can't act on something you can't name.

That's where we start. 

20 minutes.

https://lnkd.in/gRgKXk_g

As larger than life it may seem, I’m often torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. 

Enabling people, products & processes on their growth journey, through my work at Growth Collective, has helped me achieve the strife, to make the world a better place, while enjoying the process of doing it. 

-- I bring an overall industry experience of 24 years, focused on product, technology, coaching & entrepreneurship. Across domains of insurance, BFSI & ecommerce. 

-- My experience & passion lies in working with individuals, academia  & organizations, enabling career growth, process transformations & product innovations to maximize potential.

-- I'm a Harvard Business School, PLD graduate & an Erickson & Gallup coach.

-- I'm passionate about Leadership Development & performance coaching. I use a strengths focused approach to convert ideas into actions. 

-- I have skillfully built cross-functional teams across geographies & coached leaders with a focus on progress & productivity leading to profitability.

-- My extensive global experience enables me to understand various cultural nuances enabling organizational transformations & strategically developing partnerships & business relations. 

-- I leverage my technology & product experience, to enable teams to develop best engineering practices, agile methodologies & human centered design thinking for innovative product building.  

-- My startup experience enables me to bring order to chaos & enable leaders to navigate cross-functional teams through ever changing landscapes

-- I have spearheaded agile transformations for organizations, enhancing predictability, productivity, quality of products/services & agile mindsets with teams. 

-- I am an enthusiastic contributor to various industry and academia events for design thinking, career counselling, women in technology, diversity championing, leadership development etc.

Reach out to me for  - 
1-1 or team coaching for
      -- Leadership Development 
      -- Performance Coaching
      -- Personal Branding
Enabling teams for 
       -- Design Thinking
       -- Agile & other team enablement
       -- Growth mindset, socio-emotional skills
       -- Product management
Business Coaching
        -- Enabling Entrepreneurs & their teams make traction on their product journey.

Some of my clients- Microsoft, Cisco, Zetwerk, Target, OneSheild, Odessa, Grundfos, IIM, Indian Oil, Meredith & others.

When not working I can be found exploring -  places, books, cafes, people, technologies & many other interesting things the world offers.

Janet Rajan

I placed a Blinkit order recently, but had remembered something I’d forgotten right after checking out.

Usually, whenever that happened in the past, I would be mildly frustrated

“Would I have to I place another order for one item?”

But this feature gave me a small window: “Add more items while your order is being packed.”

I didn’t think much of it in the moment. I just added what I’d missed.

But that’s exactly the point.

The best product decisions quietly remove friction.

More than that, what I found interesting here is not the upsell (though it obviously helps with that). It’s the timing.

This is a very specific user moment. 

It’s right after checkout, when commitment is high but recall is imperfect. But instead of treating checkout as the end of the journey, Blinkit treats it as a quick pitstop.

That 10–15 second window does three things:

* It acknowledges that users are not perfectly organized
* It saves them from the annoyance of a second order
* It increases order value without adding pressure

Here, the nudge is almost invisible. And that’s why it works.

Good product thinking is often about solving the obvious problems better.

But great product thinking sits in these tiny, overlooked moments and handles it well.

Love these little ‘aha’ moments.

I left India at 23 to do my master's abroad because my mother chose to believe in me.

During my master’s in the US, my advisor, Karen Davis, didn't just guide me with my thesis, she helped me find my voice and confidence.

While studying at Harvard, my coach, Adrienne Milics, helped me see that I could lead and enable others through transformation, a moment that eventually led to Growth Collective.

And when I took the leap to start up, Namita Kutty GTML™ joined me as a partner not just in business, but in belief.

When I look back, what stands out isn’t just the decisions.

It’s the people who expanded my sense of what was possible.

And at these crossroads, it was women who offered perspective, support, courage, and belief.

That spirit feels especially meaningful with Women’s Day approaching.

I must add though that many men in my life have shaped me deeply too… but that’s a post for another day.

For now, on March 28, we’re bringing together a small, curated group of women in product and technology leadership in Chennai. 

Not for a panel. Not for a lecture. But for conversation, reflection, experiential activities and shared perspective.

We’ll explore questions like:

→ How do we play to our strengths, not just our expectations?
→ How do we translate our stories into leadership impact?
→ How do we stay relevant in an AI-shaped world?
→ And how do we create space for conversations that product and technology leaders rarely get to have?

