Executive Coach | Your Copilot to a Fulfilling Life and Career Growth | Powered by the Ignite Life Method™ | Coached 1,200+ Leaders at Dropbox, Salesforce, Coinbase | Take the Quiz to See What Needs to Shift — Now

Do you feel that you are stuck in your career,
life overwhelmed with busyness, 
and you are disconnected from yourself... 
then we need to talk.

Most high achievers I coach aren’t broken — they’re just disconnected.

🚨 Disconnected from their purpose.
🚨 Disconnected from the work they once loved.
🚨 Disconnected from the life they truly want to live.

It shows up as: STUCK, FRUSTRATION, LOST.

❌ Career stagnation
❌ Constant firefighting
❌ Burnout masked as busyness
❌ Imposter syndrome despite success

I help ambitious professionals — founders, product leaders, and emerging executives — reignite clarity, rebuild courage, and create conscious impact using The Ignite Method™.

You don’t have to choose between growth and fulfilment. You can have both.

🔥 The Ignite Method™

1. Clarity Journey — Rediscover who you are and what truly matters.
2. Courage Building — Move through fear and start acting boldly.
3. Conscious Impact — Create a career and life that actually feels like success.
4. Cohesive Action — Align what you think, feel, and do every single day.

🎯 What My Clients Gain

✅ Unshakable clarity on what’s next
✅ Courage to make big, aligned decisions
✅ Confidence to lead teams or businesses with purpose
✅ Energy and ownership to thrive at work and at home

📍 A Bit About Me

- PCC Certified Coach (ICF)
- 1,200+ leaders coached in 18+ countries
- Clients from Google, Coinbase, Dropbox, Salesforce, Intel, EA Sports, Rubrik, Visa, Zynga and more
- TEDx Speaker: Can Fear Push Us to be Courageous? Google it!
- Founder, IgnitedNeurons — a platform helping build a culture of high performance, growth mindset and based in values!
- Building the IgnitedNeurons Podcast to extract lessons you and I can apply in everyday life

💼 If You’re Leading a Team or Organisation:
I also partner with founders, HR heads, and L&D leaders to design bold cultures, build values-driven teams, and humanise leadership.

📩 Ready to Take the First Step?
Take the free 5-minute Ignite Life Quiz to discover what’s holding you back.

Let’s ignite your next chapter.

Utkarsh Narang

Most career advice tells you to bounce back fast.

This story says something far more important.

At the 2026 Golden Globes, EJAE (Kim Eun Jae) accepted the award for Best Original Song for “Golden” from Netflix  Kpop Demon Hunters.
She became the first Korean-American to win at the Golden Globes.

But that’s not the part that matters most.

What matters is what came before the win.

She spent 10 years chasing one dream.
To become a K-pop idol.

She was rejected.
Told her voice wasn’t good enough.
Watched the original plan fall apart.

So she did what many of us are doing right now.

She adapted.

She leaned into what still worked.
She stayed close to her craft.
She rebuilt her identity instead of abandoning it.

And years later, she stood on that stage not as what she once wanted to be
but as something truer to who she was becoming.

Here’s why this matters if you’re:
• scared of being laid off
• already laid off
• quietly questioning your career path
• thinking about a pivot but afraid to start over

A detour is not a downgrade.
A rejection is not a verdict.
And changing direction is not failure.

Careers are not ladders anymore.
They are stories.

And the people who win long-term are not the ones who never get disrupted.
They are the ones who don’t let disruption silence their voice.

If you’re in a season of uncertainty, remember this:
Your next chapter does not need to look like your last one to be meaningful.

♻️ Repost this for someone navigating a career reset right now.
➕ Follow Utkarsh Narang for grounded perspectives on career change, resilience, and rebuilding with confidence.

Executive Coach Helping Ambitious Professionals Breakthrough Stuck Careers & Inner Frustration | Ignite Life Method™ | Coached 1,200+ Leaders at Dropbox, Salesforce, Coinbase | Take the Quiz to Reignite Yourself

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My dad hired a tennis coach at 70.

Let that sink in for a moment.

Seventy years old.
Retired.
Comfortable.

And yet, he decided to hire a tennis coach.

Not because he wants to compete.
Not because he wants to prove anything.
Just because he wants to get better.

That one decision stayed with me.

Most people slow down with age. They protect comfort.
They say things like, “What’s the point now?”

My dad doesn’t.

He shows up to the court.
Listens. Practises. Learns.

Like a beginner.

Watching him, I realised something important about growth.

Growth is not driven by fear of falling behind.
It is driven by love for learning.

No pressure. No urgency. Just curiosity.

As a son, it inspires me.

That is what I have always prioritised. Learning. Growing. 
Always asking what more and what’s next?

I thank my dad for it. 70 years. Racket in hand. On the court.

That’s discipline.
That’s presence.
That’s a quiet kind of courage.

And most of all, that’s love, for life, for movement, for becoming a little better than yesterday.

If I ever wonder what kind of man I want to be as I grow older, I don’t have to look far.

I just look at my dad.

If this lands, don’t rush past it. Sit with it.

Growth has no expiry date.

li_at

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Talks about #personalgrowth, #bebettereveryday, #leadershiplessons, #utkarshbrainspark, and #leadershipcoaching

During one of the worst layoff periods at a global cryptocurrency company, I was coaching their senior leaders.

The market had turned. 
Pressure was relentless. 
Decisions were being made fast, often without the space to process the human cost.

The instinct was predictable.
“We need to rebuild fast.”
“Let’s hire stronger people.”
“Let’s bring in fresh energy.”

But that wasn’t the real problem.

The people being let go weren’t weak.
They weren’t uncommitted.
They weren’t unrealistic.

They were exhausted from uncertainty, confused by shifting priorities,
and slowly losing trust in how decisions were being made behind closed doors.

What finally changed things wasn’t a new hiring plan.

It was a harder, quieter set of conversations.

Leaders started asking different questions.
Not “How do we replace them?”
But “What made staying feel impossible?”

Layoffs don’t just reduce headcount.
They expose culture.

They amplify how safe it feels to speak up,
how clearly people understand the future,
and whether leaders default to control or clarity when things get uncomfortable.

If people keep leaving, hiring faster only treats the symptom.

The real work is understanding what your culture is teaching people about loyalty, growth, and honesty when the pressure is on.

Because the truth is simple and inconvenient: people don’t quit companies at scale, they quit environments where staying starts to feel like self-betrayal.

Before you open the next role, make sure the work environment you’re hiring into is one people would actually choose to stay in.

♻️If this resonated, repost it so someone else sees it today.
➕Follow Utkarsh Narang for more thinking on growth, resilience, and building momentum over time.

Did you know most people quit their goals by the second week of January?

Not because they’re incapable.
But because they’re relying on motivation instead of structure.

Motivation is unpredictable.
Systems are not.

