YT03 | Ex-Corporate Leader Tells You How To Break From The Grind And Discover Your Purpose

Meet Sharad, a top Podcaster and Life Coach who gave up a corporate career studded with achievements to seek out the meaning of happiness. His quest for meaning led him to start a Top 3 podcast in Singapore and a career guiding individuals to tap into their inner brilliance, unlock their true potential, and learn how to live better lives. With a remarkable track record as a keynote speaker, certified coach, and accomplished entrepreneur, Sharad has been instrumental in transforming the lives of over 500 individuals, enabling them to conquer challenges and fast-track their careers.

Discussion Topics: Ex-corporate leader tells you how to break from the grind and discover your purpose

• What brought Sharad to Singapore
• Being inspired to achieve
• Questioning the meaning of life
• Beginning a spiritual journey
• Searching for fulfilment
• What holds people back from their true purpose
• Learnings from establishing a top-ranked podcast
• Learning from parents
• Observations about Singapore
• What kids today should know about the world

Transcript: Ex-corporate leader tells you how to break from the grind and discover your purpose

Sharad Lal: This person described a time when he had no fear in the world. And then he felt that he had lost it along the way. A lot of people cannot access their purpose due to fear. I started questioning that. Is this what life is one achievement after the other? And I went on a journey to figure out what happiness really is.

Yana Fry: It is such a pleasure to welcome you on YanaTV, so thank you for joining us.

Sharad Lal: Thank you for having me. This is such a wonderful space. I look forward to talking to you.

Yana Fry: Same here. And since our platform is about Singapore largely, and we are based in Singapore, and to me you don’t look Singaporean.

What brought Sharad to Singapore

Yana Fry: So my question is, what are you doing here in Singapore?

Sharad Lal: I came to Singapore 21 years back in 2002. Okay. And my first job was after business school with Procter and Gamble marketing. And that’s how I came here. I knew very little about Singapore, but I just enjoyed living here. I then went to consulting.

I started my business here, and then I’ve been here for the last 21 years. And the funny thing is, people say You’ve been in Singapore for so long, but I think every three years it changes. That’s so new. Your group of friends changes because people keep traveling in and out. The city changed, so I love staying in Singapore.

Yana Fry: Wow. You are long. Are you Singaporean?

Sharad Lal: I’ve applied three times. They don’t want me yet, but I’m a PR.

Yana Fry: I’m sorry. You’re PR. Okay. So you’re 21 years old. You’re here longer than me. I am only 15 years old. Oh, wow. And I am Singaporean by now, so this is why I ask.

Sharad Lal: Congratulations.

Yana Fry: So thank you. Yes and so I feel that also a big part of this show, it’s my contribution to the country. It has been very generous to me and my family. And I feel I don’t look like a Singaporean either. But then, sometimes they say it takes an outsider to have really honest and open conversations which are unbiased.

So maybe that’s my bonus. I don’t look Asian.

Sharad Lal: Yes.

Yana Fry: Good, good to have you here. Which country did you move from 20 years ago?

Being inspired to achieve

Sharad Lal: I was from India. I was born in India, and it’s an interesting story. I was like in a very small town in India, and growing up in the nineties, my worldview was really small. And something very interesting happened in India in the early nineties. It opened up it was very insular. They got foreign investment, and as a young kid, the difference that it made to my life was cable television. So suddenly we turned from one channel to 20 channels, and it was the first time I saw MTV.

I saw these dramas where I saw people living these beautiful lives, traveling, jet setting. And I thought that is what? That is life, right? And that is what set my inspiration to go live in a global city. And from that point in time, I started working hard, doing well in academics, and then went to a good school that gave me the opportunity to come to Singapore and work in this beautiful global city.

Yana Fry: It is interesting. We were just speaking today, especially about how we choose careers in this part of the world, and you just said India, probably the same as it would’ve been in Singapore and many other Asian countries. You work hard. You choose the right path. You do what your parents tell you to do.

Sharad Lal: Yes.

Yana Fry: And then you go to the university usually if you can, and then you get a job and you start working. And today for us, the theme of our conversation here is the meaning at work. Isn’t it interesting? Absolutely. Interesting. So tell me about that. When you graduated as a young kid from the university and you joined all those companies what happened?

Sharad Lal: So my thought on life was that life is one achievement after another. That’s what led me to this. I worked hard and did well in school, which was achieving well, which led me to a good university like you said, which led me to a great place like Singapore and every state. I was happy and I thought, this is what life is.

