E163| Year-End Voices Of Inspiration | IST Community Members

Community voices reflect on a year of purpose, passion, and the future of work, sharing the habits and moments that changed how they live and lead. We co-create bold themes for 2026, from thriving in the AI era to authentic health and financial literacy, and celebrate meetups that turn inspiration into action.

• key takeaways from memorable guests across sport, sales, leadership, and sustainability
• micro experiments such as 1% improvements, affirmations, and the flickering bulb check
• meetups as catalysts for networks, mentorship, and real-world collaboration
• themes for 2026 including AI-ready skills, holistic priorities, and authentic expertise
• calls for cross-pollination and non-obvious wisdom from deputies and career pivoters
• psychology and neuroscience tools for stress, decisions, relationships, and habits
• stories of service-forward leadership inspired by Simon Taufel and Lorna Davis
• ideas for community-led reflections that track learning to action

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Transcript

Opening Reflections And Philosophy

SPEAKER_04 0:00

His philosophy of buddy hair, which translates into it matters to me, right? That echoes with me uh even now in my professional career in whatever aspect that I do.

SPEAKER_02 0:10

To give you a pointed answer on the call out episodes, uh, it's really tough for me to select one. So probably I'll just uh mention the name of some of the guests who really, really, you know, made a huge difference in the way I thought about several things.

SPEAKER_03 0:26

The biggest takeaway, I would say, for me, has been that how much capable we are as a person and how much we do not allow ourselves to uh reach our own potential.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

So, yeah, uh episode 19 with Simon Toffel. It was a reminder that the best careers are often the ones kind of we stumble into uh when we stay curious.

2025 Recap And Core Themes

Introducing Community Voices

SPEAKER_03 0:53

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, Shrikan, and I'm thrilled to be with you on this journey of inspiration. Inspire someone today listeners, welcome back for yet another episode of Inspire Someone Today. This episode is special for many reasons, and you will know why in a bit. And this is the last episode for the year 2025. Couldn't it have been more special than representing the voices from the community? Yes, you heard me right. This is a special episode representing the voices of the community. Before we get there, 2025 started with episode number 135, and we are wrapping up the year at episode 163. That's little under 30 episodes done this year. More than that, some of the key themes that we went over during this particular year was around purpose and passion. We had wonderful guests in Velumani, Dr. Abraham, Kaustav, Venkat Krishna. We spoke about passion. Uh, who better than Arunpai, Nirja, Dr. Uma Riggs and talking about passion. And we also had very interesting conversation, very relevant for the times that we are, which was the future of work. We had uh Rishard Tobekovala talking about the future of work, we had Professor Ram Gopal Rao, the dean from Bitch Bilani. Uh, we had uh Navyog who spoke about the design by life or life by design, and we had Anindya Sham and many other guests who spoke about these relevant topics. While that was a wrap for what we did for the year, what's in store for us today? It's an absolute joy to welcome some of the voices of the community. Whom do we have today? Murti, Reyes, Amrinder, Sham. Great to have the voices of the community here before we get started. Maybe a quick introduction, who you are, what uh took you to IST.

SPEAKER_02 3:18

Okay, I'll go first, Sri. Uh thanks a lot for uh welcoming us and making us part of the program. And uh I guess uh I took to IST like fish takes to water because of the quality of the conversations that you have been having so wonderfully, and the wonderful guests that have graced the podcast. So I am Murti. I have worked in several MNCs as quality and business excellence professional. Currently I am also a consultant uh on uh the same topics.

SPEAKER_04 3:51

Shri, yes. Hi. Glad to be here. Thanks for doing the Srikant, and I've been uh follower of IST ever since its inception. This is a philosophy that's also very close to me because I make it a habit to inspire one person, uh, maybe not every day, but at least one person in my lifetime. But uh IST is probably setting some high standards in terms of putting this pressure on people that you have to inspire someone every day, which is a good thing to do, right? So let me introduce myself, right? So my name is Shres, and uh I've been a part of the software industry, uh corporate industry for the last uh 10, 12 years, currently with uh one of the big force. But uh on a personal uh level, I do a lot of uh social work in terms of spreading awareness in terms of stroke and rehabilitation. I'm an office bearer of uh the Indian Stroke Association, Bangalore Stroke Support Group. I work with a lot of NGOs to help develop all-round development of the children uh in terms of government schools, mostly focusing on uh primary schools because that is the most important years, competitive years in terms of uh the students. So, in many ways, IST has been a good uh you know platform for me to draw some more inspiration to do some better work as well.