The people who actually stick with their goals don’t “try harder.”
They design their environment to make follow-through easier.

That means:
• clear reminders
• real accountability
• visible tracking
• time protected on the calendar

If you’re feeling stuck, scattered, or unsure what to focus on next, clarity is the real starting point.

Take the Ignite Life Quiz to understand where you are right now and what deserves your energy next. 
(📌DM “Quiz” for the link)

♻️ Repost if this resonated.
➕ Follow Utkarsh Narang for practical thinking on career growth, transitions, and building stability in uncertain times.

1 simple way to stay more consistent with your 2026 goals

Most people see pressure as a sign they are doing something wrong.

But the people who grow see it differently.

Pressure often shows up right before something meaningful changes.
Not as a threat. As a signal.

The same goes for mistakes.

Not proof of failure.
Proof of engagement.

You only get feedback when you are actually in the arena.

The real shift is this:
stop taking friction personally.

Treat it as information.
Something to study, not escape.

Curiosity does what confidence cannot.
It keeps you moving when certainty disappears.

Growth does not come from ease.
It comes from staying present through discomfort and choosing to refine instead of retreat.

If things feel heavy right now, that does not mean you are off track.

It might mean you are finally working on something that matters.

♻️If this resonated, repost it so someone else sees it today.
➕Follow Utkarsh Narang for more thinking on growth, resilience, and building momentum over time.

You can’t change what you can’t measure.

Every January, we promise ourselves:
 “More clarity.”
 “More courage.”
 “More impact.”
 “Better habits.”

But most resolutions fade because there’s no baseline.

You don’t know:
 – where you’re clear
 – where you’re stuck
 – where you’re avoiding
 – where you’re actually making impact

And without that… change becomes guesswork.

Over years of coaching, I’ve seen this pattern repeat:
People don’t lack motivation. They lack visibility.

That’s why we built the Ignite Life Scorecard — a free tool to help you measure where you stand across:
 👉 Clarity
 👉 Courage
 👉 Action
 👉 Impact

No labels. No judgment.

Just an honest snapshot of where you are right now.

If you want 2026 to be intentional — not accidental — start by measuring.
👉 Take the free scorecard here: https://lnkd.in/gEYUvyea

Because awareness isn’t the end of growth. It’s the beginning.

Welcome to another beautiful week. When an idea sparks that I think is worth sharing, it becomes this weekly newsletter. If something hits home, write

Open article: You Can’t Change What You Can’t Measure by Utkarsh Narang • 3 min read

You Can’t Change What You Can’t Measure

A year ago, on January 1, 2025, the IgnitedNeurons podcast had 24 subscribers. 

Not 24 thousand.
Twenty-four.

There was no launch strategy.
No momentum.
No guarantee anyone would care.

Just a decision to show up… even when it felt pointless…
to have real conversations, hit publish, and do it again the next week.

Fast forward to January 1, 2026: 873 subscribers.

Still not viral.
Still not flashy.
But undeniably built.

Here’s what changed in that year:
not my talent,
not my confidence,
not my circumstances.

What changed was that I stopped waiting to feel ready
and started acting like the life I wanted was already under construction.

Most people don’t fail because they aim too low.
They fail because they keep rehearsing a better future
instead of tolerating the boredom and doubt of building one.

One year will pass anyway.
The question is whether you’ll be able to point to something real or just another version of the same wish.

What are you quietly committing to build this year, even if no one’s watching yet?

♻️ Repost if this feels like the right reminder for this stage of the year.
➕ Follow Utkarsh Narang for more clarity on growth and inner work.

I took a two-week break from work recently.

It was calm.
It was slow.
It was peaceful.

And yet, something felt uncomfortable.

Not because of money.
Not because of pressure.

I was okay on that front.

The discomfort came from somewhere else.

Freedom isn’t time off. It’s knowing what you return to.

Work gives me energy.
It gives me joy. It gives me a sense of who I am.

During the break, I realised how much I value that.

We are often told that if you truly love life, you should want to escape work.
That wanting to return means you are trapped or over-attached.

That isn’t true for me.

When I came back to work on January 5, it felt… right. Almost joyful. Not because I had to work. But because I wanted to.

That moment taught me something important.

Freedom is not about getting away from work. Freedom is about choosing work that gives you energy instead of taking it away.

If something lights you up, don’t push it aside. Don’t feel guilty about it. Don’t let someone else’s definition of balance make you doubt yourself.

Hold on to it.

And if you haven’t found that yet, keep going.

Try new things.
Change direction.
Learn about yourself.

There is a place where effort feels meaningful.
Where work feels like contribution, not compromise.

When you find it, you won’t need convincing.

You’ll feel it.

♻️ Repost if this feels like the right reminder for this stage of the year.
➕ Follow Utkarsh Narang for more clarity on growth and inner work.

I have learned to enjoy my own company.

This didn’t come naturally to me.

There was a time when silence felt heavy.
When being alone felt like something was missing.

So I filled the gaps. Anything to avoid sitting with myself.

Over time, I realised something uncomfortable.

If I couldn’t be alone with my own thoughts, no amount of company would fix that.

So I started small.

Early mornings.
Quiet walks.
Journaling with no agenda.

At first, it was awkward.
My mind kept wandering.
I wanted to reach for my phone.

But slowly, solitude stopped feeling empty.

It started feeling honest.

In solitude, there is no performance. No role to play. No one to impress.

Just you, as you are.

That’s where I hear myself most clearly.
That’s where I notice what excites me and what drains me.
That’s where my values show up without being forced.

Solitude is not loneliness.

It is presence.

It is choosing to sit with your life instead of escaping it.

And the more comfortable I became with my own company, the richer my relationships became. With my work, family, and with myself.

Now, I protect my solitude.

Not because I want to disconnect from the world. 

But because it helps me show up fully when I do.

The most important relationship you’ll ever build
is the one you have with yourself.

A reminder for the first week of the new year.

Stress is rarely about pressure.
It is about postponement.

❗️The email you are avoiding.
❗️The decision you keep circling.
❗️The conversation you know you need to have.

Unfinished things quietly drain more energy than hard work ever will.

This year does not need a perfect plan.
It needs movement.

✅ One small action today can release weeks of mental weight.

If 2026 is about anything, let it be this:
Do the thing you keep delaying.

Momentum follows action.

♻️Repost if this feels like the right way to start the year.
➕Follow Utkarsh Narang for more reflections on growth, leadership, and clarity.

Getting Joshua Freedman on the IgnitedNeurons  Podcast didn’t happen because of reach, status, or a perfectly crafted pitch.

It happened because of patience.

I reached out.
Then I waited.
Then I followed up, respectfully.
Across platforms - LinkedIn. Email.
Not chasing. Not spamming. Just staying present.

And I did it with love, one of my core values.