Questioning the meaning of life

Sharad Lal: I went to a new company, I started businesses and I was doing well, and then out of nowhere in 2013, I had a huge tragedy, so I lost people who were close to me. I’m sorry about that. Yeah, that was a huge loss, and that then just shook me up. And during the healing process, as I was getting back to life, I started questioning that. Is this what life is? Is this what happiness is? Is this what life is one achievement after the other? And I went on a journey to figure out what happiness really is because something out of nowhere can hit you. And then all those achievements and money and success don’t matter.

Yana Fry: Suddenly, it doesn’t make you happy anymore.

Sharad Lal: It doesn’t make you happy anymore. And as I spoke to other people who look successful, who look to have it all in place. I realised they had a deeper conversation with me and I realised not everyone is happy. They might look, but there’s something beyond achievement that makes you happy.

Beginning a spiritual journey

Sharad Lal: So I went on a journey in spirituality. I was never spiritual. I was never religious. So I started embracing and seeing what was there, philosophy, psychology. I read a lot to figure out what it really takes to be happy. Like how should we live our life? And all schools had different teachings, but one clear thought that was there everywhere was.

The path to happiness is deep inside. there are these noises that distract you, that expectations from others. Expectations from parents, from society, from partners, from relationships, because of which you start going one achievement after the other, and at some stage it catches up with you and you realise. Damn, I’ve been climbing the wrong ladder. There are other things in life. And that’s what opened me up to this, what is this? Deep thing. How can we access it?

Yana Fry: By that time you would spend a lot of time learning and studying and creating your network and building your career. Yes, only to realise that’s not where you wanna go. Not an easy place to be. 

Sharad Lal: And having said that, there’s, in my view, initially, I felt that this achievement mindset of going after goals is bad. Money is bad. But as I went through it and I realised there’s nothing good or bad, it’s okay. It helped me get to where I want to get. But there is more to life and it’s being conscious of the path that you’re going after.

Maybe at some stage, you want to accelerate and go forward in life, and by all means, go to it, but do it consciously, and maybe at some stage you wanna live a holistic life. You want to deepen bonds, you want to understand your potential and fulfill it.

You want to make a bigger impact and do that. But these are two or three options available to you, and being conscious and aware of them is what leads to fulfillment and meaning.

Yana Fry: I love that. And it’s also very interesting when people talk about success, as you said, in the beginning, especially in this part of the world. They’re just conditioned also from society. And the family that you have to be successful in a very particular way. How people traditionally were perceived to be successful. Which is allowed to do with money and status and power. And then it was interesting for me to watch this, the whole wave of society events first through this, and then people like, no, don’t bring us happiness.

We don’t want any of that. And then people go into spirituality only to realise everything is important. And it’s like what you said, it’s not, even if you look at the ancient text, no one ever, no master ever said, don’t have money. They all said don’t be attached to money. And there’s a big difference between the two.

And I think in fact with people who are actually more conscious and more aware and wanna genuinely do better things for society, if those people have more money, then we are all in a better place, right?

Sharad Lal: Absolutely. There’s a practical aspect, like you said, to money, which has a multiplier effect on many people who can live good lives and put food on the table for their families. So that is important. And you touched on attachment and that reminded me of something, and I know you’re a big fan of Buddhism as well.

There’s this book I read Open to Desire. I don’t know if you read that phenomenal book where Buddhism does not say, do not go after desire. Desire is there, but it talks about experiencing it with an open fist. Enjoy it. If it goes, that’s fine. Not with a closed fit that you clench onto it.

I don’t want this to go, I’ve got this car, I’ve got this money. I don’t want it to go. And I found that visual very powerful, that yes, enjoy good things in life, but if they go, there’s impermanence, that’s all right. That’s okay. Accept it. And having that wisdom as we go along takes you away from attachment.

It helps you enjoy the present moment. And that’s pretty much what. Mindfulness Buddhism and all things are

Yana Fry: Yeah. Like all those conversations about consciousness. And to me, it’s very interesting. It’s one when we talk about it on a personal level. And I can see you have been on a journey.

You, you went through a loss. So now you have discovered yourself and now you have also started teaching others. That’s what I’m also curious about because in your particular case.

Searching for fulfilment

Yana Fry: You go into big corporations and you talk about the purpose of work and the meaning of work. So how does that go?

