Ajit Dodani - Founder and CEO of EmpathifyU | Los Angeles Leaders

When was the last time you took a deep breath? According to Ajit Dodani, your answer might reveal why you're struggling to lead effectively in today's hyperconnected world.

In this powerful conversation, Forbes Coach and Empathify You founder Ajit Dodani takes us on his remarkable journey from growing up in his family's century-old ice cream business in India to becoming a leadership expert who teaches Fortune 500 companies how to build sustainable high-performance cultures.

Dodani's story is one of resilience and transformation. After moving to America at 19, he experienced both remarkable success and devastating setbacks—including finding himself homeless in Los Angeles with just $507 to his name. It was in these moments of crisis that he discovered the power of presence, breathing techniques, and emotional regulation that would later become foundational to his leadership philosophy.

The conversation explores Dodani's groundbreaking "Trust Formula," developed during his 16 years as a CFO at Benetton, where he meticulously documented the traits that build and break trust in organizations. He shares practical insights about shadow values—those unconscious drivers that often contradict our stated values and sabotage our leadership effectiveness.

Particularly timely is Dodani's framework for AI adoption: PI×HI×AI (Personal Intelligence × Human Intelligence × Artificial Intelligence). As he explains, "AI has become the IQ equalizer. Today, within minutes, anyone can know what previously took years to learn." This shift makes human skills increasingly valuable in the workplace—especially the ability to be fully present.

You'll learn practical techniques like box breathing (four counts in, hold, six counts out) that can reset your nervous system during stressful situations, and why successful leaders follow ultradian rhythms rather than pushing through exhaustion. As Dodani puts it, "In a world of hyperconnection and information overload, the person who becomes most human wins."

Connect with Ajit on LinkedIn to access his resources, workshops, and keynotes on trust-building, high-performance cultures, and humanizing AI adoption. What one breathing practice could transform your leadership today?

📌 ABOUT OUR GUEST: 
🔹 Name: Ajit Dodani
🔹 Title: Founder & CEO

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Ajit Dodani
• 18:37 Early Life in India
• 27:16 The Trust Formula and Leadership Evolution
• 32:52 AI Adoption and the Human Element
• 37:49 Moving to America and First Challenges
• 44:32 The Power of Presence and Breathing
• 55:17 Building a Meaningful Legacy
• 58:46 Finding Balance in Professional Life
• 1:06:58 Closing Thoughts and Resources

Transcript

Narrator 1: 0:00

Welcome to the Los Angeles Leaders Podcast, where we dive deep into the stories of the visionaries shaping the future of our region. Hosted by Christopher Luna, this podcast brings you conversations with the movers and shakers driving innovation, leadership and community impact across Los Angeles. Whether you're an entrepreneur, a community leader or simply someone passionate about making a difference, this podcast is your gateway to the insights and inspiration you need to lead and succeed. Get ready to be inspired by the leaders making waves in Los Angeles and beyond.

Narrator 2: 0:36

In this episode we welcome Ajit Dodani, founder of Empathify you. Ajit moved to the US from India and, like most first-generation immigrants, had a bumpy start, worked hard and rose to become the CFO for a fashion brand and a consultant for various companies. Today, he is the founder of Empathify you and a member of the Forbes Coaches Council. He is bridging human connection and business performance through trust, effective leadership and AI adoption for sustainable, high-performing teams. His wife, harsha, who has always built business alongside him, is the chief heart officer.

Narrator 2: 1:08

Over the years, ajit as a coach and factional executive and has helped various companies scale from tech, fashion, engineering, real estate, entertainment. Some of his proprietary learning pathways include the trust formula Piksik Sayay sustainable, high-performance cultures. The adaptive leader. His workshops and keynotes are full of stories. Trust Formula Piksik Sayay Sustainable, high Performance Cultures the Adaptive Leader. His workshops and keynotes are full of stories, science and strategies that have inspired and empowered audiences across the world. Because of his own diagnosis with PTSD, he has been recognized and is very passionate about neuroinclusion and has spoken to over 10,000 individuals about the urgent need of embrace the powers of those around us that are neurodiverse. He lives in San Fernando Valley, california, with his wife and his two sons. His purpose is clear to inspire a world where everyone can thrive, personally and professionally, and feel like they belong. Please welcome Ajit Dodani.

Christopher Luna: 1:57

Welcome to Los Angeles Leaders Today. I'm honored to have you, ajit. You are an inspiration to me. We met early on in my career at the Chamber and I've always kept an open dialogue with you and the relationship has been very personal. You've helped, guided me through a lot of my decisions that I've made so far, and it's an honor to have you here. So thank you for your time.

Ajit Dodani: 2:20

Chris, thank you for the invitation, and to see our friendship grow beyond the professional and move into a relationship like this has been phenomenal so fun.

Christopher Luna: 2:30

I follow you. I'm a nerd, you do a lot, but before I get into what you're doing now, I really want to learn and have the opportunity to give to my audience how you got to where you're at now. I would love to start with your early childhood and your upbringing, your background and just kind of your family.

Ajit Dodani: 2:50

Yeah, that's great. So I was born in Lucknow, india, north of India, but I grew up in Pune, india, and a wild, middle-class, amazing journey of growing up of, you know motorbikes and fashion shows and dance concerts and I used to be in dance competitions and but very early, you know, I knew that I felt more, sensed more and just kind of got a sense of the room really early and my uncles would whack me on the head Men are not supposed to feel and sense so much, you know and that's when I realized that I was an empath and that became some of my founding journey. So, born in India and also, you know, growing up in a place like that, I saw so much joy and happiness but at the same time saw some things around culture that were really difficult for me and, being an empath, I would observe stuff like that. And I say this not to take it really deep so fast. So there was two sides of me a fun, crazy, wild side.

Ajit Dodani: 4:01

I was just in India a month ago and met all my friends and we're sharing stories of all the motorbike rides and how we skipped college and all that fun stuff, chris, but at the same time, my deep understanding of people and humans and and and being there for the community. And now, I guess, somewhere along the line, that got ingrained in me and that whole, so that that journey was great. Both my parents are entrepreneurs. I grew up around what do they do?

Ajit Dodani: 4:30

So my dad continues a legacy business in ice cream that has been around there for a hundred of years now. Because of COVID it shut down. My mom actually first started the first women's health spa in the city that ever. This was about 60, 70 years ago, and so I grew up around a family that were entrepreneurs, that were solving problems, that were always thinking on their feet.

Christopher Luna: 4:56

Did you ever get involved in the family business? Oh, 100%, tell me about that.

Ajit Dodani: 5:00

Oh my God, that was so fun. So dad had stores and he also would do fairs. And so here I am at the age of 10, 12, standing behind a counter collecting cash. Here I am going to fairs, and then my own school would get the ice cream delivered from the school, the high school that. I went to at the elementary and high school would get ice cream delivered, so you're the cool kid, so it's crazy.

Ajit Dodani: 5:28

So on my birthday, chris, all the kids in the school would get a a bar for free so three brothers so we did that, so grew up with that kind of involvement in the community.