There were long gaps with no response.
Moments where it would have been easy to assume disinterest and move on quietly.
But something told me to stay consistent.

Eventually, he said yes.

What followed wasn’t just an episode.
It became one of the most powerful conversations I’ve had on emotional intelligence - 
deep, grounded, honest, and deeply human.

That moment reminded me of something I keep relearning:

The best things in life often come not from intensity,
but from sincerity sustained over time.

Perseverance doesn’t always look loud.
Sometimes it looks like showing up again, calmly, without entitlement.

Grateful for the conversation.
Grateful for the patience it took to get there.
And grateful for what happens when values lead the way.

Leadership isn’t about your resume.
It’s about your ripple effect.

Want to be remembered?
Leave people better than you found them.

✅Speak truth.
✅Stand for something.
✅Choose compassion over ego.
✅Listen more than you talk.

That’s the real scoreboard:

→ Not your position, but your presence
→ Not your awards, but your actions
→ Not your accolades, but your attitude

Robin Sharma said it best:

“Leadership is not about a title or a designation. It’s about impact, influence and inspiration.”

How you lead matters.
But how you make others feel, that’s what endures.

Be someone who lifts others.
It’s the kind of wealth that multiplies.

♻️ Repost if this hit home
➕ Follow Utkarsh Narang for more on human-centered leadership

Six months from now, you’ll either have....

six months of real progress behind you
or six months of very reasonable excuses.

I’ve learned this over the years:

You don’t grow because you’re the smartest person in the room. 

You grow because you are deliberate, intentional, and willing to sit with discomfort longer than you’d like.

Most of the time, the thing holding you back isn’t lack of ability.

It’s avoidance —
> of the hard conversation,
> the awkward decision,
> the honest admission that something in life or work is no longer working.

It’s easier to stay busy than to be brave.

Easier to explain why now isn’t the right time than to admit you are scared of what happens if you actually try.

Six months will pass whether you confront this 
or keep negotiating with yourself.
 
The question isn’t whether time will move.
It’s whether you will.

When you look back, you don’t regret moving too slowly.

You regret the periods where you knew better and chose comfort anyway.
Six months from now, you want evidence... not intention.

If this hit, you already know what you’ve been avoiding.

Save this to re-ignite that spark and follow Utkarsh Narang for more!

I need to admit something. I am being vulnerable here.

Selling does not come naturally to me.

I love deep conversations. Meaning. Reflection. Human connection.

Sales calls used to feel like a performance. I’d walk in hoping they’d like me. Hoping they’d say yes. Hoping I wouldn’t mess it up.

And every time I needed the outcome… I stopped being myself.

Then I learned a concept from Daniel Priestley that changed everything:

“With or without you” energy.

It doesn’t mean I don’t care. It doesn’t mean I’ll succeed at your expense.

It means this: I want you with me. But my success is not dependent on your approval.

The moment I started walking into conversations with that energy:
– the pressure disappeared
– the conversation deepened
– I stopped performing and started practising my craft

I was no longer trying to convince. I was trying to understand.

People don’t respond to desperation.
They respond to calm conviction.

So here’s a question for you:

👉 Where in your life or work are you needing the outcome a little too much?

Try walking in with “with or without you” energy this week. Care deeply. Release the outcome.

That’s not arrogance. That’s leadership.

Open article: With or Without You Energy by Utkarsh Narang • 3 min read

One of the most important mindset shifts I have learned over the years is this:

The question you ask determines the direction you grow.

“Why is this happening to me?”
keeps you focused on the problem.

“What is this trying to teach me?”
moves you into agency.

The moment you switch questions, you switch power.

Nothing magically becomes easier.
But you stop feeling helpless inside the situation.

In leadership, in careers, in personal growth
this shift separates people who stay stuck
from people who evolve through difficulty.

❌Growth is not about avoiding hard seasons.
✅It is about extracting wisdom from them.

That is how experience turns into maturity.

♻️If this resonates, repost it for someone navigating a hard moment.
➕Follow Utkarsh Narang for more clarity on growth, leadership, and inner work.

We romanticize success.
But survival comes first.

Tesla didn’t grow in a straight line.
It stayed alive long enough to figure things out.

That’s the part most people skip.

Before scale comes stability.
Before dominance comes endurance.
Before momentum comes survival.

If you’re in a phase where the goal is simply to last,
you’re not failing.

You’re building the foundation that growth requires.

Survive first.
Refine next.
Scale later.

♻️ Repost if this reframes how you see slow or difficult seasons.
➕ Follow Utkarsh Narang for more clarity on growth, resilience, and long-term thinking.

Comfort rarely looks dangerous.

It looks like stability.
Familiar routines.
Staying “reasonable.”

But comfort has a quiet cost.

❌It delays hard conversations.
❌It postpones decisions you already know you need to make.
❌It keeps you busy, but not moving.

Failure, at least, gives feedback.
Comfort gives none.

Most careers don’t stall because people fail too much.
They stall because people wait too long.

If something has been on your mind for months, maybe years, it’s probably not going away on its own.

Discomfort is often the price of growth.
Avoiding it is often the reason dreams fade.

♻️ If this made you pause, repost it.
➕ Follow Utkarsh Narang for grounded thinking on growth, career transitions, and building momentum without burning out.

Most people want business ideas.
They just don’t look in the right place.

They look outward.
Markets. Trends. Tools. Tactics.

But some of the most powerful ideas come from lived experience.

On the latest episode of the IgnitedNeurons Podcast, I sat down with Bart Merrell, an entrepreneur who believes that life’s challenges often carry the seeds of opportunity.

We spoke about:
• Why setbacks are not wasted
• How adversity can become an asset
• The “lemonade stand” mindset for entrepreneurship
• When monetization makes sense and when it doesn’t
• Why perspective matters more than strategy

This conversation is not about hustling harder.
It’s about seeing differently.

If you’ve ever wondered whether your experiences matter, this episode might shift how you think about work, business, and opportunity.

🎧 Listen on Spotify and Youtube!

♻️If this resonates, support IgnitedNeurons Podcast by sharing it with someone who’s navigating a challenge and wondering what to do next.

Your brain is not stuck.
It is trained.

And anything trained
can be retrained.

Every reaction you repeat
teaches your nervous system what to expect.

Tension becomes familiar.
Chaos feels normal.
Rest can feel unsafe.

Healing is not a personality change.
It is a pattern change.

Pausing instead of reacting.
Choosing calm on purpose.
Staying present when avoidance feels easier.

By now, the new year energy has settled.
This is when real change begins.

Not loud.
Not rushed.
But consistent.

You are not broken.
You are rewiring.

♻️ Repost if this feels like the right reminder for this stage of the year.
➕ Follow Utkarsh Narang for more clarity on growth and inner work.

Most people wait for permission
before they begin.

The right title.
The right funding.
The right room.