This is the first gathering in what we hope becomes a larger, ongoing community. 

We’re starting with Women’s Day because it feels like the right place to begin but this space will grow to include both men and women and broader voices in the months ahead.

So, if you’re rethinking your next chapter or simply want a moment to recalibrate, this might be a meaningful room to be in.

Let’s build over breakfast.

You can register at - https://lnkd.in/gJyQDZS9

#leadership #womensday #productdevelopment #tech

Some of the best rooms don’t feel like networking events.

They feel like someone’s living room that accidentally filled up with fascinating people.

That’s what the ShopTalk Social at Paperflite felt like.

No rigid agenda.

Just a room full of founders, operators, builders, teachers, and curious minds.

And games.

Lots of games.

At one table someone was fiercely competitive over a board game.

At another, a founder was explaining their latest idea between sips of a very good drink.

Across the room, two strangers had already moved past introductions and into real conversation

What stood out wasn’t just the energy.

It was the thoughtful design behind the ease of the event.

The Paperflite team clearly obsessed over the details —
the guest mix,
the format,
the games,
the food and drinks,
the way conversations could naturally happen without anyone forcing them.

And it worked beautifully.

It was one of the most relaxed and interesting founder gatherings I’ve been to in Chennai.

Engaging.
Low-key.
Fun.
And full of the kind of conversations that usually only happen after the “official networking” ends.

Kudos to the Paperflite team for pulling off something that looked effortless, which usually means a lot of thought went into making it that way.

Sometimes the best communities start exactly like this:

With a game table.
Good conversations.

And a room full of curious people.


PS - Thank you for having us - Yega Kumarappan, Vinoth Kumar, Dinesh Ravindran, Sai Preethi Ramesh, Parvati Nandakumar, Lavanya Annette, Roop Lukka, Akilan Ranjit and the rest of the team. It was lovely to meet all of you!

#FounderCommunity #StartupEcosystem #ChennaiStartups

Now they won’t forget me.


Last week I ran a session for a room full of marketers at The Brand Table.

We jumped straight into the session. No long introductions. Just discussion, ideas, and product thinking.

Only this time, we applied that thinking to the most important product we build - ourselves.

Earlier in the evening, Harish ran an interesting card activity through which everyone identified their core strengths.

The real question then became:

How do those strengths translate into relevance?


And instead of explaining it, I told them a story about myself - my journey from building products in corporate to building Growth Collective.

As they listened, they had to identify two things:

What was signal?
And what was noise?


People leaned in and started taking notes.  They were filtering for what mattered.


A few minutes later, when the questions came, they remembered the details.


That’s the power of storytelling in product conversations.


In a world over-distractions, relevance doesn’t come from saying more about yourself.

It comes from making the signal from your strengths visible in your story.

And then they remember you!

Sometimes the best way to teach is to let people experience it 🙂

PS - Huge thanks to Harish Venkatesh and Vignesh Arullingam for having me, and kudos to them for building such a thoughtful community with Brand Table. The curiosity and engagement of the participants made it an absolute joy to facilitate. And thank you Janani Porkodi for the introduction.

In a sport dominated by batsmen, Bumrah proved once again that bowlers are equally important to the game!

And yesterday’s final was a fine example.

The man came, got 4 wickets, giving away just 15 runs. 

It was because of his incredibly reliable performance that we were able to win with a huge margin of 96 runs.

And anyone who has seen the Indian team perform, knows that this is not just a one-time thing.

⟶ In the T20 World Cup vs Pakistan in 2024, when India defended a low total, Bumrah’s spell of 3/14 completely shifted the momentum of the match.

⟶ In the ODI World Cup vs England in 2023, with India defending 229, Bumrah struck early and finished with 3 wickets for 32 runs, totally collapsing England’s top order.

⟶ In the Asia Cup vs Pakistan in 2023, when he returned from injury, but still performed spectacularly reminding everyone why he remains India’s most dependable bowler.

What I’ve always admired about Bumrah is that he rarely seeks the spotlight. Yet time and again, he becomes the trump card that changes the game for India.

And perhaps that comes down to something we often talk about in coaching.

The brain performs best when it focuses on the smallest executable unit of action.

Not “I have to win the game.”
Just “I have to bowl the next ball well.”

When we talk about players who perform well under pressure. That’s what it looks like. 

And that’s what great teams are built on!

Bumrah, you are the man! Truly a gem of the Indian Cricket Team. 