Personal Impact Stories From Listeners

SPEAKER_03 5:08

Wonderful. So that's what this community is all about, an eclectic mix of uh people, both the guests as well as the listeners, a heterogeneous set of people. So glad to have each one of you on this show. Welcome. So my first question, uh, since you so unequivocally stated about uh how passionate you are about uh what IST is all about, I want to draw your attention on what has inspired someone today made a difference in your life or thinking in the way you kind of approach. Are there any incidents, any examples that you would like to share? Maybe we can start off with you first, uh Shreyas.

SPEAKER_04 5:49

I've been a part of uh the listening community ever since its inception, but I'll go back to the first few episodes that were you know that that had this last impression in me, right? One episode was Mr. Samil Majibda, he's the MDA CEO of uh Sports Village, and I think his his philosophy of you know getting children to play again, where you know most of our most of the generation that we see, the Gen Z or the Gen Alpha that are you know stuck to their mobile phones, where a lot of our generation grew up outside the homes and it was very difficult to drag us back in. Now it is difficult to get the children, you know, they're dragging the parents are dragging the children to their playground. So this entire initiative and this movement to get children to play, and is working with Dr. Vijay Krishnamurti as well, who I also had multiple conversations. That I mean, to meet with Dr. Vijay, who's also a part of Sports Village in in some capacity, was a good uh revelation for me in terms of understanding what's happening in that industry, right? Being an enthusiast in child psychology myself, I think this has given me a little more motivation to try and see how I can get the community that I'm working with, the government school kids, to you know, try and help them how to get more physical activities done. If there are, you know, focused athletes there, how do we get them to the next stage? So that's that's something that I draw inspiration from. Another episode is uh, of course, Mr. Krishna Bopal. He's a sales coach. He was, in fact, one uh one of the speakers in the community as well. Uh I've had several sales coaches in my life, but uh very few have become sales gurus, and he definitely is one of them, right? His philosophy of putty hair, which translates into it matters to me, right? That echoes with me uh even now in my professional career in whatever aspect that I do. I've moved on from hard sales into a more consultative role now, but putty hair is something that sticks to me. And these are some you know visionary speakers that actually you had brought on the podcast as well. That was big. One honorary mention is Mr. Simon Toffel, owing that I'm a huge cricket fan. Uh, listening to one of the best uh and the greatest uh umpires of the sport was uh pleasant, a pleasure in itself. So those these these are some speakers that have had a lasting impression on me.

SPEAKER_03 8:13

How fantastic it is. Thank you for taking us down the memory lane on some of those uh past guests. And how cool it is. You just not listen to some of the guests. You had also an opportunity to meet a few of them during the course of uh these uh last few years, and that's fantastic. And Essen, what uh what has been your call-out episode for this year or over the course of the few years that you have been associated with IST?

Memorable Guests And Ideas

SPEAKER_02 8:37

Too sweet. Um so to give you a pointed answer on the call-out episodes, uh it's really tough for me to select one. So probably I'll just uh mention the name of some of the guests who really, really, you know made a huge difference in the way I thought about several things. Andrew Sridhar's session was outstanding for me. Andrew Sridhar, Gurcharand Das, uh Harishbat, Jaspreet Bindra, Prabir Ja, Vailumani was an outstanding episode. You know, I think his one-liners, I think his his sentences are just three three words long, but it packs so much of meaning and so much of you know intent. The other standout sessions, uh Sri, you know, for me were uh the sessions with uh the wealthy cop, which is Sunil Pulsiani. Matthew Dix was amazing, and I think Dr. Mohit Gupta, if I remember, he himself is also a cancer survivor. Uh the way he talks, and you know, I mean, amazing episode. And in even Prashant Desai, uh, who built his own business and failed, but he is now currently a very good uh LinkedIn creator. So I think there are many, many, but uh for me, Andrew Shreder's session stood out uh off late. I mean, as you know Shreya said, now the episodes in the first 50 were extremely good. But I think the amongst the ones that came recently, Andrew Shreder, he his concept of uh handling the flickering bulb uh first, you know, was something that hit me. As you know, you'll certainly remember, he talks about uh a bulb which is flickering. Initially you may not get distracted, but uh, if you are working in an environment where a bulb is flickering and it is irritating you, over a period of time it can take a huge portion of your attention and you know you will not be able to focus on work. So, how do you take out all the minor irritants and how do you focus on what you want to? Uh, and and many other points, but you know, I think uh these were the call-out sessions for me.

