[00:00:09 – 00:00:17] Nitin Bajaj

Welcome to the Industry Show. I’m your host Nitin Bajaj. And joining me today is Payal Nanjiani. Payal, welcome on the show.

[00:00:18 – 00:00:20] Payal Nanjiani

Thank you so much. Nitin. It’s such an honor to be here with you.

[00:00:21 – 00:00:24] Nitin Bajaj

Pleasure to have you here. Let’s start. Who is Payal?

[00:00:26 – 00:01:28] Payal Nanjiani

That’s a great question. To start with, who am I? And so let me break this up into two parts. Payal professionally is an executive coach since the past 17 years. I am a leadership expert and I help companies build up their leadership teams and I am an author of several leadership books which are published worldwide. So that’s me professionally. Personally, I would say I am a very family based person. I love my family to the core. My dear husband Ashish, who is my best friend in my family. I’m a mother to two daughters who are grown up right now. And I really personally am a person who enjoys spending time with myself in solitude and with my family. And I would say behind all of this is a Payal who lives each day with a purpose to help professionals to be successful in their career life. That’s who I am in a nutshell.

[00:01:29 – 00:01:47] Nitin Bajaj

Thank you for sharing that and looking forward to learning more about both your sides. So give us a sense for you’re a coach, you’re helping professionals and executives find the better version of themselves. Tell us more about that. But also, why do this?

[00:01:51 – 00:03:17] Payal Nanjiani

If you look at coaching, it’s there in every field. When it comes to the athletes, when it comes to the space industry, I’ve done close work with them and I see they are really well coached. But when it comes to the corporate life, we just take it for granted. We feel that as long as we have the skill sets, everything is going to be working fine. But we don’t realize that coaching on its own is nothing but a hand holding by the person who has walked the path, who has done it many a times and is the person who can help you and make you accountable and can bring about the changes that you need in yourself. Most of us what happens, Nitin, is we feel success is like a straight path. I have the skill sets, I have the business deals going on. I’m doing good in my corporate life. Why do I need anything? Many people realize it when they are in the middle level, mid level of the business, mid level of their career in the corporate life. That’s when they realize, oh, something is missing, I’m just stuck. So I should just go ahead and get some more certifications, more degrees, more skills. But yet they find Themselves exactly where they are. Why? Because the path that brought you here is not the same path that takes you there. You have to invest in yourself more than you invest just on working hard on your job. So that’s the reason why coaching is really critical. And I would say start it early, then start it late.

[00:03:18 – 00:03:39] Nitin Bajaj

I agree. So true. And yeah, most people don’t come to that realization and when they do, it’s probably a little too late. So give us a sense for the impact. And also where and how and what geographies do you serve?

[00:03:42 – 00:06:38] Payal Nanjiani

I serve throughout like I think my clients now when I’m thinking while talking about you, I think my clients come from all over the world. Okay, so they are like from all over the world. I have been coaching people from different industries, from different aspects of their career and all of them have come from various geographies, I would say various cultures in fact. So dealing with people of various cultures is something which I enjoy the most. When you talk about impact, I think I am known now for helping millions of people around the world through my work. And when I say my work, I don’t nitin only mean the one on one coaching. I also include the types of sessions and workshops I have done at companies. I include the blogs I write, the books that have reached people around. And I think that makes it more personal to me because when you say impact, I would, I would give you a couple of real life examples if I may. So I was at an airport and I was catching a flight to New York for my work and I remember I had this one person come up to me and tell me that how he had attended my session. It was called being unstoppable. How to be unstoppable in your career life. And he said he had attended my session while he was in his company and how that changed the way he looked at himself. Because earlier he was the person who was always blaming his boss, his work, culture, the economy, the country for his stagnation of growth. And now he said that had this been the same him, he would have blamed the AI today that it’s because of AI that my job is not picking up and all. But he said after going through that entire session of the full day, it really made him reflect that as an individual. What does he bring to the table? What are some of the ways he is not visible today in the organization and the market? How he has taken success to be only skill set versus 80% is him as an individual. So I think those are little bit of impacts. I know a Person who was taking coaching from me, Nitin. And he was about to resign his job because of a problem that happened between him and his boss and how he had felt insulted because of which he thought I should look around for another job. And during the coaching session when I spoke with him and I helped him realize that it’s not the boss and it’s not the work culture, it’s him that needs to be changed and he that needs to be in control of his emotions because that’s very necessary for a person like him who is attempting to get into a C suite. So I think all of that makes me realize the impact when people come back and say, we made it, we did what we had to do. I am where I wanted to be. So I think that makes me feel more fulfilled in my life. Seeing the ripple effect also, that’s just fascinating.

