Here is the complete transcript of the podcast
Welcome back, happy Thursday morning to you. Today on the podcast. Again, I’m talking about an incredible book, an amazing author. And above all, a man of amazing talents, his values, his principles, his leadership, and his contribution to entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and beyond. He’s amazing. I’m going to talk about him just in a second. But before I go any further, let me ask you this question, and you help me answer this, which is, do you know anyone who is doing something that they are not really good at, but they’re doing it for some reason that you cannot explain why. And whatever they are doing is completely opposite to whatever skills, talents, and the best gifts they have within them. Their passions are somewhere, their skills are somewhere their talents are somewhere, and their whole line of accomplishment is completely somewhere else. But they’re doing exactly the opposite of that. Do you know anyone, I meet a lot of people like this. And they’re doing things that I don’t understand why they are doing. And over the years, through numerous consultations, and numerous interactions here’s what I found out. I think, maybe, because of ignorance, people do things because of ignorance. Maybe they’re in the wrong job doing the wrong business because of greed. Maybe because of their ego. Or maybe it’s for some other reasons, maybe it’s because of social pressures.
Now, this problem has been addressed numerous times, by numerous, multiple authors, multiple philosophers, and many people have addressed this. And one of the core points is, that you need to be authentic to the work that you do. This point has been driven by many. And there is a lot of literature on this. So if you are not authentic to what you’re doing, that means you are somehow incubating a level of unhappiness within you. And that means you’re doing the work that you’re doing without being self-actualized. So when you’re not self-actualized, no amount of money, no, no number of titles, no. Symbolic rewards, material gains, none of those things will make you will ever make you happy so. So there is some degree of self-actualization involved in all this question is why do people do what they do? Despite knowing that that’s not their A-game, that’s not their best game. So many, many years ago, I came across an incredible story, I want to share the story here first before I talk about this incredible book and this amazing author. So there was this individual who was looking for something and was searching for something on a piece of land. And there was another individual who was walking on the bridge. He was crossing the bridge, he saw this man looking for something on the ground, below the bridge. And this, this, this man keeps on crossing the bridge multiple times over the next few hours. And then finally can’t stop himself. He can’t contain himself. And he says, he yells, he shouts at this man, the below the bridge. He says, hey, you know, I’ve been walking around multiple times over this bridge over the last few hours. And I see you’re searching for something. What is that you’re searching for? And this man, right from below the bridge. He says, Oh, I lost my wedding ring. And I’m looking for it. And then this man from the bridge, he says, Do you know where you lost it? Because this is such a big place. And the man says, Yes, I know where I lost it. It’s on the other side of the bridge. That’s where I lost it. And this man on the bridge is like, really? You lost on the other side of the bridge, but you’re looking on this site? The opposite side? Yeah. So why? Because there is light here. You got to the point.
See, that’s all how many of us are. We don’t know what we are searching for and what we are doing. Do you mean? No, it’s not the right thing to do. And then we are in this loop. It’s very hard to get out of this loop. Okay. The stop here for a second. In I think this was 2013 2014 2015. I’m not sure about the timeline. I will speak. I was invited to speak at getting Pro. Get Pro is an organization where all techies come together to exchange ideas. And it’s a networking idea exchange and educational event. The event happens once a year. But there’s a yearly conference they do. So I was invited to speak at the GitFlow conference. So I was speaking there. And as a part of that conference, there were multiple keynote speakers. And one of the keynote speakers was Dr. Prasad Kaipa. And so the first time I met him was there the first time I was introduced, even though I heard about him before. And I made sure that, I listened to the present his keys, closing keynote presentation, he was the last keynote for the event. And at the end of the keynote, I asked him, I said, Would it be okay for you to come in as a guest on my radio show. So I invited him to my radio show. And I’ll tell you, he’s, he’s already free his philosophy, his values, I mean, absolutely incredible at the event, but also on my radio show. Now, when he came to the show, he got his book with him, he said, Srini, this is a gift for you. So nice of him, so generous of him. And you know, every time somebody gives me a book, I don’t take books for free. And I kept saying that multiple times. When you take a book from someone, there’s a tremendous amount of responsibility that comes with it, they are handing it over there, you know, who knows how many years, and how many tears have gone into writing a book. And they give it out. And maybe this, they see something, you know, whoever they’re giving it out. So Dr. Cooper, you know, gave this to me. And I, at that moment, I took it as a tremendous amount of responsibility. Just like you leave your baby with someone, that’s how I see it. And I’m given the responsibility to babysit the baby, so-called the book. And, you know, every time that the responsibility is not like they’re asking anything in return, it’s just that, that every time you see them, you feel like, oh, they gave me their book, and I didn’t read the book, guilt, guilt, I never wanted to be in a situation like that.
