Inspire Someone Today
Inspire Someone Today
E141 | Accelerate Action | Dr. Uma Gautam
Dr. Uma Gautam's remarkable journey from dentistry to entrepreneurship embodies this year's Women's Day theme: "Accelerate Action." When faced with the challenge of balancing motherhood with career ambitions, Uma didn't wait for perfect circumstances—she created them by founding an all-women recruitment team that has thrived for 14 years.
Her entrepreneurial path wasn't without obstacles. Starting as a "one-woman army" working from home, Uma gradually built her business through word-of-mouth referrals and unwavering resilience. Rather than viewing setbacks as reasons to quit, she interpreted them as opportunities to adapt and learn—a mindset instilled by her parents and reinforced through experience.
The conversation reveals Uma's eight entrepreneurial mantras, including embracing uncertainty with courage, building resilience as a "mental muscle," and surrounding yourself with the right mentors. As she powerfully states, "An entrepreneur can never become singularly successful." Her emphasis on financial discipline addresses why many startups fail: not because of bad ideas, but because they run out of money before gaining traction.
Beyond recruitment, Uma has flourished as a TV anchor and speaker, recently delivering a TEDx talk that garnered 50,000 views in just two months. Her approach to these high-visibility roles prioritizes authenticity over perfection, creating genuine connections with audiences through vulnerability and presence. This philosophy aligns with her leadership definition through the "three I's": influence, inspire, and impact.
For those considering career transitions, Uma offers profound advice: focus on the "why" behind potential moves, not just the "what" of titles and compensation. This deeper questioning reveals alignment between personal values and organizational culture—the foundation for lasting professional satisfaction. Her parting wisdom? "The world moves only for those who ask." Trust yourself, take action, and watch as possibilities unfold.
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A bit of a backdrop to this, without, of course, taking too much of your time. I always dreamt of becoming a medical doctor, but then, for various reasons, I ended up becoming a dentist and started practicing as a dentist also, but very soon I realized that that wasn't my cup of tea at all, which is when I encountered one, mr Venugopal, who was my first boss and back then he was running this leadership hiring company called People Smart. I can very easily say that he's been my godfather, because he identified the spark in me that I could do well as a recruiter, and when I was in crossroads to me he was truly god sent. An entrepreneur can never become singularly successful. If someone is saying that, then I can say that it's an absolute lie. An entrepreneur can only become successful if the person has a very strong support system and mentors.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Inspire Someone Today podcast, a show where we dive into the stories and insights that has the power to create ripples of inspiration in your life. I'm your host, shrikant, and I'm thrilled to be with you on this journey of inspiration. Hey, my dear listeners, what's so special about month of March on Inspire Someone today? If you have not guessed it, yes, we bring four inspirers on this platform and we have been doing this for the last four years, and this year is no different. It's an absolute joy to have these four wonderfully talented, wonderfully inspiring individuals coming on this show for this month. So this is part three of that journey for 2025. I have with me an individual who is full of life, humble and vivacious, but that's not the reason why she is here to join us. She's an entrepreneur, a TV anchor and a former dentist. It's an absolute joy to have Dr Uma Gautam to be part of this Women's Day special on Inspire Someone Today. Uma ji, thanks for being on the show and welcome to the show.
Speaker 1:Oh, shrikant, that was such a wonderful introduction. It's an absolute delight and a pleasure and a privilege for me personally to be on this platform and on this show, more so because it's Women's Day, and you know how close we hold that to our hearts, and me coming on this very special occasion gives me all the joy and makes my Women's Day 2025 so much more fulfilling. Thank you for that.
Speaker 2:Wonderful, and the theme of this year's Women's Day is so beautiful, so aptly put. It's called Accelerate Action. Who better to talk about it than you, uma? To accelerate action. So your journey is such an inspiring blend of entrepreneurship, media presence and impactful speaking. So, to say so, to kick things off here, how does it feel to celebrate Women's Day in 2025?, and what embodies it to everything that you do, as a professional, as a mother, as a wife? What's your definition of it?
Speaker 1:Sometimes I feel this is so serendipitous because I get the right platform to talk about the right things. That in itself is such a blessing and, like you rightly said, this year's Women's Day theme Accelerate Action is so much powerful. And personally, this is exactly what I have applied in my life story, and the word accelerate is the most important thing, and unless you action something, it's all theoretical and nothing is going to go forward. And in fact, that's also the core message that I want to bring out to my audience today. One, do not wait for the perfect time, because it's simply an illusion and you're never fully ready to jump into anything. All you have to do is to kind of, you know, to jump onto it, and then clarity will come through. During the process, it just beautifully happens and it unfolds automatically. To that I would say accelerate action is something that should become a woman's mantra or anybody's mantra for that matter, so to speak, to fulfill their dreams and professional goals.