SPEAKER_03 10:40

Absolutely. I I think these are the moments that we would want to kind of take back with it. It's just not about listening to the kids. What are those one or two micro experiments or one or two insights that these guest provide that kind of lays a background to what we do? The flickering bulb moment is definitely uh one uh specific call out. The other episode that we did earlier this year was with Priyamada, who said, be so good that nobody can ignore you. I think these are one small liner, but has so much of punch in it.

SPEAKER_02 11:14

Absolutely. Absolutely. Right. I think uh the other one was you know the 1% uh improvement uh on the daily challenge. I think that was something that is really good. Yeah. Uh there are so many micro experiments, but that for me stood out uh quite well.

SPEAKER_04 11:31

I think Sri for me the micro experiment that I had witnessed in person in one of our uh meetups uh a few weeks ago was from Mr. Kaustock. You know, affirmation that uh he taught us uh to do every every morning when you wake up and you start your day. That was really powerful, right? I mean, you sometimes wake up with with a lot of backlogs from the previous day and you don't know you to face those challenges, right? This somehow you keep doing this over and over and add that 1% improvement every day, the power of compounding coupled with this affirmation. I think that that has worked for me really well. So I've been doing that uh for a while now. Let's see, maybe 1% becomes 100% in the next uh few weeks, a few months, maybe.

SPEAKER_03 12:13

That's fantastic. Uh it's a good segue into the next element of what we want to talk about. You mentioned about the meetup. So one piece of it is doing the podcast, another element of it is this wonderful opportunity where the IST podcast community members, the podcast guests come together once every year, and we were lucky to have a second meetup earlier this year. So if uh you were to kind of share one moment from that meetup, what's what was your takeaway? What is that you're going to take it forward as we get into 2026?

Micro Experiments And Daily Practices

SPEAKER_04 12:45

I'm a sales guy, so I take pride in collecting 10 business cards that day and made it a point to reach out to them and said, you know what, this is this is me, and you know, we met in so-and-so location, and they're glad to be a part of your community. I believe that expands my ecosystem. That there may be a professional uh connect in some capacity, but I guess knowing all of these people on a personal level will eventually uh you know expand my ecosystem, as I say, right? Uh so that's that's one. And uh I also also meeting with all of these uh leaders from multiple capacities, like somebody was in the army, uh somebody has been a veteran and and a leader in the HR part of the world. So these are things that will you know eventually add to my experience as well. And I'm sure there are more people getting added into the group, into the community. We were all a group of people who met on a Saturday. Come on, let's nobody's gonna spend their weekend if it is not uh giving them some value, right? Uh I see more such events happening, I see more possibilities of meeting more visionaries and uh uh inspiring people.

Community Meetups And Networking

SPEAKER_02 13:53

And yes, and for you. So the meetup, I've been, you know, I think it was great to have been a part of uh both the meetups that we have had so far. I think even in both uh episodes of both meetups, I really relish, you know, the fact that I've heard them on the podcast, but now I am meeting them in flesh and blood. And there were other guests whom I met there, but then their session happened subsequent to the meetup. You know, one was uh Sadashivan, right, uh, whose session came up recently. I think a lot of uh leaders, a lot of guests, highly accomplished but very humble. So we get to learn from so many leaders and and you know how they behave, how they interact. And the good part is the networking, right? The opportunity to speak to each other, learn from each other, and not only learn, but we are also in a position where we can also share our own learnings, our own experiences. So I think overall uh it's uh it's a very uh you know rich uh uh scenario environment where we can uh really learn from their real life experiences. And and somebody like Ansuman Tiwari uh is a friend, I know him very well, and so many friends. It's good to catch up and learn, and you know, so I think that's that's my impression. And these relationships are there for us forever, I think. That's how I look at it. And the wonderful relationships, wonderful people, and there's so much to learn, so much for us also to help them out. So I think uh a wonderful, wonderful uh platform for us to connect.

SPEAKER_03 15:26

That's what that's so lovely to hear. As a creator, it swells your heart when the community comes together and the relationship is beyond just listening to a podcast, the relationship is those connects, the relationship is taking it beyond into friendships. And like I mentioned earlier on, we focused a lot this year on some of the key topics uh like the future of work, passion, entrepreneur spirit, giving back to the community. If you guys were to be given an opportunity to kind of co-create themes for 2026, what are the three themes that you would want to kind of recommend as areas that we would want to focus or guests that we would want to get who can talk on these subjects?