Sharad Lal: So that’s an interesting point. When I initially wanted to go down this path, I was trying to play low because I realised fame, all these things are not good. But over a period of time, what would happen? When I would see my peers, they did not have this kind of realisation. So they kept going up and I thought, now that I’m thinking about the meaning of life and fulfillment, I should not get jealous.

But I did get jealous.

Yana Fry: I like your honesty there.

Sharad Lal: I did get jealous. I said, wow, they’re going up and it and I then got upset with myself for getting jealous that, hey, I’m on another path. Why am I looking at these worldly things? So I had that journey and through that journey, long story short, what emerged was.

In whatever I do, if it’s fulfilled, my desire to shine and do well and make a bigger impact is huge. And that’s not something I should cut off by playing small. That does not mean fulfillment, doesn’t mean you play small. And I have this skill of going into corporations. I’ve done that. I’ve created a business around that.

Yana Fry: Because of your background, right?

Sharad Lal: My background is that the business that I’ve created is also selling to corporations. So I know that and I can make a difference. I know that people at work, Go through similar things that I’ve gone through and I can make that difference out there why not go out and shine and do that?

So once that realisation came, then I decided to do it in a bigger way. I decided to go into companies, I decided to start a podcast. I’ve been getting a huge amount of fulfillment doing that, where it’s, you are getting better and better because you’re building that skill and I’m using different things like creativity and early, it was more analytical skills.

But at the same time, you’re shining and moving ahead in life.

What holds people back from their true purpose

Yana Fry: Can you share with us, maybe a story of a person who has been, or maybe a manager or leader what was the reaction?

Sharad Lal: I can share two very interesting stories. This was while working with a bank and I was doing this in Malaysia, and one of the exercises that I do when I talk about this is I help them do a meditative exercise.

These are leaders, very old who may not have, who are going one after the other in terms of achievement and making sure their work goes forward. So when they stop and go within and I ask them certain questions to see when they were most alive, when they felt great. The one trend that I’ve seen across based on the story is they go back to a time in their childhood, and this person described a time when he had a visual of him going down a slope on a cycle, his hair flying all over the place, having not a fear in the world.

Feeling invincible. And then he felt that he had lost it along the way.

Because of all these responsibilities. Now he needs to make sure his boss is okay, his family’s okay. He can’t give up on his career because the money is needed. He feels trapped. That fear has happened so much to so many people.

It happened. So I think the biggest thing I noticed was, A lot of people cannot access their purpose due to fear.

And there are practicalities for sure, we have responsibilities, but if we are only stuck in that, then we don’t have the courage to look at what is important to us. Because once we have the courage to do that, and we take into account practicalities, we can create a path that can bring this together.

Yana Fry: I love that. This is a great story.

Learnings from establishing a top-ranked podcast

Yana Fry: You mentioned the podcast. And I do know that at some point your podcast was ranked top three in Singapore and business category, right? And it’s still in the top 5% of the world. Specifically in this category, still being cranked. And the podcast is, what is the name again?

Sharad Lal: How to Live.

Yana Fry: How to live clearly. So the podcast is about how to live? And how long have you been doing it now?

Sharad Lal: So I started this in November 2021. It’s a little less than two years.

Yana Fry: I’m asking because so many people have been starting podcasts. And many actually stopped. So hooray for you to actually continue that and do that. So what was your biggest learning since you started after doing it for nearly two years?

Sharad Lal: I think the number one thing is consistency. Because if you call out that, Hey, I want to do it every two weeks, or whatever period you call out, you have to make sure that you do it. And even before I started it, I’d done a course in podcasting and the guy, Pat Flynn, which I would recommend, I can drop links to the course that people want.

He said, don’t start a podcast till you have 20 topics in mind. You need to know 20 episodes because you have enthusiasm. You can do seven or eight, but after some time, life comes in the way and it gets difficult. So you have to find a sustainable way of consistently, even if the content is not the best and it’s not up to your standard of doing it. So that was my first learning.

The second learning is, of course, to do it based on passion, like something you’re passionate about so people can hear your voice and they know that this is exciting, this is passionate. Even if they don’t believe in it. I think passion is infectious. And when people hear authentic passion, they gravitate to it.

And the third is something, one of the big podcasters forgets his name. Guy Raz is a huge podcaster. And I think he said something that if I have someone’s attention, I don’t want to waste their time, so I wanna give them precisely. For me, it was edited a lot because I didn’t have the natural skills to talk so I would be saying a lot of things, and my interviews were not as good as your interviews. I’d be asking all kinds of questions, long-winded questions, which are irrelevant. Edit it. Make it simple so that the listener gets quality.