Ajit Dodani: 5:40

and, chris, just to give you an idea, like I, I went back right now too and for years when I was there, like the community knew each other and we served each other and we watched out for each other's back. And even to this day, when I went there and obviously older now and then I met somebody and I'd meet people who knew my family or my dad. They'd say, oh, you're the Dodani kid, we got you. And I'm like wait, I just ate at your place. No, we got you. And I'm saying that that level of community, that level of care, to see that growing up and to see that even decades later, that love, that love for you and your family.

Ajit Dodani: 6:22

And sure, it's not perfect it's far from perfect but I think I grew up in that environment of you got to be there for each other. I remember our friendships, like I met friends after 20, 20 years right now, and just like cousins, you pick up right where you left off no judgment, so so that was that was that was growing up, an entrepreneurial house. I have two brothers I'm the youngest of three and for me education was like the day before my exams I would go and watch a movie because I never liked the concept of memorizing stuff. So anything that I needed memorization for that was tough. But stuff that conceptually, like math, science, all that stuff I got it, and before an exam I needed to reset myself. I don't know, Chris.

Christopher Luna: 7:20

So in your family business? Did they ever move to the States or did they stay behind your parents?

Ajit Dodani: 7:26

No, no, my parents stayed there. They've stayed there all their life. In fact. My dad came here and he's the first one that from our family came here to this country and it was beautiful. You know, he had left that summer. He had left the business to me because all the brothers were out and he said, ok, you run it, so I'm in college and he's like you run it. Ok. And he comes back and he saw the very corporate way that I ran a business in India which you're not supposed to. You're supposed to be a little flexible in the way you operate stuff. And he goes. You know, son, I think you should move to the States Because with your kind of framing that you have and the goes, you know, son, I think you should move to the states because with your kind of framing that you have and the way you, what you want to do with your life, I think you may find some magic here so he was the one that motivated you to move out.

Ajit Dodani: 8:15

He just planted that seed and he said you know, I I think this might be the place for you. My older brothers were in different parts of the world and he said for you, I think america so there's three brothers three brothers and all of them moved away all of them moved away and how do your parents feel about that?

Ajit Dodani: 8:30

I mean to be left alone um they were actually very excited, right, um, uh, they were very excited about it. They've for their all their life, ever since, like since we moved out, they've been six months in india, six months out, six months traveling and being, and now all three of us ended up in the us. So for decades they did that. Now they're obviously settled in india. They're the age where they're at and they don't do that six months, six months, uh. But they know they loved it.

Christopher Luna: 8:57

They wanted us to thrive and it's incredible that he didn't really have that sense of like, one of my kids are going to take over the family business and continue the legacy and you know, because a lot of times in these family businesses you have that sense of responsibility to continue that legacy.

Ajit Dodani: 9:10

Yeah, I think, more than responsibility, sometimes guilt is deployed in a very tactical way, and I talk about that. It's, you know, aapi month in may, right, and one of the topics we talk about is, in some of our cultures, guilt is deployed as a way to choose professions or live lives that are so unfulfilling. And in the work that I do is, you know, as a coach and a Forbes coach and all that stuff, you know, I get to meet some of the most incredible human beings, chris, and sometimes you see those people that have taken a path that was suggested to them or guilted to them, and then years later, they detach from that and actually choose their passion. So, you know, to augment what you said, when you moved here to the States.

Christopher Luna: 9:58

You're 19?, yep, so what did you do when you first moved here? You're alone.

Ajit Dodani: 10:02

Yeah, yeah, so I moved. I was the first of my family to move here. It's a crazy story. You ready for this one?

Christopher Luna: 10:07

Yeah, that's what I want to hear, all right.

Ajit Dodani: 10:11

So I finished college out there, 19 and a half Finished college, I'm coming to the US, I have a job and I'm also planning to go to school here. You know, typical idea and I actually land in uh la, so let's go back. I land on april 1st in new york. April 1st, april, fool's day, right? So I land in new york, welcome to america. I'm at jfk and I'm like my god, this is it. My uncle picks me up, takes me down, um, you know, through manhattan. It's like six o'clock in the evening. He's going through manhattan because we're staying in new night. So picture me and JFK. We're going through. He says, son, would you like to eat a pizza? And I'm like are you kidding me?

Narrator 1: 10:49

Pizza in.

Ajit Dodani: 10:51

New York. I'm like, yes, let's do it. So we go down and we pick up a slice of pizza and we devour it. I'm like, oh my God, new York pizza. And then we get to the house in New Jersey and both my bags were stolen from the car. Oh no. So within three hours of being in this country, I had absolutely nothing except for a little sachet on me with my passport, and I say this because that was my coming to America story.

Ajit Dodani: 11:21

And that started it all. And I say that because that happened and I'll tell you. So I I come to california because this is where my. So my uncle picks me up, I go to dc and all that stuff and um, and then april 5th I just wanted april 1st. I land april 5th, an important day. Just leave it at that for a second, okay. So then I come to california because that's where my job was. I was going to go to school around here and stuff like that. So I come here I don't watch this, I'm just about 20 at that point, right, um, corporate condo in hermosa beach with a corporate car with the bmw in that hermosa andCH. My mind is blown. I mean, I get up in the morning, I go down to the beach, I'm like, oh my God, this is nuts. And I'm in that time I was manufacturing garments for Okay.

Christopher Luna: 12:14

That's where I got lost.

Ajit Dodani: 12:15

Yeah, so I'm so the company that I'm working for is manufacturing garments for the limited and different other brands, so they were clothing manufacturing companies so I was always interested in humongous industry in los angeles huge, huge. So fashion finance, all that stuff really interested me right now I know where you get your fashion sense so, so that that's where I started and it was crazy.

Ajit Dodani: 12:35

So the the offices were here, we'd fly to the caribbean, there were factories there, and we'd come back may I ask how you got that role, though I mean because I I studied that in india.

Ajit Dodani: 12:43

I studied business finance india. I studied business finance and fashion. I always had that interest and this was a connection that my family had. Okay, so I got in touch with them. They're like yep, we'd love for you to come and join us. So that's how I ended up here in the us. It's incredible and I say this because watch this six months of create. I mean, this is, like you know, like out of a storybook, right? This kid from India ends up here.

Ajit Dodani: 13:06

I'm jogging on Hermosa Beach in the morning and then on my seventh month, I fly back from a trip. I land at LAX, take a taxi down to the corporate house and there are people standing outside the house saying the company has gone under, your car is gone, your house is gone. You have half an hour to pack your bag and leave. And I say this because within half an hour I literally pack my bags two bags and I still remember pch and hermosa, the townhouse. On this. I crossed the street to the other side and there was a red phone booth. You know what phone booths?

Ajit Dodani: 13:51

yes, I'm not that young but a phone booth is to say anyways. So I walk into this phone booth, the sun is hitting my eyes, I have tears coming down my eyes and I'm starting to remember everything that I'd learned, because this is when life hit really hard. I'm homeless and jobless in LA the proverbial LA and I go. What am I gonna do? And I say this because I go into that booth and I start breathing and you know a little bit about me and my power. So over the years I'd watched my parents in India use breathwork and presence to tackle entrepreneurial stuff.

