Today we’d like to introduce you to Vish Chatterji.
Vish, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I took a lot of twists and turns along the way to finally figure out what I am here to do! I started out as an engineer in the auto industry testing, racing and engineering high horsepower cars for Ford Special Vehicle Team. Then I worked at Mercedes Benz in Stuttgart and Beijing and then at Chrysler in Detroit as the Global Product Lead for their small cars. I came to LA, in 2008, to pursue the tech dream, starting out as an Entrepreneur-In-Residence at Belkin where I created 2 new divisions at the company, then to Universal Electronics in Orange County, where I headed their Product Innovations group, during which we quintupled in stock price!
I then went the entrepreneur route starting an Internet of Things company, OpenVersa taking the company from idea to product launch and early revenue. It was during the heart-wrenching fund-raising time, that I realized I was selling my soul to the devil, bending over backwards for investors and even firing my dear co-founder to keep them happy. During this sad lesson of my life, my yoga teacher from India came to visit and I lamented to him how hard the startup path had been, and asked how I could improve my bleak situation. He said to me “Vish – you do more yoga business and everything will be okay”. It took me a couple years to understand exactly what those words meant – but over the next year, serendipitous events led me to realize, my life purpose was not be a tech-executive-CEO-guy, but to serve others in helping them find their way through life and business.
So about a year and a half ago, I exited the startup path and formed Head & Heart Insights, my Professional Coaching practice. I take the learnings of my business journey, combined with my 18 years of study of the Vedic traditions of my ancestry, in Yoga, Ayurveda, meditation and Vedic astrology, and help business leaders make more aware decisions to create more success and fulfillment, both for themselves and for the world around them. I now spend my days, coaching, teaching, speaking and writing!
Has it been a smooth road?
It has been a tumultuous road indeed, especially my tech entrepreneurial journey. The biggest struggle was the mismatched effort in trying to be someone that was not in line with my true purpose. I always thought of my self as a business executive, and though I had a lot of success in that pursuit, life always felt like an uphill battle of struggle and fighting in order to get to success. Once I figured out what I was really here to do and started making choices aligned with coaching, teaching and helping others, like all of sudden, seemed to flow much more naturally.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Head & Heart Insights – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Head & Heart Insights is a coaching practice that helps people find their way in business and in life. Given my extensive experience in business leadership and entrepreneurship, the majority of my clients are corporate executives and startup entrepreneurs who are looking for a confidential sounding board to sort through their challenges, clarify their vision and put a practical plan in place to achieve that vision. Having experience in strategy, product management, marketing, finance and team management I am able to empathize deeply with my clients since I have been in those same trenches.
In coaching, however, I am not a consultant advising clients on the best course of action. The coaching paradigm recognizes that the player is holding the ball and is playing the game. My job is to recognize the player’s fullest potential and help them connect to their own potential to play at the top of their game.
I am known for my combination of skills in coaching and teaching, and for my experience in having been a successful business leader as well. Also, unique to my approach, is a grounding of knowledge in the ancient Vedic traditions of India. Being a certified yoga teacher, meditation teacher and Ayurveda instructor, I am able to take my 18 years of experience in these traditions of my ancestry and apply them in a practical way for the business context. I teach meditation, yoga and Ayurveda at corporate events and in small groups and use these philosophies and techniques as an enabler of potential in my clients.
I am most proud of the incredible transformation I have seen in my clients and the praises they sing to others of my work. From this, I have built my business solely on word of mouth and have had a fair share of clients refer me to their friends for Life Coaching help as well, which I take on a selective basis.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love the diversity first and foremost. The diversity of people, of culture, of topography, of experience, of ideas, of food and of choices available. LA seems to be a place where people come to be creative, be open-minded and be free to express their true nature.
What I like least is the disconnectedness from one neighborhood to another, especially during the work week. The traffic and lack of transport options make a trek from the South Bay to Santa Monica feel epic, though on the weekend, with lighter traffic, places feel much closer together. I also love to bicycle, but with the heavy reliance on cars, the city is frightening on a bicycle!
Contact Info:
- Website: headandheartinsights.com
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