SPEAKER_02 16:09

So if I can go first, I think the first and foremost topic would be to um come out with themes and uh speakers on surviving and not only surviving but thriving in the AI era. Because that has made everybody's life so complex. You know, I I remember reading in the Deccan Herald newspaper a few days back where uh after all the hype around AI learning and AI hiring, uh we see that companies are now wanting to hire AI-free skills people. So they have people who come for interviews, they're not able to speak even one line properly, one line of English properly, but look at their application letters, uh cover letters and their profiles and their project reports they are submitting for the interviews, they're perfect, pitch perfect. So I think somewhere you know we're creating something that we are not able to handle.

SPEAKER_03 17:03

Right? Okay, so that's one topic driving in an AI era. What else?

Themes To Co‑Create For 2026

SPEAKER_02 17:08

I think the other thing is always balancing out uh multiple priorities. You know, I look at this five quadrants or five areas of uh health, finance, uh, work, uh finance is one, work, relationships. So these are there are three, four or five areas which you know always takes a lot of uh family, of course, you know, takes a lot of precedence and in the 24 hour slot that we have in a day, we need to fit everything nicely. So on certain days, health could be a priority, on some other days, work could be a bigger priority. So how we balance these things out, how we give equal importance or equitable importance is what I look at. So that could be a very nice topic. I don't want to talk about work-life balance, we'll never have any balance, but when something needs attention, how do we give the attention it deserves at that point in time? If we can teach people about that kind of prioritization and people who have actually done it can come and speak. Prepare for the change, how to make the transition. Before you actually make the transition, how do you prepare in advance? And how do you really identify what your strengths are? So I think it'll be great if we can get people who have actually done that.

SPEAKER_03 18:42

Great list, Essen. Thank you for sharing that. Uh, definitely thriving in an uh AI era is the top of the heap for a lot. Many of our listeners will definitely see what best we can do. Who is that guest who can come and talk about this stuff? And how would you say yes?

SPEAKER_04 18:57

Uh I mean, I think I think I'll I'll add to what Essen said to begin with, right? In terms of financial uh management. How there's so much out there with these Instagram finance influencers that are spreading wrong information about how and what to do with your finances. Maybe bringing somebody that's that's actually done it and who's who's more legitimate, who's more authentic in terms of their approach. We don't want 2x of the hundred dollars that we invest on, the 100 rupees we invest. How do you steadily grow your wealth and and more realistically is something that we all crave today, right? I mean, everybody is looking to make the quick buck, but let's be honest, that's not possible at all. So how do you steadily grow from a financial literacy perspective? That is something that that that's probably uh uh you know a theme that I look for. And I'm saying this second, but it it had to be uh said first. This is health, right? I mean, in terms of I mean, I being a member of the index token. Myself, I see in the last 10 years, the number of patients who are suffering from stroke, the age group has reduced. You know, stroke or paralysis in terms of the age group was a 50-year-plus illness or a problem that uh you know people face. Now there are age groups that are well within 20, 25, 25 to 35 that are struggling uh and are being affected with stroke as well, right? Why is that happening? What are these lifestyle changes that people have made that is affecting them? How do we go back to whatever our ancestors did? What are the right things that our ancestors did? How do we bring that back and you know amalgamate that with our current lifestyle and the current world that we live in? And and we are doing this. Yeah. We're very horrible at marketing this, but we're doing this with a small group of people that are you know suffering and that need this post-care. But uh uh I think I think a platform like inspire someone today to bring in somebody who's specialized in stroke care or spreading awareness about stroke or you know, health in general, right? Again, there's a lot of fake stuff that's going around uh on on social media. How do we you know stop fear-mongering and then positively teach people how to take care of their health are two themes that I want to talk about.

SPEAKER_03 21:18

Those are lovely themes. Thanks for sharing that. Uh uh one thing that definitely came out was authenticity of uh information, is what we are looking for through these particular themes. On the same lines, if I were to add as you're giving me that is if there's one dream guest that you would want to be featured on this podcast, who would that one dream guest be?

Dream Guests And Authentic Expertise

SPEAKER_04 21:37

Yeah, can we get Neil Degrasse Tyson or Bill Nye on this podcast? Neil Degrash Tyson is he's the most uh famous uh astronomer in the world. He calls himself the most famous astronomer too. He's got a knowledge of wealth. And I am I'm a Patreon member to his podcast, which is called Star Talk. But if he's on Inspire Someone Today, that that would be lovely. That would be lovely.