Ajit Dodani: 14:39

I would laugh when I was young right when you see your parents doing stuff, you're like you know's that, what are you doing? You know?

Christopher Luna: 14:46

they had a great technique.

Ajit Dodani: 14:47

I mean my, my parents, I've I've always just seen them overwhelmed and carried a lot of weight, a lot of weight and I would see them use this morning go out for walks, breathe, sit outside, and they're doing this breath work and I let's get it. And then in that phone booth all I remember doing was going okay, you need to calm your fear and flight center, and that's the like. I leaned into it so hard at that time that I calmed myself down. And I say this I mean today. I talk about the power of presence.

Ajit Dodani: 15:20

Today, you and I get hit with chaotic things on the daily, chris, not once, not twice 10 times a day. Today you open up your phone and there's some news or some news from the family or something happening right, how do we center ourselves? And that became a huge moment of reflection for me, where I learned the power of presence, that in the middle of chaos, how do you make good decisions. And I remember picking up the phone, calling up a friend of mine, and I asked for help, and I realized that asking for help sometimes the bravest thing I could do, because you know the inside, the macho man and that's difficult.

Christopher Luna: 15:58

That's difficult because, as a man, like you're saying, you don't want to ask for help, you don't want anyone to know what your issues are or your troubles are, so that's difficult to pick up the phone and make that phone call true, and and and I asking for help was the bravest thing I did that day.

Ajit Dodani: 16:14

I called up a friend and, rather than shame, said hey, I put it in a fun way. I said hey, what are you doing this weekend? He goes. And he was a fun guy, his name is roger, he's a fun guy.

Ajit Dodani: 16:24

And he goes. I think I want to go to Vegas. I said, hey, do you have a spot in your car? Maybe I'd come along. My plans have changed. He goes, what's up, I go, I have the weekend off, so he drives down from this area In fact, he lived right here in the LA area. He drives down to Hermosa Beach and he he says, okay, I'll come pick you up.

Narrator 1: 16:41

He gets there and he sees my two big bags, your bags are ready to go. And he's like what's up?

Ajit Dodani: 16:46

I go dude, I ain't got no place to go. I got 507 bucks left because the company didn't pay me for the last paycheck. So he said I'm going to Vegas. I said I'll cover your cost there, but I just need a place. And so I went with him. He covered most of my expense, because 507 bucks ain't gonna go nowhere in vegas at that time too. So he said hey, I got you. And we stayed there.

Ajit Dodani: 17:09

And while I was in vegas, I made a call to a man that was trying to recruit me while I was at this other company. I said hey, presence. Hey, I just want to let you know I may be considering other options. I had nothing going on, Chris. I called him up and I said I may be considering other options. You know, you think we could chat. I may want to move to DC, you know, because I'm thinking he goes. Oh, that would be great. And, Chris, I flew back to DC, started my life again out there.

Ajit Dodani: 17:47

How long were you in DC? So DC was fun because my dad's sister lives there and I go there. And you know, there was an immigrant family two-bedroom house with four of them already living, five of them living in there and I became the sixth person, so I'd sleep on the floor, my cousin uh, Rena, and my cousin Ajay there, and I stepped on the floor because I had to start life from scratch. And, uh, it was beautiful, because that's when I built the most amazing relationship with my cousin, sister Rena, and today she's like one of my closest friend sister, you know, Uh, and I again learned the power of how that works and then, you know, lived that works, and then you know, lived in that house worked hard, started from scratch no bmw, nothing, no corporate card.

Ajit Dodani: 18:39

It was a rust with burgundy, you know those long station wagons and stuff like that and that was the starting of a brand new journey, which turned out to be amazing because on april 5th, remember, I told you to be amazing because on April 5th, remember, I told you remember?

Ajit Dodani: 18:54

the date, on April 5th, I'd met a lady by the name of Harsha and she lived in DC and then when I went back, I met her and I got a chance to get to know her, her family, and on April 5th years later, harsha and I got married in dc, and I say this because you know you've heard this statement how long have you been married yet?

Christopher Luna: 19:19

I'm sorry. How long have you been married?

Ajit Dodani: 19:21

already now 33 years. Congratulations, thank you she's incredible she's an incredible human being and you know and I say this because steve jobs, his famous speech, said, you can never connect your dots looking forward, but you connect them looking backwards. And I would not change a thing about everything that happened because it ended up leading me and finding the most incredible human being. That's been part of my journey, hersher.

Christopher Luna: 19:52

Well, it's always nice that you meet. I mean I, I I married my wife um 13 years ago. 12 years ago can't count, um, she'll still tell me I'm wrong. I think he does Um, but it's. It's nice. I mean and I saw it with my parents too you grow together. Right, you're young. It may not have been the smart move to get married so young, but I think that when you're in a relationship long-term like this, you really have that bond and that strength where you really went through your ups and downs and growing in your career, where you build that strength. Because I see it now, my parents too, I mean, they're soulmates and they've gone through so much together. So when you find someone like that, it's very important.

Ajit Dodani: 20:36

It's very important and you know we don't take it for granted. Right, you know, there are eight spokes in our lives, right, for a cycle to move forward, like you know, you need all those spokes to be working. And similarly in our life, like we've identified eight spokes that we one needs to have and and most of them just over index, as you know, over index on their career and their work, that spoke of their work in there. And they, you know health, so they go, finance, health is second almost, and sometimes they let things slip and I and no way I'm perfect or Hershey's perfect or anything like that but the years I realized and I'd watch people that had a lot of money or a lot of success but wasn't balanced with all the other spokes of life, and there is that emptiness inside that shows up.

Ajit Dodani: 21:30

And it doesn't show up on the day to day, it shows up when the world puts pressure on you. You know that. You know, squeeze an orange, orange juice comes out. Squeeze a lemon, lemon juice comes out. So when one of these spokes is a little weak and the road gets a little bumpy, that spoke breaks, the wheel stops right and I, I I say this I'm beautiful to hear your story of your parents and your relationship with your wife, because that becomes such a powerful force Any partner right, any partner, just having all those areas that you identify that are going to hold that up.

Christopher Luna: 22:06

So yeah, and we keep it going for our kids, right? So I see that growing up. So what brought you back to LA?

Ajit Dodani: 22:13

So in DC. So I started working for the Benetton office on the East Coast a little bit and then there was an opportunity to come here and open up the office here on the West Coast at that time. So Benetton was scaling really fast and they wanted to open an office right here on Melrose. And they wanted to open an office right here on Melrose and so flew down here and that became a magical moment in my life where, you know, a few years later became the CFO and just you know that whole experience around fashion, people, impact, culture, I mean we were so far ahead of the business world at that time, like what we were doing as a responsible business, what Benetton was doing was so beautiful, so to be aligned and passionate about that we'd have so much fun.

Ajit Dodani: 23:03

And a lot of my early foundation of the work that I do today is based on my journaling. So a little quick fact so I do a lot of journaling. So a little quick fact so I do a lot of journaling, so I have journals from I was I just started.