[00:06:38 – 00:07:13] Nitin Bajaj

And it’s so you know more than the people that you’re able to help. The joy of knowing that you are able to help, even if one person or one person at a time or several thousand or millions of people, it’s the impact you’re able to create in somebody’s life is just fascinating. As you talk to people, as you help them, which I’m sure is not easy because the hardest thing one can do is change. And you’re at the core of this. I’m very curious to know what is the biggest challenge you’re facing?

[00:07:17 – 00:07:22] Payal Nanjiani

Like a current challenge that I am facing or generally what challenges do I face?

[00:07:23 – 00:07:31] Nitin Bajaj

If you had an entire gamut of challenges, what is the one big one that you would like to call out?

[00:07:32 – 00:08:53] Payal Nanjiani

Okay, I think this is very personal to me, but I have spoken about, I’ve written about this in quite a lot of places, is that I think getting established in a completely white dominated industry and me being from the United States myself, getting established and not having a godfather in this industry, being the first one, and you don’t know who to look up to as a mentor. I think that was my biggest challenge in making corporate America understand why this is important. Because my entire work is based on how you can change yourself from the inside versus the outside. So that was my biggest challenge during those times of really getting them to understand making a name in this industry in a completely white male dominated industry, and then slowly by the year of 2017, being recognized as the only women from an Indian American background to be writing books on leadership and doing executive coaching. So I think that became quite a bit of challenge. But now when I look back, I feel that was very necessary to really make sure that you can have that grit to not just do this, but then to also help other people come and overcome their challenges.

[00:08:54 – 00:09:13] Nitin Bajaj

Kudos to you for standing up and just continuing to walk through all of those barriers and coming out on the other side and continuing to help millions of people around. Now with challenges come opportunities. What’s the one that you’re most excited about?

[00:09:17 – 00:10:11] Payal Nanjiani

We are coming up with a platform, Nitin. We are coming up with this huge worldwide platform. In fact, we have already created it and it’s out there for professionals where they will be able to get a very holistic learning and access to some of the best industrialists and professionals in the world. So we are making. So basically I would say we are working towards making growth and success accessible to all, everybody at the click of your fingers. And that’s one. And the second is we are personally I have taken this transition of moving between India and United States with an aim to do something in India when it comes to the corporates, when it comes to the grassroots levels of India, and to make sure that everybody has access to these things back here also. So I think those are two great opportunities I’m currently working on. It’s pretty much gone ahead.

[00:10:12 – 00:10:36] Nitin Bajaj

Very exciting. Now as we look forward, I would love to pause and reflect and ask you to share two moments from your past life. One where things did not work out as you had expected was Failure Lessons and another where things exceeded your own expectations and became a success beyond your imagination.

[00:10:38 – 00:12:41] Payal Nanjiani

I think failures are so many, Nitin, and I’m sure you also have been through. You yourself are doing such an amazing work. So I think failures are so many I could write a book on it, honestly. But if I was to just name one that comes on really at the top of my mind is my first book which was titled Successes within, that was released in 2017 or 18. My first book had received 22 rejections from publishers before the 23rd publisher, Routledge Publisher, had accepted the manuscript. And I think that was at that time, to me it was a failure because it was basically something which I was wanting to give up, but something in me just said keep going. I could have done self publishing, not a big deal, but something in me just said no, just let this happen, just let this go with the flow. And those rejections made me feel every day like a failure. When I was not receiving anything back from the publishers, no notification, not even a response, and whenever I would receive a response it would literally be like, no, this manuscript is horrible. We don’t Take our books on leadership from Indians. There was a lot going on at that point of time for me to just feel that, oh my goodness, I need to shut this all out. And then in 2018, published publishers accepted the manuscript. They loved it. And now my fourth book, make it to the Top, also got released with them. So I think it taught me a big thing that you have to be persistent. You really can’t give up. I don’t think that word should exist if you really want to do something in your life for anybody, for you want to do it for others, you want to do it for yourself. But that was one lesson I learned. Nature takes its time. Universe will do for you what it has to. Just dig in your heels and stay there. Just stay put. Just let universe do its work. And I think that was something I walked out with.

[00:12:42 – 00:12:47] Nitin Bajaj

That’s just fascinating. And again, congratulations. Four books, that’s amazing.