But progress rarely starts in boardrooms.
It starts in garages.
Side projects.
Rough drafts no one applauds.

Apple did not begin fully formed.
Neither do ideas worth building.

Small starts are not a disadvantage.
They are an advantage.

They force clarity.
They reward focus.
They build resilience early.

Start smaller than you want.
Think bigger than feels reasonable.
And keep going longer than feels comfortable.

That is how most meaningful things are built.

♻️Repost if this is the reminder you needed.
➕Follow Utkarsh Narang for more clarity on growth, leadership, and long-term thinking.

Mallika Rao

Navigate High Stakes Transitions without Burnout | Award-Winning Coach | Neuroscience-backed InnerEdge™️ Method | 650+ Breakthroughs | Trusted by Leaders at Google, IBM, IKEA | DM to inquire

Transitions - Personal or professional can be challenging.  
Not because you lack capability.

They get harder because the cost of every decision suddenly rises.

You already know how to do your job.
You’ve earned your seat through competence, credibility, and results.

But during leadership transitions - new roles, senior responsibilities, or personal setback, the pressure shifts:

• Decisions carry more weight
• Stakeholders pull in competing directions
• Visibility increases, while margin for error shrinks
• Emotional regulation becomes as important as technical skill

This is where many strong leaders struggle, not due to lack of ability, but because self-leadership, clarity, and influence become critical differentiators.

I work with seasoned leaders navigating high-pressure career transitions.

Leaders typically come to me in one of three situations:

1. Leadership Under Pressure
When complexity, pace, and constant demands create overwhelm & anxiety.

→ We work on restoring composure, regulating internal noise, and improving decision clarity so you can lead without reactivity or burnout.

2. Executive Transitions
When stepping into a senior role or a new organisation. The first 90 days are critical. 

→ We focus on establishing credibility, navigating stakeholders, and leading with confidence early, without over-functioning.

3. Speak with Impact & Executive Presence
There is only one quality that sets the top 1% leaders apart - communicating with emotional intelligence & presence.

→ I teach my proprietary framework, which I have developed in my two decades of experience in HR, Training & Speaking, so you speak with impact and create influence as a Leader.

Across all engagements, leaders experience:

→ Better decisions under pressure
→ Stronger emotional intelligence with teams and stakeholders
→ Clear, confident communication in high-stakes situations
→ Increased influence without politics or force
→ High performance without compromising health or personal life

Over the last 15+ years, I’ve worked 1:1 with 660+ leaders and 15000+ through keynotes and workshops, globally, including those at Google, Salesforce, IBM, and other complex, high-stakes environments.

What they develop is InnerEdge - the ability to lead themselves and people under pressure and complexity without absorbing chaos.

If you’re navigating a career transition and want to lead with calm, clarity, and confidence, DM “IMPACT” to know how we can work together. 

I work with a limited number of clients at a time to ensure depth and focus.

Life Coach, Mindfulness Teacher & Speaker

Life Coach & Wellbeing Mentor since 2016, helping leaders achieve their personal and professional goals with CALM, CLARITY & CONFIDENCE. Worked with over 600 professionals and entrepreneurs across 3 continents through 1:1 and Group Coaching.

As a Mindfulness speaker and workshop leader, I have helped over 120000 professionals overcome anxiety and practice holistic well-being. I work with organizations in creating and implementing Employee wellness programs that improve teamwork and productivity.

Mindfulness & Meditation Teacher since 2012: I teach Mindfulness and Meditation in groups and also offer 1:1 sessions.

The leadership skill most people never train for.

I work with professionals operating in high-pressure environments.

And the struggles they bring are often familiar:

→ Overwhelm
→ Anxiety
→ Decision fatigue
→ Emotional reactivity

But the real issue is rarely competence.

It’s capacity.

The true measure of character isn’t in titles or accomplishments.

You see it in moments most people overlook.

→ How someone behaves when they’re exhausted
→ How they respond when things feel uncomfortable
→ How they handle rejection
→ How they process failure
→ How they carry themselves through a setback

It’s easy to be polite when everything is going well.

It’s easy to stay calm when nothing is at stake.

Pressure changes that.

When you’re tired, filters drop.
Patience thins.
Tone sharpens.
Reactions speed up.

That’s when the real personality shows up.

Not in big wins or polished presentations,
but in ordinary moments under strain.

This isn’t just about leadership.

It shows up in relationships.
In partnerships.
In how trust is built, or quietly eroded.

Because pressure doesn’t create character.
It reveals it.

Here’s what most leaders miss:

Resilience is not built in chaos.

It’s built in calm moments……long before pressure arrives.

Because when pressure hits, you don’t rise to the occasion.

You fall back to the level of your capacity.

And for leaders, the most bankable skill you have is this:

Calm in chaos.

Not because you feel nothing.

But because you’ve built enough internal resilience

that pressure doesn’t spill into your words, decisions, or behaviour.

The leaders who earn respect and influence aren’t the ones who feel no pressure.

They’re the ones who carry it, without passing it on.

♻️ Repost to help your network navigate leadership & life transitions with calm clarity. 

🔔 Follow Mallika Rao for more strategies on High Performance and Wellbeing.

 #leadershipdevelopment #executivecoach #transitions #calm

Executive Coach for leaders navigating high-pressure transitions | Keynote Speaker | Trusted by 660+ Leaders - Google, Salesforce, IKEA & more Globally

As a leader you want to influence and create impact.

Fair enough.
That’s the job.

Without influence, you’re not leading.
You’re just… there.

But somewhere along the way, many leaders confuse leadership presence with closeness.

They think:

If I’m accessible, I’ll be trusted.
If I’m always available, I’ll be respected.
If I don’t say no, I’ll be liked.

So they keep the door open.

They reply instantly.
They absorb emotions.
They become everyone’s sounding board.

It looks generous. It even feels humane.

And quietly, it erodes authority.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth though, one I have seen emerge many times in coaching conversations, 

Influence is not built through closeness.
It’s built through reliability.

People don’t follow leaders because they feel emotionally close to them.

They follow leaders because they know what to expect from them.

Clear decisions.
Predictable standards.
Boundaries.
Consistency.

That’s what creates safety.

An “open-door policy” without structure doesn’t create trust.
It creates dependency.

Being endlessly available doesn’t make you a strong leader.
It makes you the emotional regulator for the room.

People-pleasing doesn’t build loyalty.
It builds confusion.

Because when everything is flexible,
nothing is dependable.

Strong leadership presence doesn’t mean being distant.
It means being steady.

It means:

You listen, but you don’t absorb.
You care, but you don’t carry.
You are accessible, without being interruptible.
You say no, without guilt.
You hold the line, even when it’s uncomfortable.

This is where many high-performing leaders struggle.

→ They are competent.
→ They are kind.
→ They are emotionally intelligent.