SPEAKER_03 22:01

Okay, we'll open up the windows to the cosmos and uh manifest it and see if we can uh land somebody like him on the show. Essen, do you have any favorites that you would love to see on the show?

SPEAKER_02 22:14

Oh yes, absolutely. Uh you know, uh of course you are one of the favorites, but this itself is your show. Uh so apart from you, I think uh Dr. Paul would be a very good choice. Uh, Dr. Paul and you know Ryan Fernandez, from a health point of view, they're doing some amazing work out there. And uh if we can get them, I'm sure you know that the show will be really great. Um, the other person that I have been following recently, uh maybe in the last two, three months, and I'm quite impressed, is a person called Ravi Kapoor. He was in IRS and uh he runs uh a YouTube channel. Uh he says, I will slap you. And you know, he I mean his way of inspiring people is very different. And he he's he's he also has guests on his show, and he also does his own individual uh shows. So these are two really very impressive. There are many people, but I think this couple of guys can really make a huge difference.

SPEAKER_03 23:14

But this has been one fantastic conversation. Thank you so much for sharing your journey with me on uh this podcast show. Like we always do before we close. Uh I want to have this question for you guys. What does Inspire Someone Today mean to you?

SPEAKER_04 23:27

I think for me, every time an episode uh drops or I see a LinkedIn post of Inspire Someone Today, I make it a habit to inspire someone today.

SPEAKER_03 23:36

That's what Inspire Someone Today means to you.

SPEAKER_02 23:38

Wonderful. So, yeah, so for me, Sri, uh many things. No, see, I keep a watch out on the notification. Uh, you send it out every second or alternate Friday, right? So the moment it comes in, uh, in most of the cases within the next 48 hours, I would have consumed it if I were to put a timeline. And I make my own notes on each of the episodes. You know, there are standout uh takeaways from each and every episode, and I do make it a point to check out uh the profiles of the guests and you know how we can really reach out and uh probably you know see how they can help the community across various initiatives. The other thing that I have always you know um looked at is uh the experience of having been a beta reader for your book, Inspire Someone Today, was a unique experience for me. And even the walk that we went with Arunpai, right, uh that was a phenomenal experience. Even being a part of the mastermind group, I was in the inaugural batch, so that was a fantastic experience. And the kind of experiences we have on the meetup, and I'm sure in the retreat that is also coming up, uh a very, very, very types of uh interventions coming in under the IST umbrella, uh I think is is a great learning experience. It's very enriching. And uh not only can we gain from it, but we also can contribute back to that. So for me, that is what is beautiful. Looking at young, you know, uh students getting mentored, uh, or you know, the IST Foundation, I think these are all taking shape very nicely. Uh so look forward to all of this, really.

SPEAKER_04 25:23

Well, I think Essen, you you you also touched something that is very personal to me as well, which is mentorship, right? That there's a lack of mentors out there. There's an abundance of mentees that want to mentors, right? So I think in the last meetup to Srikant, one of the ideas that I also discussed with the group that uh we formed was to try and figure out how we can have all of these speakers become mentors to uh you know aspiring uh uh leaders or you know, whoever in their respective fields, right? That will be an absolute amplification of the inspiration that we can do as a part of the community.

