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

JSESSIONID

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.

Ehsan Ali 🚀

Top-Ranked Australian Career Coach | Helped 100+ Senior IT Pros Land $200K–$400K+ Roles | 2–4 Level Jumps. 30%–120% Raises. | Take the 3-Min Quiz & Uncover Your Hidden Growth Blockers

More skill doesn’t guarantee senior growth.

Not after 15–25 years.

Over the last 4+ years, I’ve worked with senior IT professionals across the spectrum.

From Senior S/W Engineers 
to Big 4 Directors 
and VPs of Technology.

And the same situations keep showing up:

• Impacted by layoffs
• Placed on PIPs despite a strong track record
• Years of stagnation at the same level
• Strong performance, no upward pathway

Different situations. Same constraint.

At senior levels, careers stop advancing on effort alone.They advance through positioning and access.

If your experience isn't positioned clearly, communicated at executive level, and seen by the right decision-makers, opportunities don’t open. 


I’ve lived it too.

After 22 years across delivery and commercial leadership, and $100M+ programs, I hit my own ceiling.

Not because I lacked capability. Because I lacked a strategy to convert it into the next level.

Today, I help Indian-origin senior IT professionals globally move into $250K–$400K+ next-level roles through strategic positioning.

Recent outcomes:

• Tim (Senior Director): 18 months without a role to two $300K+ offers in 10 weeks

• Urvish (Senior S/W Engineer): laid off to Principal Engineer in 10 weeks, then Director in 12 months

• Hesham (Architect): $200K to $650K+ package in 3 months

Those results come from one system I run every time: Value Amplifier Method™

If you’re assessing your next move:

👉 Take the 2-minute diagnostic used by 1,200+ senior IT professionals (link in featured section)

👉 DM me ROUNDTABLE for the upcoming private roundtable

Podcast Host & Producer

Australia's 1st Business & Career podcast featuring inspiring stories of Indian Expats who either successfully transitioned into entrepreneurship or excelled in their careers beyond the perceived limitations and ceiling

Ehsan Ali

“Being ready” is a myth.

You start.
You mess it up.
You figure things out.
You get better.

That line sums up my last 5 years.

In 2020, I walked away from a solid IT career.

Not because I had a plan.
Not because I felt ready.

I just knew I didn’t want another decade of playing safe and calling it success.

Then reality hit.

Covid.
Redundancy.
Savings I thought would last 2 years were gone in under 18 months.

Still no clear direction.
Still moving forward anyway.

One small decision changed things.

I started a podcast.

That single move put me in rooms I was never in before.
People doing well in corporate.
Others who had made the jump into business.

Patterns started to show up.

Success wasn’t luck.
It was structure.
The right people.
Leverage.

I hired a coach.
We broke down my story, strengths, and experience.

Career coaching stood out.

It took another 18 months to replace my income.
Nothing about it was smooth.

I learned this:

• Don’t build alone.
• Your environment shapes your speed.
• Guidance beats guessing.

Clarity doesn’t come first.
Action does.

♻️ Repost if this feels familiar
🔔 Follow Ehsan Ali for honest career growth conversations

Career Strategist for Senior IT Professionals | Rebuilding confidence and repositioning for 2–4 level jumps and $250K–$400K+ roles

I watched Vidya Balan say something I still haven’t been able to shake.

Early in her career, she was replaced from a film.
Labelled a "bad omen".

She went to meet the producer.
With her parents.

He showed clips from the movie.
Then looked at her parents and said:

“Does she look like heroine material from any angle?”
“She can’t act.”
“She can’t dance.”

She said for six months after that,
she couldn’t look at herself in the mirror.

Then she said this:

“You want to remove someone, do it.
But be careful with your words.”

Because words have power.

That hit close to home.

Early days after leaving corporate, I was scared.

I interviewed with a VP.
He liked me.
Said he wanted to hire me.

Then he disappeared.

Months later, I heard the “market feedback”.

That I was good for nothing.
Not delivery.
Not sales.
Not anything.

That kind of feedback doesn’t just hurt.
It messes with your self-belief.

I had a choice.

Succumb to it.
Or refuse it.

I’m grateful for the people who stood by me.
Who reminded me who I was when I started to doubt myself.

Instead of shrinking, I doubled down.

Not on explaining my past.
Not on defending results I had delivered.

But on building my coaching practice from scratch.
Quietly.
With full focus.

What followed still humbles me.

100s of life-changing breakthroughs.
People rebuilding belief in themselves
after PIPs, layoffs, rejection, self-doubt.