But they equate leadership with closeness.
And closeness with influence.

That’s a naïve frame, especially in complex organisations.

Leadership isn’t about being liked in the moment.
It’s about being relied upon over time.

When people know:

→ your decisions won’t change with moods
→ your standards won’t bend under pressure
→ your presence is calm, not reactive

They trust you.

Not because you’re close.
But because you’re solid.

That’s leadership presence.

Not performative.
Not relationally porous.
Not endlessly accommodating.

Reliable.

And reliability is what quietly builds power, without politics, without force, without noise.

If you’re a leader who wants your communication to land with clarity, calm, and authority, not through performance, but presence, this work will resonate.
Message me “Impact.”

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What is speaking like a leader is and isn’t.

I am having conversations around leadership communication these days. 

Many leaders and founders have it on their skills list. It’s nice to see people investing in their growth. 

A question that comes up always, is what does speaking like a leader really looks like. 

Short answer : When the inner state is right, communication changes on its own.

No scripts. No performance. No trying harder.

This is what I’ve observed consistently while working with leaders.

Calm
Clarity
Confidence 

Speaking like a leader is not :

Fancy vocabulary.
Loudness or dominance.
Over-explaining.
Constant agreement.
Polished delivery.
Speaking from fear.

Big words don’t equal leadership.
Force doesn’t equal authority.
Polish doesn’t equal presence.

Period. 

Leaders don’t sound powerful because of what they say.

They sound powerful because of who they are being while they speak.

When the inner world is calm, clear, and aligned, communication commands authority - without effort.

That’s the work behind executive presence.

And that’s the work I do through my Speak with Impact™ program.

If Leadership Communication and Executive Presence is on your skills list, write to me and I will share about the program. 

♻️ Repost to help your network navigate tough transitions with calm clarity. 

🔔 Follow Mallika Rao for more strategies on leadership development and wellbeing.

graphical user interface, text, application

Don’t follow advice blindly.
Especially when it comes from people who can afford the consequences.

I hear this a lot these days.

“Hard work doesn’t work anymore.”
“Discipline is outdated.”
“Just work smart.”

And on the surface, it sounds progressive. Even freeing.

But here’s the part most people don’t say out loud.

When a millionaire says hard work doesn’t matter, they are saying it supported by a portfolio with promising returns. 

They can afford to experiment with ideas.
They can afford inefficiency.
They can afford failure.

Most people can’t.

If you’re still building your foundation - your skills, credibility, reputation, savings, leverage - hard work is not optional, it’s the bridge.

Smart work without hard work is a privilege.

And privileges don’t translate as universal advice.

You see, the danger is not ambition.

The danger is copying philosophies without copying the conditions that made them safe.

So before you adopt someone’s mindset, ask : 

What stage of life they are/were in when this worked for them?

What safety nets did they already have?

What risks could they afford that I can’t, yet?

Not all advice is meant for you.
And timing matters more than slogans.

Learn to see the season of life you are in. 

Build first.
Stabilise next.
Optimise later.

That’s not outdated, that’s grounded.

♻️ Repost to help your network navigate tough transitions with calm clarity. 

🔔 Follow Mallika Rao for more strategies on High Performance and Wellbeing.

Lionel Sharing

Presence is being polite, having great language skills, and always smiling.



No, it’s NOT.

Early on, I worked closely with a senior HR leader.

Decades of experience. Impeccable language. Always smiling.

I sat in meetings with Ops managers and AVPs.

My role was to listen, observe, and learn how leadership conversations really work.

On the surface, everything looked “professional.”

But something didn’t sit right for me.

The words were polite.
The tone was calm.
The smile never left.

Yet the intent underneath felt split.

Decisions were framed as collaborative, but outcomes were already decided.

Feedback sounded gentle, but seemed like opinions or judgements.

Agreements were implied, not owned.

As a young professional, I couldn’t name it.
I just knew it left me uneasy.

For a long time, I assumed the gap was mine.

That I didn’t yet understand people management. That this was just how leadership worked.

Years later, when I began studying leadership, coaching, and energy psychology, I finally found language for what I had sensed.

Here’s what the research shows:

The human brain is wired to detect danger. 
We read facial expressions, words, body language and energy.

When there is a mismatch between words, expressions, and true intent, the brain reads it as incongruence.

The nervous system experiences cognitive dissonance.

One part registers “All Right.”
Another registers “danger.”

This contradiction creates a prediction error in the brain.

It drains mental energy fast and leaves people tense, confused, and depleted - even when nothing “overt” was said.

That’s why some conversations exhaust you without open conflict.

And why excessive diplomacy with misaligned intent is so damaging.

It’s not professionalism.
It’s gaslighting.

True presence is not about how polished your words are. 

That’s what I believed early in my career.
It’s also what many leaders still believe.

Presence is not about language, accent, or being endlessly agreeable.

Presence is coherence.

Your thoughts, words, actions, and intent point in the same direction.

People don’t trust leaders because they’re polite. They trust leaders because there is consistency.

What is said aligns with what is done.

There is calm clarity that replaces ambiguity.

Honesty that is not performative.

You can dress well. Speak beautifully. Smile constantly.

But you can’t fake intent.

Your energy speaks before your words do.
And people feel it, even if they can’t explain it.

That’s the real work of executive presence.

Not performing leadership.

But becoming someone whose presence doesn’t need decoding.

If leadership communication and executive presence are skills you want to work on this year to grow as a leader and elevate your career, ‘Speak with Impact’ is a program that will help.

DM ‘Impact’ and I will send you the details.

“I sound confident in my head.
But in the room, my presence shrinks.”

I hear this from leaders all the time.

And no, it’s not because you lack intelligence, experience, or preparation.

It’s because many leaders are building confidence the wrong way.

Quick clarity first, then the real work.

In my 2 decades of experience working with leaders, here are 7 mistakes, I have seen leaders believe build speaking confidence, but they don’t. 

⸻

1. Mistake: Preparing more content
You think confidence comes from having more to say.

What works: Fewer points, clearer thinking.

Confidence grows when your mind isn’t overloaded.

⸻

2. Mistake: Rehearsing sentences
You try to memorise how you’ll sound.

What works: Regulating your state
If your nervous system is steady, words organise themselves.

⸻

3. Mistake: Speaking faster to sound sharp.

Speed feels like confidence, but it reads as urgency.

What works: Slowing down deliberately
Pace signals authority more than vocabulary ever will.

⸻

4. Mistake: Making eye contact too intentionally.

You’re trying to look confident.

What works: Feeling grounded in your body.

Presence is felt, not performed.

⸻

5. Mistake: Waiting for confidence to show up.

You expect confidence to arrive before you speak.

What works: Speaking from clarity, not courage.

Clarity precedes confidence, not the other way around.