Christopher Luna: 23:17

Yeah, you, just I just started. I bought the one this year.

Ajit Dodani: 23:20

Oh, wow. So I've written in all kinds of diaries and all kinds of journals. So I have those ring journals from you know decades ago and all that stuff. And so I remember writing the first time I met Harsha in the journal. I just met the person I'm going to marry and my kids just found that book and they're like, dad, you're nuts, that's incredible. I also have written in there when I've been really lonely.

Ajit Dodani: 23:43

Like you know, in the moment and it's crazy how you not only lean into your strength, you know the spiritual strength, the spiritual strength, the human strength, other people right, and as I reflect back, I look at what I did and I didn't. And sometimes you know, when you reflect back like, oh, that's what I got to remind myself to do. So I journal my entire journey, growing through the journey. At Benetton I had an incredible CEO.

Christopher Luna: 24:12

How many years were you there? 16 years. How big was that company like? How was the leadership style of being a cfo?

Ajit Dodani: 24:20

yeah, yeah. So the very young, very high energy, the ceo, andrea for the west coast here, just an incredible human being. We have a friendship now that's lasted 30-some years and it is just beautiful and professional personal friendship. We've been there for each other as a family and I say this because we were all a bunch of young people and we were eight, nine of us and we have get-together still to this day. Most of us kind of live in this area and the energy was about impact and purpose and all of that right, working hard and we'd laugh, but we were doing super impactful work. But also we had some really difficult personalities within the organization and I would journal how the good leaders were impacting the organization and how there's one very toxic leader that we kind of had to stay there, unfortunately because of the connection with the community. He stayed there longer than he should have. And we've all been there.

Ajit Dodani: 25:28

And that's when I started realizing and I remember years ago on a napkin on Melrose writing a formula around trust like what are the traits that build trust, what are the traits that break trust? And that became the foundation of the work we do right now at Empathify you around the trust formula. And. But the journal started on melrose and, oops, melrose that. And I forget exactly cochran. I think there's a restaurant there. Napkin started there and over the years it's built out and to this day. I mean, I think two years ago I added one more word to things that build trust and then I added one more word to break trust, so we have a level one, I mean I think I I've.

Christopher Luna: 26:14

I've been on some of your calls on linkedin and you get into those details and that's what really drives me to you is I'm learning off of these techniques and and how to build that trust with your, with your team right and and how to navigate a lot of those scenarios. I mean, when I, when I, ran a family business, we had employees that were there for years and a lot of times they're too comfortable, right? Or you built this. It's really a family, right?

Christopher Luna: 26:41

So it's not employee-employer relationship, but you want to know how to navigate that before it gets to that point, right? So I pick up on a lot of those talking points that you have in this LinkedIn platform that you have, and I think that it's really it doesn't matter what position you are in your career. It's always good to always be on top of mind of these techniques because, things change, people change, your employees change too yeah so it's always good to be improving yourself in those techniques one 100.

Ajit Dodani: 27:18

So let me talk about that family, business and leadership within there for a second, are you okay?

Ajit Dodani: 27:23

in that direction, because so I'm an empathy strategist, right, and I tell people you can have too much empathy you can have. Tell people you can have too much empathy, you can have too little and you can have too much. The sweet spot of empathy is with boundaries and proper accountability. Empathy with accountability is the victory for any leader, right? I'm sure you've seen Chris. Too much empathy, they don't know how to lead. Too little empathy they don't know how to lead right, that right balance. Specifically, let's talk about family and small businesses, right? So today I said, as a fractional and multiple family and small businesses, and in a family and small business, sometimes people are promoted to leadership positions just because they've been there longer, they're related to the family, but they have not resolved their issues and they should not be given the responsibility to lead others.

Christopher Luna: 28:22

That goes on in corporate America too. No everywhere.

Ajit Dodani: 28:26

No, no, I see it everywhere. I see it everywhere 100%. Are you kidding me? 100%. And I say this, but sometimes, when the family starts, and even in corporate America, the person who got their first leadership position was the-.

Christopher Luna: 28:40

I think it should be a requirement to take these leadership courses or coaching or some type of learning. It doesn't matter how advanced you are in your career. I think every position of management or every position that you change into, especially when you're leading a team, you should have some type of refresher on this, because I think a lot of people in a corporate America kind of forget that they need to continue that learning experience.

Ajit Dodani: 29:09

Okay, so can we go for the jugular here for a second.

Ajit Dodani: 29:12

I'll say this because it's it's you're, you're a hundred percent right, chris. So most people lead their companies and lead their organizations based on the thing oh, we have these values, so there's stated values. Then there's lived values, and most people are like, ah, we have a state where we live our values, but there's lived values, and most people are like, ah, we have a stage where we live our values, but that's not how people lead. People lead in individual individuals lead based on their shadow values. Each one of us have eight shadow values on our shoulder in every room we walk into, and those shadow values dictate how we lead a team. Let me give you an example. I'll just give you, say, two of them. You can look it up. But control intelligence, right, those are big shadow values.

Ajit Dodani: 30:02

I'll give you an example of somebody that was a crazy leader. You want to hear this story? Crazy leader that was me. My shadow value when I was a young CFO 27, 28, my stated values was innovation and ideas, so a team of accountants, bookkeepers, people and stuff like that. But I was so insecure, my imposter syndrome was so high. My controlled shadow.

Ajit Dodani: 30:29

So my stated value is innovation, but control intelligence and recognition. I wanted shadow. So my stated value is innovation, but control, intelligence and recognition. I wanted that. So I never gave my team the control, the recognition, the responsibility, and I watched my team distance themselves from me, not speak up at meetings. All of us have that, chris, and I say this because if we don't and for me the journey was, and I watched the journey I'm like what's happening. And then I found this whole theory around these shadow values that we all have All of us. Every time we're interacting with somebody, think about intelligence. I've been here longer than him. I should be the one to end the meeting. I should be the one to start the meeting. In this AI world, I'm telling people flip the world, flip that switch. Let's stop leading in those ways.

Christopher Luna: 31:22

It's funny, I feel like with AI, we're really going to see character be primary. You can hire the smartest person out there, but in reality, you don't have to hire them anymore. You have this ai out there, um, that you can leverage, but in reality, the people who you want in your team are going to be people that have great character in every part of their life, right. So I think that's going to be something. I mean, I'm looking at my kids, right. I was talking to someone. I'm like what should they study with technology changing so fast? Like, what field do we point them to? Because it's scary not knowing what they're going to do in the future, um. And he told me he's like just build good character, everything else is gonna come come, so I mean.

Christopher Luna: 32:11

I don't know how you, how do you feel about that? Or how do you do that with your kids?

Ajit Dodani: 32:16

So I have adults. They're 22 and 27 right now. Let's talk about AI for a second, because that's the topic of the day. So, for me, I love technology. I enjoy it. The second day ChatGPD comes out, I'm on it, using it and in it, and we start using it right away and, across Empathifyio, I'm starting to use it across every domain. Today, I have almost like an AI agent working with me. I'm fully all in and I say this because here's what we saw happen. I'll tell you this we started using it right after the ChatGPT comes out.

