Interesting Lives of Ordinary People

I’ve known Sanjay for over thirty years from our time together at business school in India He is one of the most well read and informed people I know. He is highly regarded for his experience and views on entrepreneurship and innovation, and his ability to be brutally honest in his capacity as mentor to startups, established companies and industry bodies. He jokingly describes himself as not just a mentor, but a tormentor to his mentees.

As a passionate advocate of entrepreneurship and innovation, he writes, lectures, advises, invests and mentors startups, companies and industry bodies on innovation, entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial thinking. He is the co-founder of a not-profit company, Network of Indian Cultural Enterprises (NICEorg.in) that aims to create an ecosystem for nurturing and growing successful Indian cultural enterprises; the global ambassador for iSpirt (ispirt.in) a not-for-profit technology focused think-do tank that works to create digital platforms for societal transformation, Executive Board member of IIIT Bangalore housed Mosip.io, an open source national ID platform for countries, and advisor with the Data Governance Network. He also serves on the boards of publicly traded Quess Corp, Allsec Technologies, impact consulting company Sattva Consulting, governing board member of TiE Bangalore, and advisor to NSRCEL-IIMB, CWE and other organisations.

Sanjay has led or played key roles in several pioneering high tech cross border product development initiatives. As an entrepreneur, he co-founded Neta, perhaps the first VC backed software company in Silicon Valley created by founders who had relocated from India, that subsequently became a part of Infoseek/Disney. He also set up Venturekatalyst, India’s first entrepreneur focused web magazine and JumpStartUp in 2000, one of India’s 1st tech oriented VC funds, investing in Silicon Valley and India. In 2016, he published Startup Mantras, which became one of the top business books of that year, according to Business Insider. It is a collection of 100 lessons for entrepreneurs and managers, and is unusual in that it packed so much wisdom with such brevity and simplicity.

In 2022, it is estimated that there are 106,000 people who are known to be waiting for an organ transplant, of which 92,000 (87%) are waiting for a kidney. The average waiting time for a kidney is longer than for any other organ: 3-5 years with with many not surviving the long wait. During that time, most patients will undergo dialysis and live with severe dietary restrictions.

In today's episode you will meet 22 year old Ayush Chandwani who had his first kidney transplant at the tender age of 6, and a second one a few months ago. He is one of the lucky ones. He received a kidney first from his mother Smriti and more recently from his uncle Sanjay who both share their experiences of being living kidney donors. 

In the course of this conversation, you will understand and appreciate the important role kidneys play in our body, and why it is the most endangered of organs. Diabetes and high blood pressure are the top two causes of kidney failure. This conversation might help you take greater control of your health and preempt the onset of some of these chronic conditions that are caused by our lifestyle choices.

In this conversation, Joanna talks about the experiences in her formative years that taught her the meaning of catastrophic compassion. She offers a moving account of how she first encountered death and the grief that stayed suppressed for years. Her career trajectory, with its twists and turns, is a reminder that life has interesting ways of making us pay attention. Saving the best for last, Joanna described her vision and mission that is so needed, and yet controversial. 

Joanna Davis, MCC is one amongst a very small worldwide community of Master Coaches, as defined by the International Coaching Federation. She has over 5,000 hours of coaching experience, spent seven years as Senior Faculty for a Level 2 ICF credentialed school and works in-house as a Corporate Life Coach for a South Florida Fortune 500 company of 20,000+ employees. She is an ICF PCC Assessor, serves as a Mentor Coach for both ICF and ReciproCoach, and has a small private practice specialising in coaching to Executive Development. Her passions include the neuroscience of human behaviour, creating food forests, and trying to keep up with her Basenjis.

Leon VanderPol is an internationally recognised leader, master-teacher, and author in the field of transformational coaching and transformative living. He is the Founder of the Center for Transformational Coaching and his book, A Shift in Being: The Art and Practices of Deep Transformational Coaching, sold in multiple languages, is bringing his work to new audiences daily.  

Leon has spent over two decades immersed in the dynamics of personal and inter-personal change. At the core of Leon’s teaching lies the transformation of human consciousness—what happens when we consistently begin to experience ourselves beyond our ego-based state of consciousness, as our essential Self and Soul.  

Today he works with people from around the world to explore the boundaries of their existence, grow into new paradigms of personal experience, and tap into their most authentic Self.  He is Canadian by birth, Dutch by ancestry, and has called Taiwan home for over 22 years.

