Tell me about your vision.
It's a big vision, Harian.
As soon as I think about it, my brain laughs at me,
because the vision is to touch billion lives positively.
It's a big vision, but it's been something
that I've been consistently making progress on since 2016.
It's hard to quantify it, but while it gives me
a lot of joy on the everyday basis, I'm good with that.
A billion lives positively.
I don't know if it's a big vision.
I think you can go much bigger than that.
But when you mean positively, what do you mean by that?
Can you tell me the details?
Absolutely.
So I think what I've done over the years in my own life,
and this is something that I reflected when a coach asked
me this question, Utkash, you moved from health care
to filming and editing, to sales and operations,
to now coach and facilitator, changed continents
a few times.
What pushes you?
And I told him, for me, it's the joy that I get in the day.
If I feel that I'm not doing something that's valuable enough,
that's relevant enough, that's who I want to be,
then something else has got to change.
And I think that's the courage that I want people to feel,
because it's really important.
This human life is a blessing.
It's such a unique opportunity that's
been given to us to create beautiful things in our life
and if we're not feeling fulfilled in the moment,
if we feel that if I die today, there's
going to be a regret, then that is disservice.
So helping people live with courage as individuals,
as teams, as organizations, that to me
is touching a billion lives.
And I think as I think about it, if I coach a parent,
for example, who's an executive at a large company,
I'm helping them be their best in their organization,
but also when they go back to their families.
And the impact that that has is ripple
and that's where my job lies.
That's amazing.
And now I can see your vision from one person
to the other and how it can spread.
A lot of times when we have great leaders in the company,
it can lead to great lives for people with abundance.
And not just money.
I think money is a secondary product of things,
but creating a beautiful culture for people
where they can learn and they can grow
and they feel that they are growing and making a difference,
that they have a purpose.
I think that's what leaders in executive levels at least,
I think, should aspire to be.
100%.
So where did this vision of you going and affecting
a billion lives from 2016 come from, Putkarsal?
So when I moved from my first profession of physical therapy
into filming and editing, this was back in 2013,
I started working with a Columbia Business School
professor in New York.
And so I never lifted a camera, but the first role
that I started to evolve myself into in that organization
was to film and edit video lectures.
As I started to go about that, 2014, 15, by 16,
I realized that I enjoy my work, but I
want to get better every single day.
And so in 2016, on my birthday, which is July 2,
I pursued that I'm going to take for the next 365 days
one portrait a day, one picture of a complete stranger
or person that I know of, but I'm
going to go out and take a picture of that person
to improve my skills of photography.
And as I thought about that, I thought,
let me also ask them if they are happy in their life
or what do they mean by happiness for themselves.
And so I pursued that project, Happiness, in 2016
from July 2 to about 400 days where every day I met a person,
had a conversation about happiness,
and I realized through those conversations
that the impact they had on me was
multi-fold than what I had on them.
I took that picture, put it on my social media,
the reach and that aspect of it was not like it did not blow up
the internet or something like that,
but it gave me a lot of joy.
I still look back at those pictures,
I still look back at the stories,
and they provide me a lot of fulfillment.
And that's where I started to realize that if I'm
talking to a person who's maybe walking on the street,
a homeless person in New York City,
or someone who's selling vegetables
on the street in India, as I have these conversations,
as I help them think about the joy in their life,
that's going to give me a lot of satisfaction.
And that's where it started.
I can have this ripple effect on people.
I thought I could do million lies,
but then you complete, it's to me, more about the journey
than the final destination.
There's not going to be a day when I'll say in 2037 that,
oh, today I've touched a billion lies, now I can rest in peace.
Because to me, it's not like a final destination.
It's the journey where I'm finding more joy in.
And so that's where the vision evolved.
And yeah, it continues in different shapes and forms
through this podcast, for example.
Wow, I'm very intrigued.
I'm very intrigued by what you just shared.
And this is a tough question, if you want to answer.
How did that taking photography of pictures of people
every day and asking them the question about their happiness
get you where you are today?
I think if there's one thing that we take with ourselves
through the journey and beyond in life,
that's the stories that we collect.
That's the conversations that we have.
I'm not going to, if I look back at my career
over the last 20 years, I'm not going
to remember what presentation I gave
and what Excel sheet did I create, what email did I send.
But I clearly remember that difficult conversation.
I clearly remember that moment when
I said something to someone, and they said,
I remember that moment when I said something to someone
that made them feel special.
I remember growing those people in my organization.
So those stories stay with me.
Story of a coaching conversation.
I'm not going to remember all of them, 1,500 hours, no.
But the stories stay with me.
That human touch stays with me.