Through helping others rise,
my belief in myself rose too.

Then the income followed.
3–4x my corporate salary.

And sometimes… I get chills.

Thinking about this one question:

What if I had believed those words?

♻️ Repost if leaders need to read this before they speak.

Video credit: YouTube

Career Strategist for Indian-Origin Senior IT Professionals | Advancing into $250K–$400K+ next-level roles through strategic positioning, even in a crowded market

Leaders don't micromanage weak IT pros.
They micromanage the ones they can't replace.

Every manager calls it “oversight.”
It’s not.
It’s fear.

I’ve coached hundreds of senior IT pros over the last 4+ years.
And I’ve seen the pattern repeat:

Senior pros who’ve:
▪️Stabilized critical systems that everyone else avoided
▪️Made decisions that saved entire projects
▪️Pulled all-nighters fixing disasters nobody else could touch

…still get second-guessed.
Still get asked, “Why did you do it this way?”
Still get nudged to justify every call they make.

Here’s the truth most leaders avoid:
You’re not micromanaging incompetence.
You’re micromanaging irreplaceability.

And here’s what it costs top talent:
1️⃣ They stop raising risks early.
2️⃣ They pick “safe” moves instead of bold solutions.
3️⃣ They start planning exits quietly smiling in meetings while disengaging.

The cost to you?

Teams lose initiative.
Innovation stalls.
Your top performers quietly check out.

The fix isn't telling yourself to "trust them more."
It's letting go of control you never needed.

If this felt familiar, you already know why it matters.  

♻️ Repost if you've seen capable people get second-guessed instead of trusted.
  
🔔 Follow Ehsan Ali for senior IT leadership truths that actually work.

Early in our careers, we chase what we’re told matters.

Titles.
Certifications.
Big names.

And for a while, it works.

Then something changes.

People stop talking about your resume.

They talk about how it felt to work with you.

They remember:
• whether you made things calmer or heavier
• whether meetings felt clearer after you spoke
• whether problems shrank when you got involved
• whether they trusted you with messy things

That’s what sticks.

Two people can have the same experience.

One becomes reliable.
The other becomes remembered.

And remembered people don’t chase opportunities.

They get pulled into them.

Worth a second thought?

♻️ Repost if this resonates.
🔔 Follow Ehsan Ali for senior career strategies and tools.

* TRUTH BOMB *

Age 40–60 is the prime career time.

You’ve seen patterns.
Made hard calls.
You know what actually works.

Yet most careers stagnate quietly by 40.

Not because experience expires.
But because ambition gets trained out.

Nobody starts a long career aiming for average.

Yet most accept it.

They don’t fail.
They adjust expectations.

They stop asking hard questions.
They start explaining things away.

“Market is tough.”
“Ageism is real.”
“I should be grateful.”

After speaking with 2,000+ professionals
and helping 140+ rebuild their careers,
here’s the truth:

It’s not talent.
It’s conditioning.

Be reliable.
Wait your turn.
Don’t rock the boat.

That’s what slowly stagnates careers.

The ones who break through at 45, 50, 60
aren’t louder or luckier.

They choose strategy. 
Early.

If you’ve spent 15+ years in IT, delivered complex programs, and still feel underutilised, this is for you.

This month only, I’m sharing the same growth strategies my mid–senior IT clients pay $2,500+ per month for.

3 closed-door, small-group roundtables.
Free. By invitation only.

If your career feels slower than your potential,
DM me ROUNDTABLE.

♻️ Repost this for someone with decades left.
🔔 Follow me for strategic senior IT career frameworks.

Career Strategist for Indian-Origin Senior IT Professionals | $250K–$400K+ Tech Leadership Roles | 120+ Breakthroughs | Value Amplifier Method™

The most dangerous place in your career isn’t failure.

It’s being good at what you do in a role that no longer stretches you.

You’re trusted. 
You’re reliable. 
You’re low risk. 

People know they can count on you when things get messy.

From the outside, that looks like success.

But here’s the uncomfortable part.

At senior levels, comfort doesn’t always mean progress. 
Sometimes it means your name isn’t coming up when next-level decisions are made.

You’re still valued. You’re just no longer considered.

Nothing breaks. 
No feedback lands. 
No moment forces a decision.

So you keep delivering. And your boss keeps you exactly where you are.

That’s how careers don’t fall behind. 
They just stay still for too long.

