Uma Thana Balasingam: Reinvented

Uma Thana Basalingam built a 7-figure corporate career across Asia as a senior tech executive. She walked away to build something of her own. The bravest part? Leaving her ‘successful’ identity behind to create a new one. 

But this time, she built from the inside out. 

This is a story in three acts:

1 – The Hustler.

From blue-collar beginnings to becoming the most certified person in the room. Negotiating a 50% salary raise at 21. Earning 7 figures. Success meant status, titles, and never checking price tags.

2 – The Collapse.

The “careerquake.” When the universe stops knocking politely. When the business card stops working. When arrogance meets Year 1 of entrepreneurship – and ego takes a hit.

3 – The Reconstruction.

Redefining what a rich life really means. Learning that sponsorship is reputation currency. Realising that selling is leadership. Understanding that relevance is earned - and that if you haven’t invested in yourself in three years, you may already be falling behind.

We talk about:

• Why embarrassment is the cost of entry
• The tug of war with money
• Why experience does NOT equal relevance
• Corporate arrogance meeting Year 1 in entrepreneurship
• What it really feels like to not be ‘important’  anymore
• And why the real leap is from caring what they think… to caring what you think

Reinvention from the inside out. From caring what they think… to caring what you think. And that, I believe, is the real brave part.

If you’re navigating a second act – or feeling the early tremors of your own careerquake – you might enjoy this episode and get inspired.

Explore The Leap Studio - from Experienced Professional to Confident Entrepreneur:

• Join The Leap Collective here - https://shorturl.at/Q0n5D
• Exploring Entrepreneurship, free 1hr workshop - https://luma.com/hesterscalendar 
• 5 Masterclasses to Shape you Idea - https://luma.com/rg7c9e66
• Ladies who Launch: 12 week Accelerator for pivoting professionals (cohort-based) - https://luma.com/33m3feae 
• Follow Hester - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hesterspiegelvandensteenhoven/
• Get the book ‘Thinking Big and Small: A Guide To activating your Entrepreneurial Mindset’ - https://a.co/d/0eUQrFcX 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

It is very much my story of how, you know, you just need to disrupt yourself to reinvent yourself. Money was a huge motivator for me. It's just a different level of freedom, which I was so determined to get. What is your definition of a rich life? Whatever your dreams are, the universe has dreamt a much bigger dream for you, and your number one job in life is to figure out what that is. So I'm figuring it out.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

So to kick us off, yeah. When people ask, so what do you do? What do you answer?

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Oh my gosh, I still struggle with this question after two years. Um, it's so easy, right? Because when you're in corporate, you just say I am vice president off, and then people can put you in a box and go, yeah, okay, you belong there. Um, so I, you know, I I struggle with this. Like I still, as you can hear me right now, stumbling. Um, I usually start by, well, I do a lot of things because I do too a lot of things. But I'm a multi-hyphenate. Um, and I'm trying to build an ecosystem of companies that is focused around uh women, but also reinvention. So, and I do that through my content, I do that through writing, speaking, um, and the companies that I'm building.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so I need to work on that.

unknown 1:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

What do you want people to remember when they meet you?

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Well, I think I want people to remember. Um, I want people to remember that they can. Whatever it is they want, they can.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Yeah. Let's dive in, right? You had a very interesting career, uh, starting the, you know, doing what success looks like in society. You really you you have a technical background, right? Trained engineer, aren't you? Yes, yes. So very male dominated. Yeah, and then you went into tech companies and really climbed up the ladder there. Um how long have you been in corporate?