Speaker 2:So wonderfully put out there. Don't wait for that perfect storm, so to speak, to fulfill their dreams and professional goals so wonderfully put out there. Don't wait for that perfect storm to happen. Just plunge into action. If you're convinced with it, if you have the faith in what you think, it is Absolutely. That takes me to you jumping into action, which is your entrepreneurial journey. You have an all-women's recruitment team that is a beacon of change and women empowerment. What inspired you to take this journey, this leap of faith into entrepreneurship, and to build something that drives this action so powerfully?
Speaker 1:One of the most fulfilling journeys of my life has been my entrepreneurial journey. A bit of a backdrop to this, without, of course, taking too much of your time. I always dreamt of becoming a medical doctor, but then, for various reasons, I ended up becoming a dentist and started practicing as a dentist also, but very soon I realized that that wasn't my cup of tea at all, which is when I encountered one, mr Venugopal, who was my first boss and back then he was running this leadership hiring company called People Smart. I can very easily say that he's been my godfather, because he identified the spark in me that I could do well as a recruiter, and when I was in crossroads to me he was truly God sent. So I kind of got into recruitment purely going by his belief that I can do well, and when I started off I realized that he wasn't wrong at all. This was back then in 2004, when I started my recruitment journey, and thereafter for the next seven years, all I did was to shadow him at work, and in those seven years I had not just learned about recruitment, but I had also learned how to run a business successfully. I had understood the nuances of running a business. So, okay, that was one part of the story.
Speaker 1:Life moved on. Life was beautiful and around the time of 2010-2011, when my older daughter, who is soon going to be 18, she was, back then, three years old it was too much of a struggle for me to strike a balance between my professional life and my motherhood and, added to that, I had already lost my first child. So Aditi, to me, was then very precious and I had to put my motherhood right on top of the priority. And then came everything else and in a job which was very demanding, which also involved a lot of travel, I knew that if I had to do something and strike a balance between the two, the only option that was left for me was to be an entrepreneur. So I jokingly say this entrepreneurship was never a choice for me, it was more without a choice.
Speaker 1:But once I jumped into it, I realized how thrilling and how fantastic this journey has been, 14 years into it. But that adrenaline rush is still so much more alive and keeps me going every day. So that's when I started my entrepreneurial journey. But why an all women team? I had gone through my own struggles and I knew what it means being a mother and how precious it is for a first-time parent, or for any parent for that matter. So, that said, I thought why should I not have an all-women team? And that way, that is going to be my very small contribution towards women empowerment and that will also kind of give them the flexibility, like I did and I had all the time as a mother and a professional woman, and, thanks to Almighty, that was one small thought, but then, 14 years, we are going strong and today, when I look back, it's indeed such a fulfilling journey to have an all-women team.
Speaker 2:What a wonderful start there, one coming out of necessity, that, okay, you had a choice, but you were pushed into making that particular choice of taking entrepreneurship. But how well did you take on? You walked the talk. Not only did your personal situation put you to the zone that you wanted to take entrepreneurship, but you also went up creating a platform for more women to kind of go through that. How wonderful it is, and I know we summarized this in the shortest possible time of your 14-year journey. I'm sure it had its own shares of up and down.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:If you were to kind of define what are those one or two defining moments where either you threw the towel saying that this is it, I'm done, or you went back home saying that this is it, I'm done, or you went back home saying that this is the exact reason why I thrive as an entrepreneur, what would those extreme examples be?
Speaker 1:Well, yet another wonderful question. Thanks to my parents, my upbringing has always been the latter. Every time something powerful or something strong was thrown on me, I never had this dilemma of, you know, wanting to give up, I would just take it up, and I always had that spirit in me that, you know, bring it on Now, let me see what's in store for me. So that was the attitude and this entrepreneurial journey was not easy for me from any angle when I started off. Yet again, I'll be making a mention of this time and again.
Speaker 1:I come from a lower middle class family. So for us, you know, money. We would attach money to everything we did, and it happened very automatically because it was in our DNA. So even when I started off, I started very small. I was a one woman army, I was working from home like a zombie. Until such time I proved to myself oh wow, this model works. And in a year's time, in the very first financial year, I had made significant profits, and that's when it gave me a courage to take the next step. And, you know, take on an office space, add more people to the team.
Speaker 1:So the setbacks were too many. I was all alone in the journey and since I also had a consulting background, I knew that I could not have gone back to my customers because that's not the ethical way of building a business. So instead, what I did was I went back to the people who I worked with. I told them hey look, I have decided to be on my own and will you be able to refer customers for me? And that's how customers started coming in, all through word of mouth.
Speaker 1:And while this was the beauty, on the other side the deals would kind of come to a closure or call it a close. The deals would break, for no mistake of mine. Many a times I would sit and wonder as to what's going wrong. Or even if the deals worked on the other side, since I was focusing on middle and leadership recruitment back then, also candidates, backing out the nth minute was not new at all. So you know it was then an NGO service for me, because then you know we made nothing out of it for all the time and efforts that we could have invested on that and, of course, the financial cushion that was needed, because once I had my team and once I had my office space and all of that, it needed that kind of cash flow on a month-on-month basis, irrespective of whether we are churning those revenues or not.