[00:12:47 – 00:12:48] Payal Nanjiani

Thank you.

[00:12:49 – 00:12:53] Nitin Bajaj

Now. Yeah, no, I was going to say, what about the success?

[00:12:56 – 00:13:38] Payal Nanjiani

I don’t know. I think it’s a long way to go. I don’t know what has, what I have accomplished, what I have done. But honestly, I feel successful when people come to me and they meet me somewhere at the airport or somewhere and they say because of your coaching, because of your hand holding or because of something that my books or anything, they made it and they achieved what they wanted to achieve. Because I’ll be very honest, I am in this profession only for people. I’m not in the profession for myself. If I was for myself, I think I would have done something else altogether. I am in this profession for 17 years only and only to make others successful in their career life. So when someone comes and tells me that, I think that makes me feel most fulfilled.

[00:13:40 – 00:13:51] Nitin Bajaj

And that’s just a fascinating place to be in. You don’t compromise on anything. You just stick to why you do this and everything around it just comes into place.

[00:13:52 – 00:13:53] Payal Nanjiani

Yes.

[00:13:54 – 00:13:55] Nitin Bajaj

What do you do for fun?

[00:13:58 – 00:14:47] Payal Nanjiani

Fun. I will have to add in this disclaimer, Nitin, that when I have the time, and that’s the way, whenever I have the time, I love to relax and watch some old time Bollywood and Hollywood movies with my husband. Both of us, we love to just sit on the couch and watch movies together. At times I like to go out for fine dining. I love fine dinings at all times and some of the best restaurants in the world is what I like to choose. So those are some of the things I like to do. I like to work out, I like to relax by my morning routine, which is of an hour or two hours in the morning. So those are some things I do for myself. I don’t know whether for fun or not, but I definitely do them for myself.

[00:14:48 – 00:14:56] Nitin Bajaj

Makes a lot of sense. Now, is there a book or a podcast and you’re allowed to recommend your own book that you would like to share with our audience?

[00:14:57 – 00:15:35] Payal Nanjiani

Of course I would love to recommend my books, all of them. They are available on my website and of course they’re available worldwide. But honestly, if there’s one book that has changed my life completely is a book that my dad had given to me when I was early on in my college. And the book is titled Tough Times Don’t Last but Tough People do by I think it is Robert Scholar who wrote that book. Oh, it’s amazing. I still have it with me. I wish I could take you to my library in there and show it to you. But that book has stayed with me and I’m telling you, in all my downtime, I must have read that book hundred times.

[00:15:37 – 00:15:53] Nitin Bajaj

That’s amazing. And as you said, you needed that resilience and you’ve made the most of it. Thanks for sharing that. Now onto my favorite part of the show. We call it the one line life lessons. Payal, I would love for you to share your life lessons with us.

[00:15:56 – 00:17:35] Payal Nanjiani

Okay, first one is again the same. Tough times don’t last, but tough people do. So make yourself really tough in your life. Life isn’t easy as you go ahead, so make yourself tough. Second, I would say success never discriminates between a man or a woman. It only sees whether you are interested and committed. This is my own copyrighted quote that I use it everywhere. Third, I would say power is not in trying to fit in. Power is in trying to stand out as much as you can. Be different from others, do different things. You’re born in this world to do something different and unique. That’s why you are a part of the world. That’s why you’re on this earth planet. So might as well you do the different things and not fit in. Fourth, I would say discipline and not motivation is going to get you where you want to be. So be very disciplined, be very routine. Be boring. It’s okay if you really want to do what you want to do. And the last one I would say never ever go away from your roots. Your roots. I don’t mean your country as not just your roots. When I say never go away from your roots is be with your parents. They are your roots. Respect them, love them. Spend as much as time as you can with them. You are what you are because of them, good or bad. You can still shape yourself, but you will never get your parents back in your life. So stay connected with your roots as much as you can. So I think these are some of my own life lessons.

[00:17:36 – 00:17:52] Nitin Bajaj

Thank you so much for making the time to share your life lessons, your journey, and your story. We really appreciate it. And thank you again for what you do to help people find a better version of themselves. And thank you.

[00:17:53 – 00:18:07] Payal Nanjiani

Thank you so much. Nitin, you yourself are doing an amazing work with this podcast, your nonprofits. That’s amazing. Coming up with the entire South Asian community together. I think you said 50 under 50, right? Amazing. Amazing.