If you listened to the episode titled Living with Alcoholism, you will know that its purpose was to invite conversation around the subject of alcoholism and to create a space that was free from judgement. I was so happy when Paul Babin, having listened to the podcast episode, reached out to me and suggested we have that conversation and publish it.  Paul has been a coach, mentor and friend to me over the past few years. What you are about to hear is a slightly edited version of an unscripted conversation led by Paul in which he raised his concerns, asked me questions that helped me delve deeper and offered guidance and advice from his own experience of living with alcoholism. Unlike the previous episode, this is not a coaching session. It is a two way conversation, in which admittedly, I am doing most of the talking! I feel that we achieved a balance by tackling some heavy issues with compassion and even humour. If you found this and the previous episode helpful, please help us reach a bigger audience. You can do this by sharing the link to our podcast and by posting your feedback where possible. 

Paul is a former award winning cinematographer for several Hollywood A list movies. He turned his back on that career to become a life coach. You can listen to the podcast episode - Paul Babin - Life After Hollywood - in which Paul talks about the turning point that created that shift for him and what life lessons have made him the man he is today. 

Today’s episode of iLoOP is a bit different, especially as the voice you will hear will be mostly mine. 

I share with you today a recording of a deep coaching session I had only yesterday with Dipti Singh, who is a life coach and is part of a wonderful community of people who are learning the art of deep transformational coaching with Leon VanderPol. The session I am sharing with you culminates a series of coaching sessions I have had with Dipti and other coaches who are my peers in the Deep Coaching Intensive (DCI) community. When I went into the session, I had no idea I would publish it, nor that I would share so much of my personal life with my listeners.

Dipti was masterful in the way she let me be my vulnerable and authentic self. She heard me and she held me in her compassionate presence. And you will witness a genuine shift occur within me. It is a powerful real life example of how we can find solutions to even the most difficult problems when we are given the space and the silence to let the answers within us emerge.

Alcoholism takes many prisoners, most of whom are not even drinking. Living with alcoholism comes with many social taboos and deep seated shame. Most people feel reluctant to share their story because of fear of judgment, or because they simply want to forget and move on. I am sharing my family’s story today because I believe we need to look at the topic of alcoholism with greater compassion and openness. I hope this episode will spark a conversation and sow a seed of greater understanding of the condition - its causes and consequences. I have to warn you, that because of the unscripted and largely unedited nature of the audio, there is raw emotion and one swear word. Caution is advised! Thank you for listening.

Sian is a shining example of a life that has not be defined by its beginnings. We can’t always choose how we begin, but we can choose who we become. From the age of fifteen Sian spent seven years on the streets: a homeless teenager. She’s written about her story of living on the streets in her book Teenage Kicks. In today’s episode Sian talks about how she turned her life around and what gets her out of bed each day.

Sian is an International Speaker, TEDx Speaker and Co-Founder of ©Centre for Sustainable Action. Sian believes in a world where businesses are sustainable and profitable; a world in which cooperation triumphs over competition. She calls it the “interconnection” between planet and profit. She and her husband are on a mission to turn small businesses and entrepreneurs into profitable and sustainable enterprises by ‘humanising’ business through cooperation. She earned her title as a ©Sustainable Success Coach simply by living by the mantra ‘Health and Well-Being in Life and Business will save the planet’ Sian has co-created the SDG - Assessment App and ©SHaW Model for sustainable health & wellbeing both research-driven tools for sustainable success in Life & Business.  Her book Teenage Kicks: A True Story of Dark Streets to Bright New Beginnings is available on Amazon. 

Madhura believes that the youth of today will shape our tomorrow. With this in mind, she started working with Podar Jumbo Kids and completing my ECCed (Early Childhood Care and Education) qualification. After graduating in Developmental Counselling from SNDT, she started working in children’s day care services, including in a leadership role, followed by work at a school in the North India.She became a facilitator and trainer for teachers with The Teacher Foundation, followed by a "Teacher as an Innovator" certification  from OEP, Finland. This led to her delving into the deeper aspects of children’s education, their approach to learning and creating tools for becoming a lifelong learner.  

Madhura is the founder of “Learning to Learn”, a course that aims to turn children into lifelong learners. She describes herself as a spoilt daughter, supportive wife and loving mother who is striving to be a compassionate and accepting human being. She views her life’s journey as one of constant learning.  You can reach her via email – [email protected]

Adrian is a transformation coach who creates profound mindset shifts for his clients. He helps them focus on both their inner alignment and the outer transformation of their life and business. His tough love and supportive approach creates a new sense of freedom for his clients. Adrian is a former soldier turned master neuro-systemic coach. His clients include other driven coaches, high achievers and business owners ready to move to the next level.

In this special episode, I share the experiences and insights from my recent ten days at the Dhamma Sukhakari Vipassana Meditation Centre in Suffolk, UK. Vipassana is an ancient Buddhist practice whereby you train your mind and body to experience things as they are, not as you want them to be. It was both intense and interesting.  I am grateful to my friend Sanat Rao for hosting this conversation with me and drawing out the most useful aspects of my experience.  If you're considering going on a Vipassana retreat for the very first time, you may it helps you go better prepared and get more out of your experience.