Meet Nirmal

the love story – 

It was 2011. My life was good. I was one of the youngest Vice Presidents in a $6B hi-tech company. Family life was great, and financially we were in good shape. Yet, I felt some thing was missing. I couldn’t figure out what it was for many months. After much inquiry and soul searching, (or research) it then dawned on me that the void was about ‘impact’ – level of impact my work has on the society. I realized that even though I was enjoying my work very much, I wanted something deeper. In pursuit of this, I discovered a profession called ‘life coach’ and finished a 9 month intense certification program in 2 years while working full time.

During the program, I learned a lot about human psychology, what drives people and the tools to help people succeed. I also discovered that the seeds of my passion was sown 25 years ago when I was in middle school. Back then, I was at the bottom of my class. That made me walk around with low self respect. Because of my poor grades, my school asked me to repeat my 8th grade. It was embarrassing and I didn’t want to go back to the same school. In my young mind, it was as if the whole world turned against me. However, my class teacher Ms. Rajee convinced my grandmother to let me continue in the same school. She went on to guide me and encourage me in every positive thing I did. Within a couple of months I was near the top of the class. Ms. Rajee believed in me more than my parents or I did.

There was no looking back from that point. I went on to the top schools to finish my BS and MS. I finished my college education with zero debt. From the 8th grade till date, I have stayed at the top of my game triggered of the turning point in middle school.

I want to help people in the same way Ms. Rajee helped me. This to me is super priceless. The impact is huge. In my work I focus on coaching Sr. level engineers, middle level managers and executives. This group is important for me because I believe FIRMLY that you are capable of lot more success than they have today, and that you can achieve that with less stress and maximize your fulfillment.

certificates & degrees –

Certified in Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered (individual and team) Coaching™ Process

Certified Professional Coach (CPC) from Institute of Professional Excellence in Coaching (IPEC)
Energy Leadership Index™ Master Practitioner (ELI-MP) from IPEC

MS degree in Supply Chain Management from Case Western Reserve, Cleveland-OH

BS degree in Engineering from Guindy Engineering College, India

work experience –

My interest in engineering started while in high school. This was as a result of watching my uncle’s passion running a foundry. While in engineering, I spent time time visiting manufacturing companies at every semester break. In addition to good academic performance, I was also involved in various extra-curricular activities including running our college magazine. All of this resulted in winning the university gold medal. I worked in India for a few years learning Japanese shop floor performance management methods. In the US I worked in New York City for an ex-Mckinsey partner learning Mckinsey problem solving approaches. The last 15 years I have been in electronics supply chain starting as a individual contributor and grew up to being a Vice President. I also helped nurture several middle management members to the next level in their career. I manage a team of 40 people located in the US, China, Mexico and India.

My expertise includes: Information Technology (IT) management, contract negotiation, supply chain management, RFQ and RFQ management, data analysis, master data management, business process re-engineering, off-shore resource management, employee training, project management, high performance teams, organization design and organization behavior.

personal life –

I grew up in my grandparents house in a village in south India. At that time the village had a few thousand people. The entire village had only a few houses with television and telephone lines. Our house was not one of them. Though my family was not wealthy, they gave us unconditional love. Our family and friends circle was huge. When an important even occurred a few thousand people would attend. I moved to the US in the late 90s to do my master’s in Binghamton upstate New York. Every thing in the US looked nice and fair. Until then, I had never seen roads as clean, everyone playing by rules, uninterrupted gas & electricity,  and so much diversity among people. I enjoyed that very much. I lived in Cleveland, Ohio for a few years where I had the opportunity to stay at a co-op called Steiner house. It was about 20 students from 15 different countries staying together. We ran the house end to end including cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping and managing house finance. I learned a powerful lesson in those few years. We may all look different, speak different and have different customs but we all share similar dreams, pain and hopes. What separates us is so little compared to what is common to us. This defined how i saw diversity.

For the last 15 years I have been living in the bay area in California. I got exposed to yoga and meditation about 10 years ago. It was eye opening to see how impactful it was to one’s self-awareness, to live in the moment and to manage stress irrespective of what goes on around you. In addition to my work life, family is a huge value for me. I am blessed to have a wonderful wife. We  have been married for 10 years now and we have two fun kids. My wife and kids have taught me a great deal about life and love. Their support is the single biggest reason I am able to do what I am doing.

If you are interested in learning more about how my skills and background can assist you, so you can reach more of your potential, let’s setup a time to chat. I can be reached at nirmal@themindsetgym.com. I look forward to knowing you and your story.