1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,360 Speaker 1: Welcome back to She Pivots. I am Chandrika Tanden. 2 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:17,439 Speaker 2: Welcome to She Pivots, the podcast where we talk with 3 00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:20,720 Speaker 2: women who dared to pivot out of one career and 4 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:25,160 Speaker 2: into something new and explore how their personal lives impacted 5 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:33,680 Speaker 2: these decisions. I'm your host, Emily Tish Sussman. Welcome back Pivoters. 6 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:38,519 Speaker 2: This week, I'm delighted to share my conversation with Chandrika Tanden. 7 00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:42,080 Speaker 2: While you may not recognize her name immediately, I can 8 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:45,320 Speaker 2: guarantee she's influenced your life in one way or another. 9 00:00:46,159 --> 00:00:48,640 Speaker 2: She made a name for herself as the first Indian 10 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:51,960 Speaker 2: American woman to become a partner at McKinsey and worked 11 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:54,400 Speaker 2: firsthand with some of their biggest clients in the nineteen 12 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:58,040 Speaker 2: seventies and eighties. From there, she founded her own business, 13 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:03,080 Speaker 2: Tandent Capital Associates, or she created billions in market value. 14 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:07,520 Speaker 2: Like so many of our pivoters, Chandrika was the top 15 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:09,560 Speaker 2: of her game when she decided to make her pivot, 16 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:14,880 Speaker 2: poised to sign a massive deal with a European company. Sadly, 17 00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:17,760 Speaker 2: she was under ndaight, so we don't know the company. 18 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:21,560 Speaker 2: She came to a crossroads. What did she want her 19 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:24,839 Speaker 2: life to look like. Was she fulfilling that vision through 20 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:27,960 Speaker 2: the massive success and business she had had until that point. 21 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:31,440 Speaker 2: Was she enriching her life through art and learning like 22 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:34,160 Speaker 2: she loved to do when she was a child. Stay 23 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:37,959 Speaker 2: tuned to hear what Chandrika decided, How she moved forward 24 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:41,640 Speaker 2: with intention, how music became the through line through it all, 25 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:45,680 Speaker 2: and how in the end she became a Grammy nominated artist. 26 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:54,960 Speaker 1: Enjoy. My name is Chandrika Tangent and I run a company, 27 00:01:55,400 --> 00:01:58,400 Speaker 1: I run a foundation, and I'm on a few boats. 28 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:04,280 Speaker 1: I'm a tripothide person, I'm a businesswoman, I'm a person 29 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:08,000 Speaker 1: who cares about society, and I'm an artist. So when 30 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:09,840 Speaker 1: you were young, what did you think you wanted to 31 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:12,560 Speaker 1: be when you grow up? I really didn't know what 32 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:14,280 Speaker 1: I wanted to be. But I was born in a 33 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:17,720 Speaker 1: very small village in a very small town in India, 34 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:20,440 Speaker 1: and we didn't have the internet there. I'm sixty nine 35 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:23,480 Speaker 1: years old, so we didn't have My world was just 36 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:26,440 Speaker 1: a world of books. So my plans for myself was 37 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:30,040 Speaker 1: that I was opening my world, opening the windows of 38 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:31,280 Speaker 1: the world through books. 39 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:36,240 Speaker 2: Growing up, Seandrika lived with her parents, siblings, and her grandfather. 40 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:39,960 Speaker 2: Being the oldest sibling, she grew close with her grandfather 41 00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:43,119 Speaker 2: and credits him with leaving an indelible mark on her 42 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:45,680 Speaker 2: and expanding her world through books. 43 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:48,600 Speaker 1: He was the love of my life. I'd come back 44 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:51,760 Speaker 1: from school and go straight to him, and I read 45 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:55,240 Speaker 1: all thirty seven plays of Shakespeare and all kinds of 46 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:59,959 Speaker 1: obscure works and poetry and all that, because every evening 47 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:03,919 Speaker 1: I'd sit with him. Whow And it's a wonderful example 48 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:08,600 Speaker 1: of someone who brought himself down to me. You know. 49 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:11,960 Speaker 1: So when I got involved with doing crossword puzzles, my 50 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:15,720 Speaker 1: seventeen year old grandfather, he was in the seventeens or 51 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:19,120 Speaker 1: maybe older than that, he would start to understand how 52 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 1: to do prosperts. When I got into chess, and he 53 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:25,760 Speaker 1: started to play chess actively, So he was always my 54 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:29,800 Speaker 1: companion doing what I was doing. And so that created 55 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:33,919 Speaker 1: such a bond between us. What do you think he 56 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:36,480 Speaker 1: imparted upon you? What did he bring out of you? 57 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:41,160 Speaker 1: He opened so many windows into a world which I 58 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:46,520 Speaker 1: didn't know existed. So we would read books like Thackeray, 59 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:49,839 Speaker 1: I mean you probably you know they aren't normally read now, 60 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:53,440 Speaker 1: the old English authors but you know the history of Bendettas, 61 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:56,080 Speaker 1: which is a very boring book as you look at it. 62 00:03:56,480 --> 00:04:00,000 Speaker 1: But you know, years later, actually about five ten years 63 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:03,000 Speaker 1: I was doing a walking trip in Cornwall and went 64 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:06,240 Speaker 1: to Pendennis. There's actually a place called Pandennis. But you 65 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:10,240 Speaker 1: know there you're sitting in Wadras, which has no internet, 66 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:12,360 Speaker 1: which is not connected to any other part of India, 67 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:14,880 Speaker 1: let alone any other part of the world, and you're 68 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:21,640 Speaker 1: reading about far away places, ancient times, different cultures, different traditions, 69 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:25,200 Speaker 1: because all we had was books. Some we had at home, 70 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:27,520 Speaker 1: but we would keep going to the British Council Library 71 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:30,360 Speaker 1: and the lending libraries and just red and Red and Red. 72 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:33,560 Speaker 1: So he gave me the love of books because every 73 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:36,240 Speaker 1: night I had a tradition with him. There was a 74 00:04:36,279 --> 00:04:39,159 Speaker 1: small black stool and I would sit on the stool 75 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:41,440 Speaker 1: with him where he would get a couple of raisins, 76 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:44,159 Speaker 1: so I would eat a couple of raisins with him, 77 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:47,640 Speaker 1: where for one hour we had to just read and 78 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:49,919 Speaker 1: it didn't matter. And I'd be falling asleep on this 79 00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:52,880 Speaker 1: little stool because it wasn't it didn't have a back support. 80 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:56,760 Speaker 1: But my vivid memory is sitting there, but while you 81 00:04:56,839 --> 00:05:00,800 Speaker 1: are uncomfortable and falling asleep, and it wasn't homework time. 82 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:05,839 Speaker 1: Whenever I think of that bench, I think of Pendennis, 83 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:09,640 Speaker 1: and I think of Cymbeline, and I think of Macbeth 84 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:16,400 Speaker 1: and Hamlet and school for Scandal of you know, Sheridan's rivals. 