Ajit Dodani: 32:52

We're seeing the Gen AI right, because AI has always been there, but Gen AI large language model I'm like, ooh, this is super cool. And loved how it started giving me help, started making me more efficient tasks and all that stuff. But then, as we started working with our clients and watching what's happening, we realized that AI, gen AIs become the IQ equalizer. So today, you and I, within a few minutes, could know the exact same thing. Scary, chris. The scary thing is me. Ajit wrote code the other day and it actually worked, and all I did is I asked the right questions, questions, and it delivered a solution for me that worked, and I say this. So when IQ gets equalized, what are the skills that are needed? And then we saw this money getting thrown at it Investments, and today you're seeing that Huge investments in AI adoption and stuff South Lat but what we realized and Boston Consulting Group just put out a report is that out of all the money being spent in AI technology and AI strategy, 7% are actually moving the needle. The balance 13% to 18% are out there in the middle struggling 70% of people's money are not giving results. To your point here, chris, because they're missing the human side. The human side of AI is the biggest sport. Think about this right, chris, we've seen a 10x change because of AI in the last year. Right, we're seeing one version after another version after another version. You and I were used to one updates a year, one change a year and we'd still have where's that mouse go? Where did that button go, right? But now the change is so fast we can only change at 1X. So at Empathify, we have a very tactical formula that we're teaching, and I remember presenting it in 2023 at an event at DoorDash, where their entire BPOs were there and you know talking about the formula. That has now become a foundation that we teach across organizations.

Ajit Dodani: 35:05

It's called PI times, hi times. Ai equals sustainable business results. I mean PI means personal intelligence, just like what you were talking about. We need to understand who we are. Things like shadow values, things like what's not allowing me to learn. How do I need to skill up? How do I need to get better in communication? How can I be more accountable? How can I and listen to, maybe somebody that's generationally younger than me, or zip and listen to somebody that's generationally older than me and not have that thinking inside right? So that's PI.

Ajit Dodani: 35:42

Hi is about truly understanding human intelligence, understanding who are our stakeholders, what is the business outcome we're looking for, who am I working with, what are their diversities that they're showing up with, and how am I taking that into account? So if I'm looking to create an AI model that needs to attract a diverse community, I need those thoughts going into my AI tool. So if I don't invite everybody to the table, that bias is going to stay in my AI tool. So if I don't invite everybody to the table, that bias is going to stay in my AI tool. And then you multiply it by strategy, and today EY put out something, too, that said 10% of your effort should be in the technology of AI because it's easy. The balance of it should be on understanding the human influence around it, so I hope that added.

Christopher Luna: 36:35

Yeah, I mean I think it's important that we continue the conversation with people who are still growing, because I think there's a lot of emerging leaders that have a hard time finding their place. Thinking of the early 20s, fresh out of college, they have these great degrees and they still feel a little lost right and there's a lot of competition out there.

Christopher Luna: 37:01

But what I tell family and friends I'm like, look, what's really going to set you apart is you. You have to be out there, you have to be networking, you have to expand your network. Like, go outside of your circle, Because a lot of people get comfortable we get comfortable with our close friends and I mean I do this a lot. It's really uncomfortable, right, You're putting these situations in these rooms, where your room's full of people Like, how do you navigate all of that? So it's important that we teach these characteristics to our emerging leaders, and that's what I'm trying to build here. Right, there's a lot I come across a lot of great leaders like yourself. Actually, it's funny there's this picture of you you're speaking. I'm not sure if it was a keynote or whatnot, but you're speaking at SoFi Stadium.

Christopher Luna: 37:47

And there's this wall behind you full of footballs.

Ajit Dodani: 37:50

What event was that? It's a SoFi event. I forget. I was wall behind you full, full of footballs, what? What event was that? It's a sofa event.

Christopher Luna: 37:56

Uh, I forget it was I was talking to, I'm sure you talked a lot of corporate events, but there there's a football wall behind you and and it's funny because my brother sent me this picture and he's like, oh, look what I did at sofa he built that wall full of footballs did I ever tell you that I don't think I told you that right.

Ajit Dodani: 38:09

And then I saw that picture, I picture I was like, oh, that's funny, I know that guy.

Christopher Luna: 38:11

Oh my God, but I didn't put two and two together until I met you a little later that was beautiful.

Narrator 1: 38:17

What a full circle story.

Christopher Luna: 38:18

And then I remember a 50, a gold 50. Was that your event too at SoFi? I'm not sure.

Narrator 1: 38:26

He built this huge 50.

Christopher Luna: 38:28

It was like a 50-year anniversary or something, Something wow, but you do a lot of these keynotes, you do a lot of these speaking arrangements. Tell me a little bit more about that.

Ajit Dodani: 38:38

What are some of those topics that you touch into Today. I think the focus is clearly around trust, which is really important, and there are two levels of trust. The second is sustainable, high-performance cultures, because the word sustainable is being missed. So I get invited to do a lot of talks around that. The whole conversation around I was telling you earlier, before we started this, this whole conversation around humanizing AI adoption. I've probably done 15, 20 talks. We have a whole workshop and a series around that and I think those would be the top three, right, like we need to create environments where people feel trusted, where they can fail, fail fast, feel you know and safe.

Ajit Dodani: 39:31

Just like you, I spend a lot of time volunteering, so I do some work with the folks at UCLA, the students I was just talking to them a few weeks ago, and the same question about what are some skills? Right, if AI is the great, what are some skills? And I can tell you for them, what I was talking about was about you know we need to. In order to win today, you need to have a high level skill set Every month, even though you're done with school, because these were graduations, you're done with school. One new skill technical skill and one new human skill. You got to keep building on that. I am taking classes right now. I'm sure you're doing the same too. We're all learning because things changing so fast, otherwise you feel like an imposter and you can't Not fun. So first thing is skills right. Second thing is you got to get really good at communication, really good at communication. And I say that because if we don't ask the right questions and we don't learn how to listen, we're missing.

Christopher Luna: 40:35

Communication and presentation skills.

Ajit Dodani: 40:37

I just started Toastmasters.

Christopher Luna: 40:41

After I started this podcast, I'm like I need to freshen up my presentation skills Because you know it's very. You see, those are things that they teach you not to? Do right. So, it's continuously learning, for sure 100%.

Ajit Dodani: 40:53

And in communication I can say this for those of you who know me the number one thing that we have to get our workforce, our communities, to get good at is to be present. Our workforce is showing up in meetings with only 60% of their mind in that meeting, Because 40% are thinking of bills, their kids, their family, their loved ones, financial situations, political situations, social situations, and I say this because it's real. This device on our side, the phone, is bringing in all of this. So the power of presence, the ability to stay present, if, like we for organizations, we're very tactical, so we teach it as a skill. So in communication, if I can, if I'm listening to you but my head is somewhere else, it's gone. But if I can just have a 15-minute conversation with you where I'm present, I will hear some of the best ideas from you. Chris, how many times have we been there where we're not listening?

Christopher Luna: 41:59

I just got lectured the other day by my wife.

