Exploring Life & Business with Bobby Bakshi of Bobby Bakshi Consulting

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bobby Bakshi.

Bobby, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin? 
Personally, I was born in India and grew up all over the world. Lived out of India from the age of 6 onwards. I still have strong connections in India and visit family often. I am a proud Indian American. I celebrate my many areas of intersectionality and how that helps me be fully me! 

My first career was in Marketing Research. I stumbled upon it during college in India. I was the President of a student internship program and asked a Fortune 100 client HR mentor, “What do you suggest as a great career?” 

I spent almost a decade at Microsoft, primarily in Marketing Research. I gained respect as the subject matter expert on segmentation. Then, one day, a senior leader invited me to manage strategic partnerships with firms supporting our team out of India. Within the first few months, I realized that in order for this effort to succeed, we needed to bridge cultural divides. 

That led me to my current work – helping executives and teams bridge cultural divides by building trust and true commitment. As a culture transformation consultant, I meet clients where they are and challenge them for what can be. When clients do the hard work on People & Culture (a.k.a. HR), the internal and external results/metrics show. For instance, Glassdoor ratings go up–without directly addressing Glassdoor. 

I blend my two careers as a unique differentiator. I bring objective data to my clients and then connect it with heart. Remember. Soft skills are the hard skills, and they DEFINITELY have an ROI. 

This work brings me great joy. I only teach what I have learned and practiced myself. I love serving humanity with my gifts so all people thrive! 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Smooth road. What’s that? I mean seriously. I would never trust someone who says they’ve had a smooth road, whether senior executives at Fortune 100 companies or entrepreneurs. 

As a single-income provider for my family cash flow, building a client pipeline has always been a struggle. I’ve tried all types of tactics and won’t list them here. In short, what I’ve learned boils down to KEEP SHOWING UP. 

I experiment. I love the MVP (minimal viable product) concept and apply it to how I test things in my consulting practice. I love creating things and have gotten better at ‘just ship it’ (thank you, Seth Godin). I create, learn, iterate, and repeat. Few things work well, most don’t and I’m good with that. I trust my gut and also challenge my logic, my data. 

I also struggle with focus at times. It take a LOT of discipline to prioritize a day/week of work, especially when my calendar is not packed with client engagement work. 

What I find helps the most, one thing: pausing. I catch that emotion of feeling like I’m not making progress. I quickly assess what’s working and what can be better. I trust my gut to pick the most important task/action, and I go knock it out. I set reminders to follow up (SUPER important), and then I let it go. 

We’ve been impressed with Bobby Bakshi Consulting, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
At the heart of my consulting practice, I co-create leaders for thriving cultures by integrating people, processes, and profits. 

My clients, mostly C-suite executives of mid-sized companies, value my unique blend of pragmatism and humanity. The days of “business as usual” are gone. If leaders still hold those mindsets, they are unlikely to succeed. Business is about people. Know your people deeply to grow your business. 

I help my clients build genuine trust. I respectfully open leaders up to go deeper, to share their truth. The result is true commitment and stronger results for the company. 

I listen well. I listen to executives and their staff. I play back what I’ve heard and share my perspectives. In the end, they choose what recommendations to act on or not. 

Finally, I love empowering clients to DIY – to teach them to continue to water the seeds I plant so they can do the work of sustaining a thriving culture on their own. 

One specific offering I am super excited about is Being 101% You www.MyPurposeDIY.com/academy. 

I created this self-guided online program to help employees discover and live their own purpose before seeing if and how it connects with their team and company’s purpose. 

When companies help their people determine their own dreams and aspirations, this can contribute to higher employee engagement, retention, and innovation, as people stay for what they love doing and not just the pay/benefits. 

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
The first thing that comes to mind is that I don’t recommend anything I haven’t done/tried myself. My credibility is super important to me. My client value and trust me for saying it as I see and feel it, with respect. 

This is a rare quality, I am told. I believe we live in a highly passive-aggressive world. People say one thing and do another. This is very costly to people and to business. 

I keep things real. 

I am also passionate about the role men in power can play to make this a better world for all. I believe we can benefit with “mature masculinity.” I’ve experienced this powerful journey for myself and love to invite men into their own journey – breaking myths of what it means to be a man and empowering men to self-define what works for them. My goal is when we do that and own our shadows (Carl Jung – those things we hide, suppress and deny) we can all win!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.BobbyBakshi.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bobbybakshi/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobbyb/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIYDGg2WS4zxYZbbXCCljDg
• Other: https://www.mypurposediy.com/academy

Image Credits
Bobby Bakshi