85 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:19,240 Speaker 1: I mean, I've read so much and I memorized two 86 00:05:19,279 --> 00:05:23,080 Speaker 1: hundred poems. My mother's plans for me, however, were that 87 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:26,159 Speaker 1: I would be married by the time I'm eighteen, which 88 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:28,640 Speaker 1: was a legal age for marriage. So she was busy 89 00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:32,279 Speaker 1: collecting my trousso from the time I was three, because 90 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:35,320 Speaker 1: you know, when you have the misfortune quote unquote of 91 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:39,880 Speaker 1: having a girl, you have to provide for her her dowry. 92 00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:43,040 Speaker 1: So my mother was completely focused on that sort of 93 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:45,600 Speaker 1: messages I was getting at home is you will be 94 00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:49,080 Speaker 1: married and off your go. But I, on the other hand, 95 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:52,320 Speaker 1: was reading, was reading Shakespeare, was reading all kinds of 96 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:58,000 Speaker 1: books and imagining some windows, some doors, something opening, but 97 00:05:58,080 --> 00:06:00,000 Speaker 1: I didn't know what that was exactly. 98 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:03,960 Speaker 3: Did you feel like your mother thinking about your future 99 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:08,960 Speaker 3: as just as being married. Did you feel rebellious against 100 00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:11,240 Speaker 3: that or you just were interested in other things? 101 00:06:11,880 --> 00:06:16,960 Speaker 1: The way it happened was I decided to go to 102 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:20,880 Speaker 1: college in an all boys college, mostly boys college, to 103 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:24,240 Speaker 1: study business, and that was a college my father had 104 00:06:24,279 --> 00:06:27,920 Speaker 1: been to and my grandfather had been to. And when 105 00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:31,000 Speaker 1: I decided to go there or I got into the program, 106 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:34,760 Speaker 1: my mother said no way. So that's when my rebellion started. 107 00:06:34,839 --> 00:06:38,479 Speaker 1: Until then, there wasn't an active disagreement because I was 108 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:42,880 Speaker 1: happily pursuing my interests and my mother was making her 109 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:46,400 Speaker 1: plans for my life. But that led me on a 110 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:49,400 Speaker 1: hunger strike. So I decided I wanted to go to 111 00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:51,520 Speaker 1: that college, and she said she wasn't going to let 112 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:53,599 Speaker 1: me do that. So I said no, I was going 113 00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:55,919 Speaker 1: to go there because that was the only college that 114 00:06:56,040 --> 00:07:00,240 Speaker 1: offered business programs a commers program for women, and that 115 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:01,920 Speaker 1: was also an hour away. I had to take a 116 00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:04,320 Speaker 1: train as opposed to go into the college next door. 117 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:07,360 Speaker 1: So after a day and a half, almost two days 118 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:10,400 Speaker 1: of a hunger strike, she gave up the none from 119 00:07:10,440 --> 00:07:13,640 Speaker 1: my convent school where I went to school, came out 120 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:15,640 Speaker 1: of the convent for the very first time that I 121 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:18,360 Speaker 1: remember to kind of plead with my mother. You know, 122 00:07:18,440 --> 00:07:21,240 Speaker 1: she's a good girl. You know, you really need to 123 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:24,520 Speaker 1: send her to the school she wants to go to 124 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:26,640 Speaker 1: the college she wants to go to. So that was 125 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:29,040 Speaker 1: my first active rebellion. 126 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:33,000 Speaker 3: What was it about business that made you say I 127 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:34,320 Speaker 3: have to be in this program? 128 00:07:35,080 --> 00:07:40,320 Speaker 1: I wanted to do something that was not traditional, because 129 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:44,120 Speaker 1: what I was geared to do was, you know, to 130 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:46,960 Speaker 1: study literature, which was the program in the English. I 131 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:49,240 Speaker 1: was good in English. I adopted a lot of the 132 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:52,560 Speaker 1: school stuff, and it was expected that that's what I 133 00:07:52,600 --> 00:07:54,720 Speaker 1: would do. But then when I got into this very 134 00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 1: new program, very prestigious program, I suddenly said I wanted 135 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:01,720 Speaker 1: to go there. And then the moment the boundaries were 136 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:05,200 Speaker 1: put on me, I started to rebel and said why not. 137 00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:08,800 Speaker 1: I guess if nobody had put a boundary, I wasn't 138 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:12,520 Speaker 1: that passionate about business as such. I think it was 139 00:08:12,600 --> 00:08:14,440 Speaker 1: more that the boundary was put on me that I 140 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:16,960 Speaker 1: couldn't go to this college. And I'd grown up with 141 00:08:17,120 --> 00:08:20,560 Speaker 1: stories about this college because it's a very very it's 142 00:08:20,560 --> 00:08:22,640 Speaker 1: one hundred and eighty five year old college at this moment, 143 00:08:22,640 --> 00:08:25,560 Speaker 1: it's one of the oldest colleges. And my grandfather, who 144 00:08:25,640 --> 00:08:28,320 Speaker 1: was the love of my life, would feed me stories 145 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:31,160 Speaker 1: of the Scottish principles that founded the college and just 146 00:08:31,160 --> 00:08:33,640 Speaker 1: a Jesuit college. So I grew up with that, and 147 00:08:33,679 --> 00:08:36,760 Speaker 1: then suddenly there was this college that my father and 148 00:08:36,800 --> 00:08:40,400 Speaker 1: grandfather had gone to, and it had this program which 149 00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:44,760 Speaker 1: was unique and actually took in a few girls. So 150 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:46,600 Speaker 1: why would I not go there? And why are you 151 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:48,600 Speaker 1: telling me I can't go there? And that was what 152 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:53,360 Speaker 1: the spirit was. So I wasn't actively thinking about rebelling 153 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:56,319 Speaker 1: or going towards something at that moment. And by the way, 154 00:08:56,320 --> 00:09:00,160 Speaker 1: a lot of my friends at that moment didn't have 155 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:03,600 Speaker 1: that experience. They didn't many of them ended up staying 156 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:07,880 Speaker 1: there and settling in that same place because it was 157 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:12,040 Speaker 1: a very simple existence where it wasn't written that you 158 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:15,360 Speaker 1: were going to go out and plaze brave new trails 159 00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:19,280 Speaker 1: in the world. That wasn't the story that was written 160 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:19,560 Speaker 1: for you. 161 00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:25,240 Speaker 2: So Sean Drika wrote her own story and enrolled at 162 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:29,319 Speaker 2: Madras Christian College, something not common for women at the time. 163 00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:33,959 Speaker 2: Every day she traveled an hour each way, slowly building 164 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:37,480 Speaker 2: her independence away from her family, who at the time 165 00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:40,400 Speaker 2: still expected her to simply get married. 166 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:44,079 Speaker 3: Well, the first place that you placed trails was being 167 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:46,600 Speaker 3: one of the only women in this college what was 168 00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:47,040 Speaker 3: that like? 169 00:09:47,840 --> 00:09:51,720 Speaker 1: It was incredible and in fact, some of those three 170 00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:53,920 Speaker 1: years were some of the best years of my life. 171 00:09:54,120 --> 00:09:57,520 Speaker 1: So it was an incredibly sort of liberating experience for me. 172 00:09:57,960 --> 00:10:00,760 Speaker 1: I also did well in college. I was sort of 173 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:05,120 Speaker 1: the valedictorian, and that gave me a great sense of 174 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:09,439 Speaker 1: confidence in the sense of I explored these other dimensions. 