Christopher Luna: 42:01

I'm looking for my phone now. So I'm guilty. Obviously I'm at home and I'm always working, always on my phone, always on my computer. I'm doing multiple tasks and I forget to be present in my kids' life. They're growing up so fast and I think that, with having the cell phone near you at all times, I told my wife I'm like I do, I have to get home and just put the phone in another room room, right, because you get lost in what's going on in the moment. Um, we're not going to be able to get these moments back. So it's it's important to find, I don't want to say balance, but I I'll find a way to live with it. Right, because I think we I mean we're all having those issues. I mean I have my, my godparents are older and my godfather passed away, but I just remember him always being on the phone too. So I mean we kind of get drawn into these devices.

Ajit Dodani: 42:59

So can I tell you, the most important thing that perhaps, maybe your viewers can appreciate this too. If you walk away from nothing else, this is our gift to you is the how do you make it a strategy? For me, that's what it's always it's an empathy strategy. It's how do empathy means? Empathy means understanding, self-awareness, stakeholder understanding, strategic action right. So let's, let's create a strategic way that I can be present for each other at work and in our families.

Ajit Dodani: 43:28

Let's move our mindset from following just a circadian rhythm, which is a 24-hour clock, to move it to an ultradian rhythm. For those of you who don't know what that is, please look it up. But an ultradian clock, our bodies have an 80 to 120-minute clock and if we don't follow and reset ourselves during that clock, what happens? We start to burn out, and that reset 80 to 120 minutes is at empathify. You call it a bam moment. You either breathe, you get aware or you move, and you know I talk about. Every monday there's a post from me around. How do you get aware? The easiest way to get aware is to take a quick breath and just get present you gotta teach her viewers that yeah, oh yeah, no, I, I would be honored.

Christopher Luna: 44:13

I would be honored. We got time we.

Ajit Dodani: 44:15

I know I would be honored, and I and I say this because sometimes the answer is right under our nose and we don't know where to look for it. And what chris is referring to is something that I do in large stadiums. I do it in all my keynotes and for those of you who are not aware of this, and Chris, I've spoken to you about this in the 30s and 40s, 1930s and 1940s we're taking average of about five breaths a minute. In the 70s and 80s we're taking about seven to eight breaths a minute. Today, an average human being is taking 12 to 18 breaths a minute short breaths.

Ajit Dodani: 44:49

So when you take short breaths, your amygdala gets activated. And when your amygdala gets activated, your fight or flight center gets activated. So you think everything is coming to attack you. That means you're sitting in a meeting. If somebody says something, the first thing you're like why is that person attacking me, rather than being in the state of, like, a reception and calm? And now, why has that happened?

Ajit Dodani: 45:10

Sure, this is big reason, the cell phone's a big reason, but also research shows that people in the united states want don't want their stomachs to look awkward and that's why they don't take deep breaths. Now, I didn't do this research in my backyard right here in la, it was done by harvard business that people don't take full breaths because they want to appear a certain way, and I say this. So if one of the easiest way to follow an ultradian rhythm and Chris, you've got me taking walks in the middle of the day is I will reset every 90 to 120 minutes, I'll reset, I'll go for a quick jog, I'll do a walk, but sometimes I'm going like this whole week I've been meetings to meetings, to meetings, to meetings, to meetings in a beautiful way. But I can tell you one thing every about two hours.

Ajit Dodani: 45:52

Here's what I'm doing I take some breaths, so we're gonna do it together let's do it together right now and I'd love for you to join us if you're please. If you're driving, don't do it, but if you're seated, join me in this and we're going to take foreign through well, you do it.

Christopher Luna: 46:05

You do it too, when it too, when you're on your show, on your LinkedIn show and audio only when we're driving. We can do this too, but don't close your eyes.

Ajit Dodani: 46:12

Don't close your eyes. Please don't close your eyes, that's for sure. But what we're going to do is take four in through the nose it's a box breathing Hold and six out Now, just to give you steady yourself. But when you do four, six, you actually calm yourself down. So the longer the breath, the more you're calming yourself. So why don't we do this?

Christopher Luna: 46:35

Camera on him, please.

Ajit Dodani: 46:37

We're just going to do three. I'm going to close my eyes and I'm just going to breathe in four. Hold, breathe out six and I'm going to get present for Chris, right here, all right, so here, breathe out six and I'm going to get present, for if a cfo is teaching you how to breathe, there's probably a big return on investment on this. Please look into it.

Christopher Luna: 47:35

It's the biggest gift that person I can give you from this for sure um, when I was managing the family business, I had a lot of weight, a lot of stress um, a lot of responsibility and I never took the time to, never. And like you're saying, you're back to back non-stop from seven in the morning or earlier sometimes yeah so, and we're open 24 7 we close four times a year.

Christopher Luna: 48:04

Your phone, my phone was always on me. Vacations, I would be in the pool, my phone's right there, and that's when I get the phone calls like public health department's here. What do we do? And you know, you're, you're just overwhelmed. Even now I think we forgot to. We forget to take that time to really meditate.

Christopher Luna: 48:21

Um, when I sold the business and I started working at the chamber, I focused on myself. I lost 50 pounds since I started. You know, since I sold the business and I started working at the chamber, I focused on myself. I lost 50 pounds since I started, you know, since I sold the business and just started working out and really just paid attention to my wellbeing. Because if you don't pay attention to yourself, all of that gets shown to, to whoever else you're hanging around with. And even like my kids, right, it's like you're stressed out, you're overwhelmed, you're, you're yelling and screaming and kicking. And I have to, because actually I have to teach my son this too, because he snaps too. I mean, he's preteen, he's 10 years old, but I see him and I'm like, oh, wow, okay, he learned that from me, right? He saw that at a time or a moment. So sometimes we just really do need to take this breath and take the time to relax a little bit.

Ajit Dodani: 49:07

Wow, you brought up something that is so important. It's the modeling of good behavior. So one of the components that builds trust is when we, as leaders, model the behavior we want. So you're talking about my boys, you asked. So they don't do anything that I say. So you're talking about my boys, you asked. So they don't do anything that I say, but they do what I do, and I say this because they're not perfect.

Ajit Dodani: 49:34

I'm not perfect, but every now and then I'll see my older son, who's the CEO for a large music incubator right now, a thriving music incubator for artists just amazing artists from around the world. That's my oldest son. He's the CEO of the company right, and every now and then I'll see him take a breath, not because I told him to take a breath, not because, but he's heard it enough, but he's seen me do it enough. He sees me take that ultradian break at my home because we all seem to, you know, work around whenever they're home. They see dad do that. They'll see dad run up. Oh, I didn't tell you this. One of my ultradian reset is music and dancing.

Christopher Luna: 50:12

So I've seen. I've seen videos at you at the music center which I want to go with you. We gotta take my wife we gotta take my parents.

Narrator 1: 50:20

You would love my parents.

