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

Strategy, Innovation and Marketing Consultant to CxO at IT Services co and MSME. 
Ocassional visiting faculty. 
Business Mentor with various incubators. 

Previously, 25+ years of diverse experience in TCS, leading service line, strategy, marketing and solutions across Data, Technology applications, IT Infrastructure and Business Processes

- P&L Experience:  Led growth for operations services from $50M to $150M at a 30%+ CAGR
- Marketing Experience:  Setup and led marketing enabling unit growth from $200M to $2B+ over 6 years 
- Strategy Experience: Managed Strategy, Planning & Governance for a $4B Business Unit
- Industry Advisory:  Led Industry advisors across verticals, facilitating a $500M TCV pipeline creation
- Growth Hacker: Helped drive product-market fit, consultative selling and funnel progression for a $100M folio selling to CMO, CHRO and CPO
- Talent Scaling:  Facilitated talent restructuring for a $150M Service desk portfolio

Shyam Kerkar

Will the social butterfly with a calendar, who masquerades as an #ITServices Relationship Manager (RM) survive 2026?
Or they an endangered species?

For years, RMs survived on “circling back” calls and “hope you’re well” emails.
Now AI can do all that. Faster, cleaner, and more politely.

An Agentic AI can summarize meetings, track SLAs, and chase updates better than human.
What is the human RM's edge?
➡️ Not "providing status updates & certainty"
➡️ Not “being the bridge”
➡️ Not "staying in touch"
AI Agents can do all that better. 

The modern customer doesn’t need a human for relationship management.
They want business partners with an X-Ray vision to tell them how to capitalize on AI.

The customers need the RM to internalize their world to propose the best-fit AI solution
✔️ Value Chain → Trace money flow; Which AI solution can spot leakages and margin drift.
✔️ Behavior → Decode end-customer actions; Which AI solution can help uncover intent and churn triggers.
✔️ Alignment → Expose system–strategy gaps; Which AI can simulate better org design.
✔️ Friction Points → Identify decision bottlenecks; How can AI surface blockers early.
✔️ Execution → Map hidden dependencies; Can AI predict delivery risks.
✔️ Margins → Detect silent cost drains; How can AI optimize process efficiency.

The RM of the future isn’t an account custodian nor somebody who merely empathizes with the customer pain. 
They’re a business interpreter, who can translate human intent into system behavior and system behavior back into business truth.

Customers can get an AI agent to say "Oh! I understand the urgency. Let me check with the team"
They want the human to help them navigate success with AI. 

The RM who cannot capture the context will go the way of the fax machine: fondly remembered, quickly replaced.

#AIServices #FutureOfWork #RelationshipManagement #Strategy

Directing Scalable, Boardroom-Backed Growth Structured strategies that align capital, execution, and long-term value creation.

This being the week of AI summit in Delhi,  shouldn't  we all be singing (with apologies to John Paul Young)
𝘈𝘐 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘪𝘳...  𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥
𝖫̶𝗈̶𝗏̶𝖾̶, 𝘰𝘰𝘱𝘴,  𝘈𝘐 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘪𝘳 ... 
𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯′𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘧 𝘐'𝘮 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩
𝘋𝘰𝘯′𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘧 𝘐'𝘮 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘦
𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯

Every decade, enterprises discover a new technology savior. 
And use it to defend their inertia, to avoid changing themselves just as they pray for growth. 
➡️ 𝗘𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟬𝘀: 𝗘𝗥𝗣 promised  “End-to-end visibility” and  “Single source of truth” and enterprises claimed encoding their processes was transformation 
➡️ 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟲-𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟵: 𝗕𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗻 arrived with 
“the language of trustless systems” and “immutable ledgers”   and organisations attempted to decentralise trust without decentralising authority.
➡️ 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯-𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲: 𝗔𝗜 has been offering “Autonomous decision-making” with “Agents everywhere”, while leaders grapple with who actually owns judgment.

The technology stacks are different, but the movie remains the same.
1️⃣ 𝗕𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺 𝗘𝘂𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗮 characterised by strategy decks, vendor demonstrations, and PoC running on sanitised data in carefully controlled environments.
2️⃣ 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗖𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 where new technology is bolted onto existing systems, that were already fragile, and complexity is mistaken for progress.
3️⃣ 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 where data & process models fail to reflect how work actually happens. And deployment budgets spiral because “it's going live next week.”
4️⃣ 𝗡𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁 when outcomes disappoint. Users resisted change,  regulation lagged or in case of AI, data quality was never ready.

The consistent belief: Technology is transformation. 
Technology merely
✔️ Optimises the embedded silos. 
✔️ Diffuses responsibility further. 
✔️ Offers dashboards to replace thinking, 

Transformation, however, is rarely about adding more capability. 
#TransformationZen is about living simply by removing what distracts from what matters and being deliberate about how decisions are made.

