The latest event under the banner of Inspiration Series, organised by Palanpur Online and Palanpur Samaj Kendra, a presentation by Vikram Rao, a Business and Leadership Coach, was held for a select number of invitees, at Bharat Diamond Bourse on March 15, 2018. 

Rao has worked closely with management personnel at the CXO, CEO and MD levels across different organisations and industries.

Introducing the speaker, and giving a context-setting overview of the theme, Nirupa Bhatt, of GIA, outlined the difference between various types of support - Mentor, Guide, Counsellor and Coach – that senior management level personnel could draw upon in their endeavour to achieve success and excellence. She said that a coach is someone who helps you to realise your own strengths and weaknesses with the aim of defining the path to achieving your life goals, to take charge and excel. 

Vikram Rao then shared several interesting anecdotes of his working life. “A Coach is one who holds a mirror to you,” he said, as he took the audience through various aspects of coaching and how it can help professionals / entrepreneurs pinpoint and deal with different things which might be affecting their life and performance. He mentioned that he works with heads of companies and also has various methods of interacting with the team closest to the heads to receive feedback and be better able to fine tune during the duration of the programme. 

Rao pointed out that coaching was especially important in the diamond industry, given that the family-business structure is usually the norm. Here one experienced different levels of family involvement, including both vertical (across generations – father, son) and horizontal (other branches of the family -- chachas, cousin etc) dimensions which could sometimes make it difficult to express ones views and opinions frankly. This could create a communication issue and sometimes even affect the company, coming in the way of its achieving dynamic growth, he said.

Anish Kothari of Jewelex who was part of a team of top management who underwent Coaching with Vikram Rao, narrated his and his Company’s experience. He expressed extreme satisfaction and said Coaching had helped and benefitted their Company in many ways. The audience too responded very well to Anishbhai’s comments, which was like a testimony from one of their own, that they could easily relate to. 

The session concluded with a general discussion including questions from the audience.