So I think these three things help, but you never know what other things are. But to me, I keep these three things in mind as I do it.

Yana Fry: I love this. This is great learning. And also teach people who are content creators. So let’s remember to keep it clear, precise, and consistent.

Sharad Lal: Yes.

Learning from parents

Yana Fry: A question about your family. You mentioned that you were born in India and this is where you grew up. Tell us a bit more about your parents.

Sharad Lal: I was very fortunate to have a very good childhood, a very balanced childhood, and as I said, grew up in that small town. I felt a sense of safety. My mother gave me a lot of love and I was very close to her, but she also pushed me and helped me realise. That I could be good in academics.

I could do well and go places. So that confidence, I think my mother built and when she would tell me that you are special, you can do anything, I believed her and that kinda helped me along the way. Good mom, excellent mom. So I think she kept the right balance but pushed me and helped me get my potential.

My father had the big picture thinking. So he ran a business and he would tell me and explain to me how to look at the big picture, how to look at vision, and how to think about things and setting things and structures up for the family. So I think I got that from them. They are, fortunately, very proud of me.

They still live in India now. They moved to a bigger city. They live in Delhi. They’re proud of me. We try to meet as often as possible and have a very good relationship. Fortunately.

Observations about Singapore

Yana Fry: And so when you came here 21 years ago, right? To Singapore and staying, as you said, Singapore is changing Oh, like every three years?

Just with the development, with the people coming and going. And now people are coming. So it’s a really interesting place. What do you see happening right now in Singapore? Like from your observation?

Sharad Lal: That’s a good question. Tough question. I would say right now, that’s what’s already maintained, at least from the way I see my life. There’s a mixture of tradition and dynamism. And I think that’s still there where you can, the sky’s the limit if you want to do anything. And I think that still remains in Singapore, but at the same time, there’s grounded in, in, in some amount of tradition, Asian tradition, family, community.

And I think that’s a good balance that Singapore continues to maintain. In terms of people, it’s a difficult thing when you have friends who are non-Singaporeans because of their non-Singaporean friends, after every three to four years, they leave because many of them have regional jobs.

So you could have a good group of fans where you’re having good fun, but. After three, four years, they’ve gone

Yana Fry: I could relate so much after being here for 15 years. Yeah. I lived through three cycles of making friendships like this with people. That’s, and at some point I give up, I’m like, okay, I’m just gonna focus on my family and people who are here for a really long time.

Sharad Lal: So Singaporeans and people who put their roots down.

Yana Fry: Exactly. Absolutely. Otherwise, there’s no point in investing time into a relationship.

Sharad Lal: That’s one of the things. But at the same time, that dynamism is that, like an outside view is good, but yeah, I think that’s where you arrive at that, how do we balance friendships in that way? Okay.

Yana Fry: Do you see yourself staying here?

Sharad Lal: Absolutely this, there’s, at least for me, and maybe I’m biassed because I live here. There’s no better place because it’s a great combination of all these things.

So you meet smart people, it’s modern. You have multiple opportunities at the same time and people sometimes say, Singapore is not a soulful place. I found my soul in Singapore. I found it in the yoga studios here in the meditation studios. Yeah, I found it here. There’s enough greenery to go and find yourself, find solitude, find reflection.

And reflect, and people are good. People are generally very nice in this country. luckily they’ve given me pr, so at least my and my whole family’s pr.

We, our roots are here, but maybe. We can get to be citizens at some stage.

What kids today should know about the world

Yana Fry: And with all the work that you are doing also about the meaning, right? So since you mentioned family, I assume children.

Sharad Lal: I have two girls. The elder one is three and a half, and the younger one is one and a half.

Yana Fry: Beautiful. So they’re very young at this very tender age So when you look at your children, so daughters, in your case what would you like them to know about the world?

Sharad Lal: They’re such beautiful, innocent girls and. I’ll just give you a side story and come to that

Yana Fry: please. I told you I love stories.

Sharad Lal: Today was the first day my youngest daughter went to school, so when I dropped them to preschool, the elder one was holding the younger one’s hand because she’s also in that preschool and taking her.

And it was such a beautiful moment. Their mom took them and I was dropping them off when I saw the two girls with their bags holding hands and their mom just smiling and going. It was beautiful. So let me get that beautiful moment off my chest.

