From Corporate Sales Star and Coach to “Committed Coachpreneur”

From Corporate Sales Star and Coach to "Committed Coachpreneur": Shiva Vaid's journey of transforming people and businesses

"Honestly, from a materialistic perspective, I don't seek to accomplish anything particular. But as a Coach, I would like to inspire and enable more and more people,whether individuals or leadership teams, to transform the way they see things and therefore change their actions so that they can achieve even better results."

Shiva Vaid is a seasoned Leadership Coach and Strategic Advisor with over 2 decades of experience. He enables business leaders and individuals to unleash their potential to deliver extraordinary results.

His career path includes being an Associate Consultant with JMW Consultants USA, where he was responsible for delivering business transformation consulting, leadership development and executive coaching to JMW's Fortune 500 clients. He has also headed the Sales function in APAC & India for companies such as Critical Path Inc, Network Solutions Limited, Comsat Max and others.

Towards the end of his 17-year corporate tenure in Sales with companies in India and the Asia Pacific and Coaching Business Leaders in Australia, South Africa, Singapore and India, Shiva developed a sense of existential restlessness. He gave up his corporate consulting assignment in early 2009 to discover himself and find a purpose and meaning to his life. His spiritual quest over a year of solitude and introspection helped him find the answers he was looking for.

He recognised that he would be optimally effective in helping people by blending his expertise in Coaching and Sales with the knowledge of Self that he had begun to acquire and hone. This was the genesis of Prajna Asia Consultants LLP, the organization he set up in early 2010,to launch his work as a Leadership & High-Performance Coach.

The blue diamond "Prajna": wisdom through knowledge of the Self

Prajnaenables the people it coaches and trains to harness the power of his/her self by helping them answer three key questions for themselves:

• Who am I?
• Who am I being?
• Who do I need to be?

This fundamentally transformative approach gifts people the self-confidence and mental freedom to envision and aim for results, which were previously thought to be unreachable. The ontology-based interventions make people aware of their capacities and what holds them back, thus preparing them mentally for action in new ways that enable them to "make things happen". This approach raises their commitment to "play as a team to win", thus significantly enhancing their commitment to delivering on the organization's goals.

'Delivering tangible and sustainable business outcomes for client organizations: Prajna's Programs

Prajna's programs are customized to the organization's context, thereby ensuring better learning outcomes. The impact of the superior results and the overall learning experience (based on participant feedback) makes clients come back to Prajna for repeat engagements.

Prajna's services are focused on:

• Building High-Performance Winning Teams
• Assessment and development of Leadership Skills
• Assessment and development of Sales and Account Management Skills
• Development of Personal Excellence skills
• Executive Coaching

Structured as seamlessly integrated assignments comprising of Consulting, Assessments, Training& Coaching elements, Prajna's programs utilize a combination of one-on-one conversations, assessments of individual or group dynamics, offsite workshops, wilderness learning sessions, breakout sessions or individual/ group coaching sessions. The customization is based on up-front scoping/diagnostic interactions with key stakeholders that enables the coach to probe and understand the organizational context to the development needs identified. Where required, clients can choose standalone elements such as Consulting, Assessments, Training or Coaching.

Reaching Mileposts

In the span of seven years, Prajna's team,comprising of the Founders Mr. Shiva Vaid and his Father cum Mentor Mr. Vaidyanathan, an subject expert in the automotive andindustrial battery business with five decades of experience,along with Mr. Anand Krishna,a strategic consultant with over two decades of experience with Infosys, PwC andLogica, have successfully delivered High-Performance Individual and Team coachingprograms for leadership teams of organizations in the areas of IT, Manufacturing, Design Engineering,Jewelry, Oil & Gas, Energy etc. These clients have realized significant business growth that can be attributed to Prajna'sinterventions. Prajna has also designed and conducted training programs on Sales Excellence, High-impact Communication, Creative Thinking etc.

Prajna's signature Open House (public) Transformational Leadership program "SUCCESS AHEAD",has through multiple editions, benefitted more than 200 individuals. "For us, the highest recognition is the acknowledgment and appreciation we consistentlyreceive from our clients for the self-belief we inject in them and the transformation we deliver- visible in the business results they achieve despite tough market conditions."Shiva Vaid

Shiva has been on INSEAD's panel of Leadership Coaches for their India Executive Leadership programs. Hehas also beenan Innovation Coach with Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business for the Innovation Acceleration Programsthey conduct for Indian Corporations. He is a visiting Professor at NMIMS Bangalore, where he has been teaching full credit courses on Leadership & Change Management since 2011.

The Founder's Periscope: Inconversation with Mr.Shiva Vaid

What was your journey like to get to where you are?

I would be lying if I said I had to work very hard or that I was lucky.  I just went about doing my job at every instant because it was my job. In terms of moving from being employed to being an entrepreneur, I just followed my heart. I did not evaluate the pros and cons. I always did whatever gave me profound satisfaction.

What is the hardest thing about being a CEO?

It is sometimes lonely and usually the buck stops with you.

What is the best thing about being a CEO?

Being responsible, responsive, quick, having a systemic view while making decisions and taking ownership when something fails, for you have no one to blame- not even "circumstances".

How do you learn in your life and what is your biggest dream?

To me, being open to possibilities and listening are the two key ways of learning.  Knowing that the larger purpose of life can't be just achieving business goals; it must be greater than that and I stay in the quest for that.

As a coach, there is no dream that I cherish for myself. The only prayer and hope are that the world must be a happier and better place to live. Also, people must recognize it is important "live life" irrespective of what their line of work is and how well they do. And if I can contribute to the above in any way, then my actions will have some meaning. 

Give me one word or phrase that describes you the best.

Committed Coach

A Share of words

The words of wisdom that I have learned and encourage any entrepreneur or a CEO to consider are:

Create possibilities and make them a reality- that is "art of leadership".Consider every event that occurs in front of you as an opportunity and that is a source of empowerment, else youcould tend to make wrong decisions.Stay the course and cross the chasm as and when it occurs, for success lies ahead.