Ajit Dodani: 50:21

My parents are our party goers, they, they I would be honored they dance and and they're out more than I am okay, I would be honored and I I want to say another thing about to you, for those of you who don't know chris for a while and just I've watched this journey of him thrive, make the right decision for the community and do this work at the chamber and then do this work on himself, like as I met him and as because I've been watching this journey of his. So you're modeling, because you're modeling what people should do. So I say this because when we model, that's how people pick up, Even at the workplace, right, People are scared to put a comment about how they're taking care of themselves. I told a leader hey, you should model that because you know high-intensity startup, you know they have 200 people, you should model that you're taking care of yourself and all that stuff. And he was very uncomfortable If I tell them that I'm taking a little breath in the middle of the day. What if everybody said? I said everybody should do it.

Ajit Dodani: 51:27

Now, three years later, the entire company operates out of a 25 minute and a 50 minute meeting. That's their meeting settings. They all have that five minutes to do a reset. They all have that 50 minute meetings. And guess what? They're producing more. Get so much more done, Get so much more done. The ax gets sharper, Because if you don't sharpen your ax you're cutting away with a dull ask if you keep going all day. So you know, kudos to you for modeling that behavior. And your kids? They'll pick up, and you know this.

Christopher Luna: 51:58

Our coworkers, our employees, our teams pick up, Because either we're an example or a warning, and I I, what I've learned from my mom is she's always positive, always positive. We can have a really tough conversation about you know, an insurance policy counseling or we're getting sued or something's happening right, that's horrible, but she always finds a way to stay positive and I think that's key to any issue.

Christopher Luna: 52:26

Um is finding that positivity because, uh, the same thing I keep talking to talk about my son, but I feel like my, my son is such an in a important stage of his life like I feel like I only have him for so much longer, because when they're 12 or 13, like I remember when I was 13 years old, that was it like I was, like my parents had nothing to do with me anymore. I mean, I learned what I, what I learned, I was how I was.

Christopher Luna: 52:49

So it's really important that I get my son right now, before he hits his teenager years because I'm like, please, I'm like, you are beautiful, stay that way, stay positive. You know, because you'll have these temper. And I brought him here actually last week he was on vacation and he saw an interview and one thing that I want to make sure I incorporate my lifestyle with my family, my work with my family. I need them to understand what I'm doing, because when we have the family business and you've seen it, you grew up in a family business that family business becomes your family. Every dinner was about the business right Every conversation, like everything, revolves around the family business.

Christopher Luna: 53:35

So, in my role, what I'm doing it's really about providing a value to the community. It's really about supporting our members, and what I'm trying to do is really be part and give back. At the same time, you're in your career, right? You're getting paid to do something you love to do. So it's important that I show my son because it hurts him that we got rid of this business, but if he sees that there's a way to grow and really make an impact in the community, that's what I'm trying to accomplish here. I mean, I feel like I'm fortunate and I and I really don't have a clear vision of what I'm doing. To tell you the truth, and I think, like you said, you and I we've we've spoke when I first started and I'm still learning, I'm still growing, but I think that all of this is important it all evolves.

Ajit Dodani: 54:23

It all evolves. You know you bring up something so personally beautiful it's, and especially in the work that that I do and we all do actually is that it's easy sometimes to fake it and own the respect of people on the outside, and this is a challenge.

Ajit Dodani: 54:41

I've realized that if we, the most important people we've got to learn to earn our respect from is the ones closest to us, and I say this because I tell people I can earn your respect, I can put up this thing, show up on stage and do all this stuff and you see my life out there. But the most important person I'm trying to earn respect from is my wife, because she knows if the stuff that I teach, am I living it? Am I perfect? Far from it, chris. But man, that's the standard, because otherwise we can fake it to the world and then that huge level of imposter syndrome shows up and it's so difficult.

Ajit Dodani: 55:22

So, if we can live the way what we stand for in, every aspect of our lives that becomes the most empowering way that we can lead. Show up in our work, show up everywhere as our dialed up fullest self. Because if we can do that, then all of a sudden you're like, hey, my values are aligned, you know what you're and you know. Here's what it is. You know, simon, sinek, 101 is that our horizon is clear. And I've heard your horizon. What you're chasing in your life and I'll let it be up to you the impact you want to make in your community, in the service to society and small businesses. I know Now, the pathway to that, that horizon is there, but the pathway to that, like they say, you can write that in pen. That that's the impact I want, but the pathway to that is in pencil.

Ajit Dodani: 56:18

Okay, so it's going to go here.

Ajit Dodani: 56:19

Oh, but wait, I'm going to add this here and I'm going to augment this here and I'm going to take this oh, I made a mistake here and it's okay to say I made a mistake here but the horizon of the impact that I know you're after through inviting the community into doing the work that you do, that has to stay the true north, because once we have that, then everything else follows right, then we are able to follow through with our actions, with our behavior, with our communications, with our relationships, with our accountability right and we're able to say, okay, I'll learn the skill set right Because the purpose is clear.

Ajit Dodani: 57:01

Because if the purpose is not defined then we don't do it. And when the purpose is defined, you're like what kind of legacy you know I want to to leave, and you know it's crazy as it sounds legacy is important, I mean, and that I keep bringing up my parents that they had that value day in and day out when they came home, they weren't any different and I caught myself when I had, when I had that business, I would come home and you just you take it all out on your family, right?

Christopher Luna: 57:29

And you don't want to do that, right. You want to be able to live those values 24-7. So it's important that we learn that and we continue. But talking about legacy now with you is like what do you, how do you I mean you're building a legacy now. What do you see your future in the next 10 years? Like, how do you see you're building this platform that you have because you're well known, you're on stages almost every week like, how do you continue this legacy and what you're building now?

Ajit Dodani: 58:02

may sound dark, but it's, it's a good one. When I pass, I want a million people to say that Ajit impacted me, that if my life could have just you know, just touch, just a touch here, just a touch there, right? So the legacy continues, because this becomes a way of life. You know, all the books are coming out and all of that. I mean it's all written, it's you know, and all of that stuff. So it's also becoming a system that is taught and duplicated, right? Because for me, as you know, everything's a formula. Sustainable, high-performance culture that's a formula. Trust becomes a formula. Ai adoption becomes a formula. So that's my finance side, like very tactical side, and I like formulas for everything, because that's the left brain, right brain side of me.

Christopher Luna: 58:51

But I want that emotional component and it's important that you align that back to the corporate culture right, because, at the end of the day, these companies have to stay motivated, they have to perform, they have to have a strong balance gmp and now. So we need to teach these leaders um to do both and to do it all.

Ajit Dodani: 59:07

Yeah, so I wrote an article recently called the Additive Leader that you can be brilliant and you can care. Most people think it's an or like, it's an or function. It's called additivity. That's what we call it Like. What is a skill that we can add? I can demand high performance while taking care of people.

Ajit Dodani: 59:32

Most people don't know that skill Like. That's where our sustainable high performance culture comes up. I mean, everybody talks about high performance culture. I can tell you six out of ten are getting it wrong and they're burning their people out because they don't understand the word sustainable. And when you do both, guess what happens? People go through walls. We've seen engagement scores go through walls.