Mentorship And Community Programs

Additional Community Voice: Shiv

SPEAKER_03 26:00

This is also lovely to hear. Thank you so much for uh your contributions. Thank you for highlighting that change happens not by chance, but when the community comes together. Across episodes, stories, and conversations, one truth stands tall. Impact grows when shared. So thank you for being that impact. Thank you for being the heartbeat of IST. Looking forward to more such conversations, more community members coming together and having these lovely conversations as we move forward. Welcome back to the recording of Inspire Someone Today. Who do we have today? This is part of the community conversation, the wrap-up episode for the year 2025. And it's an absolute joy to bring in some voices from the Inspire Someone Today community. We have one such voice. Shiv, welcome to the show. Thank you, Sri. Thank you. Uh it's great to be here. So, Shiv, for the benefit of our listeners, a bit about you, your background. Okay. I come from a background of uh having worked in IT for 15 years and then became a solo prana. So I work with the senior management CXOs to help them build their brand on LinkedIn or through their uh book. So I uh help them conceptualize, write, and publish their book worldwide. Yes, Shiv is the man behind a lot many people who are kind of enhancing their brand authority, personal brand authority on LinkedIn and other places. So it's a wonderful uh opportunity for me to have Shiv. And he's also been associated with the Inspire Summon Today community for quite some time. Shiv, what has been your nice moments of uh being associated with the community? I over the years I have been part of several communities. But what stood out for me right from the day one with the IST community is uh the warmth of people and uh the outlook of learning. So every conversation I've had with any member of the community has always been enriching. So that's that's the biggest takeaway for me. The community of knowledge seekers. So you have been uh following, supporting all of uh our work over the years. Are there any specific episodes uh that has kind of stood out for you? Are there any favorites for you in the area of the episodes that we have within the IST table? Yeah, um one of those that I really, really enjoyed and and and uh listened to several times is the one with Arunpai. The sheer ignorance that it brought out in me about Bangalore, having been here for several decades, was a pleasant shock in the sense there is so much I could learn from his knowledge, uh not just about Bangalore, but his background, his experience, how he also sort of came from corporate background and uh established a niche for himself. Uh that's been amazing. Uh both the episodes have been wonderful. Wonderful. We did get Arun to be on the show this year, uh folks. So if you have not had a chance to listen to Arun Pai's episode, you should definitely give it a listen. And uh Shiv, you're also part of the IST meetup that happened earlier uh this year. Any thoughts, uh reflections from the meetup, uh anything that you took away, you walked out with saying that okay, this was your aha moment uh being part of the meetup. I've had several aha moments to be honest. The array of guests have been just amazing. The conversations before, during, after have been all very memorable. Uh the biggest takeaway I would say for me has been that how much capable we are as a person and how much we do not allow ourselves to uh reach our own potential. That realization has been very, very strong for me during during the meta. That's wonderful. And as we kind of wrap up 2025, look into 26, what do you, if we were to co-create episodes uh for 2026, what would you recommend? What are some of the themes that you would recommend that uh inspire someone today focus us on? I've had almost as many number of years in corporate as um being on my own building a business. And there has been one very strong realization which sort of matches to what I said as my realization through the meetup, which has been as a person how much we are capable of. Uh how much we think that we cannot do, and situations sort of push you to do it, and then you wonder, once having done that, you wonder where was that ability in me? Where did it come from? Right? And then if we are able to sort of develop our own awareness as to how much we can do, and hence how much we should allow ourselves to do, go after our dreams by just removing some of the blockers that we have uh put for ourselves, I think that would be something worth focusing on. So keeping that theme in mind, I think topics which help us realize our own potential, topics which help us break our own inhibitions and really go after our dreams, you know, really go after our goals, that I think would be something that I would hope to see in in in conversations uh in the coming years. If you were to have a dream guest who can be featured on this show, who would the dream guest be issued? I do not have a name in my mind, but uh I think the kind of person that I wanted to uh suggest, if it's possible, is I've been always a fan of people in military, people in defense forces. Because for me they are the epitome of what a human can be through the situations that they go through um at enemy lines, in the situations which normal people day to day do not come across. And those situations sort of enhance their own personality and then they end up achieving things or doing things which normal people can't even imagine. So having conversations with them, I believe, would be so helpful again, you know, tying back to what I'm hoping to look, you know, going forward. You know, people like these who are like heroes for us, uh, but then you know, getting their mindset, understanding what makes them who they are. Uh I think uh that would be uh nice to have people from that background. Two veterans this year, uh Major Pallavi Shivanar and uh also ex-Navy SEAL in Andrew Srida. So we had got one from the US, one from India, playing in the army for their respective countries. So maybe through their network, we should be able to tap into more of such heroes and learn from their the life journeys and life lessons.