Speaker 1:So all these challenges were there and not that a few unpleasant experiences also as a woman entrepreneur. When you approach customers for business and in recruitment it's not new there are also a lot of under the table work also. That happens. So sometimes it's not easy. We will have to kind of really make our way through, bulldoze our way through to even get empaneled with organizations. Comparatively things are so much more better these days. But back then all those were challenges and when I look back I now of course laugh it off saying that, oh my God, they looked so daunting at that point in time. But the happy part of it was that every setback we never equated it. At our home we were never taught to equate that with quitting. We were always taught to equate that with either adapting or learning, and that helped.
Speaker 2:What a powerful way to kind of look at it. You mentioned a word, very daunting and for a lot of the folks who are at the edge of jumping into entrepreneurship, but the decision seems to be very daunting. If somebody were to take one bold step, what is that one advice that you would give for people who are on the edge?
Speaker 1:No, I have a mantra around this. In fact, what happens is one of the things I receive a lot of invitations from colleges especially, is to talk about entrepreneurship, and every time I go as a speaker to speak about this topic, I have my eight mantras, and I thought this was the right platform for me to bring out that mantra. So one, like I already said and like this year's Women's Day theme, goes by accelerate action, which means that you're never fully ready when you think about entrepreneurship, just jump into it. And two, you got to understand that success does not come with a playbook and you have to build your mindset in such a manner that you embrace uncertainty with courage. End of the day, entrepreneurship is all about mindset, and you have to build a mindset to become an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is your way of living, your way of being, so the sooner you master this art of embracing uncertainty, then you know it becomes so much more easier. And why is it that many people are apprehensive about getting into entrepreneurship is because you know that end of the month, there is no guaranteed paycheck, and that's the apprehension. So to those people, my small piece of advice is either jump into it or stay off. Never look at something which is middle ground, because many a times when I talk to people, people want to experiment with entrepreneurship or they want to look at entrepreneurship as a side gig, and that's never going to work. If you're in it, jump into it fully. And three you got to have a very clear vision as to why you want to start your entrepreneurial journey. I would rather say, even before you have your business plan ready, you should have your why ready. You need to know why you're doing what you're doing. So once that answer is clear, that's when you have to move into your next step of making a business plan around it or whatever. So that's another thing.
Speaker 1:Along with building a mindset of embracing uncertainty, you also have to build consciously a mental muzzle of resilience, because success or entrepreneurship is never a straight line. There are always bumpy roads, there are going to be failures, there are going to be moments of self-doubt. So when we know that we are going to encounter that sooner or later, it's important for us to prepare for that from ground zero level. So build, build that resilience. And another very important thing and I've very strongly advocated this in my TEDx talk as well we'll come to it a little later, surround yourself with the right people, and I very, very strongly advocate that, because, if you ask me if there's one thing that has helped me become who I am today, it's purely those people who I am surrounded by, my support system and my inner circle, who are my set of mentors.
Speaker 1:An entrepreneur can never become singularly successful. If someone is saying that, then I can say that it's an absolute lie. An entrepreneur can only become successful if the person has a very strong support system and mentors and a supportive network who will push you out of your comfort zone. Personally, to me, those mentors are all godsend. They have worked with me along the path and I have also been mindful enough to rate those mentors very carefully, enough to curate those mentors very carefully. So what I mean to say is this world is such a beautiful place and there are so many people out there who are more than happy to help us and guide us. But then it's those people who have walked your path. Those are the ones who can actually help you and who can be the right mentor for you. So when you're curating them, curate them carefully and they are the ones who will help you grow and take your entrepreneurial journey to the next level.
Speaker 1:And, apart from that, you should also learn to be agile. So what does that mean? Being agile is all about? You start something but then you have to test if whatever you started, be it a product or a service how is it being taken by the customers? You should be open to listening to the customers. You should be open to listening to the business dynamics. You should be open to listening to what's happening in the industry landscape. So, with all of those, you test your service or your product and if there are any iterations that are needed, you go, make those iterations and evolve. So this process of starting something, testing and then making the right iterations and evolving this should become a very continuous process and there's no end to it. You need to be constantly evolving. This should become a very continuous process and there's no end to it. You need to be constantly evolving.
Speaker 1:And the mother of all financial discipline, Especially if you're thinking of being a bootstrapped organization or even otherwise. Why do most startups fail? Not because they had a bad idea, but they ran out of money even before they, you know, build some traction. So financial discipline is so very important. The sooner you start, the better you are with your entrepreneurial journey. And when I say financial discipline, it's important for all of us to invest some time into building financial literacy, understand the financial dynamics and know the financial health of your own organization, of your own or your own personal finances.
Speaker 1:If you're yet to dive into the entrepreneurial journey, where are you today? How financially stable are you? What are the kind of investments do you have? How are your investments doing and what are the wiser ways of doing reinvestments, what are the kind of safety nets you've created and therefore, what is the kind of calculated risk that you can take? So this kind of financial literacy is very, very important.
