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About
TL;DR
Why, How and What?
We believe that everyone is born to create, learn and communicate. It's what makes us human.
We explore this further through the blog, podcast, experiments and teach some of this through our courses, workshops and talks.
On The Design Your Thinking Podcast, we explore the thinking that goes into making the hardest decisions, stories of learning and change with creators, entrepreneurs and non-conformists.
Simply put, we try and hunt for the most interesting people around the globe, to have a conversation that can shape (or design) the way we think.
On the blog, we write articles focused on helping you become a better learner, communicator and creator.
You will find articles on topics like 'podcasting', 'writing articles and blogs', 'creating products', and more.
THe podcast
What to Expect?
On the show I host guests from around the world, across multiple industries. I've had journalists, bass guitarists, drummers, artists, entrepreneurs, product managers, marketers, designers, software engineers, CEOs, authors, speakers, standup comedians, filmmakers, marine biologists and more.
Who are these people? Why did they think of doing what they did? What were the odds? Why did they finally end up doing it? What did they learn? These are the questions we go after, with some of the world's biggest experts, risk takers, fighters alike.
Who is Karthik?
Why is he doing all this?
I'm everything Linda Goodman says what a Leo is.
If you see me at a conference or just anywhere, do stop by and give me a fist bump. I'm shy and wouldn't do that myself easily. Contrary to my nature, I love entertaining people both on and off-stage. I love magic and usually pack a trick or two in my sleeve at all times.
I'm an Interviewer, Storyteller and Creator.
A career-break I took in 2016 turned into a career in itself. From spending 100% of my time building products and designing them, I started taking time to learn new skills, and teach and share what I was good at. Today, I interview people, help people and businesses tell their stories, and also help create products and design experiences.
I'm fascinated by the human potential.
I learnt something totally new and made a living out of it after 15 years of being an 'employee'. We designed the wheel several thousand years ago, that changed the future of mankind.
People started movements to bring about change just by communicating and connecting.
I love performing arts.
Back in school, I took part in theatre & enjoyed performing magic.
I'm a
fitness
nerd
I practice Martial arts, exercise and mental conditioning everyday.
Where's this going?
More Importantly, Why am I doing this?
The Design Your Thinking blog and podcast began with a sense of urgency. It's a longer story, but let me shrink it to fit inside a couple of sentences.
My wife Vijetha gave birth to our son Vivaan in December 2013. Just a few months before that, my father, a medical doctor and a teacher, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. With mixed emotions on one hand and a dream on the other, I had to make a choice. Design Your Thinking was born out of this choice I made in 2013, to follow my interests.
I describe this in a lot more detail in my manifesto, I recommend you read it right away (here's the pdf).
With people spending a lot of time with technology, social media and chasing careers, there is clearly a lot of distraction. My mission is to help turn your focus back on yourself, your interests and your ability to learn, create and communicate.
Let's Begin
Make a Choice. Set a Goal. Start.
"Am I living and utilizing my 100%?"
There is no good time to start tapping into your 100%. I made my choice a few years back, set my goals and started to work towards them. What are yours?
Speaking of choices, here are the words of Karen Dillon, about who I talk about in my manifesto. She reminisces a conversation with Professor Clayton Christensen..
“…and we started talking, and an hour and a half later I stood near my car with the keys in my hands for like 10 or 15 minutes…unable to like put my keys in the car and go because I was so moved about what we talked about. The gist of it was…was really assessing if you are making all the choices in your life that will lead you to have the life that you want. Or if that’s a bad decision…you are applying your resources and your energy to things that are not truly your strategy…will take you off-course.”
Take a moment to reflect on these words, and set a goal.
My goals for 2019.
Want to support me? Come, join the community!
- 1Grow a passionate community of learners and creators on the podcast and blog.
- 2Start teaching online and offline.
- 3Do one public speaking gig per quarter.
Copyright 2019, Design Your Thinking