ISBR C-Talks Series

“I believe that when two human beings connect to work together in a professional setting or outside it, the essential skills needed at that time are communication and confidence. But these two qualities are just the tip of the iceberg. If the person is not curious, creative, collaborative, and competent, the other two will not work. And this is what we call as the Six Cs of our philosophy.”

– Dr. Rakesh Godhwani

ISBR had organized a C-Talk on 6 C’s of Leadership on January 10, 2020. The speaker of the talk was Dr. Rakesh Godhwani, an author, a coach, and the founder of the School of Meaningful Experiences (SoME), an online ed-tech startup that offers leadership programs for teenagers. He also teaches full credit courses on Communication for Leaders and Business Communication at the PGP and EEP programs of IIM Bangalore and IIM Udaipur.

During the talk, Mr. Godhwani shared his experiences as a student. How he called himself to be someone who was very poor at engineering, but good at communication. After getting a job in Wipro in 1997, Mr. Godhwani realized that his real strength was his ability to communicate. Wanting to impart this skill, he started teaching others how to communicate and present their ideas in meetings, sowing the seed for SoME.

Addressing the importance of communication, Mr. Godhwani mentioned that the issue was not our inability to communicate, but the fear that consumed us. We all know how to communicate, but we are afraid. Afraid of communicating. Afraid of being rejected. Afraid of being reprimanded.

He encouraged the students to follow what their hearts deemed right and take the plunge. Just as he did. The fear that resides in us is not greater than us. It is our making, and we can overcome that if we believe in us enough. 

It was an insightful talk. Mr. Godhwani, time and again, emphasized the point that external validation was of no use. It doesn’t matter what others think of us. The jump is ours, and only ours to take.