Speaker 1:We all know, end of the day, it's the cash flow which is the lifeline of any organization. So, if your entrepreneurial journey needs to survive, moolah is very, very important and therefore, never lose sight of that. And the last but the most important one, you got to believe in yourself. If you want to start your entrepreneurial journey, ask yourself whether you are capable of being one and whether you are capable of creating a success, because becoming an entrepreneur is not about building business. Ultimately, you're building legacy and therefore, if there's one person who should trust you, it should be you yourself. Those are my eight mantras for anybody who's in the edge of becoming an entrepreneur. And one last thing if there's something called a failure but for you not starting your entrepreneurial journey, there's nothing else. So start as soon as you can, and otherwise you will have a lifelong regret.
Speaker 2:Well, you had the mantras to kind of take you further, propel you forward. Wonderful listing out there. Two elements really took my attention. One was there's no half measures. I think that really it is. You cannot be doing this as a side geek. That's very well put out there. Second piece was curating mentors. So wonderful thought because you can take advice from people, particularly in this arena, of the folks who have gone down that path. Yes, everybody else can give you inputs, can be very generic, but to kind of curate from people who have gone down that path of either being an entrepreneur either being somebody in the recruitment landscape, things like that makes a lot more sense from a context standpoint. You are not only an entrepreneur either. Being somebody in the recruitment landscape, things like that, makes a lot more sense from a context standpoint. You're not only an entrepreneur, you're a well-accomplished TV anchor. Congratulations on your recent TED talk. So my question to you there is you're no stranger to spotlights, but what does being in such a high visibility role mean to you?
Speaker 1:Well, while it's a great, great privilege and you feel like a celebrity every time you're in front of a camera or you know if you're in a high visibility role, the other side of it is it comes with a lot of responsibility Because you know, when you're in that kind of a limelight, naturally there are so many expectations from people and you got to live up to those expectations. So it's not easy at all and personally to me, how I see this is when we are in just being seen or we are not just being heard, but then we are using these platforms to create an impact and to influence people's lives and therefore it's very, very important that we know what we are communicating, and it's important we be very authentic and it's very important we own our voice and there are many more things to it. Continuous learning is very important because you need to constantly keep yourself abreast with what is happening to be relevant when you're on that particular platform. So, in short, if I have to tell you, it's a very visible role, a responsible role and a privileged role, and I feel very, very lucky and fortunate that either of these opportunities just came and fell on my lap. I did not go looking for it and it just simply culminated together to make me as an individual so much more complete. Let's say, for instance, my TV anchoring bit. Also, it just came to me out of the blue.
Speaker 1:For the last five years I've been a TV anchor with Doordarshan Chandana and I was approached for this and I was asked Madam, will you be interested in anchoring a health talk here? You're going to be interviewing doctors. So of course I jumped on that opportunity and I thought, if I have that medical background, there can be nothing more fulfilling than interviewing these eminent doctors on that platform, viewing these eminent doctors on that platform, because GD Chandana has a viewership of 65 crores and it gets telecasted in over 65 countries. So it's no small, a great platform to create that impact. But there were a lot of moments of self-doubt for me when that came and fell on my lap, because you also know there are a lot of people who are always ready with a lot of unsolicited observations and unsolicited feedback.
Speaker 1:So when I started doing this, there were many people who said what all do you do? I mean, it's so confusing. Today you are recruiting and the other day you are on TV interviewing doctors. Come on, you should be going on sitting on the opposite side of the chair. You should not be the interviewer. What are you doing? You seem so confused. So then when that feedback came to me, I also wondered am I confused? What exactly am I doing? What exactly am I doing?
Speaker 1:And there were a set of other people who thought that I had kind of exited my entrepreneurial journey and many thought that I had shut shop. It was also, you know, around the COVID time that I had started my TV anchoring bit also. So there were a lot of stories around this and I knew that I was giving a very confusing identity to people about what I was doing. But then, intuitively, I felt that any of these came to me because I had a role to play there and to me it just fight the right balance, because as a doctor it is so much more easier for me to connect with the jargons, and many questions that I asked them also are very spontaneous and impromptu. So I knew that it was actually kind of helping me connect the dots and helping me get over the regret of not being able to serve people as a dentist.
Speaker 1:But then, since it was leading to a lot of confusion, I had to very consciously blow my own trumpet and use social media platforms to tell them clearly yes, I'm this also, I'm that also and I'm this also. So I had to create that XYZ platform and tell clearly that, see, recruitment is what I do for my bread and butter, but then whatever I do as a TV anchor or as a speaker is to satisfy my soul, and I'm fortunate that I was able to kind of identify my strengths and give my time, so it kind of feels very complete now. So that's in a nutshell, about what it feels to be in this high visibility role. Shrikant.
Speaker 2:Thank you so beautifully put there, uma, so it looks like you have made good friends with serendipity there, uma, I think, touching on this, you mentioned a very good call out, saying that it's just not about high visibility role. The role with great power comes responsibility right. That's what you kind of alluded to. Yes, but for somebody who's preparing, say for their first TED talk or something big, how do you prepare yourself mentally and in a way, you're ready for that particular task? What's your secret sauce around that preparation?