SPEAKER_01 2:35

Uh well, I started when I was 21 and I left when I was 45.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

And where was that? Was that in Singapore or somewhere? Well, Malaysia. Yeah. Yeah. So uh I put myself to uni and then had my first job as an engineer. Uh, and then moved to Singapore in 2006. And um, yeah, one thing led to another. Um, but my ever I think every leap I made was like big leaps. Yeah. Tell me more. Well, um my first leap was as an engineer. Firstly, I negotiated my salary as a fresh graduate. I was one of the last to get my job. And so I knew what the market rate was based on what my friends were earning. And at this time, I was sleeping on the floor on a single mattress with three other girls in a one bedroom. And so when the offer came to me, you know, the general manager said, Okay, I'm gonna pay you 1,800 ringgit, which is the market rate. I said, No, you will pay me 2,200 ringgit. And I think he was so shocked that he said, Okay. Um I love it.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

You put your foot down. And I just wanted to.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

How old were you then? I was 21. Yeah. Um, I want to sleep in my own bed and in my own room. Yeah. And I was like, this is not coming out of my 1,800 salary. And so this is what I talked to women about in asking, you shall most likely receive. And so the first leap, I'll just talk about that one, was going from an engineer into sales. So the company that I joined as an engineer, they paid for all the certifications. And I was in a team of three. It was a very small company, was an IBM distributor. And one guy was in his 30s, one guy was in his 40s. I am never going to beat them experience-wise, but I could beat them certification-wise. So I went out and got every possible certification I could on the subject matter expertise I was supposed to be doing. And so one year in, I said to that same boss, I was like, you know, I'm like the most certified person in Malaysia right now. So you should raise my salary by 50%. And he gave me the thousand ringgit increase.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

Um, so what was the driver behind it? Was that the the fortune really, or was it the fame? Did you want to get ahead of the guys? Money and the fun of it.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

Money was a huge motivator for me because I grew up without it. And also I saw how my father was treated when he stopped working. And we were always struggling with money. And I thought, you know what? I want, I how will I live a life that I don't want all of this in my home? So money was a big motivator. I was independence, just getting the next next thing. So uh, so yeah, I was like a hustler, as you you well know in entrepreneurship. Um, and this is why I so believe that you don't need some Ivy League degree, or you know, I grew up with bull-collar parents who didn't couldn't teach me much. I didn't travel, I didn't know etiquette, I didn't know how to dress, right? Um, all of these are learnable skills. So anybody can do this. You know, I wasn't born with any of these skills. Um, so anyway, I get sent to Singapore for this conference, and this IBM executive meets me at this networking drinks, and he says, he talks to me for like five minutes. I don't know who he is. And he's like, You should be in sales. And I was like, What sales? I don't know sales. And I'm like, no, no, no, I'm like down this pass. I think I want to go to Silicon Valley someday, as every engineer says at that time. Um, I don't even know what I'm saying. Um, but a few months later, I had an offer for my BM to go into sales, and those were the days when they had like an IQ test, right? 10 interviews. I only had one interview. So I was sponsored by this man into this role, which is why why did he do that? Do you think? Yeah, I guess he saw something in me and gave me a chance. And and I talk about it today that this is the most important relationship currency in the workplace. Someone putting their reputation online to advocate for you.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

Yeah, so more than mentor mentorship, really getting things done. Yeah, I mean, you get advice from mentors, so mentors advice and sponsors act. So it's more high stakes, right? There's something that costs them. Going back to your um how you grew up, and then you actually made it through the ranks in corporate. Um, especially women, I would say, are very good at telling themselves stories. Like I am like this, or I'm just small, or I'm a victim, or uh, or I'm really good at this. You know, I also did this when I went through the thing. So uh when I was in corporate, it was like, okay, I matter. It was a story I told myself. Then I switched into entrepreneurship. Yeah, nothing of that was true anymore, and I had to change my story because it didn't match reality anymore. You can imagine growing up like you did, you there were maybe stories you did or did not tell yourself that were helpful in the trajectory.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

