RocketCEO is an interesting collection of startup stories, where we interview inspiring CEOs and Founders who have taken a leap from Zero to One and tell their stories to the entire world.
Recently we got an opportunity to interview Dr. Govind Dhaske - Educator, Motivator & Expert in Personal, Professional & Organizational Development and below is the essence of the same, an incredible journey towards success.
Dr. Govind Dhaske - Educator, Motivator & Expert in Personal, Professional & Organizational Development
Amit Unboxed: What service(s) or product(s) does your business offer/manufacture?
Personal, Professional, and Organizational Development Services through holistic approaches under the banner of ‘Selfhood’.
Amit Unboxed: In which cities/countries you are providing services or operating your business?
Local, regional, state, and country-level based on the requirements of the client group. Some services are global.
Amit Unboxed: What is your background? What you were doing before you got into the entrepreneurship?
Primarily, I am a qualified social worker in Medical and Psychiatric Social Work from the prestigious TISS, Mumbai. After completing doctoral studies at Indiana University, USA I joined TISS as a Research Leader and a Teaching Faculty under the Director’s Office. I left the job to start working independently under my own initiative in the summer of 2016.
Amit Unboxed: How did you get your idea or concept for the business? What made you work on that idea or concept?
I have been working on life skills and women empowerment for more than a decade now. While conducting studies in the rural parts of Maharashtra I realized the dire need for self-development-related training for the rural youth. Despite having the potential to compete globally, most of the youth were not able to imagine a better future in better parts of the globe for themselves. As a villager who roamed across the globe, I felt a little nervous watching such self-induced negativity.
This triggered some force in me to start some kind of self-development initiative for all but primarily focused on the rural population that is deprived of such important services. As a master trained in the non-profit sector and a having teaching experience in the advanced education sector such as the USA, I decided to design knowledge-based self-development services and training programs.
Throughout my educational journey, I traveled from the dominant personality development paradigm to the realization of selfhood which is a more original form generally neglected in dominant self-development approaches. I knew that I have something novel to give to society and this feeling inside made me start ‘Selfhood’.
Amit Unboxed: What is the unique selling/buying point about your business? How do you manage to deal with your competitors?
The dominant self-development interventions are largely restricted to organizational scenarios and focus mainly on professional competencies and productivity. Even most personality development programs in India and abroad are focused on professional success with less emphasis on the trajectories of personhood and relationships.
At Selfhood, we changed the clinical focus on self-development to the less incorporated concept of ‘selfhood’. As a phenomenologist, I was able to include the understanding of ‘being’ in the self-development approaches. I think this is the most unique part.
Furthermore, we have innovated the process of training. Instead of structured syllabi, we just take a broad outline and then carry out a needs assessment. Based on the needs of the client group we introduce a detailed targeted intervention. Of course, this approach increases the cost but provides long-term outcomes in a culturally sensitive manner.
I am sure there are several more unique features to our holistic approaches but we always like to hear it from the winning horses that are our esteemed clients.
Amit Unboxed: How do you advertise your business?
We mainly use social media for advertising. We insist on a visit from the client for a detailed discussion so our advertisements are aimed at triggering the thought process and taking that important personal or familial decision to invest in personal development.
For organizational entities, we use emails and emphasize the visit of Selfhood experts for a detailed meeting. Sometimes, we do use printed pamphlets for rural outreach. For some programs, we conduct a free orientation and registration program as the subject matter is complex.
Amit Unboxed: What do you look for in an employee?
Someone who wants to know the full potential of their being and is committed to a similar transformation among others.
Amit Unboxed: Have you ever turned down a client? Why?
We turn down several clients when we find them casual or less motivated towards their own development or not willing to put required efforts. Sometimes, we suggest other foundational interventions of Selfhood for such clients.
Our approach requires a contract and commitment from our clients for better results. While earning economic benefits for our unique interventions we are ethically committed to seeing equivalent personal-development outcomes among our clients.
Amit Unboxed: Who is your inspiration idol in life? Why?
I am inspired by several personalities across the globe. I am inspired by the work ethic of Basaveshwara. I am influenced by Osho for his integrated spirituality. Late, I read and reflect a lot on German philosopher Martin Heidegger for his exposition of Being and Time.
Mahaveera, Buddha, Rumi, Adi Sankaracharya, Dignaga, Vasubandhu, Saraha, Nietzsche, American naturalist R W Emerson, and Arne Naess are some other notable inspirations for their foundational contribution to the human civilization.
Amit Unboxed: How do you maintain balance with your family and business? Do you think if you were not in business, you would have been able to give more time to your family?
Most of my work is performed collaboratively with my wife who is a counselor and researcher. So, I hardly face a situation where those trivial ‘balance’ questions surface. Due to work my family’s mobility gets restricted but then we compensate when we get time by exploring places around. Probably, start-ups are such an avenue where such work-family balance can be best achieved. But then I do believe that it is more subjective, so……..
Amit Unboxed: What do you call “Success”? What are those things which you think made you successful today?
Success is a feeling of contentment and finding purpose in life. Success is more about the process and not the product.
For becoming successful, everyone has his or her life force to guide. Finding that inner core and listening to that intuition is essential for becoming successful in any venture. There is no substitute for hard work but more than that the ethical framework behind hard work is more important. I believe that the success streams from within an individual and later society recognize it when it is full-blown. One needs the utmost possible honesty and patience with oneself to wait for the best in oneself to come out. Time hardly matters in such ventures and it may sound impractical for an urban mind. But, this is what I have realized. Give yourself time to experiment, do mistakes, learn from them, and stop self-negation in anything you do. At the end of life, you should feel that you did justice with the phenomenal product that God created through you.
Amit Unboxed: If you had one piece of advice or an important lesson to someone just starting out, what would it be?
While working passionately on your ideas just watch if you are exhausting yourself for principles or some values that you have perceived or created in mind. If work is not giving you happiness, and productivity is growing with happiness then you are on the right track. Watch that first and the rest will fall in line.
Amit Unboxed: Anything else you would like to convey us about yourself or your business?
One should not alienate him/herself in the struggle to become an achiever and to prove themselves in front of the world. Startups are more about giving the best in you to the world so have empathetic nature and remain in symbiotic nature with the world.
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That’s it for today :-)
Hope each of you has a great start to your day. I’ll talk to everyone tomorrow.
— Amit
I am a technology enthusiast, entrepreneur & creative thinker, who enjoys crafting Tech Products to make a real difference.
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