⸻

6. Mistake: Copying confident speakers
You borrow styles that don’t belong to you.

What works: Finding your natural rhythm
Confidence increases when you stop impersonating others.

⸻

7. Mistake: Treating confidence as a personality trait.

You assume some people “just have it.”

What works: Training inner steadiness
Confidence is a capacity, built through consistency, not talent.

⸻

Here’s a point most communication programs miss:

You don’t freeze because you don’t know what to say.

You freeze because your system tightens before your words arrive.

Speaking confidently isn’t a language problem.

It’s an inner stability problem.

And once that stability is trained, presence stops shrinking, even in high-stakes rooms.

Repost if this helps others♻️

What do you do when you’re triggered?

Recently, a client shared something that many leaders quietly experience.

He received an email from his boss.
Polite. Diplomatic. Professionally written.

But underneath, it questioned his people skills.

To his credit, he handled it well.

He didn’t react.
He didn’t defend himself impulsively.
He paused, gathered facts, and sent a clear, composed response.

From the outside, it looked like strong leadership.

But inside, it was different.

His chest felt tight.
His stomach churned.
His body stayed tense for hours.

Later, he asked me a thoughtful question:

“How do I manage myself when this happens again?”

This is the part most leaders miss.

Triggering moments are not primarily mindset problems.

They are nervous system events.

Your body reacts first.
Your mind follows with a story later.

You can “handle” the situation externally…
and still carry the stress internally for hours, days, or longer.

So the goal isn’t to stop getting triggered.
The goal is to recover faster.

When you’re triggered:

→ Pause the conversation if you can
→ Don’t rush to fix the feeling with logic
→ Reset the body before analysing the situation

Because you can’t think your way out of a physiological response.

This is why I teach leaders somatic tools like breathwork and nervous system regulation.

Not to avoid pressure. (You can’t!)
But to clear it, quickly and cleanly.

In today’s high-stakes environments, your real advantage is how fast you return to calm after being triggered.

That’s leadership capacity.
And it’s a skill worth training.

#communication #leadershipdevelopment #emotionalintelligénce #executivecoach

If you are a leader, you know executive presence is not about being cheerful.

It’s about regulation.

Staying in a good mood doesn’t mean nothing is going wrong.

It means you’re not letting every external demand hijack your internal state.

→ Deadlines pile up.
→ People disappoint.
→ Plans change.
→ Pressure shows up uninvited.

And still, you stay focused.

Not because you are unaffected.
But because you have learned what deserves your energy, and what doesn’t.

This is what separates leaders who burn out from leaders who endure.

They don’t react to everything.
They don’t personalise every challenge.

They don’t let stress decide their tone, their decisions, or their presence.

Calm isn’t passive.
It’s a disciplined choice.

And in rooms filled with noise, urgency, and drama, the leader who can stay steady quietly sets the standard.

That’s executive presence! 

♻️ Repost to help your network navigate tough transitions with calm clarity. 

🔔 Follow Mallika Rao for more strategies on High Performance and Wellbeing.

Personal transitions have a way of distorting time.

When life is good, we rush through it.
When life is hard, it feels endless.

That’s why this reminder matters.

Every situation is temporary.
Not to dismiss the pain.
Not to bypass the joy.
But to help us meet both more honestly.

In my work with leaders, founders, and high performers, I see this pattern often:

→ When things are going well, they’re already planning the next milestone.

→ When things are difficult, they assume something is “wrong” with them.

Personal transitions don’t come with timelines.

No playbooks.

No clear markers that say, “You’re doing this right.”

So people either:

↳ push harder when rest is needed
↳ or numb themselves when presence is required

Both come at a cost.

What helps is not fixing the phase.
It’s learning how to be with it.

To receive the good fully, without guilt.
To sit with the hard, without panic.

Because transitions don’t last forever.

But how you move through them shapes who you become on the other side.

If you’re in a season of change - personal, professional, or quietly internal, and feel like you’re holding more than you can name, you don’t have to navigate it alone.

Whenever you’re ready, here are two ways I support this work:

→ InnerEdge™ for leaders navigating life or career transitions who want clarity, emotional steadiness, and self-trust.

→ Speak with Impact™ for leaders working on communication, presence, and calm authority under pressure.

Different seasons need different support.
You’ll know which one fits where you are right now.

If this resonates, my inbox is open.

Do you have a daily practice to manage stress? 

I have been practicing meditation for over 2 decades and here is what I know. 

It's not as time consuming as you think.

Worst case scenario you will lose 20 mins of your day. 

Best case scenario that 20 mins will takecare of the rest of the 23hrs, 40mins of your day. 

Because stress doesn’t only show up as “feeling tense.”

It shows up as:

– short temper in meetings
– foggy thinking
– poor decisions under pressure
– low patience at home
– constant fatigue that sleep doesn’t fix

What’s actually expensive…is not managing stress.

When stress keeps accumulating, it doesn’t stay manageable. It turns into chronic anxiety. Then burnout.

And burnout doesn’t cost you minutes.
It costs you months, sometimes years of recovery, clarity, and momentum.

Meditation is a way of training your nervous system to return to baseline, so you can think clearly, respond calmly, and lead without running on fumes.

If you want to begin your meditation journey and improve your productivity and well-being, write to me. 

♻️ Repost to help your network navigate tough transitions with calm clarity. 

🔔 Follow Mallika Rao for more strategies on High Performance and Wellbeing.

7 practical strategies to set yourself up for calm and composure this week.

Anxiety and overwhelm don’t usually come from too much work.

They come from starting the week internally unsteady.

In my work with leaders, I’ve noticed this pattern again and again:

When your inner state is rushed, the week feels chaotic.

When your inner state is grounded, even a heavy week becomes manageable.

These are not productivity hacks.
They are state-setting practices.

1. Start the week by choosing a state, not a target.

Before asking “What needs to be done?”
Ask: “How do I want to show up this week?”

Calm is a decision before it’s an outcome.

2. Regulate before you engage.

Don’t open email or step into meetings straight from urgency.

Two minutes of stillness before engagement changes how your nervous system responds all day.

3. Decide what will not get your energy.

Composure grows when boundaries are clear.

Every calm week has something consciously left undone.

4. Slow your first conversation of the day.

The nervous system takes cues early.

Rushing your first interaction often sets a reactive tone that lasts hours.

5. Treat anxiety as information, not a flaw.

Anxiety usually signals overload, misalignment, or unprocessed emotion, not weakness.

Listen to it before it escalates.

6. Reduce decisions in the morning.

Decision fatigue creates irritability and impatience.

Fewer early choices preserve calm later.

7. Create one daily anchor and keep it boring.

Same walk.
Same breathing practice.
Same pause.

Predictability creates safety, and safety creates composure.

Calm isn’t passive.
It’s trained.

When you enter the week grounded,
you don’t need to control everything to feel okay.

And that’s when leadership starts to feel steady again.