175 00:10:09,480 --> 00:10:11,800 Speaker 1: I was studying, I was doing a lot of music. 176 00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:14,520 Speaker 1: I did lots of skits with the guys, you know, 177 00:10:14,559 --> 00:10:17,640 Speaker 1: we did a lot of plays. There were many dimensions exploded, 178 00:10:17,679 --> 00:10:21,680 Speaker 1: so it wasn't a very unidimensional education. Did you go 179 00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:24,520 Speaker 1: to business school immediately after? Right? So this was the 180 00:10:24,559 --> 00:10:29,160 Speaker 1: other the next phase of rebellion. So my professor, because 181 00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:31,760 Speaker 1: I'd done well in college, he said to me, you 182 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:34,920 Speaker 1: should apply to this business school which takes you know, 183 00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:37,120 Speaker 1: there are about over one hundred thousand applicants and one 184 00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:39,960 Speaker 1: hundred people get in. But normally the people that apply 185 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:43,160 Speaker 1: are two to three years ahead in terms of they've 186 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:46,080 Speaker 1: done a five year degree engineering program and had a 187 00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:49,079 Speaker 1: couple of years of work experience. That's the typical profile 188 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:51,120 Speaker 1: of the students that get in, whereas I had just 189 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:53,959 Speaker 1: had a three year degree and in that I'd already 190 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:56,680 Speaker 1: skipped a year of school, so I was so young. 191 00:10:57,320 --> 00:11:00,359 Speaker 1: But my professor said you should apply. 192 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:03,160 Speaker 2: She had set her sights on law school. She loves 193 00:11:03,240 --> 00:11:06,560 Speaker 2: logic and reasoning, and her grandfather was a judge. It 194 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:10,040 Speaker 2: seemed only natural, but a switch flipped in her after 195 00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:12,120 Speaker 2: a frustrating conversation with her uncle. 196 00:11:13,160 --> 00:11:15,400 Speaker 1: He said to me, oh, if I were you, I 197 00:11:15,400 --> 00:11:19,120 Speaker 1: wouldn't bother because it's like getting a Nobel prize. You know, 198 00:11:20,040 --> 00:11:23,880 Speaker 1: you really won't get in. That lunch finished and I 199 00:11:23,920 --> 00:11:25,640 Speaker 1: went home and I said I want to go to 200 00:11:25,679 --> 00:11:28,000 Speaker 1: this business school. I mean, I'm like so it was 201 00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:31,960 Speaker 1: almost like, how dare you tell me I can't go again. 202 00:11:32,040 --> 00:11:34,720 Speaker 1: It wasn't that I had this burning passion to do 203 00:11:34,880 --> 00:11:38,920 Speaker 1: business or anything. That's what happened. And I think this 204 00:11:38,960 --> 00:11:42,520 Speaker 1: has been the pattern. You know, when somebody says to me, 205 00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:45,840 Speaker 1: you absolutely cannot do it. When the boundary is put 206 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:48,240 Speaker 1: on me, I kind of like to think about why 207 00:11:48,280 --> 00:11:50,720 Speaker 1: do I have this boundary? They don't give me a 208 00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:53,679 Speaker 1: good reason for the boundary. Yeah, and I don't want 209 00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:56,280 Speaker 1: a boundary. I don't understand. And I rebel. 210 00:11:57,400 --> 00:12:00,360 Speaker 2: Now, with her sight solidly set on business school, she 211 00:12:00,559 --> 00:12:04,160 Speaker 2: still had the matter of her family. Her mother continued 212 00:12:04,200 --> 00:12:07,959 Speaker 2: to pursue an arranged marriage for her traditional for the firstborn, 213 00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:09,720 Speaker 2: especially the firstborn daughter. 214 00:12:10,800 --> 00:12:14,240 Speaker 1: So while college was finishing, I was almost eighteen. So 215 00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:17,080 Speaker 1: every time my classmates would come, my mother would say, oh, 216 00:12:17,160 --> 00:12:19,240 Speaker 1: you're going to you know, you just wait and see 217 00:12:19,280 --> 00:12:21,319 Speaker 1: she's going to be married. As she's going to be married, 218 00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:22,679 Speaker 1: I'm going to find her. That's going to be an 219 00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:26,079 Speaker 1: arranged marriage. She had this, and I understand that because 220 00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:29,120 Speaker 1: you know, I was the first daughter, the first child 221 00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:32,480 Speaker 1: of the family. I had to uphold the honor and 222 00:12:32,559 --> 00:12:34,560 Speaker 1: if I had gone astray in any way, that would 223 00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:38,079 Speaker 1: have been a bad thing for the honor of the family. 224 00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:40,680 Speaker 1: And I was told this from the time practically that 225 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:41,200 Speaker 1: I was born. 226 00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:44,960 Speaker 3: You know, so you wanted to go to business school, right, 227 00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:47,599 Speaker 3: And we came to the second hunger straight. 228 00:12:47,400 --> 00:12:50,440 Speaker 1: The second hunger strike, Yes, that's exactly. But by now 229 00:12:50,440 --> 00:12:55,040 Speaker 1: I was an expert on hunger strikes. So the second 230 00:12:55,040 --> 00:12:59,760 Speaker 1: time was here and my professor from college came in 231 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:03,840 Speaker 1: to again. He brought an army of three guys who 232 00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:06,520 Speaker 1: were in that business school, and he spoke to my 233 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:09,320 Speaker 1: mother to say, you've got to let her go. And 234 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:12,560 Speaker 1: finally she relented. And then once I went to business school, 235 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:18,120 Speaker 1: I kind of flew away. I basically left home. I 236 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:22,000 Speaker 1: was no longer under under the control of mothers by 237 00:13:22,040 --> 00:13:25,480 Speaker 1: the night. Then I had a job, and then I rebelled. 238 00:13:25,720 --> 00:13:29,960 Speaker 1: I genuinely rebelled, you know. I changed my clothes. So 239 00:13:30,280 --> 00:13:33,080 Speaker 1: I kind of decided to be me as opposed to 240 00:13:33,120 --> 00:13:39,120 Speaker 1: be the sweet daughter of a traditional household and do 241 00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:42,160 Speaker 1: all the things I was expected to do. So I 242 00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:45,000 Speaker 1: moved in by myself into an apartment. I went to 243 00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:48,160 Speaker 1: Beirut after business school in the middle of the Civil War. 244 00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:55,280 Speaker 4: This was once the richest part of the richest city 245 00:13:55,520 --> 00:13:57,680 Speaker 4: in the Middle East. Now it's the front line of 246 00:13:57,679 --> 00:14:00,800 Speaker 4: the war. In the Lebanon, buildings were stir the money 247 00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:04,240 Speaker 4: makers of the Western world exchanged their millions, and now 248 00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:07,880 Speaker 4: the barricades of Beirute. The war has lasted twelve months. 249 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:11,439 Speaker 4: It has ruined the country and destroyed a nation. There 250 00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:13,560 Speaker 4: is supposed to be a cease far in the Lebanon, 251 00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:16,920 Speaker 4: but it means nothing. There have been twenty eight seaspars, 252 00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:19,120 Speaker 4: and each of them has been followed by even fiercer 253 00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:21,080 Speaker 4: fighting in Beirute. 