Speaker 1:Yes, there are a lot of secret sauces that I'm going to give out on this podcast. So there are two parts to your question. One, I think you want me to reflect on if one wishes to be on the spotlight, what are some of the things that one needs to keep in mind? And in the second half I'm going to talk about my TEDx talk and what a game changer it was to me personally.
Speaker 1:So now going back to your question being on the spotlight, so for anybody who wishes to be on the spotlight, my advice or my suggestion would be importantly, do not focus too much on perfection. You got to focus on your presence Because, remember, the most powerful voices are not the ones which are perfect or which are flawless, but these are the voices which are very authentic. So, therefore, if you want to be in the spotlight, be as authentic as possible. Let perfection not come in the way. And two, it's very, very important for you to be in the moment because many a times, things will not unfold the way it should, especially when you are in this high visibility kind of role, whether you're sitting in a conference hall or whether you're in front of camera. There could be technical glitch, like the way we had a few minutes ago, or there could be something else that one could encounter. So, therefore, staying in the moment and tweaking things based on the situation is very, very important. So, therefore, not everything will go as per your plan. That little bit of spontaneity is something that one should prepare for adequately. And yet another very important thing is know that you are unique. You don't have to be somebody else to create an impact. So if you are going as a speaker, you just have to own your story. You should be sharing your experiences, your journey, your pitfalls, your triumphs, because that's when you'll be able to build that trust with the audience. And they just want you raw and real. And today's audience, they want to connect with you. They want to have that very personal connect, connect with the person and not just the persona. So, that said, it's very important for you to be supremely authentic and as real as you can be. And every time you want to be on the spotlight, a few basics that you should do is one you need to very positively affirm yourself time and again that yes, I can do it, I'm capable of doing it.
Speaker 1:See, many a times, what holds people back from being on the spotlight. If you ask me, there are three things. One, most people feel that they are not enough. They feel like, oh, how is it that I can be on the stage? Oh my God, I can't see myself there. So, because intrinsically they feel that they are not enough. And two, the fear of making mistakes. Oh my God, what if I'm on the stage and if I stumble? What if I make a mistake? So it's that fear of making mistakes. And three, what if I'm being judged? What if I end up saying something which becomes very controversial and people start judging me? So it's these three things that keeps people away from being on the spotlight. But if someone wants to get there, the person should be willing to shun all of this. Get over all of these three apprehensions and self-affirm time and again that, yes, this is going to be exciting, I'm going to be enjoying this, and visualize yourself as someone who is a great orator and someone who can create that impact. So many of these simple tricks like positive self-affirmations and visualization methods also help immensely.
Speaker 1:My secret sauce to this is if you have seen me whenever I'm facing a camera or, you know, addressing people, most often one will see me in a saree. And the secret to that is the minute I wear a saree it kind of gives me that very commanding presence, because somewhere you know, sari is so kind of deeply rooted to our tradition. The minute I wear a sari my mood enhances, so I start feeling very good about myself and the minute I start feeling good about myself, very naturally it becomes a confidence boost for me. So I realized that this happens to me all the time. My style of communication changes, my body language changes and my eye contact or the confidence with which I'm talking, my body language, all of it changes. So my secret sauce to it is wearing a sari.
Speaker 1:And it's important for each individual to also identify what, if done, will give them that confidence to be on the stage. For some people it could be, you know, offering a one minute prayer to their favorite God, or for somebody else it could be taking blessings of your parents or it. For somebody else it could be, you know, the best wishes from one spouse or well-wishers. So you need to identify that and before your special moments it's important you go through that cycle and then take the stage and then stage is yours. You're going to rock it.
Speaker 2:I think you're giving a fantastic, fantastic template, not just for people to go prepare for the next TEDx talks, but generally speaking. If they have a speaking assignment, if they are put on a spot, if they are on the stage, what is that one can kind of do in order to prepare them? So that's a wonderful template framework to have thank you why don't you talk to us about your TEDx experience as well?
Speaker 1:So this is so interesting Every first week of Jan I do this exercise religiously where I kind of journal all my goals for the year. And 2024 January, when I did this exercise, I kind of put this out to the universe, saying that, yes, this year I should be doing my TEDx talk. I just did that and I forgot Trust me when I said that I really, really forgot about that. But then in my mind I knew, if I have to give a TEDx talk, who are the people who I should be sounding off and telling them that, yes, I'm interested in doing something like this. I had done that homework, but I'm interested in doing something like this. I had done that homework but then it was out of my list and then around June, july 2024, the person who I had said that yes, I'm interested in doing something reached out to me and said, hey, would you be interested in doing this? And I was like, oh my God, this is coming to me so easily and I said, yes, I would love to do it. And then I spoke to the coordinator and there was another excitement or another surprising thing that I was just kind of dawned on me the theme of last year's TEDx talk. Where I did in Rani Bendur was changing mindset. And this was something so exciting for me, because if there's one thing that I really can talk well was it was about changing mindset, because that's what I have done with myself. So it was so exciting for me.