Set the tone gently.

Repost to help your network. ♻️

Over the weekend, we went hiking with friends. We started the hike at 5am and reached the top just short of 7am. 

It’s winter here and morning temperature was around 10 degrees celsius. Very cold for Hyderabad climate. 

When we reached at the top, the sun was bright and warm, shining upon us as if welcoming with open arms. 

My friend soaking in the sun with closed eyes and smile on her face remarked, ‘I feel so alive’. 

That’s it, that’s what everyone wants to feel, isn’t it?……..Alive …..again!

Last week most of my coaching conversations were around leaders who want to find the spark again, to feel the energy and enthusiasm they once had.

Because when you strip everything down, that’s the real longing beneath most conversations I’ve been having lately.

Not:
→ How do I manage stress better?
→ How do I optimise my schedule?
→ How do I play office politics smarter?
→ How do I upskill for the next role?

But something far more honest.

I don’t feel alive anymore.

I meet leaders every week who are doing everything “right” on paper.

Responsible. Successful. Composed.

And yet, somewhere along the way, the aliveness dimmed.

The curiosity.
The enthusiasm.
The sense of being present in their own life.

That’s not failing, that’s just living in survival mode while calling it success.

Here’s what I’ve learned, both personally and professionally:

The greatest gift you can give yourself isn’t stress management.

It isn’t healing burnout.
It isn’t another strategy.

It’s coming back to life.

→ To feeling.
→ To presence.
→ To that quiet inner “yes” that reminds you you’re still here.

When you feel alive again:

→ decisions become clearer
→ energy returns naturally
→ confidence stops being forced
→ life feels participatory, not performative

Isn’t that a better way to access peak performance? 

♻️ Repost to help your network navigate life & work transitions with ease & grace.

🔔 Follow Mallika Rao for more strategies on High Performance and Wellbeing.

I was just 21 when I started working with executives in a Fortune 500 company.

I found myself sitting in boardrooms where important decisions were being made.

High stakes. Sharp minds. Little room for error.

My role was - Communications Specialist.

I was there to capture the minutes, read the room, and later translate those conversations into corporate announcements and emails.

When I accepted the job, I honestly didn’t know what I was getting into.

In those early meetings, I struggled.
Not with language, but with context.

Decisions were made quickly.
Confidently.
Almost effortlessly.

I remember thinking, How do they know?

How do they arrive at clarity so fast?

Over time, just by observing, listening, and absorbing, I learned some quiet but powerful lessons about leadership communication. 

Lessons that still guide my work today.

Here are five of them:

1. The most powerful voices speak the least.

The leaders who carried the most influence didn’t dominate the room.

They waited.
They listened.

And when they spoke, the room shifted.

2. Clarity beats cleverness. Every single time.

No jargon. No over-explaining.

The best communicators used simple language to express complex thinking.

That’s what made decisions move.

3. Presence matters more than persuasion.
Influence wasn’t about convincing others.

It came from steadiness - how grounded someone was while speaking, especially under pressure.

4. Good leaders separate emotion from urgency.

Even when discussions were heated, the strongest leaders stayed regulated.

They didn’t react.
They responded.
That calm created trust.

5. Communication is shaped long before you speak.

What showed up in the room wasn’t rehearsed confidence.

It was the result of how leaders thought, prepared, and regulated themselves before the meeting.

Those early years quietly shaped my understanding of leadership.

I learned that executive communication is not about sounding smart.

It is thinking clearly and staying steady, and that moves people forward.

Even today, when I work with leaders, I often think back to that 21-year-old version of me - sitting silently in boardrooms, learning what real presence looks like.

And the lesson that stays with me most is this, 

Leadership communication is not performative. It reveals itself because of the inner-stability you have honed.

If you are a leader who want your words to carry weight, not by pushing harder, but because you show up steadier, this work matters.

And it’s learnable.

…………………………………………………………………

If leadership communication and executive presence are skills you are looking to improve this year for career growth, DM “Impact” and I will share with you about my program “Speak with Impact”.

You are “successful” on paper, but it is not working for you anymore.

I’m not just talking about politics at work, missed bonuses, or slower promotions.

I’m talking about what it’s actually costing you.

→ Emotionally

When you wake up already tired, not from lack of sleep, but from the weight of decisions waiting for you.

When your mind replays conversations:

↳ Did I say too much?
↳ Should I have pushed back?
↳ Did I miss something important?

When you’re “present” at home, but mentally still in meetings - snapping at loved ones, scrolling endlessly, unable to switch off.

This isn’t just “stress”.
This is unprocessed mental load.

→ ....in missed opportunities

That role you could have gone for, but didn’t have the bandwidth.
That internal move, board role, startup idea, or book you keep postponing.

That version of leadership you know you’re capable of, but can’t access because your mental energy is already spent by noon.

…over time:

Because constant micro-decisions slowly erode clarity.

You start second-guessing yourself.
You rely more on consensus.
You delay decisions you once made decisively.

Confidence doesn’t disappear overnight.
It leaks quietly.

→ ....in your relationships:

When your family gets the leftovers of your attention.
When you’re holding together teams, stakeholders, and expectations all day, and have nothing left by evening.
When being “strong” at work means being emotionally unavailable at home.

You think it’s “just the job.”
But it’s shaping how you show up everywhere.

→ Like the leader promoted into a bigger role without support, now making 50+ decisions a day, none of them deeply satisfying.

→ Or the high performer stuck in constant firefighting, admired for reliability, quietly exhausted by the lack of strategic space.

→ Or the executive whose body finally said enough, through anxiety, insomnia, or health issues, because the mind never got a pause.

It’s about unexamined load that breaks you down.

The question isn’t:

Can you keep performing like this?

The real question is:

Can you afford to keep leading without clarity, space, and inner stability?

Because leadership isn’t lost in big failures.
It’s lost in a thousand small, unseen decisions made from depletion.

And that’s the cost no one talks about.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Hi, 

I am Mallika, an Executive Coach and Wellbeing Expert. I work with leaders navigating tough transitions and who want to, 

→ Lead with Calm Clarity 
→ Communicate with Confidence & 
→ Executive Presence 

If you believe in performing from a place of peace, not pressure & want to explore coaching with me, DM “Calm”. I work with a few private clients every quarter. 

Wishing you the best!

Do you want to be a leader people respect?


Not impressed.
Not fear.
Actually respect.

Here are my 2 cents : 

Respect doesn’t come from how knowledgeable you sound during presentations.

Or how polished you look in meetings.

Or how many leadership books you quote.

It comes from how human you are when it matters.

I’ve worked with senior leaders, CXOs, founders - people with serious titles.

And you know what makes others lean in?

Not titles.
Not jargons.
Not perfectly rehearsed pitch.

It’s this:

→ How they listen when no one is watching.

→ How they speak when they disagree.