254 00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:25,080 Speaker 1: Cease fars don't usually last long, and in Beirut it 255 00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:29,680 Speaker 1: was in nineteen seventy five. It was the worst civil 256 00:14:29,720 --> 00:14:33,120 Speaker 1: war you can imagine, and it was. And the City 257 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:36,680 Speaker 1: Bank had given us apartments in il Rausche, which is 258 00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:40,120 Speaker 1: on the sea side, and we would for the first week, 259 00:14:40,520 --> 00:14:43,600 Speaker 1: first few weeks were fine, maybe three four weeks were fine. 260 00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:46,520 Speaker 1: Then the shelling started. You know, we would actually go 261 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:50,040 Speaker 1: to the office in the daytime and come back in 262 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:52,520 Speaker 1: the evening and buildings would be burning on either side, 263 00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:55,200 Speaker 1: or an entire block would have been shelled. And in 264 00:14:55,240 --> 00:14:57,040 Speaker 1: the middle of the night sometimes they would call us 265 00:14:57,080 --> 00:14:59,440 Speaker 1: all and tell us please evacuate your apartments and go 266 00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:03,240 Speaker 1: to the holiday because they would want all the City 267 00:15:03,280 --> 00:15:05,600 Speaker 1: Bank train needs to be in a safe place. But 268 00:15:05,720 --> 00:15:09,440 Speaker 1: interestingly enough, a few months later the whole holiday inn 269 00:15:09,560 --> 00:15:13,040 Speaker 1: was raised to the ground. But there's certain innocence that 270 00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:15,760 Speaker 1: you didn't know what you were into. And I think 271 00:15:15,800 --> 00:15:19,400 Speaker 1: this is war and what was happening. And I at 272 00:15:19,400 --> 00:15:21,880 Speaker 1: that time would still be wearing a sari. I didn't 273 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:26,080 Speaker 1: own any Western clothes, and I'd happily walk around Beirut 274 00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:29,880 Speaker 1: in asari. And one time I'll never forget I walked 275 00:15:29,880 --> 00:15:32,760 Speaker 1: into from my apartment. I've just walked into a street 276 00:15:33,280 --> 00:15:36,480 Speaker 1: and two men with tanks and I spoke French. So 277 00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:39,760 Speaker 1: the two men with tanks were standing there and then 278 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:42,040 Speaker 1: they said to me, we are going to spare you 279 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:45,000 Speaker 1: because you're Indian, but please go back to your apartment. 280 00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:48,320 Speaker 1: Don't come to this area. So I had some near misses. 281 00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:52,680 Speaker 1: But I was so naive and so innocent. There was 282 00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:56,760 Speaker 1: an incredible movie called Lust for Life, story of Vincent 283 00:15:56,880 --> 00:15:59,880 Speaker 1: van Go and I've I've been wanting to see this 284 00:16:00,120 --> 00:16:03,520 Speaker 1: movie and it was playing in a Beirut theater and 285 00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:05,680 Speaker 1: the main theater in Beirut. It's a friend of mine 286 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:09,200 Speaker 1: and I. We had like no money, so we knew 287 00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:11,160 Speaker 1: the tickets were like two pounds or something. So we 288 00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:12,880 Speaker 1: decided to go to the theater and say, you know, 289 00:16:12,880 --> 00:16:14,840 Speaker 1: they're shelling all around, we binds, we just go to 290 00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:17,320 Speaker 1: the theater. So we went there and the guy says 291 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:20,160 Speaker 1: to us a lot, it's four hundred pounds that there's 292 00:16:20,200 --> 00:16:22,680 Speaker 1: the price. We're like, why four hundred pounds? He said, 293 00:16:22,920 --> 00:16:24,960 Speaker 1: because you're the only tool in the theater and I 294 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:27,440 Speaker 1: have to do the whole I have to run the 295 00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:30,920 Speaker 1: movie for you. So we I mean that four hundred 296 00:16:30,920 --> 00:16:33,600 Speaker 1: pounds of the entire savings from the entire male a 297 00:16:33,640 --> 00:16:35,520 Speaker 1: few months we had so we said no, thank you 298 00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:39,920 Speaker 1: and went back and that evening that theater was raised 299 00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:42,960 Speaker 1: to the ground. It was raised to the ground. So 300 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:45,920 Speaker 1: the next morning where we went to work, the theater 301 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:49,600 Speaker 1: didn't exist. Do you think that I had a lasting 302 00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:54,360 Speaker 1: impact on your perspective moving forward? It made me understand 303 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:59,640 Speaker 1: what hatred and anger can do to such beautiful places 304 00:16:59,680 --> 00:17:06,040 Speaker 1: and people, because people's emotions were so high, and we 305 00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:10,520 Speaker 1: were innocent and sort of shielded from what was actually happening. 306 00:17:10,920 --> 00:17:15,320 Speaker 1: But Beirut is probably one of the most beautiful places 307 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:18,400 Speaker 1: in the world. The mountain meets the sea in its 308 00:17:18,600 --> 00:17:25,000 Speaker 1: most majestic way, and the streets were like the Alhamra 309 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:27,840 Speaker 1: was like one of the most beautiful streets. They're like 310 00:17:27,920 --> 00:17:32,720 Speaker 1: it's like Paris on steroids. And everything was destroyed. The 311 00:17:32,840 --> 00:17:38,200 Speaker 1: relics were destroyed, the history was destroyed, and many many 312 00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:41,439 Speaker 1: have many friends who are Lebanese, and I've sort of 313 00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:44,720 Speaker 1: kept up with what has happened, and so it just 314 00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:49,360 Speaker 1: tells you that hedred and war don't really can destroy 315 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:55,000 Speaker 1: things forever. Beautifilll never regain its majesty. So it colored 316 00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:59,000 Speaker 1: me that way that we all have to be really 317 00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:00,000 Speaker 1: aware of the consequence. 318 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:04,000 Speaker 2: Chandrika was one of the last of the City Bank 319 00:18:04,040 --> 00:18:07,520 Speaker 2: employees to evacuate from there. She moved to Calcutta and 320 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:10,879 Speaker 2: Bombay and continued to work for City Bank until she 321 00:18:10,960 --> 00:18:14,360 Speaker 2: was interviewed for a job at McKenzie. Unsurprisingly, she got 322 00:18:14,440 --> 00:18:16,920 Speaker 2: the job and moved across the pond to New York City. 323 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:20,679 Speaker 2: We're going to take a short break for some ads. 324 00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:26,320 Speaker 2: Now back to the show. 325 00:18:27,160 --> 00:18:30,760 Speaker 1: And you arrived in the winter with no Western clothes 326 00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:34,000 Speaker 1: or no Western clothes. I had a you know, it 327 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:38,560 Speaker 1: was a blizzard. It was that amazingly horrible blizzard of January. 328 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:41,119 Speaker 1: It was the end of January. I hadn't really seen 329 00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:44,120 Speaker 1: snow until then. I don't think i'd seen snow. I've 330 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:47,040 Speaker 1: never seen snow until then. And I came from a town. 331 00:18:47,119 --> 00:18:50,960 Speaker 1: When the weather became eighty degrees, everyone would say, oh, 332 00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:54,720 Speaker 1: make sure you take your shoulder, because you're so used 333 00:18:54,720 --> 00:18:56,840 Speaker 1: to one hundred degree and one hundred and five is 334 00:18:56,880 --> 00:19:00,320 Speaker 1: like the normal temperature. At eighty you might catch cold, 335 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:02,720 Speaker 1: you know. And here I was in the middle of 336 00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:05,520 Speaker 1: the thing, and I borrowed a size twelve code. I 337 00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:08,480 Speaker 1: was about a size zero at that time. Was I 338 00:19:08,560 --> 00:19:12,639 Speaker 1: weighed nothing, but somebody lent me a huge thin coat. 339 00:19:13,280 --> 00:19:16,000 Speaker 1: And I had a yellow silk sorry I know the 340 00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:19,520 Speaker 1: exact still have that, sorry, and open toed slippers. And 341 00:19:19,600 --> 00:19:23,080 Speaker 1: I was straping around the blizzard of New York in 342 00:19:23,119 --> 00:19:25,760 Speaker 1: the Miczina. Be fortunate. It was like a three block 343 00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:30,080 Speaker 1: walk from the hotel, the Middletown Hotel, to to McKinsey's 344 00:19:30,119 --> 00:19:33,600 Speaker 1: offices on forty sixth Street. But I'll never forget the 345 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:38,000 Speaker 1: bone chilling cold of my open toes touching the icy snow, 346 00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:41,240 Speaker 1: and on my feet are sinking in, my sorry, sinking in, 347 00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:43,720 Speaker 1: and then I'm going out to do sixteen interviews over 348 00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:46,080 Speaker 1: the next two days. I had a yellow Surrey and 349 00:19:46,119 --> 00:19:48,480 Speaker 1: a blue Surrey and I have just those. And you know, 350 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:52,159 Speaker 1: there are thick silks and there are thin selts, and 351 00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:55,440 Speaker 1: I had the thinnest silk you can imagine. And nobody 352 00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:58,920 Speaker 1: ever asked me, are you planning to change your clothes once. 353 00:19:58,760 --> 00:19:59,480 Speaker 2: You join us? 354 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:02,760 Speaker 1: That's interesting. No one asked me that because they knew 355 00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:07,440 Speaker 1: I was truly fob fresh off the boat, truly because 356 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:12,880 Speaker 1: I didn't have the runway that people have when you're 357 00:20:12,920 --> 00:20:16,920 Speaker 1: coming to university. Here, when you come to university, you 358 00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:20,159 Speaker 1: can make all your mistakes. You know. It's a very enduring, loving, 359 00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:23,840 Speaker 1: cherished environment. You have classmates, you have professors, you're taken 360 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:27,240 Speaker 1: care of your student services. I had none of that. 361 00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:30,480 Speaker 1: I went straight. I came and into the interviews and 362 00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:31,600 Speaker 1: then into the boardrooms. 