The organisations that endure this cycle will be the ones who reinforce their organizational infrastructure.
Upgrade the rail-tracks: Shared Values & Strategy, Staff & Skills and their Structure.

Every technology wave ultimately asks a quieter question than adoption: what, exactly, are you trying not to change?

#ThrivingThursdays #AI #StrategicRenewal   #Adaptability

AI can mean information overload & decision fatigue. Watch this space tomorrow to know how Symbiotic Leaders deal with it. 

#SymbioticLeadership #AIGenerated #DecisionFatigue

Why does leadership today feel like drowning in data while starving for signal?

Gone are the days of clear inputs and confident calls. Now dashboards, alerts, benchmarks flood us. Each screaming "urgent!" 

Fewer signals once meant sharper instincts.
Now, data obesity means leaders are overfed on inputs, undernourished in meaning.

Meetings deliver pattern explanations but no priority clarity. 
Reviews clarify history, obscure futures.

This isn't intelligence failure. It's abundance's tax. 
Smart leaders, overwhelmed.  Time to reclaim focus.

This is the Cognitive Cost of abundance.
Signals multiply, visiblity weakens.
Metrics compete without ranking.
Insights arrive detached from context.
Patterns describe movement but stop short of illuminating direction.

With AI, Leadership is not about consuming more information or demanding sharper analytics and perfect predictions.
#SymbioticLeadership succeeds because it deliberately slows interpretation, imposes structure on noise, and asks a question that cannot be left merely to AI: what matters to us now, and why?

Symbiotic leaders allow systems to take informed decisions but know when to step back in to impose meaning.
They treat intelligence as an input, not an authority.

In a world saturated with signals, leadership  is an act of subtraction.

 #DecisionFatigue #MutualIntelligence #ContextOrchestration

Wonder why there is this weekly headline about 85% of AI struggling to understand human needs, failing in deployment? 
Is it any surprise, when humans barely understand themselves?

We keep saying AI “doesn’t get context,” “misses nuance,” or “hallucinates.”  
But maybe, just maybe,  the real hallucinations are in our meeting notes.  

𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗯𝗹𝗲.  
We start with clarity, detour into philosophy, sprinkle in a few new priorities, and end with a “Wait, that’s not quite what I meant.”  

Meanwhile, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗜 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗯𝘆.  
Perfectly logical. Perfectly obedient.  
Just tragically married to our latest bout of indecision.  

We want AI to anticipate needs, predict behavior, deliver brilliance.
All while we redefine brilliance every other Monday .  

So the frustration grows mutual.  
The humans blame the “black box.”  
The AI quietly updates its dataset on human confusion.  

Both end up exhausted.. 
One emotionally, the other computationally.  

Maybe the issue isn’t artificial intelligence being slow to learn.  
Maybe 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗹𝗲.

Do not short the stocks yet.
SaaS, Cybersecurity, Whatever.
Humans will still succeed, in getting AI to fail.  

#MadcapMondays #BeingHuman #AI #AIFidelity #AIGenerated #Sarcasm

I was honoured to be invited as 𝐊𝐞𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫 at Department of Management Sciences (PUMBA), Savitribai Phule Pune University University organized by Corporate Social, a Social Media startup founded by Dr Paritosh Dubey.

My session titled  𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐈-𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 explored how personal brands function as proxies in an era where career decisions increasingly happen in rooms; both physical and virtual, that professionals never enter. With over 150 management students in attendance, the discussion centered on a challenge facing every emerging professional: when generative AI makes everyone look polished online, authenticity becomes the primary differentiator.

The audience engagement was notably sharp. Students asked questions that revealed they already understand the game has changed. They're not preparing for traditional career paths so much as designing their own visibility strategies from day one. If their level of strategic thinking is any indicator, this cohort will navigate the AI-crowded professional landscape with unusual clarity.

The session, followed by a panel discussion moderated by Dr Paritosh Dubey and featuring Anagha Puranik and Shweta Ojha, which examined the tension between AI-assisted content creation and genuine professional voice. The dialogue moved beyond theoretical frameworks into practical territory, what does personal branding mean to those at the start of their career versus later in life, how published content builds trust at scale, and why consistent visibility matters more than polished perfection.

We were lucky to have Dr. Hemant Katole join us and felicitate us. 

Event logistics was handled by alumni Aakanksha Dhumal  and students Nitu Bardhan and Piyush Gade amongst others,  whose attention to detail allowed the session to run without interruption.

#PersonalBranding #PUMBA #ProfessionalDevelopment #DigitalReputation

Prof Dr Devidas Golhar Dr. Samrat Post-doctoral Fellow, University Of South Florida Faiz Sirkhot Dr. Prabhat Kumar

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