So, what was that? Well, I started reading business magazines at the age of nine. My uh uncle from the big city, Kuala Lumpur, would visit us in this little small town called Jorobaru, where I grew up, um, every few months. And for some reason, he would just give me those business magazines and I'd read them. And you know, we talk about visualization a lot. So what I'm seeing in those magazines are people traveling around the world, having a corner office, you know, almost all men, but I didn't care. Um, and I was like, I'm gonna be that. I'm gonna get that, I'm gonna travel around the world, I'm gonna have big jobs, I'm gonna earn a lot of money, I'm gonna have seven cars, one to drive each day a week. It's just a stupid thing. Then I moved to Singapore and you can't buy cars here. Um so yeah, that started from nine every day, just looking at that. Um, so it really just came from those and then visualized what life could be like. Yep. Did you ever tell your uncle? Yes, I did, I did. Yeah. I I many years ago at one of my cousins' wedding, I went up to him and said, said, You have no idea what you did for me from the age of nine. Like I I've only come to realize it now. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

Um, fast forward, right? You you left corporate now and now you started of your own. So, what how how what was that transition moment like? When did it start to kind of you know be a friction with whatever was really going on versus your title, your role, the money even that you made, which played a big role. Yes, I didn't understand. So can you tell us what that was like? What did you feel? What happened?

SPEAKER_01 9:52

So I um yeah, got a computer science degree, became an engineer, and then built a career in tech, which is typically what you do. And then you get to the highest levels. Um, and I loved having a corporate career, loved, you know, uh of course there's downsides and things that you don't enjoy, but in generally speaking, I loved it. Um I would be remiss to say I didn't love the money too. Um, you know, I earned seven figures, it was great. Um, everything that I wanted to do in those magazines, I got to do travel around the world. Um, I wanted to walk into shops and not look at a price tag of what I want to buy. And it's just a different level of freedom, which I was so determined to get because I didn't want to be my dad, you know. And so an opportunity came by, the company was acquired, and I was gonna get an exit package. And having watched this before with an ex-boss, I'm like, I am gonna do exactly what you did, which is take the package and have the next big job lined up. Jump up. Yeah. And uh I had the next big job lined up, and then I got a call that they restructured, and the role was like two levels, three levels below. I said, no, thank you. And then at this time, I had already been um, you know, sitting at the dining room table with Jing Jin to start working on the Elevate group. So, and I had permission from the other company that I could build it, you know, so that was part of the negotiation. And then I was like, okay, well, I have time my hands, I have a runway because I have a payout, I can survive the year if needed. And then another call came for another big job. And uh I raised my price, and they were like, Yeah, no problem. I was like, Oh, now I have to take the call. Um, it's hard, isn't it? Cactus relationship with money, talk about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, and uh I said, you know what? I want to meet the CEO first. And I met the CEO and I was so disenchanted, and I told a recruiter, I'm not gonna apply. This is I I don't want to work for someone that I think I can't learn much from. I think it's important to look up to whoever you're working for. And I always had this great relationship with all my ex-bosses till today. So that's so important to me. And I think you get to a level where you can choose, right? Um, so I had a choice. That was when I think the universe was like trying to slap me a little bit harder and get like stop knocking on this one red door that you've been knocking on for 20 plus years. There are all these other doors, you know.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

So I said the career quake that you also have been writing about.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

Yes, I um found a word for it last year, and I call it a career quake. Um, it's just when the very definition of everything you believed in crumbles, and you're just sitting in the rubble trying to figure out who you are and what's next, and is it truly aligned to who you want to be? You know, and in the hero's journey, you know, people talk about the first mountain, second mountain, right? So I think I was at the bottom of the second mountain, but I couldn't see what it could look like, and a lot of fear uh comes with that. Um, so yeah, that was kind of the journey. And then I think the most scariest thing I did is in May um of 2024, together with Jing Jin, was to announce the Elevate Group on LinkedIn. And because my biggest followers are there, but also LinkedIn is your professional platform where recruiters and everybody in tech that I know would see it. It is kind of saying, don't call me anymore for jobs post, right? People see it as announcing elevate group, but I saw it as please don't call me anymore for tech jobs, which is a very scary, yeah, very scary thing, and telling people, yeah, you're no longer gonna be in tech. Scary, very scary.