♻️ Repost if this feels uncomfortably familiar 
➕ Follow Ehsan Ali for grounded career thinking

7 Things Your Boss Needs to Hear If You Want to Grow

Your boss doesn’t promote the hardest worker.
They promote the one they see as a leader.

And leadership?
It’s not just in what you do.
It’s in what you say.

After 20 years in IT and coaching, I’ve seen it all:
Talented pros left invisible.
Smart players passed over.
Leaders-in-waiting ignored.

Not because they lacked skills.
But because they stayed silent.

If you want your boss to notice you, start here:

1️⃣ “I have a suggestion to improve X.”
Leaders show vision, not just execution. Elevate.

2️⃣ “I’d like to take on more.”
Ambition speaks louder when paired with a plan.

3️⃣ “I made a mistake.”
Trust grows when honesty comes before excuses.

4️⃣ “I need help with…”
Strength isn’t silence. It’s seeking growth with solutions in hand.

5️⃣ “Thank you for trusting me with this.”
Gratitude builds loyalty more than results alone.

6️⃣ “Can we discuss my career goals?”
No one will own your future if you don’t.

7️⃣ “Can you give me feedback?”
The fastest growth comes from listening.

These aren’t just words.
They’re signals that tell your boss: I’m ready for more.

Which of these have you said out loud this year?
And which one still feels hardest to bring up?

I’ll be unpacking how and when to have these conversations in a small career roundtable this month.
DM ROUNDTABLE to join. Spots are limited.

♻ Share this to help a corporate buddy rise
➕ Follow me(Ehsan Ali) for real IT career moves, no generic fluff

7 Conversations That Get You Seen as a Leader

The most painful career years aren’t the bad ones.

They’re the quiet ones.

There’s no crisis. No blow-up. No obvious reason to leave.
Just a role that feels “fine”… and before you know it, another year is gone.

You’re still delivering. Still dependable. Still the person people lean on when things go sideways.
From the outside, everything looks steady.

But the momentum you expected at this stage just isn’t showing up.

And that’s the trap.

When nothing is wrong, you don’t course-correct.
You don’t pause long enough to question direction.
You just keep going.

Until one day you realise you’ve been working hard under the same ceiling for longer than you planned.
Same level. Same type of work. Same conversations. Same “maybe next cycle.”

If that quiet drift feels familiar, don’t brush it off.

It’s rarely a capability issue.
More often, it’s a direction issue.

And direction doesn’t arrive through patience.
It arrives through decisions.

♻️ Repost if this puts words to something you’ve felt
➕ Follow Ehsan Ali for grounded career strategy for mid-senior IT professionals

It’s rarely a skill problem.
It’s a reliability trap.

Most senior IT professionals don’t realise they're trapped in it until growth quietly stops. 

They don't get stuck because they lack capability.
They get stuck because reliability becomes their ceiling.

If you’re the person everyone depends on, this will feel familiar.

You deliver.
You fix problems.
You keep things running.

And without anyone saying it out loud, expectations shift.

You’re trusted to execute.
But not trusted to decide.

You become dependable.
Not promotable.

Work keeps increasing.
Your level doesn’t.

That’s the silent trade-off reliable professionals are never warned about.

The carousel breaks down 7 quiet traps that keep capable people stuck.

If you’ve ever felt:

• Needed, but not advanced
• Relied on, but not promoted
• Busy, but not moving

Swipe through.
You’ll recognise the pattern fast.

🔖 Save this if it hit closer than expected.
♻️ Repost for someone quietly carrying too much.
➕ Follow Ehsan Ali for no-BS career growth insights

7 Quiet Traps Keeping You Stuck at Mid-Senior Level

If you’re a 40-year-old IT professional,
You likely have 20+ years of career left.

Pause on that!

If you already feel stuck or under-recognised today,
What do you think the next 20 years would look like?

Staying in roles that don’t stretch you.
Hoping restructures don’t touch you.
Accepting work below your capability.

And if you’re laid off?

Update the CV.
Apply.
Wait.
Hear nothing.
Repeat.

How many times will you repeat that cycle
over the next 20 years?

That’s not a career.
That’s survival.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

Most professionals don’t get stuck because they lack talent.
They get stuck because they stop believing more is possible.

“I don’t know if I still have what it takes.”
“I didn’t keep up with the market.”
“I should be grateful.”
“I don’t want to rock the boat.”

Those quiet self-talks end more careers than failure ever will.

Most people wait for the market, their boss, or the next restructure
to decide their future.

What if instead, you took control?

Designed the next 20 years on your terms.
Built recognition, income, and titles intentionally.

