Born and brought up in Bengaluru, Jay Kumar Hariharan had a successful career in the Sales and Business Development of a Fortune 500 media organisation. But despite being successful professionally, he wasn’t happy.
The gnawing pain in his soul reminded him that something had to be done. He then set out on a life-changing journey of self-discovery and learning. And then, he had an epiphany – Those things do happen! So, he decided to help leaders in their search for purpose, meaning and joy at work by helping them navigate choppy waters to reinvent themselves.
And sometime around 2013, he began coaching leaders to become better leaders. He has now come out with his first book Rewire, that’s the sum total of his experience of the last six years of coaching.
The book is loosely inspired by Clayton Christenson’s How will you measure your life where he juxtaposes organisation theories on life.
How different are you from others in the business?
I have had a long and successful career in the Business end of the Business (managing a P&L) as against from a support function like HR. I bring that business relevance and empathy to the coaching table.
The truism in the coaching business “You coach the way you are”. It becomes a natural extension of your values and beliefs.
I’m intensely curious about the stories of my coachees and passionate about making a difference.
Is it easy to be the leader of your own life?
No. It’s hard, no doubt about it! The clutter, the pace and the stress have reduced our abilities to discern, empathise and reflect. These are the aspects that help us arrive at a lifestyle design that is completely ours and not dictated by others.
If corporate heads and teams need coaches to perform better, why are these people at these positions in the first place?
We all need help. The smart ones ask for it. Leadership, just like life has to constantly evolve and a coach helps with that.
The coach comes in to increase alignment between the coachee’s behaviour and the organisation to help the coachee get better in a direction he wants to.
The simple truth is “what got you here won’t take you there”. Having a coach helps!
Any message for people who want to be successful in life but somehow just can’t make it happen…We are all walking around with our own unique combination locks.
What works for one may or may not work for another. So, we need to constantly experiment with different strategies. We need to be hungry and we also need to hang around with people who are better than us.
Lastly, is there a mantra which offers 100 per cent success?
None