SPEAKER_00 13:58

So that's when you were still on the bottom of the second mountain. Yeah, and so you knew what was behind you had no future that you were certain about. I don't know, I was not certain.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

No, yeah. I I I would like honestly say half of my foot is still like, well, if the right road comes up for the right money, maybe yeah, yeah, because you had let go of that life that you just described, right?

SPEAKER_00 14:26

Money was a big driver because you had seen how it could be and you had different plans for yourself, but also the whole identity when you describe the life that you live, that you want to go to shops and just buy what you like and travel, uh you know, dinners, I'm sure, everything that comes with it. It's a role and an identity that you also shut the door to, then.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

You know, the one thing I learned about this relationship with money, um, Hester, is like it's like a currency. So I find like if I spend money, then money will come my way. And if I don't spend money, like I didn't want to buy new toothpaste when I ran out of toothpaste after leaving corporate, and I went to my travel drawer and I would collect all these mini items, and I was using those, and then my best friend was like, What's wrong with you? You're sending a message to the universe of scarcity, not abundance. So I'm a huge believer in energy transfer. I don't know about you, but like so I've had to figure out the balance of not depriving myself. And the question that helped me the most is like redefining what is my idea of a rich life. And so now I try to live that. It involves a lot of travel, it doesn't involve buying property, it involves collecting wines, you know, um, stuff like that. So did you have to learn that for yourself?

SPEAKER_00 15:54

I mean, there's there's how society sees success, right? That has everything to do with what you described, your title that's on your business card, uh then uh your salary, identity, etc. But then you realize that there's something else that's maybe not so clearly described, but that was as important perhaps for you. Probably as important, otherwise you would not have made the leap and you would have accepted that boss that you didn't want to work for.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

Yeah. I think that's the extrinsic values versus intrinsic values, and I think you have to allow yourself to be okay to have extrinsic values, you know, like how popular you are, or um, you know, if you're a creator, how many followers, um, how much money you earn, stuff like that. Um, do you have the car, house? Are you eating at a certain restaurant, wearing certain clothes? Um, and then the intrinsic values, I think at some point would take over. What I've learned is that it's a zero-sum game. So if you're 80% here, you're 20% here. And I think that was like the last two years is just me calibrating. Um, I still have this, you know, I still have ego and stuff like that. I I also went through a lot of therapy for anybody listening to this. It's like that was the first step to just try and figure out who I am. I have to be able to look backwards with everything that I have come with, including what has been passed down to me by my parents and their parents, and um just understand that before I can try and figure out who I am.

unknown 17:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

So, what did that therapy do, really? Did they ask you certain questions that can be helpful for others as well?

SPEAKER_01 17:36

Yeah. Um, plenty. I mean, uh first I did the Hoffman process, which is a week, um, the first part. And I think that goes back to negative love patterns of what you learn from mom and dad. Everything comes back to mom and dad. It's true. Yes. And if you have step parents, them too. Um, so I think that's the first step to like it's very scary. So you have to be prepared to do that. Um then when I came out of it, I asked myself questions like, you know, what is it that what advice has always been given to me, but never felt quite right? For example, like everybody was like, Oh, you should buy a house, you should buy a house, you should buy a house. And I never wanted to buy a house. And there's, you know, now I know why. Um, what is your definition of a rich life? Like now I ask myself, if I am human being number one on planet Earth, what kind of life could I create if I didn't care? What any because there's no rules that came before, right? Yeah, what would that look like?

SPEAKER_00 18:45

So what would you strip away?

SPEAKER_01 18:47

Yeah, I mean, I am uh recently divorced and I think I got married out of fear of, you know, what if I die alone in the house and nobody finds me? You know, that kind of fear. Yeah. Right. Um also I was in my 40s. I was like, Jesus, I better get married now. It's like, where does this guy have it? Um all the wrong reasons. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:11

Well, it's very personal as well. Yes. What is some it's helpful to have those structures? Yeah. And for you, those structures started to crack, right? The structures that held your identity.

SPEAKER_01 19:22

And then so I think when it comes to building something, entrepreneurship, content, anything, if you can build from the truest form of you, which means you have to go through this ugly, messy, hard stuff and just look at yourself and ask yourself some hard questions. I think that will then pour into the product of what you're building. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

So, how do we see that in Elevate?