That’s exactly what I’ll unpack in a small, private roundtable this Saturday.

It’s a strategy I’ve refined over the last 4 years,
and the same one my clients used to create outcomes they once believed weren’t for them:

• $200K → $650K+
• Engineer → Director (3-level jump)
• 18 months jobless → two $300K+ offers in 10 weeks
• Unknown → global Top 100 recognition

This isn’t for everyone.

It’s for senior IT professionals
who don’t want to spend the next 20 years in mediocrity and regrets.

If this felt uncomfortably familiar,
DM me ROUNDTABLE.

♻️ Repost this to help a senior IT professional who needs to read it
🔔 Follow me (Ehsan Ali) for real career strategy, not CV tips and generic advice

I’ve watched some of the most capable professionals in IT slowly switch off.

They didn’t struggle with the work.
They weren’t unskilled.
They just stopped being noticed.

Here’s the truth about leadership:
Appreciation isn’t about being nice.
It’s proof that you see effort.

It shows if their ideas and work matter, or if only results do.

Most leaders think:
"They’re paid. That’s enough."
Wrong.

When people feel unappreciated, they don’t complain.
They pull back.

They stop raising issues.
Stop volunteering solutions.
Stop owning outcomes beyond their role.

Work still gets done.
But leaders lose the energy, ideas, and loyalty that push teams forward.

Here’s what actually happens:

❎ Effort vanishes
❎ Feedback dries up
❎ Innovation stalls  
❎ Top performers quietly leave

This isn’t a people problem.
It’s a leadership failure.

Appreciation isn’t “good job” after it's done.
It’s noticing effort in the moment, not just after a win.

People who feel seen give more.
People who don’t… hold back.

Strong leaders don’t squeeze results.
They make people want to step up.

Question for leaders:
Do your people feel judged or truly seen?

♻️ Repost if someone on your team needs this.
🔔 Follow Ehsan Ali for leadership, career moves, and scaling teams that actually work.

7 Things You Tolerate 
That Are Quietly Shrinking Your Career

You may not have built this cage,
but you’re holding the key.

Here’s what it often looks like:

🔴 A boss who praises you — but never advocates for you
🔴 Work that keeps you busy — but doesn’t grow your value
🔴 A reputation that’s respected — but only inside your team
🔴 Loyalty that gets applauded — but not rewarded
🔴 Visibility that ends at your job title

These aren’t small annoyances.

They’re slow leaks draining momentum, visibility, and belief.

👉 Each of these has a fix.
Swipe through to see where you may be tolerating more than you realise.

Before the market decides for you,
there’s a short self-assessment on my profile.

Less than 2 minutes.
It shows how you’re currently being positioned, 
and where momentum is leaking.

♻️ Repost if someone in your network needs this mirror
🔔 Follow Ehsan Ali for career strategy that works today, not in 2010

7 Things You Tolerate That Are Shrinking Your Career

If you’re struggling to move to the next level in your career,
You already know this:

✅ Job boards don’t work
✅ The best roles go to people already in the circle

So you try to “network.”

But it feels off.
You sound like a job beggar.
They ghost you.
You start doubting yourself.

Then what?

You pull back.
Tweak the resume.
Update LinkedIn.
Apply again.
Even though you know it won’t work.

Meanwhile, your confidence fades.

Here’s the truth no one teaches you:

💥 It’s not your experience.
💥 It’s not your resume.
💥 It’s your conversation strategy.

Because at $250K–$400K+?

You don’t chase roles.
You build trust first.
You get invited in.
You shape offers around your value.

That’s why these private conversations matter.

They’re not casual chats.
They’re strategic career moves.

Top performers use them to:
– Unlock unlisted roles
– Build trust with decision-makers
– Get pulled into opportunities before they’re public

If you’re not having these conversations,
You’re not “early.”
You’re invisible.

That’s exactly what we break down inside my private senior-level roundtable.

Real scenarios.
Real conversations.

You’re not learning in isolation.
You’re pressure-testing your thinking with peers who already operate at this level, and seeing where your approach breaks.

No theory.
Just honest calibration on how these conversations actually land.

DM “ROUNDTABLE”
This is where stalled senior careers get unstuck.

♻️ Repost this if someone you know is stuck in job-board limbo
🔔 Follow Ehsan Ali for $250K–$400K+ career plays that actually work

Resumes Don't Open Doors. These 7 Conversations Do

“I should’ve left earlier.”

Many senior IT professionals regretfully share with me.

Not because they were failing.
But because they stayed long after the role stopped growing them.