363 00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:35,160 Speaker 3: Wow, So what was that like once you moved here? 364 00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:38,160 Speaker 3: It must have been a huge. 365 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:41,119 Speaker 1: My first week, my first day I came into because 366 00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:43,199 Speaker 1: it was like the Thursday or something, and then the 367 00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:45,600 Speaker 1: senior partner I was assigned to call me up and 368 00:20:45,640 --> 00:20:49,800 Speaker 1: he said, well, we're going to New Jersey on Monday morning. 369 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:54,160 Speaker 1: Our client is in Abisco, and I expect you will 370 00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:57,320 Speaker 1: be in New Jersey at eight o'clock in the morning. 371 00:20:57,359 --> 00:21:00,240 Speaker 1: We have a meeting with the CEO. I'm saying okay. 372 00:21:00,359 --> 00:21:03,080 Speaker 1: I mean typically it's like someone says jump, you're supposed 373 00:21:03,080 --> 00:21:05,840 Speaker 1: to say how hi, And that's that's the training I had. 374 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:08,800 Speaker 1: I remember, McKinsey was like the Brainiacs of the BRAINIACX, 375 00:21:09,040 --> 00:21:13,240 Speaker 1: very small, very prestigious, and this was a fantastically senior 376 00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:16,200 Speaker 1: part time. So I didn't really know how to drive. 377 00:21:16,760 --> 00:21:18,760 Speaker 1: So this is a Friday that he's telling me this, 378 00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:22,000 Speaker 1: So I call up various. I don't know many people 379 00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:24,399 Speaker 1: in New York either, so I try to find a 380 00:21:24,520 --> 00:21:28,280 Speaker 1: driving school from the Yellow Pages. So all weekend I 381 00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:30,680 Speaker 1: drove in Queens. I found a guy, and I didn't 382 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:33,119 Speaker 1: have much money either. I mean, they've given me a 383 00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:37,200 Speaker 1: check which I haven't yet cashed, so I'm basically going 384 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:40,480 Speaker 1: and driving around. I found somebody who would cheaply teach 385 00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:44,360 Speaker 1: me driving. I had a license which was from India, 386 00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:47,080 Speaker 1: which was like I would say, it's a bribe license, 387 00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:49,840 Speaker 1: because you know, I needed an international license. That's what 388 00:21:49,920 --> 00:21:52,520 Speaker 1: I had. I without much I mean, I passed a test, 389 00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:55,959 Speaker 1: but I didn't have any experience. So I drove for 390 00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:58,600 Speaker 1: like eight hours. But this was in the streets of Queens. 391 00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:01,359 Speaker 1: So Monday morning, I'm supposed to be in New Jersey, 392 00:22:01,359 --> 00:22:04,240 Speaker 1: in Parsipity in New Jersey at eight am, so I 393 00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:06,919 Speaker 1: look up the atlas and just figure out it's going 394 00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:09,280 Speaker 1: to be an hour to get there. I've never driven 395 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:12,479 Speaker 1: on any highway. I don't know about slow lanes and 396 00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:14,920 Speaker 1: fast lane. So I go on this. I leave four 397 00:22:14,920 --> 00:22:16,919 Speaker 1: hours before the eight o'clock I left left home at 398 00:22:16,960 --> 00:22:19,639 Speaker 1: four thirty day or something, and I'm sitting on the 399 00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:22,520 Speaker 1: slowest lane and I'm driving at about five miles an 400 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:25,679 Speaker 1: hour because I'm so scared to drive because I've never driven. 401 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:27,919 Speaker 1: I'm saying, I don't want to hit anyone, but of 402 00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:31,320 Speaker 1: course everyone's giving me the finger, and I'm waving to 403 00:22:31,359 --> 00:22:36,359 Speaker 1: everybody because I'm thinking, how friendly Americans that all they're 404 00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:39,879 Speaker 1: doing is like you ask, get off the fast lane. 405 00:22:39,920 --> 00:22:42,720 Speaker 1: You're slowing up traffic. Because by then I was going 406 00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:45,679 Speaker 1: so slowly that you know, I was right in the Russia, 407 00:22:46,119 --> 00:22:48,200 Speaker 1: you know, by six thirty seven, on my way to 408 00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:51,200 Speaker 1: New Jersey whatever it was. And so finally I reached 409 00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:54,920 Speaker 1: New Jersey in time. I made it. Yeah, oh that's 410 00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:57,080 Speaker 1: the other thing, you know. And then in America the 411 00:22:57,240 --> 00:23:00,959 Speaker 1: roads bank, you know, they're slightly indented, I mean they 412 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:04,280 Speaker 1: slightly inclined, and you don't notice that. So I thought, 413 00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:07,160 Speaker 1: of course I'd never really driven, so I wasn't sure 414 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:09,199 Speaker 1: what the angle of the car was supposed to be. 415 00:23:09,359 --> 00:23:11,840 Speaker 1: So I'm stopping the car in the middle of the highway, 416 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:14,040 Speaker 1: opening the door to make sure I don't have a 417 00:23:14,080 --> 00:23:16,800 Speaker 1: flat tire, because it somehow feels like I have flat 418 00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:19,119 Speaker 1: tires on one or two sides, but I wouldn't have 419 00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:21,760 Speaker 1: known what to do. So I'm thinking, I want to 420 00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:23,440 Speaker 1: make sure I don't have a flat tire. So these 421 00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:26,439 Speaker 1: ridiculous thoughts are going through my head. And then I 422 00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:30,840 Speaker 1: arrived in New Jersey, and then I learned my ropes. 423 00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:35,119 Speaker 1: How did you stay focused? I mean, you advanced quite 424 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:38,480 Speaker 1: quickly within McKinsey. Your work must have been exceptional. 425 00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:40,679 Speaker 3: How did you stay focused with so much to learn 426 00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:43,120 Speaker 3: about everything around you? 427 00:23:43,119 --> 00:23:47,159 Speaker 1: You know, this basically was really my training ground. I 428 00:23:47,240 --> 00:23:50,560 Speaker 1: learned so much about myself. I learned so much about 429 00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:54,400 Speaker 1: how to deal with people, and I learned that I'm 430 00:23:54,520 --> 00:23:58,320 Speaker 1: capable of a lot more than I think I am. 431 00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:01,200 Speaker 1: You know, you're winning the pool saving They're saying you're 432 00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:04,080 Speaker 1: braver than you believe, You're stronger than you've seen. And 433 00:24:04,119 --> 00:24:07,399 Speaker 1: I think that's really I lived that we need to 434 00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:12,360 Speaker 1: pull maxim in a way because every in every setting, 435 00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:17,880 Speaker 1: I had problems. I had challenges. CEOs, senior executives from 436 00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:20,800 Speaker 1: the banking industry, which is one of the most traditional industries, 437 00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:25,640 Speaker 1: who've never really had a woman in the boardroom or 438 00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:31,119 Speaker 1: in any senior position, certainly not an Indian woman who 439 00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:36,520 Speaker 1: spoke funny, who spoke fast, who spoke differently, and didn't 440 00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:39,800 Speaker 1: have any common ground with them. So people would find 441 00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:44,359 Speaker 1: the most ridiculous ways to find common ground. This is 442 