Inspiring Conversations with Vish Chatterji of Head & Heart Insights

Today we’d like to introduce you to Vish Chatterji.

Vish, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started life as a young Indian boy growing up in bustling Hong Kong. Amidst the dark-suited, 10-hour workday, hectic financial world of Hong Kong, I noticed my Dad having a solid daily morning routine of yoga. I yearned to grow up and be a business leader and rise up the leadership ranks, but never lose sight of my heritage – and that I did. After studying engineering and then completing my MBA, I made it to the highest ranks of the corporate world, yet felt unfulfilled, and finally turned back to the spiritual practices of my ancestors.

I left a failing startup six years ago and opened my East-meets-West coaching practice where I help business leaders, executives, founders and anyone who wants to develop themselves deeper to find more balanced success. I found a way to bring the ancient wisdom of India through the systems of Yoga Philosophy, Ayurveda (mind-body medicine) and Jyotish (Vedic Astrology) and integrate it with modern MBA management thinking and Western coaching modalities. I found so much success in leveraging this East-meets-West approach for my clients that I wrote a book called “The Business Casual Yogi; Take Charge of Your Body, Mind, and Career” (Mandala Publishing 2019) to help make this powerful framework accessible to more people.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Leaving the power and money of the corporate ladder was certainly a tough decision. I was doing well by all measures of success with mind-boggling compensation, powerful impact in business and the respect of my peer group. I felt that I was capable of even more, but I was not sure what that was until a seasoned executive friend pitched me on the idea of doing a startup together. Enamored by the California startup dream, I resigned from my corporate role and went all in on the startup. We had a solid idea good product-market fit and managed to bootstrap the company to early revenue. That was tough going but accelerated learning.

Then as we went down the path of seed fund-raising, the tough going got even tougher – out of the frying pan and into the fire! It was at this time that our investors wanted me to let go of my co-founder, and take the reins of the company because they considered him.. “uncoachable”. It was this moment that I realized that no matter how good your business sense, technology sense, intelligence, drive, etc – if you could not be coached, your business was done for. (Subsequently, I realized how powerful a good coach could be for the success of a business).

I went through the painful process of “divorcing” my co-founder, stripping him of his board seat and reducing his equity stake – all for a company built on technology that he was the brains behind! After this misery, more misery followed and I realized I had to take a different path – I was not cut out for this path. I eventually left the startup to begin my coaching practice to help folks like my brilliant co-founder find their way to success.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
As an executive-turned-coach with a spiritual twist, I bring a unique blend of creative, strategic thinking with tactical, operational skills and global experience in helping my clients innovate and realize their professional and personal success.

I coach and advise clients on a breadth of topics, from work and business challenges to personal issues, across all sizes of business, from large corporations to small businesses to early-stage startups. I have experience across a variety of industries from technology to healthcare to consumer goods to manufacturing to services and international coaching experience across North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Whether it is gaining clarity on a business strategy or managing challenging peers, over the past six years, I have supported my clients in growing their business and income, uncovering and aligning to their deeper mission, getting their passion projects off the ground, selling their businesses, writing books, making movies, launching products, getting promotions, negotiating deals, all the while improving their leadership skills, overall health and sense of well-being.

What’s next?
Combining business leadership coaching with ancient yoga philosophy has already been a powerful accelerant for leadership success for my clients. As I went deeper into the more esoteric side of yoga, I discovered its sister science of Jyotish – the ancient Indian system of divination through the stars and planets. Jyotish, the Science of Light is commonly referred to as Vedic Astrology – though the word Astrology gets a bad rap due to it manifestation in the Western world. However, comparing Western Astrology to Vedic Astrology would be like comparing Pilates to Yoga. They are totally different systems, with different goals and totally different outcomes.

I have been leveraging Vedic astrology to help my clients understand themselves better, specifically from a karmic perspective, of why things happen, when they will happen and prioritizing challenges they have to face vs. sidestepping. As I incorporate this deeper into my work, the insights are even more profound and impactful to my clients.

Though I have trained about 50 students in this methodology, I plan to teach this in the future on a bigger scale. This Fall, I am headed to a traditional Yoga Ashram in Rishikesh, Himalayas, India to teach the subject of Jyotish. Let’s see how all that unfolds!

Pricing:

• 90-min Vedic Astrology Session: $330
• 60-min personal Coaching Session: $220
• 60-min Business Coaching Session: $250
• 60-min Executive Coaching Session: $400

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.headandheartinsights.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebusinesscasualyogi/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/businesscasualyogi

Image Credits
Sej Saraiya