So I think those stories still stay with me, Harian.
And that's the big lesson.
And I clearly remember there was this one day,
many conversations are coming to mind
as we are having this conversation.
But there was this one day, it was Diwali,
since we have an Indian unifying chair.
So it was Diwali, which is a very important festival
in India.
It's like Christmas for India.
And so I was going to the market to buy something.
And I was in my car.
I had my camera that day as well.
It was early morning.
And I saw a little girl sitting in a pile of rotten vegetables.
And she was about 10 or 11 years old.
And she was trying to find vegetables that were still
edible from that pile.
And I'm thinking now, should I go and ask her?
And part of me is judging myself.
Utkash, what the hell is wrong with you, man?
Look at her situation.
Do you think she's happy right now?
I'm judging her in that moment.
Sat in the car, about to reverse and go away.
But I thought, let me go and have a conversation with her.
And don't take the camera.
Just have a conversation with her.
I went there.
I sat down with her.
I asked her, like, what are you up to here?
And she said, I'm finding vegetables to feed my family.
That's a beautiful thing to do.
How do you feel about that?
And then she started saying, so what makes you happy in life?
And she said, when I color my work
that I get from school or the page,
when I color it to my heart's content,
that gives me happiness.
I'm like, tell me more about it.
And then she started to open up.
And then the last statement that she gave me,
she said, bhaiya, which in English means brother,
when I see other people smile, that gives me happiness.
I'm like, wow.
And my mind was blown in that moment
that here I am judging the other person for the maturity
that they might have or not have the situation they're in it
or not in.
But I think those experiences, Hari,
when I coach people today, I walk into those sessions.
I'm non-judgmental.
I'm able to create that space because I'm not
going to come here and say, what are you up to, man?
You cannot solve this.
What is wrong with you?
You cannot delegate to your people.
And you're the CEO.
Are you sure about that?
I'm not going to go into causation judging them.
I think that's the lesson that I still keep with myself.
Well, thank you for sharing that authentic self.
I think that helps me clarify what you're going
and what your vision is all about.
So how did you get, and I think you've answered it in a way,
but then how did the transition from photography
to business coaching and now all that together?
So absolutely, it's a fascinating story.
And I consider myself lucky.
But also, each day I was choosing
to be the author of my story.
Each day I was choosing to be who I wanted to be.
And that, to me, was what I allow people to take away.
After doing filming for about four years,
building 400 hours of content, I went to the founder
and said, now I'm going to do something else.
Because I can now delegate this to my team.
I don't really have to be here.
We're not creating any new content.
So let me get into sales, because that's
something that I enjoy.
I built the product.
I can sell it now.
And they're like, Utkesh, what's wrong with you, man?
Four years ago, you came as a physiotherapist,
changed your life, and now you want to change it again?
How many times can one person change their lives
in a lifetime?
Who's going to stop me?
And so then what I did was I started to keep a social day.
In that moment, I said, Utkesh, why don't you
get some coaching for yourself to clarify
what you're going through?
I'm like, coach, what would they do?
And they said, they'll talk to you on Zoom.
We have internal coaches.
And I'm like, I don't believe in coaching.
I'm not going to sit across Zoom and share my beliefs
and limitations to anyone else.
I don't feel safe doing that.
But they persisted.
And then I gave in.
But those six months with my coach, the first time
I experienced coaching in its beautiful form,
was life-changing.
And I think that's when in 2016, 17, the seeds were sown,
that someday, hopefully, I will come to a position
where I'll be able to help others
and create that space for them where beautiful solutions might
pop up.
Went into sales and operations, made that transition,
sold deals worth $250,000 and beyond,
and thoroughly enjoyed that process.
But when COVID came about, I realized
that there was a very dear friend who
passed away during COVID.
And he was mere 41.
And I realized that life's too short,
even though it's the longest thing that we all do.
But it's still too short, because there
are so many dreams we have.
What's your big dream?
It is to start a company called Ignited Neurons
and become a coach for others, because that's
what changed your trajectory at a certain point.
And so in the middle of the pandemic,
I will not recommend people to do it
who are sitting at home and listening to this.
Quit my job in the middle of the pandemic
and started a company, took a year, 2020,
spent a lot of time studying and understanding
how coaching really happens and what's
the role of a coach in helping people move forward.
And yeah, that's the journey.
And now it's learning facilitation, coaching,
and helping people embrace their fears
while they live with courage.
Thank you for being here today.
I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live.
I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions
as these episodes continue to move forward.
This is going to get more and more fun.
We'll have more and more engagement as well.
We'll invite people to participate in the show.
And thank you for giving us your time and attention.
Have an excellent time building out your vision
and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.