00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:48,080 Speaker 1: I'm talking of nineteen seventy nine. In nineteen eighty nobody 443 00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:53,040 Speaker 1: people just knew of India, as you know, somebody that 444 00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:56,040 Speaker 1: cows were on the road the taj Mahal. Everyone would 445 00:24:56,080 --> 00:24:57,920 Speaker 1: ask me about the taj Mahal. I hadn't even seen 446 00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:01,240 Speaker 1: the taj Mahall myself, and everybody would tell me about 447 00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:05,840 Speaker 1: that one Indian friend they had from some part of 448 00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:08,000 Speaker 1: the world, and they'd say, are you related to them? 449 00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:10,520 Speaker 1: And I'd want to explain to that that it was me. 450 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:14,280 Speaker 1: Did have eight hundred million people and you know, so yeh, possibly, 451 00:25:14,359 --> 00:25:18,239 Speaker 1: but didn't sound likely. But after a while, you know, 452 00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:21,080 Speaker 1: this became a I started to think about it because 453 00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:24,960 Speaker 1: I would every time I would have this feeling in 454 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:26,840 Speaker 1: the pit of my stomach, like, oh wow, why are 455 00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:28,800 Speaker 1: they talking to me like this? But they wouldn't do 456 00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:32,119 Speaker 1: this to anyone else. Then I decided, you know, they're 457 00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:35,439 Speaker 1: doing this because they're trying to find common ground. I 458 00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:39,240 Speaker 1: gave them the best I ascribed the best intention to them. 459 00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:41,560 Speaker 1: I think the second thing which I made as a 460 00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:46,280 Speaker 1: policy is that I decided that when I walked into 461 00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:49,000 Speaker 1: a room, I wouldn't think of myself as a woman. 462 00:25:49,280 --> 00:25:52,760 Speaker 1: I wouldn't think of myself as having come from India 463 00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:55,320 Speaker 1: or not, whatever it is. When I walked into a 464 00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:59,920 Speaker 1: room as a McKinsey associate or a partner, whatever I 465 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:02,760 Speaker 1: walked in, I walked into the room because I was 466 00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:06,240 Speaker 1: the best there is. I had done an incredible amount 467 00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:09,080 Speaker 1: of work. I knew a lot about the issues talking about. 468 00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:11,960 Speaker 1: I was so well prepared, and I was there to 469 00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:14,440 Speaker 1: deliver what I came in for. I was very clear, 470 00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:16,960 Speaker 1: I was very confident, and if we wanted to debate 471 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:19,639 Speaker 1: the issues, We're happy to debate them. So there was 472 00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:23,959 Speaker 1: no extraneous noise in my head. I never walked in unprepared. 473 00:26:24,760 --> 00:26:29,000 Speaker 1: I worked harder than anyone I knew. I was an 474 00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:31,159 Speaker 1: expert in whatever I did, and whatever I didn't know, 475 00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:33,479 Speaker 1: if people pointed it out to me, I went and fixed. 476 00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:36,560 Speaker 1: So that was my mot and I cared a lot 477 00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:39,800 Speaker 1: about what my clients thought. I cared a lot about 478 00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:44,520 Speaker 1: delivering value. So my mantra was impact. That's what my 479 00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:46,919 Speaker 1: life in Kinsey was about what my life and my 480 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:48,000 Speaker 1: firm was about. 481 00:26:49,240 --> 00:26:52,920 Speaker 2: Seandrika's success in the world of business cannot be overstated. 482 00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:56,359 Speaker 2: After over a decade at McKenzie, working as the lead 483 00:26:56,440 --> 00:26:59,639 Speaker 2: on some of the largest mergers and accounts, she left 484 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:02,680 Speaker 2: to start her own firm, Tanton Capital Associates in nineteen 485 00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:07,040 Speaker 2: ninety two. Business took off. In fact, anyone that she 486 00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:10,760 Speaker 2: worked with had to report it to the SEC because 487 00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:15,600 Speaker 2: their stock would immediately change. Yet throughout all her business achievements, 488 00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:18,200 Speaker 2: it was music that continued to play in the back 489 00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:21,439 Speaker 2: of her mind, that what if that we all have? 490 00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:26,840 Speaker 2: And it bubbled its way to the surface. I sang 491 00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:28,080 Speaker 2: before I could speak. 492 00:27:28,359 --> 00:27:28,800 Speaker 5: And you. 493 00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:42,840 Speaker 1: Fit did as dude, befo. I mean, I did you know? 494 00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:44,920 Speaker 1: I told you we came from a very simple house. 495 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:47,680 Speaker 1: I had so many jobs. You know, at four am 496 00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:49,639 Speaker 1: or four point thirty, the milkman would come and you 497 00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:51,520 Speaker 1: had to stand there and watch them milk the cow. 498 00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:54,480 Speaker 1: And that was all my job. We had those jobs, 499 00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:57,520 Speaker 1: so I'd just be singing. From that time on. There'd 500 00:27:57,520 --> 00:28:01,040 Speaker 1: be a radio station always playing music. Music was in 501 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:05,439 Speaker 1: my brain and in fact I learned music when I 502 00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:07,520 Speaker 1: was younger, and then stopped because I went into the 503 00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:10,440 Speaker 1: whole business world in an intense way, but I was 504 00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:14,720 Speaker 1: still I was singing. But twenty three or nineteen ninety nine, 505 00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:18,920 Speaker 1: I had an epiphany, crisis of spirit. I just said, 506 00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:21,480 Speaker 1: I have to really look at my life and see 507 00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:25,520 Speaker 1: what makes me happy and what really would make my 508 00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:29,080 Speaker 1: life complete. And then that's when I said, I'm living 509 00:28:29,119 --> 00:28:32,840 Speaker 1: in such a selfish bubble of or you know. I 510 00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:37,440 Speaker 1: was very successful in my work, very successful company, had 511 00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:40,239 Speaker 1: lots of money, no one gave it to me. I 512 00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:44,640 Speaker 1: made everything myself. I came in with nothing, but I wasn't. 513 00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:49,840 Speaker 1: I wasn't living a useful life in that sense. And 514 00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:52,640 Speaker 1: so I wanted to expand my definition of what my 515 00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:56,200 Speaker 1: life was about. And it was a particularly difficult thing 516 00:28:56,240 --> 00:29:00,160 Speaker 1: to do because I was poised to take on a 517 00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:03,880 Speaker 1: very very large deal which would have vaulted my company 518 00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:06,960 Speaker 1: into another realm. It would have been personally very taxing. 