SPEAKER_01 19:47

Yeah. So Elevate is with Jing Jin Liu, uh, my partner, and my work wife. Um, and we are on a mission to elevate five million working women in business, and we help them through for rising leaders to go from hidden talent to visible leaders. So, what we believe is that visibility, when done right, is the game changer. It is also my story in many ways and her story. And when you get to senior leadership, you are going to be alone, you're gonna doubt yourself. Um, there's a huge mental text that comes with it, and you need to be in a circle with other women like you. And so that's the private circle offering, so that you can vent and you can say anything you want and not be judged by it, you know. So that's kind of what we're on a mission to do. And and how's it going? Yeah, it's going great right now. Um, if we had this podcast at the end of the first year, I would say it's not going great, Hester, because we have failed miserably, but we failed well. Um, so I think the first year, there's a lot of arrogance that went into it for my part. Um, because when you have you know a billion plus dollar business with hundreds of people, um you think that yeah, it's like I'm gonna skip all these things that they say about entrepreneurship. I did skip some, you know, but um Which ones did you skip? The okay, I'd say the number one thing from corporate that most entrepreneurs undermine is people skills, as in people management uh and just people leadership. Because in entrepreneurship, you're not hiring anybody necessarily, but you have a lot of contractors that you work with. And if you don't know how to motivate them, how to get them to do more for you, how to come on their journey with you and be. inspired by what you're doing. Like that's people's skills. I think that is the most undermined entrepreneurship skills.

SPEAKER_00 22:08

The first one I hired was on waterfall planning. This is what we're going to do and it entirely burned her out. She was like, yeah. You know, I didn't take her on the mission. Yeah. So yeah, one of the things I learned the hard way. But it's very important one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

And you have to pour your, you know, like when you have somebody working for you, regardless of whether they're permanent or contract, like you, you are going to give a lot of yourself to them to to like nurture them and bring them on their journey, right? So the ego part is just like, oh well, you know, I was like, we're going to figure this out. We're going to build this and it's going to work out. And it didn't, right? We wanted to build a private network. And we learned so much. So I think in hindsight, the best thing you could do is to make that mistake so that you can pivot in year two. I think there's always a pivot in your two. I don't know about your experience. And I think if you're not pivoting in year two, you maybe What do you mean in your two? Year two of entrepreneurship. Oh year two. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So year one is all about okay go after that idea. Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:18

And make learning, learning, learning. And year two you got clarity of okay, this is where real opportunity is. And I think what you need to do.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

You can't do year two without year one. Yeah. Right? So uh but for us it was expensive, right? It was almost like over a hundred c of investments that was going to go down the road. Yeah. Uh well down the toilet. But in a good way. It was an expensive lesson, but a much needed one. Then we pivoted. Yeah. And so now it's working really well and we're finding our um footing and doing really well. We've got over a thousand customers and we love what we do, which I think is the more important thing. Like Jinjin and I, you know, we're both in our 40s and we wanted to build something that would be around our lifestyle. You know, we didn't want to build a lifestyle around the business. And so it was so important to us that we could work from anywhere in the world at any time and when we want, you know, so um so we try and build it that way so we're not like your, you know, let's get this to you know$10 million or whatever. We're just trying to do it intentionally and it serves what we need to pay ourselves and also serves the, you know, the mission. Yeah. And what is that mission? What's your grand vision? Five million women in business. Yeah, we want to elevate five million working women in business. So whatever that means for them. Okay. Right. Um for some that's a promotion. For some I want to get to the highest levels in corporate. For some I want to make that leap that I'm afraid of making. Yeah. Yeah. Whatever elevate means for a woman.