Speaker 1:I grabbed the opportunity and started preparing for it and I really didn't have to struggle because I knew very well that what is TEDx all about? Tedx is all about, you know, sharing ideas that will kind of help you kind of, you know, think differently, and either it should be some idea which is going to question the conventional thinking or it is some idea that will kind of give you a very different perspective altogether. And I knew that, you know, one cannot go there and talk about one's accomplishments, but it has to be authentic. It should be your own journey, your own struggles and all of that. So I was preparing for it and came up with a good flow, because a TEDx talk is generally out there for about 18 minutes, and 18 minutes is a lot of time to keep the audience engaging. So I knew that the flow has to be such that it should be very engaging with the audience. So I came up with the flow where I tried to kind of take on my own story, speak about it and thereafter give insights about what that journey had to teach me and then how those insights helped me come up with a few micro experiments very similar to your book Inspire Someone Today and end of the day.
Speaker 1:How you know, we call for action to the audience as to what, if done, can help you get where you wish to be. So it was laid out that way. What, if done, can help you get where you wish to be. So it was laid out that way and all thanks to my younger daughter, anishi. When there were just about 8 to 10 days left for the D-Day, we did a lot of rehearsal and practice and it had become a norm where every night after dinner she would come to my home office and say, okay, mama, it's time for you to rehearse. So she would have that draft in front of her and I would do the practice, and every time I missed out on something, she would make actions to remind me how to kind of you know, kind of get through that point. So that was a beautiful journey in itself.
Speaker 1:But then all I knew when I gave the TEDx talk was I knew that there is also some kind of screening. That happens. Not all TEDx talks go on the platform, so they kind of do the shortlisting. For me, the only one criteria was by then I had announced it to the world that, yes, I'm going as a TEDx speaker. All I wanted was for it to get shortlisted and go on the platform. And on the day of the event I was the very first speaker and I went. I finished my talking and I came back During the tea break is when I gathered that through other speakers that your TEDx is all about the viewership.
Speaker 1:How many people end up viewing your TEDx talk is what is kind of going to create a difference. Call it naive. I had no clue about this. I really did not know anything about the viewership and in the hindsight I'm so thankful that I did not know about it, because I just went enjoying the process and I knew that I'm going to be a TEDx speaker. But then, because I did not know about it, because I just went enjoying the process and I knew that I'm going to be a TEDx speaker, but then because I did not know anything about this and, like they say, ignorance is bliss I had gone, delivered my talk and after it got uploaded it was simply so hard to believe and even to touch it. I can't believe this. It's just about two months and my talk has received 50,000 views and it's going strong. So this, to me, is unbelievable.
Speaker 1:And many a times we hear people say, leaders say that, you know, enjoy the process, it's not the final destination, simply enjoy the process. We hear this time and again, but then when we have to actually do it, we are always attaching it to results and unless and until you know it's measurable, we kind of, you know, stop enjoying the process because we are only focusing on the final destination here. Just because I was ignorant about the viewership, I simply enjoyed the process and the outcome is there to believe, and it was a belief for me and a great learning for me that, yes, it's so important for one to enjoy the process and not attach all your dreams and aspirations to the end result. So more of a learning to me than to anybody else. So that's a little bit about my TEDx talk, shrikant.
Speaker 2:Wonderful. We'll make sure that the link for the TEDx talk is in the show notes. But what a powerful story there. Thank, you. So here we are, the first of the power of three round. Question to you, Uma If you weren't an entrepreneur or a TV presenter, what other three alternative careers you might have considered?
Speaker 1:I definitely would have been a medical doctor, else, I always had this craving to be in the limelight, so I would have chosen to be a model. And if neither of these, then maybe a teacher, because teaching comes to me very naturally, and even at office or wherever I am, my tone or the way I communicate something, the teacher thing is in my DNA. So I could be one of these maybe.
Speaker 2:Wonderful Good start. Three book recommendations. That has shaped your perspectives towards life.
Speaker 1:When it comes to reading, that's one area I know that I should improvise dramatically, because I always have reasons and justifications saying that I don't have enough time to read. But then, with whatever little reading I have done, there's this one book Again. All these books were recommended by my mentors. They pushed me into reading and that's how I book. Again, all these books were recommended by my mentors. They pushed me into reading and that's how I ended up with these. One of them has been, you know, heal your life.
Speaker 1:This book by Louis Hay speaks about the physical manifestations that we go through and how they are all connected, but what happens in your head and what if you change the narrative there, how it can impact on your physical manifestations. A very powerful book and a very, very lovely book, which I would very strongly recommend that people should read it. And two, even in this podcast. Early on I was talking about the mentality, especially when we come from a lower middle class family. You know our outlook towards money and that changed immensely after I read this book, the Psychology of Money. It kind of helped me how to look at money differently and, of course, thanks to the opportunity that you know the book launching show I had with Inspire Someone today, I had to kind of quickly do my homework before I did the anchoring for your program.