519 00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:10,800 Speaker 1: It's a mega deal in Europe where I'd have had 520 00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:13,400 Speaker 1: to spend a lot of time there. But I decided 521 00:29:13,520 --> 00:29:16,920 Speaker 1: I needed I couldn't. I had to stop pause and 522 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:20,360 Speaker 1: think about intentionally how I wanted to spend my time. 523 00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:23,680 Speaker 1: And I decided that whatever I did, I still wanted 524 00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:27,600 Speaker 1: to do my business, but music had to be part 525 00:29:27,640 --> 00:29:31,160 Speaker 1: of it. My happiest times had to do with music, 526 00:29:31,480 --> 00:29:35,320 Speaker 1: where I was singing with people by myself, and I 527 00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:37,080 Speaker 1: just didn't have time to do that much of them. 528 00:29:37,600 --> 00:29:40,240 Speaker 1: And the second thing I decided is that I wanted 529 00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:45,200 Speaker 1: to do something that didn't just involve me. I wanted 530 00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:48,280 Speaker 1: to clearly have a life of service of some kind 531 00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:51,040 Speaker 1: where I did, even if it's a random act of kindness, 532 00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:55,560 Speaker 1: that I would measure myself every day by something good 533 00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:58,000 Speaker 1: I did. No one needed to know it, but I 534 00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:00,560 Speaker 1: was going to do that. So I done enough for 535 00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:04,160 Speaker 1: myself and that was my commitment. So it's almost like 536 00:30:04,800 --> 00:30:07,600 Speaker 1: it this whole thing was a conversation with myself. And 537 00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:09,640 Speaker 1: that's when I went back to music and I started 538 00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:12,400 Speaker 1: to beg people to teach me because I wanted to learn. 539 00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:14,560 Speaker 1: I didn't want to perform. It wasn't for any of that. 540 00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:17,440 Speaker 1: I wanted to sing and I wanted to sing really well, 541 00:30:17,840 --> 00:30:20,880 Speaker 1: so I wanted to learn from the masters. And in India, 542 00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:24,320 Speaker 1: no masters will teach you when you were in your forties, 543 00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:26,920 Speaker 1: you know, because they take people to become their pupils 544 00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:29,640 Speaker 1: when they are five and they you know, the system 545 00:30:29,720 --> 00:30:32,880 Speaker 1: is that they you move in, you give up. It's 546 00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:36,040 Speaker 1: u a dimensional. If you're an artist, you don't do 547 00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:39,280 Speaker 1: anything else. But as here I was, I wasn't going 548 00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:40,800 Speaker 1: to give up the rest of my life. I just 549 00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:43,160 Speaker 1: wanted to sing for a few hours a day, and 550 00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:46,520 Speaker 1: no master was interested. But then little by little when 551 00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:48,320 Speaker 1: I you know, when they would work with me, they 552 00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:51,880 Speaker 1: would see so then everybody would say, oh, you're so good, 553 00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:54,680 Speaker 1: you really now need to spend all your time, come 554 00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:57,600 Speaker 1: with me, perform with me. But I couldn't do that either. 555 00:30:58,200 --> 00:31:00,120 Speaker 1: I wasn't going to walk away from my family. I 556 00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:01,760 Speaker 1: wasn't going to walk away from my company. I had 557 00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:05,800 Speaker 1: a daughter. So it was it was balancing these dimensions 558 00:31:06,480 --> 00:31:11,880 Speaker 1: and consciously creating a multi dimensional life with music as 559 00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:16,120 Speaker 1: a big piece of it, and service and my business 560 00:31:16,320 --> 00:31:21,640 Speaker 1: and my family became a very important juggling act. But 561 00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:24,880 Speaker 1: I started, I said, ultimately that became my definition of 562 00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:28,760 Speaker 1: success as well. Success to me then wasn't about money. 563 00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:34,600 Speaker 1: Success was simply having the freedom to do exactly what 564 00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:37,720 Speaker 1: you wanted and that in the way that makes you 565 00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:41,600 Speaker 1: most happy. And so to me, that's kind of how 566 00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:45,320 Speaker 1: my life ended. Up completely getting redefined. 567 00:31:46,200 --> 00:31:49,480 Speaker 3: So from a functional perspective, how did you divide up 568 00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:52,800 Speaker 3: now that you've decided that you have these three prongs 569 00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:55,440 Speaker 3: that you're going to work on your business, your music, 570 00:31:55,480 --> 00:31:58,840 Speaker 3: and your service. Did you go like for a couple 571 00:31:58,840 --> 00:32:02,120 Speaker 3: of weeks in one bucket at a time and then switch? 572 00:32:02,240 --> 00:32:03,959 Speaker 3: Did you do all three at the same time? What 573 00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:06,600 Speaker 3: did it functionally look like for you? So the first 574 00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:09,080 Speaker 3: thing I did is I decided not to do this 575 00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:11,400 Speaker 3: make a deal. So I decided I wasn't going to 576 00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:14,640 Speaker 3: do deals that involved me going away from home for 577 00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:18,080 Speaker 3: months on end, living in different countries. That's what I 578 00:32:18,120 --> 00:32:20,400 Speaker 3: was doing. So I said, I was going to restructure 579 00:32:20,440 --> 00:32:21,880 Speaker 3: the business side of what I was going to do. 580 00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:24,800 Speaker 3: But you know, there's a roomy saying which says, when 581 00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:29,120 Speaker 3: you take one step towards the divine, the divine takes 582 00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:32,560 Speaker 3: ten steps towards you. And there's a universal synchronicity, you know, 583 00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:34,840 Speaker 3: when you decide you really want and it's the right 584 00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:38,120 Speaker 3: thing to do. And truly that's what happened. 585 00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:41,560 Speaker 2: Seandraka took a step back, looking for a new way 586 00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:44,360 Speaker 2: to engage that could live at the intersection of music 587 00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:47,600 Speaker 2: and business. The universe truly rose to meet her when 588 00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:50,000 Speaker 2: she was offered a position to teach at NYU for 589 00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:52,680 Speaker 2: just a few hours a week. When we come back, 590 00:32:52,840 --> 00:32:56,200 Speaker 2: Schandraka talks about her new role at NYU and how 591 00:32:56,240 --> 00:32:59,640 Speaker 2: her work there allowed her to pursue music and art. 592 00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:06,480 Speaker 2: Now back to the show. 593 00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:09,640 Speaker 1: Next thing I know, I'm there three days a week. 594 00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:14,560 Speaker 1: I'm teaching classes, I'm working on strategy projects. I'm with 595 00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:18,120 Speaker 1: the dean like his shadow, you know. And we were 596 00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:20,920 Speaker 1: restructuring the school. We were doing so many great things. 597 00:33:21,160 --> 00:33:23,200 Speaker 1: So since I had an office at the business school, 598 00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:25,760 Speaker 1: I was doing my business there as well. But then 599 00:33:25,800 --> 00:33:29,040 Speaker 1: I started to just do music very religiously. So I 600 00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:32,800 Speaker 1: would find teachers and fly the teachers in or take 601 00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:35,320 Speaker 1: breaks in between, or just say, okay, I'm going to 602 00:33:35,360 --> 00:33:38,760 Speaker 1: go to India for two weeks when my daughter was 603 00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:42,640 Speaker 1: in camp, and I would not schedule deals at that time. 604 00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:46,960 Speaker 1: So it requires planning. It requires very As they say, 605 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:51,040 Speaker 1: you know, your calendar decides what you do. You can 606 00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:53,440 Speaker 1: say all the things you like, but ultimately you have 607 00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:55,080 Speaker 1: to look at your calendar. Right. You can say I 608 00:33:55,080 --> 00:33:57,280 Speaker 1: want to do music, but if you're not singing in 609 00:33:57,320 --> 00:33:59,640 Speaker 1: your calendar at all, what does it mean, so I 610 00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:03,280 Speaker 1: had to really work to organize myself and I had 611 00:34:03,320 --> 00:34:07,440 Speaker 1: a lot of help, Universal's help between NYU and then 612 00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:10,200 Speaker 1: NYU also. Then that's how I got engaged with the NYU. 613 00:34:10,480 --> 00:34:12,719 Speaker 1: So the still in school, and then one thing led 614 00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:15,239 Speaker 1: to another. Then they invited me to the board and 615 00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:18,279 Speaker 1: then I started to get more and more engaged. What 616 00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:19,279 Speaker 1: was the connection there? 