So by the time I made a promise to myself, by the time I see him the next time, I should have read this book. And that’s the case everywhere. Anytime I have received a book from someone, an author or a speaker, I made sure that next time before I meet them the second time, or the following time, I should have read their book, which, so far, I haven’t yet missed on that commitment to myself. So from Smart to Wise, acting and leading with wisdom is the book. Now, this book is coded and, of course, Dr. Prasad carbide author, but also is CO written by NaVi Razoo. It’s an incredible book, I have read this book. And that is something that I want to share. In this book, something I found here in this book. Now, the point of the paper and resume making this book on specific on page 85 of this book, they say, there is a gap. We all understand, everybody knows there is a gap between who we are and what we do, there’s a gap. And the way to fill this gap is by becoming authentic to ourselves, that also a lot of people talk about, but they call this gap that gives a specific word, a specific the coined the term, the call the courage gap, there is a lack of courage somewhere that is why this is not happening. Interesting, right? It’s interesting that other people look at us, and they can precisely identify our uniqueness. But we are not able to identify our uniqueness, why because we choose to fit in, we are seeking approval, to know from whom may be from our own selves, the way we are conditioned from birth, who knows and, and the highlight this in the book in this chapter. They further say this, this is also is evident in leaders in corporations and leaders pay the least attention to the courage gap. And because of self-deception, and lack of self-awareness, when there is self-deception and lack of self-awareness, prevents the leaders from pursuing the deeper desires and deeper intentions. You see a leader is constrained at that level because they don’t know how to bridge the courage gap. And it’s amazing the way they mentioned this in the given example of John McCain, the CEO of Whole Foods, who started Whole Foods. And amazing, a small little story about John McCain. He started Whole Foods with $45,000 of his own money. And then just because he was enthusiastic, wanted to live a healthy life, and there wasn’t there were not that many options. So you see, found a gap in the marketplace. So he just can’t do he started doing this. And then he became successful from that point on. But there is a, there’s a backstory to this story, which is he was he dropped out of UT Austin. And he wanted to hitchhike to New York City. And his mother said, if you leave the door and go, that’s the end of it. And John McKay, at that moment, says that, if this is what is our relationship, okay, I’m better off leaving, he leaves. And John McCain kind of attributes his success, to the decision he made at that point in time when he discovered himself. You see, and again, that is there are some resources, Dr. Cooper talks about in the book, which I highly suggest that you, you get this book, buy the book, read the book. And there are so many, so many different frames and angles to leadership, this book is filled with wisdom, filled with wisdom, and this is the springboard for you to get to. And this has, you know, in my understanding, I raised my understanding, you know, reading this book, so get the book, that’s obviously the point of this podcast episode, but also, you cannot really bridge the gap unless you ask some deep questions. And the last few days I have been talking about that are, we all are self imprisoned unless we are self-discovered. And the self-discovery happens through our we only discover ourselves and we only can release ourselves from our own self-imprisonment.
That’s why it’s called self-imprisonment. And we do that by deep questioning. And that’s one way to bridge the gap. Obviously, you can’t take anything for granted. You can’t take anybody’s opinion for granted and their expectations for granted. We you do it yourself. I hope today’s podcast episode is helpful. Or just on a side note subsequent to that I read the book and then I met Dr. Copa again at the Thai conference. Over the years, we have exchanged text messages, I’m lucky to actually have come across such an incredible mind who explains such complex, you know, paradigms of thinking in such simple terms. So amazing. I hope look him up, follow his work. And I’ll promise you, you will bless me in your thoughts one day for just mentioning this, about him about his work about this book to you. So amazing. That’s all for now on this podcast. I’ll catch up with you tomorrow. In the meantime, if you think this podcast episode is helpful, do me a favor, write a review, read this podcast and if you think anybody, a friend of yours, maybe a family member of yours will benefit from this podcast episode. By all means, please send it to them. It’s easy, simple. Copy the link and just text them and before you know it I’ll be here tomorrow with you till such time wherever you are. Be safe. Bye now.