Speaker 1:And what a lovely book. And the best thing I liked about it is you have kind of reiterated that it need not be something very big. A small action, positive action, can also create a ripple effect which can be enormous, and that comes through very, very strongly. So that's yet another book that I would very, very strongly recommend to the readers. And those are the very few books that I've read, so I have only chosen the best of the lot.
Speaker 2:Thank you, that's very kind of you for that call out. We'll move on. We were to have this conversation five years from now and if I were to ask you this question, what would be three piece of advice that you would give to a future self? What would that be?
Speaker 1:I would say stay bold, push your boundaries. Push your boundaries, just explore all the new ideas that comes to your mind and keep challenging status quo. So, in all, I would say stay bold. That's one important thing, and that can happen only if you believe in the fact that the best chapters are yet to be written. And secondly, we must know that our impact is so much more bigger than what we think or what we believe. So that's the kind of impact that we might have. We might not realize that and therefore it's important for us to somewhere register that in our minds. And yes, change is the only constant. We all hear that we all need to evolve and grow, but then, when you are evolving and growing, make sure that you are growing without losing out on your core. So what it means that stay true to your core, stay true to your values and stay true to who you are. And outside of that, evolution is possible, but then, at the core, this should remain all the time.
Speaker 2:Great, stay bold, make your impact bigger than your belief and stay true to your core. Uma, we did speak about experiments, micro experiments to be precise no-transcript.
Speaker 1:All through my life I've been an experiential learner when I made a switch from dentistry to recruitment. Even today I do not have any formal degree in HR. Whatever I've learned, I've learned through my experience and whatever executive programs I did from ISB or IIM. Bangalore was much later. So therefore I am someone who completely swears by micro experiments. So, therefore, from a dentist to a recruiter was a micro experiment.
Speaker 1:From a recruiter to becoming an entrepreneur was a micro experiment. From there to you know, wearing the hats of either a speaker or a TV anchor, all of it. I kind of just explored them, explored new spaces without being too caught up with what the end result is going to be. So therefore, I would very strongly advocate to everyone who's listening to this podcast that very deliberately make it a point to try out new things, and unless and until you try these micro experiments, you will not know your true potential and what you're capable of. So that should become your way of being. It could be something as small as learning to operate some one small little gadget, but unless and until you don't try out that micro experiment, you will not know what your capabilities are.
Speaker 2:Wonderful. That brings us to the close of the Power of the Road questions. Thank you so much for being a sport and doing this In the area that you operate. You operate with lot of leaders, Future leaders, current leaders and leaders at large, and you yourself have been a leader, An entrepreneur, anchor speaker At the core of it. What does leadership mean to you? And you yourself have been a leader, an entrepreneur, anchor speaker At the core of it. What does leadership mean to you?
Speaker 1:Well, when I was in my 40s I think most of us go through this, you know, especially when you hit 40, a lot of questions start, you know, kind of coming out of nowhere, as to you know, what is the reason for my being and what is my life purpose and all of that. So this was one question.
Speaker 2:What is it called? As it's called as midlife career Abloos.
Speaker 1:I call this midlife crisis because you know I'm so. You know most of us are so full of questions around the time. You're questioning your being, you're questioning your life purpose, and all of it Suddenly, you know they come out of nowhere. So this thing actually kind of you know, played on my mind, and particularly about leadership, that's something which has been very, very transformational for me, because I was barely 25 when I took on the role of a leader and I was new to recruitment. Around that time there were quite a few people in my team who would go and escalate and talk to my boss and say that no, we cannot work with this person. She's too aggressive and you know she wants everything in a jiffy. And you know there were a lot of things and I had to very, very constantly work on that. And there were many situations where you know I would go back and deliberate on this question and ask repeatedly if I really had that as a you know issue as a leader and what are the areas to work upon. And then I ended up with a lot of psychometric tests and that's when I realized I was very high on. I followed by D when I did my disk profiling, so that actually gave me the confidence that, okay, I'm not that bad as a leader, but it's just that you know, I have to do that little bit of tweaking and convert that aggression into becoming more assertive or whatever. Those were the initial days, but then, when I was in my early 40s and when the same questions started troubling me and by then I was already doing all of these things and I was wearing these hats it made it so much more easier for me to understand at the core what this leadership means to me.
Speaker 1:So my leadership is defined by my three I's. One influence. So day in and day out, in my role as a leadership hiring expert, I need to influence my client organizations of hiring a right leader. And two, as someone who you know addresses the audience as a speaker, I need to inspire. I need to kind of leave behind some legacy or some lessons of mine that's going to inspire somebody. So that's my second eye, and the TV anchor platform that has fallen on my lap gives me a beautiful opportunity of creating an impact. I'm able to share my views, my thought processes and whatever awareness that we want to create to the larger audience and create an impact that happens to this platform. So, in short, influence, inspire and impact. These are the three I's and my leadership style.