Realizing Potential And Removing Blockers

SPEAKER_00 33:20

Hi, I'm Amrinda Kor, and um as a professional, I bring a balanced mix of experience, clarity, and collaboration to whatever I work on, along with deep expertise in my field. Coming to guest recommendations and topics I would love to see covered. I'm really interested in psychology. It would be wonderful to hear from experts who can help us understand how we impact ourselves and others, recognize challenging patterns in daily life, build self-awareness, and explore mental health through meaningful conversations with fellow listeners. I would love our guests to share practical psychological tools we can apply in our day-to-day lives, way to manage stress, make better decisions, build healthier relationships, build healthy habits, you know, conscious eating. It would also be fascinating to explore how these insights can be applied in the workplace to navigate work pressure, culture, leadership, and creativity more effectively. Overall, having guests who can translate neuroscience and psychology into actionable everyday habits would be incredibly valuable. On my personal list, I would love to hear from Indra Nui, Ramani Durvasula, and Adam Grant, voices I admire and would find truly inspiring in this context. Thank you. For me, being part of the Inspired Someone Today community has been uplifting, inspiring, and grounding, shaping my growth and enriching my journey in many ways. So thank you again, Shri, for creating this space and bringing this community together. One of the episodes uh that truly stayed with me is uh episode number 116 with Lorna Davis. The way she talks about global sustainability and empathy in leadership really struck uh chord with me. And uh, she brings such a powerful uh, you know, global lens, reminding us to focus on values beyond profit and to build organizations that care for people, the planet, and purpose. What really resonated with me was how she sees empathy not as a soft skill, but as a strategic advantage when it's woven into the culture of a business. And her own journey from South Africa to places like China has clearly shaped her deep sense of social responsibility. I also love the very concrete habits she has shared, reducing unnecessary consumption, being deliberate about the impact of our choices, and paying attention to the everyday decisions we make. What we buy, how we work, and how we lead. And I have to say this openly, her episode genuinely changed something in me. Since listening to her, I have really become far more conscious about what I buy. I pause, ask myself, do I really need this? And if I do choose to invest in something or want to buy something for myself, I make sure it's something that will stay with me for a long time and I don't want to contribute to unnecessary waste. So her message didn't just inspire me, it shifted my daily habits and made me more intentional in the way I show up. And to me, that is uh really, really important. Uh and and I think I'm loving that about myself now. I would also love to share a bit about my experience from the meetups. Uh we have had so far, two so far, and both have been uh absolutely amazing. And and there is something about them that genuinely excites me. I find myself already thinking about the next one, what the vibe will be, what conversations we will have, and most importantly, who I will get to meet again. So I really look forward to reconnecting with the people I met last year, strengthening the connections, also meeting new people, and of course, uh the people I have known for years in a totally new light. And and lastly, of course, very, very uh special for me is getting the chance to meet three in person. Across these uh meetups, one thing that's um uh really stayed with me is the emphasis on uh gratitude, how powerful it is to pause, appreciate, and and think about how we can make someone's day a little better. And I must add that, you know, I have known the value of affirmations for a while, but it was after this year's meetup that I really started practicing them, you know, consistently, and and of course, I stand in front of the mirror and I haul it out. Now, these small shifts have made a huge difference, I can definitely tell you that, and I have become much more aware of how much time I used to spend on my phone and how much time I now spend on myself. One of the ideas our team discussed this year was introducing something we have called a coach IST. The idea actually came out of our tabletop conversation, and as a team, we felt that instead of only relying on one-on-one coaching, it might be powerful to create a classroom-style coaching format.