SPEAKER_00 25:06

Yeah. And this is the space where they can voice that and take steps towards that. Yeah. Hey I want to talk about a different um thing that I see that I saw in in you. So I I knew of you I've been reading about you. I saw you on some panels etc and then recently we saw each other on the birthday of a mutual friend. Yes. And I saw in you something that I'd never seen on stage. Right? You were kind of fine more or less by yourself in a corner while people were mingling. It was not a this was like 20 people something like that. Yeah that's interesting because I didn't ever see that on the stage. So that fascinated me honestly and it also led me to invite you for this podcast because um going out is already one of the hardest things for entrepreneurs right when you have been working for Google your whole life you start for yourself selling yourself is really can feel icky and and scary so that positioning but you have to because you know you you cannot sell a secret your identity is is also a currency. Now add to that being a real introvert is what I saw is like wow yes you know you have really put takes taken some steps there and put effort in it to get where you are today and showing up and speaking up and being there being visible being heard so um yeah I see I see you nodding but I really like how how do you do that? How did you do that? Do you hack it or you know there's a lot of truth in fake it till you make it.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

So I knew that I didn't have a choice as you become more and more senior um you have no option you know today there's a press briefing tomorrow you're on stage speaking to a thousand people you are constantly um looked at you know you walk into an elevator you have to say hi because they are people in your organization. So I take a deep breath before I open the door and step into the office because yeah you put on a different mask.

SPEAKER_02 27:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:09

And is it exhausting? Absolutely so you have to I had to um find ways to recover. Sometimes I would lock myself inside a room where nobody can find me and just do nothing. After a big event uh I try to leave early so I think like leaving when your energy is not depleted yet is a good thing. And then just recover by myself. And so yeah it's not a personality transplant. I think a lot of people think like oh I don't want to be this person that I'm not. No, I am still me. But I need to do this job or this work that, you know, it's like sales. People are so achy but that's the number one thing you know is like forget the people management thing I said earlier. This actually this is the number one you can't sell. You won't earn anything. Right? And and selling is anytime you're helping a person make decision or you're trying to influence them to do anything, all of those are sales, right? So yes, I am evidence that um how you saw me at that party you know sitting on the couch or at a corner and not saying anything. Yeah. So you were at ease then and didn't feel very comfortable to just watch and not say a word.

SPEAKER_00 28:37

Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah but you are really good at it putting up that mask and that face and uh and getting out there. So uh yes I don't know if that's a good thing. You've you've taught yourself and it has served you clearly uh but for all the others out there who have an ambition to build something of their own and are also on the introverted side um it may be an extra hurdle.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

Yes. What can you do? Okay I have a nephew he's um he's going to turn 19 and he's more introverted than I am and so we get along super well. So if the two of us are having dinner um I'm talking more than him right so he was like you know Auntie Uma I really want to work on this because clearly I you know need I want to travel the world it's like so um what can I what's the first thing I could do I said well um there was one time he was supposed to meet us for dinner and he didn't even want to ask for directions when he got lost so I said start there. I said how about the next time um you don't know where you are and you need to you know figure it out like just ask some random stranger. And so whatever that is for you I think for me it also started by going to shops and just talking to strangers. Because you step out of the shop they're not going to remember you. So it's just no downside yeah they're not going to remember you right um I think we spend too much time living a future state in our heads right so what if yeah yeah yeah you know I was like what are they gonna think of me? Whatever. Um so start by talking to people um random people who you don't know um ask a question make a comment like if you see somebody wearing a nice shoe it's like hey that those are really nice shoes full stop keep walking if you're crossing the road yeah yeah yeah so all real stories like so just start small like that that's really how I started and then in meetings my hack is that um I would say the word actually so I'm like okay this is an important meeting I'm gonna have to say something I always overprepare as introverts do I overprepare for meetings um so I kind of know like what I have to say most of the time um so then meeting will go on then if I find a gap I'll just say the word actually I was just like actually and then I was like shit now I have to say something yeah you open the door for yourself now you have the human so yeah like you have to interrupt yourself like it's a hard embarrassing thing embarrassment is the cost of entry Stephen Bartlett so are you willing to be embarrassed?