They were paid well.
Relied on.
Praised.

From the outside, everything looked fine.

It wasn’t.

Here’s what was happening underneath.

Their workload grew.
Their influence didn’t.

They were trusted to fix problems.
Not to shape direction.

Their role got busier.
But never bigger.

Their voice mattered in delivery.
Not in decisions.

They kept things running.
But they stopped moving forward themselves.

That’s the trap.

Nothing feels “wrong” enough to leave.
Yet nothing feels “right” enough to stay.

So they stay.

Not because of loyalty.

Because of fear.

Fear of losing status.
Fear of starting again.
Fear of leaving a role that’s become comfortable and effortless.

And comfort has a cost.

It slowly drains
energy,
confidence,
and options.

That’s why, sometimes,
the real career leap isn’t moving up.
It’s walking away.

Staying too long isn’t loyalty.
It’s poor judgment.

♻️ Repost if this felt uncomfortably familiar
➕ Follow Ehsan Ali for posts on shaping careers

PS
I’m hosting a small, invite-only roundtable on Feb 7 with mid-senior IT professionals navigating this exact shift.

If you’d rather reflect privately first, there’s a short self-assessment in my Featured section.

Be careful about this as your career progresses.

At senior levels, most of what you do can be replicated.

Your role can be restructured.
Your responsibilities redistributed.
Your processes documented and handed over.

That’s the uncomfortable reality of modern organisations.

Experience alone doesn’t make you irreplaceable.

What I’ve seen, over and over, is this:

The professionals who keep moving forward aren’t always the ones with the best resumes or longest tenure.

They’re the ones people trust when things get messy.

Not because they know more.
But because of how they think.

They’ve seen systems fail at scale.
They know where risk actually hides.
They ask questions that prevent problems, not just fix them.

Technical skills can be hired.
Certifications can be matched.
Reliability becomes expected.

What can’t be copied is judgement under pressure.

The calm you bring into tense rooms.
The clarity you create when decisions stall.
The ability to see consequences others miss.

That’s what gets you pulled into conversations before roles even exist.

So if you’re still trying to look like what the system rewards, pause.

At this stage, your edge isn’t doing more.

It’s leaning into the perspective only your path has given you.

In a world built to standardise people,
the ones who advance are the ones whose thinking can’t be standardised.

♻️ Repost if this puts words to something you’ve been feeling.

🔔 Follow Ehsan Ali for grounded, real-world career insights that actually apply at senior levels.

Changing roles isn’t instability.

It’s what happens when a role stops stretching you
and starts repeating you.

Most senior professionals don’t stay because they’re growing.
They stay because leaving looks risky.

Because movement gets misread as a flaw.

Unstable.
Disloyal.
Hard to trust.

So they stay longer than they should.

The scope stays the same.
The learning slows.
The upside flattens.

But expectations keep rising.

That’s the trade no one spells out.

Companies optimise for continuity.
Markets reward relevance.
Careers only move when you move them.

Staying after growth has stopped isn’t loyalty.

It’s choosing familiarity
over the next version of your capability.

From the outside, everything looks fine.
From the inside, momentum quietly leaks away.

That’s how senior careers don’t fail.
They settle.

We all know someone.
Highly capable. Deeply loyal.
Stayed too long.
Still wishes they moved earlier.

♻️ Repost this for the person who needs permission to chase potential, not comfort.
🔔 Follow Ehsan Ali for grounded career truths shaped by lived experience.

You didn’t hit your 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠.
You learned to 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐞 under it.

I’ve seen this with 𝟐,𝟎𝟎𝟎+ 𝐦𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐈𝐓 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬.

Not because you lack talent.
Not because you didn’t work hard.
But because you adapted.

To safe roles.
To being “reliable”.
To what felt realistic.

So when you speak to me, you say:

“I’m probably too late.”
“It won’t work in my market.”
“I’ve already tried everything.”

I’ve heard this from:
• An architect 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐭 $𝟐𝟎𝟎𝐊
• A senior director 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝟏𝟖 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐬
• An analytics and AI pro 𝐧𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐞

And yet:

• $200K → $𝟔𝟓𝟎𝐊+
• 18 months jobless → two $𝟑𝟎𝟎𝐊 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐬 in 10 weeks
• Invisible → Global 𝐓𝐨𝐩 𝟏𝟎𝟎 thought leader

Same people.
Same markets.
Different approach.