→ How they treat people who “can’t do anything” for them.

→ How they handle pressure without leaking it onto others.

Manners.
Presence.
Consistency.

That’s where power actually lives.

You don’t earn respect by impressive credentials or polished appearance. 

You earn it over months and years - in meetings, corridors, tough conversations, and ordinary moments.

Please…

Less ‘plastic speech’.
Less performance.
Less posturing.

And more grounded, regulated, human leadership.

Because at the end of the day…

People don’t follow titles.
They follow energy.
They follow how you make them feel in the room.

That’s what lasts.

That’s what builds influence.

And that’s what real leadership presence looks like.

#leadershipdevelopment #executivecoaching #transitions #communication #presence

I used to love my job.
I don’t enjoy it anymore.

A leader said this to me in our very first session.

Over 20 years of experience.

Known as a high performer.
Respected. Still delivering.

Nothing had “collapsed.”

But something had quietly faded.

When he spoke, I could hear it.

The focus wasn’t the same.

The energy felt harder to reach.

The enthusiasm that once came naturally now needed effort.

He did not call it burnout.
He didn’t think he was failing.

But Mondays had started to feel heavy.

Infact, that feeling crept in saturday morning.

He even considered taking a sabbatical.

Then reality showed up.

Bills to pay.

Kids who would need college funds in a few years.

Responsibilities that don’t pause just because motivation dips.

So he kept going.

From the outside, everything looked fine.
From the inside, work had started to feel hollow.

I asked him “What changed?”

He paused…….for a long time and said, NOTHING

Same job, same expectations, but the spark is gone. 

This is what I see with many experienced leaders.

You don’t fall apart.
You don’t break down.
You keep performing.

And internally, you have lost that enthusiasm you once had.

That mismatch creates quiet disengagement.

Not drama.
Not crisis.

Just a slow loss of connection.

If you’ve ever caught yourself thinking,
“I used to enjoy this more than I do now,”

Often, it means you have been carrying too much too long.

For many leaders, the work isn’t about leaving their job.

It’s about rebalancing their nervous system. 

Restoring clarity.
Rebuilding energy.

And learning how to lead from a steadier place, without losing yourself in the process.

If you’re exhausted, disengaged, or quietly burning out, and you don’t want another productivity hack or motivational push. 

I work with leaders 1:1 to help them recover from burnout the right way.

No shortcuts.
No forcing energy back.
No pretending you’re fine.

6 weeks of steady, holistic work that restores calm, clarity, and inner balance, so you can lead and live without running on depletion.

If this speaks to where you are right now,
DM me “Calm” and let’s get on a call.

Struggling with a racing mind? 


Most people are.

The mind in constant motion feels like chaos.

→ Thoughts pile up.
→ Decisions feel heavy.
→ Rest never quite lands.

The mind that’s calm feels different.

There’s clarity.

You respond instead of react.

Energy stops leaking.

This is where perspective widens.

Where insight shows up without effort.
Where you stop fighting yourself.

This is why meditation, mindfulness, and deep awareness aren’t “wellness extras.”

They’re performance skills.

A calm mind makes better decisions.

A calm mind communicates with authority.

A calm mind sustains success without burnout.

And in a world that rewards speed,
the ability to slow the mind is a quiet advantage few train for.

But those who do…lead better lives, at work and beyond.

This is why meditation, mindfulness, and deep awareness are the gateways to meaningful success at work and in personal life. 

#mindfulness #meditation #wellbeing #emotionalintelligence

I’ve been working with clients on how we enter a new year.

Not with big declarations.
Not with pressure to do more.

But with a quieter question:
How do I want to live this year?

For me, the answer is intention - in my work, my choices, my pace, my relationships.

I’ve shared a short note with my newsletter community reflecting on this, and inviting us all to choose a gentler, truer North Star for the year ahead.

If you’re craving growth that feels steady,
joy that feels honest,
and a life that feels deeply lived, 
this one is for you.

Read the newsletter → https://lnkd.in/gYdCqxMu

Please share it with those who want quiet reflections about living a life with calm clarity and meaningful growth. Thank You!

A few months ago, I was invited to speak to a group of entrepreneurs.

They were tired of business strategies and productivity frameworks.

Many were stressed, anxious, and mentally stretched.

They wanted a different kind of conversation.

“Calm in Chaos.”

So I spoke about stress and burnout.

How it quietly erodes decision-making, presence, and performance.

How it doesn’t show up as collapse, but as reduced clarity and reactivity.

One person asked: 

“Is there a tool I can use to get calm, clarity, and confidence… quickly?”

My recommendation! 
MEDITATION 

A few gladly nodded. 
And a few were not so thrilled. 
Meditation clearly wasn’t their favourite option.

One of them said, we heard about it so many times, is there something more powerful? 

He said, “Something fast.”

What he was really asking for.

A switch.
A shortcut.
A red pill.

I wish I had one.

I wish I could give you a word, a hack, or a mindset shift that instantly transforms how your system responds under pressure.

But there isn’t one.
At least, not one I know of.

Calm isn’t a concept you install.
It’s a capacity you build.

Confidence isn’t a thought you repeat.
It’s a state that comes from repeated regulation.

Presence isn’t something you remember in the moment.

It’s what shows up when your system has been trained long before the moment arrives.

High performers don’t struggle because they don’t know enough.

They struggle because they lack practice. 
Knowing is not doing. 

And that’s the quiet truth most leadership conversations skip.

You don’t need more information.

You need consistent practice that trains your nervous system to stay steady, so when chaos shows up, calm isn’t something you reach for.

It’s already there.

If you are a leader who want to learnt emotional regulation tools and techniques to stay calm even under pressure, write to me. 

♻️ Repost to help your network.

How to Communicate When You’re Triggered
(Especially when politics are involved)

When you’re triggered, the instinct is to think harder.

Replay the email.
Draft responses in your head.
Justify. Defend. Rehearse.

But clarity doesn’t come from better thinking in those moments.
It comes from stabilising first.

Because when your nervous system is activated, your mind is already compromised.

This week’s newsletter goes deeper into this:

→ Why triggers stay in the body long after the situation is “handled”
→ Why mindset alone doesn’t work under pressure
→ And what leaders actually need to do before they communicate
I took time with this one.

It’s reflective, practical, and grounded in real leadership situations.

If you’ve ever stayed calm on the outside, while your body was spiralling inside, this one is for you.

📩 Read the newsletter here.

(Especially when people's politics are involved) A leader I work with received an unpleasant email from his boss. On the surface, it was polite. Profe

Open article: How to Communicate When You’re Triggered by Mallika Rao • 4 min read

How to Communicate When You’re Triggered

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The Battle

Utkarsh Narang

Mallika Rao

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Posts

Engagements

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Utkarsh Narang's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreUtkarsh Narang's LinkedIn Performance