December 2022

These are tough times. Big time layoffs have been announced by Twitter and Meta. Many start-ups are also struggling for funding and might layoff people. As someone who has been sacked from a job, let me share some advice.

I remember that day so well. It was in August 2009. I was director operations for India for one of the leading global tech MNCs.

I had joined them barely 3 months back when I became paralysed by a crippling autoimmune condition. The next few months were living hell — going in and out of hospitals; taking toxic medications to suppress my own immune system; my body continuing to degenerate ever day; medical bills of upwards of 20 lacs per annum.

This was when I was sacked. One of those decisions that many companies take with zero humaneness. For the organisation, self-protection is paramount. The protection and happiness of the individual matters as long as that doesn’t interfere with the above self-protection.

Did I blame the organisation? Part of me did. But part of me knew there was no point blaming the organisation. It had to do what it had to. When we sign up for a corporate profession, this is one of the things we sign up for.

Telling myself this helped me get over the feeling of shock, hurt and anger. It also helped me dissociate my immediate bosses from the decision, which had come from much higher up. They were good friends and still continue to be.

With anger, hurt, and shock not in the picture, it was far easier for me to accept the situation, and then focus on maximising this given situation.

It helped enormously that I could talk to my wife Jayashri Ramamurti and pour out my worries. And that I could spend time with my kids, unwinding.

It also helped that I focused on my strengths — experience of having run businesses end to end. Leveraging those strengths helped me get two other jobs.

So here is my advice to anyone going through the trauma of getting sacked.

1.    Accept that this is part of corporate life

2.    If you think the sacking is unfair, you can take legal recourse. But don’t get obsessed with it. Also, don’t let that hinder the following steps

3.    Take your time to go through the cycle of shock, disbelief, anger, anxiety, acceptance. The faster you go through this inevitable cycle, the better

4.    Confide your worries to those who love you. Share the burden

5.    Go for a holiday to cool down and relax. (that picture is of me in Salzburg)

6.    Remember many people get sacked. It isn’t going to hinder your chances for getting the next job. How you comport yourself after getting sacked is what will determine the ease with which you get the next job

7.    DO NOT blame others

8.    Figure out what your strengths are and look for companies that fit those

9.    Spend time in upskilling yourself

10. Tell yourself every day that you are awesome. Several times.

11. Reach out to your network for support if required.

For more click here — #BoundlessWithRamG

RamG Vallath
Keynote Speaker, Author, and Overall Awesome Dude

CAP – Compassion, Acceptance & Purpose

I never imagined that I would be delivering a talk on a subject that is typically the domain of ‘Gurus’ and Godmen’. But that is exactly the opportunity I was given. I spoke to the leadership team of JP Morgan and recieved a standing ovation at the end of it.

The topic was ‘Meaning and Fulfilment in Life’. The following are the three qualities that I urged the audience to build in themselves, in order to lead a life of fulfilment and meaning.

The three qualities can be summarised with the acronym ‘CAP’.

The ‘C’ in CAP stands for Compassion.

Most of our lives, we pursue ‘value addition for ourselves’ as goals.

Making more money, buying bigger things, more and more expensive experiences etc. I am not saying we shouldn’t.

But, what if, along with that, we keep aside a fraction of our time for ‘adding value to others’? An ever increasing fraction over time, till your main purpose becomes helping others.

The level of fulfilment that it can provide in life is amazing.

The ‘A’ in CAP is Acceptance.

–      Acceptance of one’s own self (being completely authentic, knowing your own strengths and weaknesses, being comfortable with that and being open about that)

–      Acceptance of situations (so that instead of getting into denial when setbacks hit, you can focus your energies on finding solutions and maximising the present)

–      Acceptance of people (knowing every individual is a unique mix of genetics, upbringing, and experience; and that it is important to accept that instead of getting frustrated with differences, judging others or even pushing them to change)

The above three help drastically in reducing stress and dissonance.

The ‘P’ in CAP is Purpose.

Have a goal in life that is larger than yourself. Every day, devote some time to get you closer to that goal. Break the goal down to strategies, have weekly and daily action plans for each strategy.

Anyone can build these three qualities. One can start small and take larger and larger steps each day.

By the way, these three qualities, if practiced diligently at workplace, will make you an amazingly successful professional. One who helps one’s colleagues, supports them and get supported in turn, is trustworthy and is driven.

Would you agree?

For more click here — #BoundlessWithRamG

RamG Vallath
Keynote Speaker, Author, and Overall Awesome Dude

The Start of a Journey

For the last ten years, I have been growing in stature as a keynote speaker. I have made mistakes, learned from them, flopped in high profile talks, learned from the experiences, done extensive research in psychology and neuropsychology and incorporated the learnings into my talks.

Today, I am one of the top speakers in India’s corporate circuit. I have even delivered talks to exclusively international audiences.

But always behind me, and supporting me every step of the way was Jayashri Ramamurti, my wife. Because she was holding down a great job at Google, I had the opportunity and time to build up my career as a speaker.

Last week I got a call from Sanjay Krishnan, the founder of an amazingly exciting startup — Lithium Urban Technologies. The company provides transportation services to corporate employees, using EVs.

Remarkably, the company had managed to survive Covid and the work from home that followed. Now they wanted to conduct an offsite for their team to plan for the huge growth.

Sanjay wanted me to be the Keynote speaker for the program. I was delighted. This was a company that was saving the planet every time they made a sale. This was a company that had travelled a journey similar to mine, gone through great difficulties and risen like a phoenix.

The one condition I had was that Jayashri Ramamurti would accompany me. (She is scared that if I travel alone, I might trip and fall somewhere and injure myself. So she makes it a point to hold my hand all the time).

The session — a fireside chat between Sanjay and I — went brilliantly. But during the hour-long Q&A session, Sanjay managed to get Jayashri also on stage. With her vast experience in HR, she was awesome.

It was a first for us. The two of us sharing the stage.

I actually felt like a celebrity at the end, with many people wanting to take selfies with me.

I hope this is the beginning of a new partnership between Jayashri and I as we scale new heights in helping people grow, just like Lithium is scaling the heights in saving the planet.

RamG Vallath
Keynote Speaker, Author, and Overall Awesome Dude