SPEAKER_00 31:27

Yeah it's not making it interesting is your writing you write a lot right you write on LinkedIn on channels uh and uh you told me you're writing a book yes uh so that's another way of of self-expression which is not synchronous in that sense so you deliver your thoughts and your insights and people can read it at their own time so yes it is I believe writing I believe is the number one skill on being a great communicator because when you have to write you are forced to express yourself in a limited number of words.

SPEAKER_01 32:01

Ideally and so the higher up you go can you express yourself and land the idea in 30 seconds even a minute right because you don't want people to start rolling their like what is this person saying like get to the point about yeah yeah yeah okay yeah yeah so what's your book about my book is Career Quake and it's all about helping senior leaders to master disruption before disruption masters them and it is very much my story of how you know you just need to disrupt yourself to reinvent yourself all the time and the things that worked last year it's not gonna work this year. So how do you stay relevant because number of years does not equal experience and experience does not equal relevance. In this new world can you solve today's problems right now is what matters and that's a bunch of skills that I believe are important. We talked about sales um that's in there but also just having the audacity to think yeah I'm just gonna round this um great communication skills we talked about that I think that are like 12 skills that are important that I've um noticed for myself um that I'm still working on but yeah so you're gonna come up with that framework I love that with the with the reinvention and also what I hear is the opportunity right so that you are able to see opportunity and tie that into your wisdom.

SPEAKER_00 33:29

Yes. When we talk about reinvention what is one thing from your own experience that you overestimated and one thing that you underestimated when it comes to reinventing yourself the one thing I overestimated is that everything that up to today was going to remain relevant.

SPEAKER_01 33:51

You know I I think nobody warns you about when you call the people that you used to call without the title anymore they don't necessarily pick up the phone you know um yeah you have a different importance to them right or that if you did things a certain way like my example for Elevate in the first year how he bombed well um so I think that that's what I overestimated is that everything that I have learned thus far shall serve me for my next space.

SPEAKER_00 34:34

That's the thing I think of keep listening and stay tuned in.

SPEAKER_01 34:38

Yeah and I think you've got to be willing to throw everything out of the window. Like I've I spent a year thinking about this book and just last weekend I had to throw everything out and I'm gonna build again. So I I think this is the thing for entrepreneurship as well but we're living in the age of disruption and I think this is more relevant than ever that can you keep you know reinventing yourself and I think the number one thing is that if your last big investment in yourself to learn something new was three years ago, that's a sign that you are about to become irrelevant. Yeah yeah if you're stagnating yeah yeah and what's one thing that you underestimated one thing I underestimated about reinvention is that how messy it is I think like if you really I mean it's all micro steps that lead to bigger steps but it's very messy. It's saying no to the things that have held true for you for a long time. And um you know like can you sit in the tears and um let go of your ego in a lot of situations um and um you know can you not be important anymore? Yeah can you not have that much money in the bank account anymore uh can you say no like last year I said no to 99% of meetings you know uh because people write to me like uh get like 20 messages a day to meet on LinkedIn and I respect that and I love that it took out time and they do want to meet but then I can't do it. So I think you become unpopular and you become uh I don't know an outlier in not so good way to them. So like that's why I think going to therapy is so important. It's like you really have to know who you are and be be okay to have people go like oh well you know she's so important she can't give time what right but I'm just protecting my energy as an introvert plus I know what I want and I know what I want to give my time and energy to um and so you know I I think I'm at this age where I just know like when you message me for a podcast by the way I declined 10 podcasts before you but when you texted me I just know like yeah okay this is what I want to do. Okay. So thank you um yeah we we didn't get to meet before but I think we knew off each other so um thank you for having me um but I think you just yeah you become unpopular basically and are you how far between zero and a hundred where are you now in being okay with that oh I'm at a hundred yeah very okay very okay because you are you right you're becoming yeah because I don't give a about what other people think anymore yeah I care about what I think I care that I don't disappoint myself yeah and I think this is a hard thing for women everyone listening is like yeah you put everybody else first and you put yourself last that's true we're very good at that so we try not to disappoint others at the cost of disappointing ourselves yeah yeah and don't be so harsh on ourselves everything that we need to do. I don't know if that's gonna end but yes so what's next I do not know I'm excited about going to bed every night not going back to corporate that is my new definition of success. Congratulations for today so tonight go to going back to corporate success check. Who knows? And this I think is the marvel of I actually don't know what the world has uh waiting for me. And Oprah says this the universe has dreamt a much bigger dream for you. Whatever your dreams are the universe has dreamt a much bigger dream for you. And your number one job in life is to figure out what that is. So I'm figuring it out. Yeah how do we do how do you do that? Number one by bringing stillness into my life so I can actually listen to the universe and stillness means can you sit on your own when I first started it was 30 seconds now I can do a few minutes sit by your own no phone no nothing no stimulation whatsoever in silence right no note taking whatever can you sit in stillness um and just let your thoughts do leave your head like you know for women the first thing that's gonna come is our to-do list. It's like oh here's I need to do laundry later it's like oh I forgot about that oh I'm supposed to text this person oh I've got to put that on the shopping list that's the first things that are gonna come out. So if you sit long enough it will all leave and you will welcome new thoughts in. So that's the first step. The second I think is to start noticing the things that bring you energy like you feel good about it before you do it, when you do it and after you do it. Like this is a great example like I was looking forward to it. I'm having a great time now and I'm still gonna have adrenaline from our conversation when I leave.