#t20worldcupfinals #indvsnz #jaspritbumrah #cricket

Most product events are full of ideas and strategies.

This one was full of products.

Last Saturday, the vibe was unmistakable at the ProductTank Bengaluru Hackathon hosted at Odessa where the room moved from insight to action.

We started with a powerful panel led by Roopa Jayaraman about what it takes to ship AI products -the trade-offs, messy decisions, and real-world constraints, where Karthik Balasubramanian, Archana Shukla, Dr.Ramesh Babu Chellappan and Paula Mariani Mazzoni offered great insights. 

And then the laptops opened, and we switched into build mode. 

And that’s when the vibe changed. 

From discussion → experimentation
From opinions → evidence
From “what if” → “let’s try”

Using Lovable, teams moved from: idea → prompt → prototype in just a few hours.

PMs, designers, founders, all building together, testing ideas live, refining prompts, and watching products take shape in real time.

The biggest shift in building with AI isn’t the tools. It’s the mindset.

When everyone has access to the same AI tools, the advantage becomes:

• Clarity of Thinking
• Product Sense
• The ability to describe what you want precisely
• And the discipline to iterate quickly

In other words, product thinking matters more than ever.
 
Huge credit to the ProductTank Bengaluru community, who showed up ready to learn and build.

Big shoutout to the organizing team - Priya Subbukutti  Amit Godbole Justin Paul  Jayanthi Subramanian Srivatsan Sundaravaradan  Ashwini Prasannakumar - you are fantastic to collaborate with and kudos for pulling off an event like this at scale.

And many thanks to Odessa for hosting a room full of experimentation, collaboration, and momentum. (Special moment for me to come back and run a hackathon here.)

Grateful to Nithya Subramaniam for co-facilitating and bringing her insights to the session and Vimal Stan Steven, Trishita Bhattacharjee and Premanku Chakraborty for judging and supporting teams with thoughtful feedback.

Always fantastic building with Lovable - what an excellent product and commitment to community.

Days like this remind me why community-led learning matters so much. 

If you're a product builder and haven't tried vibe coding yet, pick an idea, open a tool like Lovable, and try building something in a few hours.

You might be surprised how quickly a vibe turns into a product.

#vibecoding #hackathon #productmanagement

There’s something powerful about being part of a “first.”

And I had the privilege of experiencing that with the inaugural cohort at IIM Ahmedabad’s Dubai campus.

Working with a group of 35 students at such a defining moment in their journey was a deeply engaging experience.

And at the centre of it all was:

How they can position themselves post-MBA to build a rewarding career trajectory.

And that goes beyond any templates or tactics.

It requires a clearer understanding of your strengths and how the world experiences you.

We explored what it means to craft a narrative that is audience-aware.

Because today, it is not just about saying,
“This is what I’ve done.”

But about being able to articulate,
“This is the value I create.”

The group session was followed by small group and individual conversations to create space for reflection, refinement, and sharper clarity.

I’m especially drawn to these moments when clarity builds confidence.

Grateful to Prof. Viswanath Pingali and Prof. Aditya Moses for having me, and to Monaz Vakil, Anish and Samir for enabling such a seamless experience.

Big thanks also to Navaneeth Reddy, the recruitment secretary, and all the students for making the engagement truly open and collaborative.

Wishing them bold moves ahead.

P.S. If you’re considering an MBA with international experience grounded in the academic rigour and legacy of IIM Ahmedabad, look no further.

#IIMAhmedabad #dubaicampus #mbajourney #careerpositioning #leadershipdevelopment

OneShield Leadership Award

Erickson Certified Coach

Gallup Strengths Coach

Founder, Growth Collective | Product Leadership Coach | Gallup Strengths & Executive Coach | TEDx Speaker | MSME Entrepreneur of the Year 2023 | Building in Stealth

Co founder of the Cincinnati Chapter and continue to volunteer actively as a member of the core team for the Boston Chapter.

Professor at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad

Assistant Professor | Strategic HRM | People Analytics | Talent Management

Corporate Relations MBA-PGPX at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad

IIM Ahmedabad – Dubai Campus | IIT Kharagpur | Co-Founder, Dock Consulting

Most PMs try to remove product friction. The good ones know which friction to remove and which to leave in the user’s control.

And Rapido has successfully managed to do just that!

What seems like a small interface detail is actually a very different way of thinking about product design.

Most products try to make the decision for the user.

