compass4executives

I have now completed all the requirements for graduating from the ICA in December 2007. Afte getting the certification from the ICA, I hope to embark upon the journey towards certification from the ICF!!

My decision to enter the field of Applied Psychology came fairly late in my life.It is amazing how events unfold for us as we get ready to venture into the unknown in a spirit of exploration and discovery and with an open mind!!

Born in the state of Maharashtra,India, in a city called Pune,to Hindu parents,the early years of my childhood was quite uneventful.The relocation of my father to the city of Madras,later renamed Chennai,in Tamilnadu,paved the way for the shifting of the family of eight(parents with 5 of my siblings)to a location with a different language and culture. 

My schooling was in a Catholic school,at a time and period,when it was considered somewhat unusual to do so.Since my graduation from High School was at an age considered to be “underage”in that state,a decision was made by my parents to have me do the first year of college in the neighboring state of Karnataka, a state with another language and culture.At the end of the first year, I was brought back to Tamilnadu to pursue my professional career!!This got me into the field of Chemical Engineering,a discipline that paved the way for the remaining 40 years of my career.Just as I was settling down to a sedatory lifestyle, a remarkable thing happened to me!!An opportunity to purue graduate studies in the USA,made possible by my mentor and supervisor,the late Dr.Harold Hoelscher!!In retrospect, the seed of my Power Tool and Coaching model was sown then!I moved from despair to enlightenment and became aware that miracles can happen if you did all you possibly can and leave the rest to the Powers that be!The exposure to a totally different culture and lifestyle broadened my global perspective and opened up a lot of challenges and opportunities.

The next decade saw me graduate with a doctoral degree in Chemical Engineering and the pursuit of a career in a successful Petroleum company based in the midwestern US and enter into family life.Another major decision took me and my family back to India where the remaining 30 eventful years were spent.This was the period when the seeds of the flattening of the world took place.The opening up of the Indian economy in the early 90’s turned the attention of the rest of the world to the potential of India as a destination for development of the service sector including call centres,back offices and the retail sector,to name a few!Major cultulural shifts and exposures are gradually bringing major transformations in that part of the world.The seeds for my research paper were sown at this stage!!

Our two children decided to go back to the track in the US that I left behind when I returned to India!!They decided to do their graduate studies in the US and to settle down in the US  permanently with their American partners!The time has arrived when I need to make a major relocation again in my life.This coincides with my registration with the ICA as I equip myself to enter the field of coaching in a global framework.The transition from chemical engineering to applied psychology,and from counseling to coaching has taken place!!Most of these shifts have taken place in my golden years,after age 60!I feel enlightened!

Niche areas in counseling and coaching:

In the past 4 years, I have seen clients, face to face, in a clinical environment, in Chennai, South India.The clinic is run and administered by a husband and wife team of Psychiatrists, Dr.S.Vijayakumar and Dr. Lakshmi Vijayakumar.Though my focus has been on counseling in the inital couple of years, it has shifted to life and executive coaching in the recent couple of years.Sometimes it is hard to believe that I have had the privelege of seeing more than 1000 clients during this period!!There are some days in whcih I have seen more than 10 clients!!

Though my wife,Prabha, works independently, we offer our services as a husband and wife team.Just like me, she switched fields 4 years back when she also decided to get her post graduate degree in Applied Psychology.She is also increasingly turning to life and executive coaching, from counseling!We are now working towards our cerification in Life Coaching at the ICA which we hope to do by December, 2007.

In the counseling area, I have clinical work experience with clients in the areas of alcohol and drug addiction, and also addiction to smoking.The success rates in all these areas have been very high since we offer both medical and counseling treatment, as a package.

Our niche areas in coaching are relationship,gereatric and adolescent coaching.We also offer group coaching for individuals and the corporate world, particularly in a multi cultural framework.

In the last 6 months, I have succeeded in telecoaching clients from all parts of the globe as part of the certification training at the ICA covering nationalities as far east as Australia, Indonesia,Malaysia and as far west as California and Arizoana in the USA.It is really amazing how much can be accomplished even over a 15 minute session over the telephone, to address and resolve certain life issues of some of the clients,that prevent them from performing at their optimal level!!