SPEAKER_02 40:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:08

So what are those things and start noticing them and writing them down. And making time for them too I suppose. And I guess the third thing is like this achy guy exercise that really benefited me. And anybody listening to this podcast you can DM me. I'm gonna give you kind of the step by step uh on how to do it. I wrote a newsletter on it too long to talk about on this podcast but you know figuring out uh what brings you joy what you're great at what the world needs and what you can make money with. That's how I figured out what I'm supposed to be doing next although I don't have all the pizzas. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:42

I love that very concrete steps you can take right as I mentioned earlier to me what helps is swimming. That is why I cannot have a phone when swimming yeah and it's the repetition. So after 20 minutes it's always 20 minutes I'm like bored the first 20 minutes like okay can we be done yet? And then after 20 minutes thoughts start to come in things to make start to make sense and um yes it's uh yeah it's it's uh you and I were talking stoicism and water is actually a powerful force that allows you to think so I do a lot of my brain like my ideas come in the shower that's why I love taking extra long showers yeah like my show is very often water yeah yeah so water is very powerful. Great there's so much so much in this um I think you already have given your tips is there anything else you would like to plant between the ears of people who are restless right at the moment like okay they're in a career considering starting for themselves um anything else you would like to say to them?

SPEAKER_01 41:46

Yeah I would say the number one advice I have for women now which I wish somebody had told me earlier is to invest in yourself. Whatever that looks like um and it's a myriad of things it's give yourself that pedicure this weekend um go get your hair done invest in that course um but it's time for yourself to figure out you know who you're becoming because we're always becoming we have never you know we'll never become for the rest of our lives so invest in yourself um we're always investing in others and we're putting ourselves last so put your money into yourself um in all dimensions of whatever brings you joy but especially for skills that are going to bring you forward in life I love that thank you so much if people want to follow up with you where can they find you? They can find me on LinkedIn uh just Google Uma Tana. They can find me on Instagram Uma double underscore raw and my podcast Raw with Uma if you google it you'll see it on all platforms.

SPEAKER_00 42:51

Amazing thank you so much for your candid sharing and all the tips you've shared. Loved speaking with you thank you. Thank you. If you're listening and you recognized yourself in this conversation that space between what is and what could be you can explore the Leap Studio at theleapstudio.co from podcast series so this one and more episodes to the Leap Scan, the Leap Collective and a full blown accelerator for ex corporate professionals who build something of their own. Here you'll find ways to be inspired and to learn and to start strong. Thanks for listening to the Leap. If this episode resonated share it with someone who might be standing on the edge of their own leap