Here’s the 𝟓-𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬s I use to take clients from 

“𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞”
to 
“𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐈 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐟.”
1️⃣ Career ≠ job
2️⃣ See your real power
3️⃣ Package your experience
4️⃣ Tell your story properly
5️⃣ Network like a pro
I break each step down in the carousel. 👉

♻️ Repost this if you know someone who’s too experienced to feel stuck.
🔔 Follow me (Ehsan Ali) for frameworks that make senior career moves strategic, not lucky.

The 5-Step Method I Use to Accelerate Career Growth

You can be very good at your work…
and still feel stuck.

Reliable.
Trusted.
Recognised.

Yet your role stays the same.

That’s the quiet frustration I see in senior IT careers all the time.

This week’s issue of The Shift breaks down why that happens
and the thinking shift that changes it.

If you’re a senior IT professional who’s delivering well
but not being trusted with bigger decisions yet,
this one is for you.

Click the image to read.
Move from reliable to promotable.

♻️ Repost for someone who needs this
➕ Follow Ehsan Ali

You can be very good at your work and still be stuck. Reliable. Trusted. Recognised. And yet… your role stays the same. If that sounds familiar, this 

Open article: The Shift | Issue #11 by Ehsan Ali • 4 min read

If you can’t clearly explain why you’re needed,
the room quietly decides without you.

And someone else gets the bigger role.

That’s how senior careers actually move.

Not on effort.
Not on tenure.
Not on how much you carry.

Those things make you useful.
They don’t make you necessary.

And being useful feels safe…
until you realise it’s also where careers stall.

At higher levels, decisions are made fast.
Often without you in the room.

The person who moves up is the one whose value is easy to explain:
– why them
– why now
– what breaks without them

If your impact needs a long explanation,
it loses force.

So you keep delivering.
You stay dependable.
You wait.

Meanwhile, someone else moves ahead.
Not louder.
Not smarter.
Just easier to place.

Over the last few years, working with 2,000+ senior professionals,
a pattern keeps repeating.

The ones who learned to clearly communicate why they were needed saw real shifts:
– 2–3 level role jumps
– $300K–$400K+ package moves
– senior roles created around their strengths

Most of them weren’t underperforming.
They were just being interpreted one level lower.

Same capability.
Very different results.

This isn’t a confidence problem.
It’s a communication problem.

When your value lands clearly, people pull you up.
When it doesn’t, they choose someone else.

♻️ Repost if relatable
➕ Follow Ehsan Ali for more

PS:
I’m hosting a small, invite-only roundtable soon with senior IT professionals working through this exact shift.

If you’d rather reflect quietly first, there’s also a short self-assessment quiz in my Featured section.

7 Career Traps Senior IT Pros Create Without Realising It

Not all career stalls come from bad bosses.
Or weak skills.
Or bad timing.

Most come from traps you build yourself.

They look like strengths.
They feel like professionalism.

They worked when you were mid-level.
Now they quietly cap your scope.

I see this daily, coaching senior IT professionals:

The hardest workers moving the slowest.
Not from lack of ability.
From patterns they never questioned.

Here are 7 career traps that show up as “doing the right thing”:

1️⃣ The Safe Pair of Hands
You deliver. Fix problems. Take on more.
Cost: Trusted but not expanded.

→ Shift from reliability to visible ownership.

2️⃣ The Quiet High Performer
Results are strong. Voice stays low.
Cost: Others define your value.

→ Frame your impact before it’s rewritten.

3️⃣ The Always-On Professional
Busy. Needed. Everywhere.
Cost: Activity replaces direction.

→ Cut work that doesn’t compound.

4️⃣ The Firefighter
Called in chaos. Calm under pressure.
Cost: Futures are decided without you.

→ Show up before things break.

5️⃣ The Low-Visibility Expert
Heads-down. Avoids politics.
Cost: Influence goes elsewhere.

→ Build proximity to decision-makers.

6️⃣ The Lateral Mover
New role. New logo. Same level.
Cost: Experience stops compounding.

→ Target stretch, not comfort.

7️⃣ The Approval Seeker
Careful. Aligned. Consensus-driven.
Cost: Bolder peers claim authority.

→ Decisive action earns leadership.

None of these come from laziness.

They come from success habits
that outlived their usefulness.

That’s how capable careers stall —
quietly, professionally, and without warning.

Which trap feels uncomfortably familiar?

♻️ Repost for a senior IT pro who delivers big but keeps plateauing
🔔 Follow Ehsan Ali for career truths most people learn too late

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The Battle

Utkarsh Narang

Ehsan Ali

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The Battle

Utkarsh Narang

Ehsan Ali

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

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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