Speaker 2:I can say Superb Very nicely put Three I's of influence, inspiration, impact. And in the role that you are as a recruitment leader, I'm sure you have seen thousands of candidates going in and out the process. If you were to kind of take a step back and say how I wish every candidate understood this, Now you got to answer what this is.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God, you are making my life so much more easier. I can't tell you, you know, this is something I feel every other day, and thank you so much for asking this question to me, shrikanth. See, most often, when candidates are looking for their next move or when they are looking for their next big, giant leap, most of them not all, but most of them are focusing on the what they are focusing on what title I'm going to get, what compensation I'm going to get and what kind of a brand am I getting and what kind of a brand am I getting into. But who are those successful candidates? Or who are those tenured candidates who spend a good decade or 8-10 years in a single role? Now, these are the ones who have not just focused on the what part, but the ones who have also focused on the why, when they had to kind of consider this opportunity.
Speaker 1:So, every time you think of making a move or you think of making a job change, I would very, very strongly recommend all the candidates to not just focus on the what part, fundamentally focus on the why. Why is it that I'm looking for a job change? And you know, why? Does my why I'm doing what I'm doing align with what is expected of this role, and if that why part is addressed and if you are very clear about why you're taking on that role, the what then becomes secondary and thereby everything is sorted. So you are very sure about what you're getting into. And then you also know that you know, once you take this up, you are going to enjoy it because your why is answered. You know why you have chosen that. So my strong recommend to all the candidates take a pause, think of your why, then only get to the what. That's like half the battle one.
Speaker 2:So the very famous why, and do you, or why I start with, why is what you're recommending people?
Speaker 1:kind of look into, yes, and whatever area of life, that's very important.
Speaker 2:Okay, and any specific recommendation in terms of preparation towards that?
Speaker 1:Well, one needs to take enough time out to understand the organization that they are planning to apply for, the job description, the role they are planning to apply for. And many a times today people are very open. You even know that who is going to be the hiring manager for that role and you will also get the details on LinkedIn or any other social media platform about the credentials of the person. And today we all know if someone is quitting the job, most often it's because of their bosses, and many social media jokes talk about this. So what's important for one to do here is do enough research and then check if that's the kind of organization you want to be in. And today you know there is enough and more that's being done to help people understand the culture of the organization. So see if you are kind of, you know, aligned with the culture of that organization that you plan to get into.
Speaker 1:It's very much like marriage. So you need to see, you know if the culture is going to match. You need to see if you're going to have a good working relationship with your boss which you can make out to any of these social media platforms, at least marginally, if not completely, you can get a good hang of it. So and the job description is in itself whether that is going to give you Monday blues or whether that is going to keep you going for the next three to five years. So if that preparation is done adequately, then it becomes easier for you to take the next step. So, in short, my answer to your question would be do enough preparation there. I would not recommend people to just jump into it there. I would ask people to take a poor step back and see if it's going to align with their goals, professional goals.
Speaker 2:What a conversation that we've had, starting from entrepreneurship to preparing for interviews. That's the dichotomy of the conversation that we have had so true, wonderful, so Uma. This platform is all about sharing. It's all about creating those ripples of inspiration. Before we sign off, two questions. What is your Inspire Someone Today message for all of the listeners out there? Those ripples of inspiration. Before we sign off, two questions. What is your Inspire Someone Today message for all of the listeners out there? And, as a leader, what is a legacy that you would want to leave behind?
Speaker 1:Fantastic. To answer your first question. The message that I would want to leave behind to all the listeners of this podcast is if you want something, you need to go ask for it, because the world moves only for those who ask. And secondly, you have to trust yourself and simply go for it. This sounds very simple, but then, believe me, I have myself struggled with this. You know, for several years, what they call the imposter syndrome, because everybody out there felt that you know, I was doing so many things, but then I never had that confidence in myself, because I always felt that there was something missing in me. So that is why I very, very strongly now announce it to the world that it's so important for you to trust yourself Sounds simple, but then that's the most important thing.
Speaker 1:And to answer the latter, what's the legacy I want to leave behind? To me, it's that starfish theory. I'm not here to create an impact to a multitude of people, so to the larger audience, if I can be a role model, mother to my two daughters, and if my daughters will remember me for who I am, for my leadership, for my entrepreneurial journey, for what all I did and what all I navigated and how I could come out of it successfully. If I can inspire them, then I see that my life is made, and that's the only thing that I want to leave behind as legacy. If something comes beyond that, well and good. But then my small little aspiration is to be a role model mother.
Speaker 2:How wonderful, how beautiful, how profound. Something very much mimics to what this platform is all about. This is we are carrying those ripples, not for everybody. Just do that inspiration, Do that, create those ripples of inspiration. Inspire someone today. And you said ask for it. And this is my ask for all my listeners out there If you enjoyed this conversation, please go and share this conversation with at least one of your friend, colleague, family member. That's how we can create a beautiful world. On that note, Uma, thank you so much for sharing this. This has been a wonderful, wonderful conversation. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much, shrikant, for bringing me on this platform. Like I already said, 2025 Women's Day cannot have been better than this, so thank you so very much for this cannot have been better than this, so thank you so very much for this.