I think in terms of life, the key skills are, for me, I think resilience is a very important skill because there’s gonna be ups and downs in life. And if I can help them understand that it’s about facing these as they come along, accepting them, surrendering to them, and then over a period of time taking control and moving forward in life, if that skill they can develop, I think that’s a huge skill.

The second would be also understanding their potential. So there’s of course a lot of noise around which we talked about expectations, people wanting to do different things, comparisons, they do have a role to play. So while they focus on that, can they also take some time to focus on themselves? To understand what’s happening to themselves, what’s important to them, and thereby understand what they’re meant to do and go out and do brilliant things, whatever they’re meant to do.

So if I can leave them with these messages and then, of course, be good people. Be a good citizen, be nice to people, be kind, and be generous in your own way. It would be a great thing to be able to do.

Yana Fry: I have a tricky question. I love tricky questions. It’s all right. Since you’re talking about resilience, They live in a comfortable country. Their life is comfortable in that sense. So there’s not enough diversity here. How do you actually teach them resilience when you love them genuinely and you want them to become comfortable, then how do you do?

Sharad Lal: I think it’s a great question. It’s a tricky question. That’s a great, tricky question, and I think it’s a difficult one. In my view, there are two types of adversities. If I can just simplify. There’s of course discomfort, and I think you were referring to that where things go wrong. Maybe your parents can’t put food on the table, things go really wrong.

But there’s also emotional adversity. Which everyone, no matter who you are, you’re gonna face. And that could look like you go to a school, all the girls boycott you, and you’re the old alone girl. Your. There’s your parents, things may not work out with them. There are many things that happen in places like Singapore, which can cause emotional issues.

Which children are bound to face? I think what we need to do is, of course, we help them get perspective in life that this is a privileged life from a comfort standpoint and expose them to places that are not that comfortable. So I think that’s from a comfort standpoint, from an emotional standpoint. 

I think it’s supporting them and helping them build those skills because that is the more difficult one. When you are, like when you’re bullied, when something happens to you, how do you manage it? And I think for all parents, the tendency is that I’m gonna protect my kid and I’m gonna go out and make that happen. That’s my tendency as well. But can I help build the skills in her that both of them can? Develop that internal resilience to face that, to feel bad, to have that emotional outflow, but then slowly build themselves up and handle the situation.

Yana Fry: So give us then since I’m also very curious for the younger generation who is listening to it now wondering if I’m bullied at school.

What should I do? Type baby country. But I definitely have been bullied at school. No one told me when I was little how to deal with that. So I’m just curious, how do you teach your girls? Like how a young person Yeah. Yeah. Can they handle themselves in those kinds of situations?

Sharad Lal: I think that’s a great question.

I think what starts at this age based on my reading as well, is you can teach them to be clear about their emotions. Knowing what they’re doing. So how are you feeling? I’m feeling sad. I’m feeling angry. And that’s a great learning opportunity that makes me angry. I’m just angry, calling it out, acknowledging it, knowing it.

And fortunately, my daughter is able to now call out various emotions. And when she reads books instead of the story, she’ll look at this person’s anger or happiness or sadness. I think that’s a good starting point because emotions are what makeup resilience. It’s understanding emotions.

Yana Fry: So it’s emotional intelligence, it’s emotional in, we’re talking.

Sharad Lal: So I think that’s the first stage. And then, of course, the other part of it is self-esteem. That I am important. It’s not that, hey, I can just, people can do anything to me. I am important. I have a role to play in life. And I think that can be built up by highlighting their skills. And then of course there’s a, and by highlighting skills, there’s a balance between discipline and highlighting skills. I think emotions, and self-esteem, which are the cornerstones of resilience, even for adults.

You can start to build in kids in a small way and hopefully, as they go on, they develop it more and more.

Yana Fry: I love that. That was unexpected. Great parents and advice.

So thank you so much, Rad, for showing up here with us today. It was a pleasure. To have you on YanaTV and as we have been saying before, guys, please absolutely do in contact with us and also comment under this particular video about maybe what’s happening for you.

If there is anything around resilience or around meaning that stands out, and you wanna have a conversation about it, we’re gonna check the comment sections Sure. And have a conversation about it. And as you always see, of course, do share the video and subscribe. And the more we share this message, Then the more we start also educating and bringing out the best in ourselves.

So thank you so much for tuning in today.

Sharad Lal: Thank you, Yana, for creating the space for such a wonderful conversation. Thank you very much and have a lovely day.