Psychology, Sustainability, And Habit Change

Cross‑Pollination And Non‑Obvious Wisdom

SPEAKER_01 38:38

Okay, my answer to the co-creation 2026 uh first question which themes should the podcast explore next year? I think a theme of kind of cross-pollination, learning across fields. I've always felt that there's magic at the intersections. So, for example, what can a cricket umpire like Simon Toffel teach us about coaching? What can an architect teach us about team building? What can a chef teach us about feedback? I mean, voices from completely non-obvious fields uh would be welcome. And uh the magic would then be to extract that transferable wisdom from these experienced folks. The podcast world seemed to be overfocused on interviewing the same kinds of people. Maybe there is uh value in finding non-obvious knowledge from non-obvious sources. So that's my theme idea. In terms of guests, uh, do I dream of hearing on the show? I don't necessarily have a famous name. I do have certain types of folks or profiles that I would love to meet. We hear a lot about the CEOs and CXOs. I would love to meet the number twos who've been the deputies, right hand people, chief of staff. I mean, they they see the world a little differently to the top. So we do overindex on the top. Maybe there's value in talking to people who are maybe one or two levels below and seeing how they see the world. I mean, career pivots is a very favorite topic of mine. I would love Love to hear about pivots at 40 plus, 50 plus, even 60 plus, who have reinvented themselves and can honestly talk about the fear, the loss of identity, the rebuilding that goes into it. And uh someone maybe talking about failure and how failure shapes us. I mean, people who have had spectacularly famous and large failures but have recovered and come through and maybe even made amends, who sat with it, learned from it, and then built something meaningful from it. So those kind of profiles would be very, very interesting to hear. In terms of your last question of how can the community play a bigger role? I think there could be uh real value in telling us what value the podcast itself brings, you know. So for example, after a one-hour podcast, maybe doing like a 10-minute piece uh talking to maybe five people, uh interviewing them for two minutes on what they learned, what they did, because watching the podcast is one thing. Watching the learnings and transformation in action leading to real impact is another. So maybe every podcast episode could have some kind of community-driven summary or uh reflection or learning practical outcome type of uh maybe a short 10-15 minute uh session that's crowdsourced from the community. That's my idea for you. My biggest takeaway from the meetup uh was definitely the discussion on the Atman Ramayana. I really enjoyed the presentation, and I'm still looking at the journal days later, reflecting on some of the ideas here. Three things I'll uh outline that really are sitting with me from the Atman Ramayana as my highlights from the meetup. The first one is, of course, the definition of a tuvidha, of the dilemma that's beautifully outlined from an observation of Sita where it says, or jabva soneki lanka pahochi, to say ram ram chayeth. I mean, what is this irony and dilemma? When Sita was in the jungle, she wanted the golden day, but when she reached the golden Lanka, she wanted Rama. And such a beautiful description of the dilemmas we face, uh we kind of get stuck in places and not being sure what we really want. The second uh highlight was this piece on relationships and how relationships impact our happiness. And there's a wonderful quote here saying, Imperfect relationships are opportunities and they are not scars. So relationships are usually messy and imperfect and kind of sometimes abnormal as well. But these are uh really opportunities to learn and improve and get better. If we label them as scars that we can't get over, it can be very, very difficult to manage. So I think that reframing was a beautiful one. And lastly, the wonderful use of the wheel of life activity that I use in my coaching as well. Uh, but what I really saw very differently was the dharma angle to the wheel of life, looking at what would be the dharmic way of looking at what um things you should do in your life across vocation, well-being, occupation, universal uh relationship, community, and spiritual. And uh what is the balance of your focus across these dharmas? And quoting from the journal, the more spread out we are across the seven, the better. Any missing block or less than seven percent is bad, any dimension greater than twenty one percent is a challenge. So that's again a wonderful take on the dharmic tradition on what makes a balanced and good life. So I found these are the real, real amazing highlights for me. They're gonna sit with me for a long time. So the question I'd like to answer is uh which episode or guest stayed with you the longest and why? To this question, without a doubt, it's episode 19 with Simon Toffel. Uh what he shared struck such a deep chord with me because in many, many ways his journey um mirrored my own at that time. Simon talked about being an accidental umpire. He didn't kind of walk into umpiring intentionally with a grand vision. It happened through a bit of a challenge, a bit of luck, and very importantly, by being smart enough to listen and try new things, and that's exactly how my own journey unfolded at a very similar time to when the episode came out, actually. Well, I didn't set out on my journey thinking about I'm going to become an executive coach, you know. Like uh Simon, I found myself in this uh space almost accidentally. And what made all the difference, and this is what is really resonating from the episode, was that I was also surrounded by the right people just like him. Simon talked about the new South Wales Umpires Association, that incredible environment full of mentors who helped him a lot. For me, it was my coaches, my trainers, my clients who became collaborators, and people who practice with me and who were generous with to me with their uh with their insights. Simon spoke about being smart enough to listen and try new things. And that's also my coaching philosophy, you know. I've experimented a lot, I've learned from my clients, I've tapped into tools, I've adapted frameworks, I've borrowed from behavioral science, leadership. Just like Simon tapped into many resources in Australia and learned from performance-minded individuals. I've been really fortunate to learn from organizations and leaders. And he also spoke about legacy. He referenced Bradman's ideology that always leave the game in a better position than when you found it. And he said, it was never about me. The role of the umpire is to keep the focus on the cricket and that philosophy of leading by serving and not leading to be the center of attention. I think that's what my work should also be about. So that stays with me a lot. Because my my role here is not to be the hero of someone else's story, it's to help them become the best version of themselves. It's about leaving my clients, my field, uh, maybe even the broader leadership, career development world in a better place, making it easier, making it um having better resources, better frameworks, better conditions. And as coaches, I think uh we all need to keep the focus on our clients' growth, not on our own cleverness or our own abilities. And then we do that when we when we serve rather than perform, uh, that's when kind of real growth and transformation can happen. So, yeah, uh episode 19 with uh Simon Toffel. It was a reminder that the best careers are often the ones kind of we stumble into uh when we stay curious and we connect and build with great people around us and ultimately use our talent to serve something much, much bigger than ourselves.