They identify what looks like the “better” option, and then quietly steer you towards it. 

Sometimes it’s done by hiding alternatives. Sometimes by making one option more prominent. Sometimes by removing the choice altogether.

And that’s the reason we are so used to stuff like 10 min doorstep delivery, and one tap decisions. 

And this design feature is like a breath of fresh air in such a crowded space!

There is also a systems layer to this that is easy to miss.

That slightly different pickup point is probably not random.
It is likely closer to a main road, which is easier for the driver to reach, and reduces the usual back-and-forth of “Where exactly are you?” calls.

It also further helps in faster pickups, fewer cancellations, and a smoother experience for the driver.

So while I am deciding whether to walk 50 meters, the platform is quietly improving efficiency.

For the user. For the driver. For itself.

This is what empathetic design often looks like in practice. Love it!

#rapido #productdesign #productdevelopment #productgrowth

First time founders love to talk about how the product they’re building is a “category of its own”, and “never done before”, when it really is just a trap.

I've been working with the founders and product teams of many product companies for two decades, and I’ve often heard things like:

“this has never been done before,” 
“there is nothing else like this.”

I get it. There’s that excitement and vision to do something that’s totally new.

While that may be true at a technical level, it is rarely how users experience a product for the first time.

When a user encounters something entirely unfamiliar, their first instinct is not curiosity. It is hesitation.

Because they do not engage with novelty in the way builders do.

Your users are trying to answer a very simple question: What is this, and how does it fit into what I already do?

If that answer is not immediately clear, they tend to step away.

Which is why, over time, I have found myself thinking about product roadmap a little like navigation.

When you open a GPS, it does not begin by describing the destination in detail. It begins by locating you.

It understands where you are standing right now, and only then does it map the journey forward.

But many products are built the other way around.

We start with the fully realised version of what this product could become and we try to communicate that end state to the user.

We speak about transformation, possibilities, and entirely new ways of doing things.

And somewhere along the way, we forget that the user is still standing in their current context, with their existing habits, tools, and mental models.

They are not yet where we are.

So the role of product is not just to build a better solution. It is to make the transition feel manageable. Almost natural.

And that often comes down to this:

Are we asking the user to come all the way to where we are?
Or are we willing to meet them where they are, and walk with them from there?

Because in most cases, adoption does not come from how great your product is, but instead from reducing the distance between the user’s present and your product’s promise.

#productmanagement #productgrowth #productdevelopment

The more I see AI being used at work, the more I find myself asking:
Are we still thinking for ourselves, or are we beginning to outsource that too?

I came across this video the other day and it really stayed with me. 

I am seeing so much AI being used in the way we write, but I can now see that being used in what decisions executives make. 

I’ve often encouraged teams to use AI, but it is becoming increasingly easy to move from using AI as a support, to relying on it as a substitute for thinking and making decisions.

AI has the potential to be an extraordinary enabler. Used thoughtfully, it allows us to focus more on the parts of work that require depth, nuance, and human judgment.

But it cannot, and should not, replace those parts that make us stand out.

The value you bring to the table soon is not going to be in how quickly you can build something.

It is in how originally you can see, or how thoughtfully you can interpret, and how responsibly you can decide.

And perhaps that is what we need to focus on now in the age of AI.

#ai #productdevelopment #productgrowth

Shreyas Doshi just shared one of the most uncomfortable truths about product managers.

A lot of “talking to customers” I’ve seen PMs doing is not always about learning.
It is about validation.

And the more PMs I talk with, the more I’ve realized how easily they fall into this trap.

Most PMs already have a hypothesis or a direction they’re leaning towards. And the conversation subtly becomes about testing whether that direction holds.

But from time to time, a reality check is needed to be given:

You can’t build what customers will love until you understand what their functional + emotional needs are.

That requires a different kind of listening.

Not just capturing feedback, but interpreting it. 

Not just documenting requests, but framing the problem correctly.

When you start looking at it this way, the nature of customer conversations changes.

Now you’re not just asking for opinions. You’re trying to understand context. 

Now you’ll get a better context of:

What triggered this problem? How are they solving it today? What trade-offs are they making? Where does it break?

This will uncover the tension that makes them uncomfortable, and that’s what you need to build products for. 

Because it’s not just bad tech that fails most products.
It’s the failure of understanding the customer tensions/desires clearly that does.

#productmanagement #productdevelopment #productgrowth

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