Ajit Dodani: 59:55

I just had a manager effectiveness score go up from 25% to some even 80%. Why? Because they're like oh, I didn't know it was a skill. I didn't know trust was a skill. I didn't know empathy was a skill. I didn't know all of this was a skill. I didn't know trust was a skill. I didn't know empathy was a skill. I didn't know all of this was a skill. And, by the way, I recently read something it's not my work, it's that positivity is an acquired skill. And I'm like oh my.

Ajit Dodani: 1:00:18

Can you imagine if we could reframe some of these traditional boxes that we've all been told to put into? And that's my goal is just disrupt these boxes and it impacts bottom line. So we've seen again, bottom line revenue numbers grow up. We've seen new division start in organizations where we've tactically deployed high levels of trust, high level of sustainability, and I love technology, so the high levels of AI where you get it to a point where it's literally you get to your highest best use. And your highest best use is when we're doing stuff. That really fires me up, because 60% of the time sometimes most creative people are like I got to do paperwork, I got to do an Excel report. Imagine if that was done in 5% to 10% of your time and you opened up 30% of your time. How would we win? We would perform at a higher level. And for me, harsh and I are just getting started. Every time we look at it, we're just getting started because the world needs this now more than ever Hyperconnected, hyperinformation, and in that middle of all of it, the person that becomes the most human wins.

Ajit Dodani: 1:01:35

That is really how we as a community show up for each other serving the community. Yesterday I was at an event to support one of our dear friends that opened up a childhood mental wellness center in Ventura County. They've been working for years and you know we're just there to support them and they're good friends of ours. We met them professionally but now they've become good friends of ours and you know to be there, because relationships and it takes effort and if we don't put the effort we don't put our community first. We don't understand that. That idea around giving, serving, doing something for society. Sure it's selfless, but it's the most selfish thing you can do because it gives you that jetpacks in your back. And, chris, you've done a great job of that. You've done it yourself for our community, you've done it for so many people, bringing them along, uplifting them, so I'm stoked about that.

Christopher Luna: 1:02:36

Thank you. Yeah, again, I learned it from my parents. My parents are very social. They've always hosted a lot of parties growing up and they're always out attending other events, and I think that being part of that and not being just enclosed in your home is very important Making sure that you're present for your friends and family and your colleagues, because you feel special, right, and you can't attend everything, obviously, but it's important to show that support to one another because it's not easy to host an event. I mean, you know that and I see that quite a bit with my parents.

Ajit Dodani: 1:03:16

Yeah, and it does. And talking about I'm sure we all do this right. We have to set good boundaries, and I say boundaries are not in bricks, boundaries are in bamboo sticks. I learned this from a beautiful associate of mine that you know your bamboos are then bound, that I will bend it if you ask me once in a while, but if you ask me to bend my boundaries all the time, then you know we need to talk right, and I say this because saying yes and saying no is the most empathic thing we can do so we're coming up on our hour, but before I let you go, you mentioned simon and his books.

Christopher Luna: 1:03:59

Do you have a favorite?

Ajit Dodani: 1:04:01

do I have a favorite book so many? Um, I think I'll just tell you what's um. What's on my desk right now, um, peak minds. It's a book about talking about exactly what I was talking about earlier. I forget her name. It'll come to me, but if you look at a peak mind, it's a beautiful book, a jim collins business 2.0 have you written a book, have I?

Ajit Dodani: 1:04:34

uh, I put out a part of it and uh, during our fires here, I don't know if you- so I put out a book, uh, leading through chaotic times, so the book is ready, um, and I I was supposed to distribute it one way. I'm figuring out how to distribute another way. I want to make it accessible, so I'm figuring out how to distribute it another way. I want to make it accessible, so I'm still figuring that out. So I've written a couple of books the Trust Formula, aipi so I've written all of these. These are all books, so the book becomes a foundation for my content. So for decades I've been writing. So all of this stuff is all written, right? So this is all written.

Ajit Dodani: 1:05:09

And during, in fact, during the fires, I put out a segment of my book and that became the first thing that I put out as a book. Is leading through chaotic times, right, because people were struggling. How do you lead, how do you sustain the business? Like, we've got to take care of our people and our business has to move forward. So how do you do it? With a tactical empathy and understanding of both, because most people struggle, some of them, they were not able to sustain their businesses and that suffered some of them with covid yeah same thing, so you know.

Ajit Dodani: 1:05:44

So that portion came out, so yeah, so so I think they're good.

Christopher Luna: 1:05:48

So where can everyone find all this information about your books and what you've done and what you're working on?

Ajit Dodani: 1:05:52

LinkedIn. I would love or anybody who wants to get to know a little bit more about me. It's all LinkedIn. There's a link tree in there you can watch videos, podcasts, articles.

Christopher Luna: 1:06:02

I'm involved in the community a lot, so if you go to my LinkedInin go to my link tree, there's ajith dodani and you can see this face on there. If you had a wish interviewee, someone that you'd wish you would interview who would that be?

Ajit Dodani: 1:06:19

um, I, I can, I can I put a few people together? Sure, so it would be. And I say this Simon Sinek, I really like him. Jay Shetty, I really like him. Sza the artist, I respect her a lot she's awesome Kendrick Lamar and Obama, if I get these five people on the stage one day.

Christopher Luna: 1:06:46

Well, hopefully I'll be able to get one of them here one day. I've checked on simon.

Ajit Dodani: 1:06:51

Um, I didn't think of kendrick no, because, like when kendrick dropped his the last album and he took us into that journey of his, you know, if you know this the album, you know the journey and his honesty and everything around that, like I would like to understand his mind.

Christopher Luna: 1:07:11

Yeah, it's incredible. I one of my guests that I had here. I asked her who would you want to go to dinner with? And she said Prince.

Ajit Dodani: 1:07:19

And I'm like wait, prince, formerly known as Prince, I heard that, yes.

Narrator 1: 1:07:22

Yes.

Christopher Luna: 1:07:23

Awesome. Well, thank you for your time. Um, I'm get you for another day or maybe we could do a guest show or something and bring someone here, and I think that you have so much knowledge and you see things differently from your CFO experience. You always mentioned KPIs and I think the way you align what you do to what really needs to be done in corporate America Right, we can't forget, there's these goals and missions and, like I said, there's a bottom line. But in order to get to those positions as a company, we have to bring and build the right team, and if you don't focus and invest in that team, it's going to be hard to really implement what we're trying to drive. So I love what you do, I'm a big fan and thank you for your personal support. It means a lot to me.

Ajit Dodani: 1:08:11

Oh, thank you. Thank you. I'm cheering you on. You know I've always done it from day one, and thank you for having me here. This was a lot of fun and so unscripted.

Narrator 1: 1:08:20

So like you and I love it no prep, no prep.

Christopher Luna: 1:08:22

I love it. So thank you. I'll follow him on LinkedIn. I'll put it all in the description. Thank you very much for taking the time to listen to this and look forward to the next one.

Narrator 1: 1:08:38

Thank you for joining us on this episode of the Los Angeles Leaders Podcast, hosted by Christopher Luna. We hope you found our conversation as inspiring as we did. Don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback helps us bring more of the content you love, and be sure to follow us on social media for updates behind the scenes content and to join the conversation Until next time. Keep leading, keep innovating and keep making a difference.