617 00:34:19,320 --> 00:34:22,560 Speaker 3: So you gave and named the Tandon School of Engineering, 618 00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:25,759 Speaker 3: but very tight in with art and very tight in 619 00:34:25,800 --> 00:34:27,320 Speaker 3: with art right. 620 00:34:27,200 --> 00:34:31,040 Speaker 1: So the art side. See, my sort of life goals 621 00:34:31,120 --> 00:34:35,520 Speaker 1: have really been around two themes. One is economic empowerment, 622 00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:40,320 Speaker 1: letting everybody have economic empowerment. And I think technology is 623 00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:44,520 Speaker 1: a very big way to get economic empoundent because technology 624 00:34:44,560 --> 00:34:47,839 Speaker 1: is changing every industry in ways like here we are 625 00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:54,719 Speaker 1: sitting and talking to the world within microphones and podcasts 626 00:34:54,760 --> 00:34:58,520 Speaker 1: and all of that. The music industry, the visual arts industry, 627 00:34:58,640 --> 00:35:02,080 Speaker 1: the medical industry, every it's changing and we ain't seen 628 00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:05,759 Speaker 1: nothing yet, I mean, the whole it's a wave. And 629 00:35:05,840 --> 00:35:09,520 Speaker 1: so to me that was a reason. So economic empowerment 630 00:35:09,719 --> 00:35:12,760 Speaker 1: to me is a very important part of where I'd 631 00:35:12,800 --> 00:35:16,200 Speaker 1: like to focus my attention. And so the investment of 632 00:35:16,239 --> 00:35:20,080 Speaker 1: the of the engineering school was because I just saw 633 00:35:20,160 --> 00:35:26,120 Speaker 1: that investing in that would really empower whole generations of 634 00:35:26,239 --> 00:35:30,680 Speaker 1: kids to be tech savvy and to be changed because 635 00:35:30,719 --> 00:35:33,640 Speaker 1: once they graduate from the engineering school, they are able 636 00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:38,000 Speaker 1: to get fantastic jobs. And so that was one angle 637 00:35:38,560 --> 00:35:40,760 Speaker 1: when we invested in the school. A very big proportion 638 00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:43,600 Speaker 1: of the school was first generation, first in the family 639 00:35:43,640 --> 00:35:46,040 Speaker 1: to go to college, and a lot of women, So 640 00:35:46,160 --> 00:35:48,560 Speaker 1: it was a very It was exactly the group that 641 00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:52,759 Speaker 1: I wanted to touch in whatever way we could. The 642 00:35:52,840 --> 00:35:57,080 Speaker 1: second side of the empowerment is emotional empowerment through music, 643 00:35:57,480 --> 00:36:02,480 Speaker 1: which to me, my lesson my own life is that 644 00:36:02,760 --> 00:36:06,040 Speaker 1: music was a great joy to me. But most importantly, 645 00:36:06,600 --> 00:36:11,080 Speaker 1: music helped me find myself because to really be a 646 00:36:11,120 --> 00:36:14,880 Speaker 1: good musician, you have to have a quiet mind. For 647 00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:18,080 Speaker 1: the kind of music I do, you have to quiet 648 00:36:18,560 --> 00:36:21,960 Speaker 1: all your senses, you have to quiet your thoughts, and 649 00:36:22,040 --> 00:36:24,279 Speaker 1: the more you quiet your thoughts, you start to get 650 00:36:24,280 --> 00:36:28,320 Speaker 1: into this deep place of joy, this place of bliss, 651 00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:32,880 Speaker 1: this place of deep meditation. So for me, music was 652 00:36:32,920 --> 00:36:39,640 Speaker 1: my gateway into meditation, into deep states of transcendence and 653 00:36:40,280 --> 00:36:43,000 Speaker 1: finding a greater joy. And that's why the music and 654 00:36:43,080 --> 00:36:46,279 Speaker 1: the service have gone hand in hand, because once you 655 00:36:46,360 --> 00:36:51,280 Speaker 1: feel that sense of deep connection not just with yourself, 656 00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:54,040 Speaker 1: but then you feel it with everyone, you feel it 657 00:36:54,080 --> 00:36:56,480 Speaker 1: for the world. You really want to be connected, you 658 00:36:56,600 --> 00:36:59,520 Speaker 1: want you feel it all one, you feel you want 659 00:36:59,560 --> 00:37:03,000 Speaker 1: to serve more. And so to me, that's been my journey. 660 00:37:03,280 --> 00:37:06,400 Speaker 1: So I wanted to really have music be part of 661 00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:10,040 Speaker 1: what we do to heal to for people to find 662 00:37:10,120 --> 00:37:13,839 Speaker 1: their own center. So every album I've done has been 663 00:37:14,480 --> 00:37:17,800 Speaker 1: variations of that idea. 664 00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:37,880 Speaker 5: Hila Clari, Fenimol, Pomoney, j Truve, Lucy pelluam Me, Sweebee, 665 00:37:40,040 --> 00:37:43,640 Speaker 5: Hailiadotakushma Jemmy. 666 00:37:44,440 --> 00:37:49,080 Speaker 2: A Grammy nominated artist. Chandrika has performed all over the world, 667 00:37:49,600 --> 00:37:53,040 Speaker 2: from Lincoln Center to the Kennedy Center to the India 668 00:37:53,120 --> 00:37:56,880 Speaker 2: World Culture Festival, and she shows no signs of stopping. 669 00:37:57,560 --> 00:38:00,759 Speaker 1: The newest album I have started out as a just 670 00:38:00,760 --> 00:38:03,799 Speaker 1: as singing to my grandchildren, and then I put all 671 00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:06,680 Speaker 1: those songs together because I wanted to leave that behind 672 00:38:06,719 --> 00:38:09,880 Speaker 1: for them. But this has turned into something more because 673 00:38:09,920 --> 00:38:13,880 Speaker 1: I've been just singing these songs now with the children 674 00:38:13,880 --> 00:38:18,720 Speaker 1: in Ukraine, in Prague, with the refugees children in Ukraine, 675 00:38:18,760 --> 00:38:21,600 Speaker 1: and then I've just done this in Washington, DC. And 676 00:38:21,640 --> 00:38:26,640 Speaker 1: so it's become such an expression of intergenerational love where 677 00:38:26,680 --> 00:38:31,640 Speaker 1: people can sing together across ages, across borders. And most 678 00:38:31,640 --> 00:38:34,840 Speaker 1: of these children, not most, no one spoke English, and 679 00:38:34,920 --> 00:38:37,240 Speaker 1: yet they were singing these songs in English. They wanted 680 00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:41,040 Speaker 1: to do these chants in Sanskrit. So the journey I'm 681 00:38:41,040 --> 00:38:44,640 Speaker 1: on in this next phase of my life is part 682 00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:47,760 Speaker 1: of this. One of the key parts of the journey 683 00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:51,280 Speaker 1: I'm on is to really use music to sing with people, 684 00:38:51,880 --> 00:38:55,759 Speaker 1: and to sing with all ages in different languages as 685 00:38:55,760 --> 00:38:59,240 Speaker 1: a way of building community, as a way of building connection, 686 00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:03,239 Speaker 1: because I think it's a huge Music knows no boundaries 687 00:39:03,920 --> 00:39:08,080 Speaker 1: and music can heal. You don't need to be ao 688 00:39:08,200 --> 00:39:12,920 Speaker 1: boc to come together and meet song. So that's my 689 00:39:13,840 --> 00:39:14,799 Speaker 1: journey right now. 690 00:39:16,200 --> 00:39:18,240 Speaker 3: Do you think there's a piece that brings you back 691 00:39:18,360 --> 00:39:21,520 Speaker 3: to your formative relationship with your grandfather, the how you 692 00:39:21,560 --> 00:39:23,960 Speaker 3: can have this sing along moment with your grandchildren. 693 00:39:24,120 --> 00:39:27,680 Speaker 1: Absolutely? And what is what I think has been the 694 00:39:27,760 --> 00:39:33,120 Speaker 1: biggest revelation in this part of my journey now is 695 00:39:33,160 --> 00:39:35,839 Speaker 1: that it started out as a gift to my grandchildren, 696 00:39:36,440 --> 00:39:40,040 Speaker 1: but I suddenly feel like I have hundreds of thousands 697 00:39:40,080 --> 00:39:43,719 Speaker 1: of grandchildren, because in whether it was on Prague or 698 00:39:44,120 --> 00:39:50,360 Speaker 1: in Washington, the children wanted as many hugs as anything else, 699 00:39:50,400 --> 00:39:52,880 Speaker 1: and they loved singing. And I just got, you know, 700 00:39:53,160 --> 00:39:56,839 Speaker 1: so the reaction from the children and for myself, I 701 00:39:56,960 --> 00:40:00,840 Speaker 1: just feel this love blossoming in a d room fashion, 702 00:40:01,360 --> 00:40:04,480 Speaker 1: which I never thought possible, you know, because it was 703 00:40:04,560 --> 00:40:07,440 Speaker 1: initially it was a fairly narrow view, but now it's 704 00:40:07,480 --> 00:40:12,000 Speaker 1: expanded so much. So, Yeah, it's a wonderful flowering. 705 00:40:12,640 --> 00:40:14,680 Speaker 3: What is one thing when you look back that you 706 00:40:14,800 --> 00:40:16,880 Speaker 3: feel like in the time, you thought, oh this is 707 00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:20,040 Speaker 3: this is allow, like this is really terrible, but now 708 00:40:20,080 --> 00:40:23,000 Speaker 3: in retrospect you see it as having really set you 709 00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:25,600 Speaker 3: up for the successful person that you are now. 710 00:40:26,360 --> 00:40:30,319 Speaker 1: I would say the crisis of spirit, because there was 711 00:40:30,360 --> 00:40:36,120 Speaker 1: something so traumatic and dramatic about walking away from this 712 00:40:36,640 --> 00:40:40,480 Speaker 1: mega deal, you know, and where I literally I was. 713 00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:44,920 Speaker 1: I lost all my moorings. I had defined myself as 714 00:40:44,920 --> 00:40:50,520 Speaker 1: a business person. My success quote unquote was the big 715 00:40:50,560 --> 00:40:53,719 Speaker 1: business successes I had. I was in every newspaper, you know. 716 00:40:53,760 --> 00:40:57,160 Speaker 1: I was an SEC that was a disclosable event. If 717 00:40:57,200 --> 00:41:00,200 Speaker 1: a company hired me, they needed to disclose it the 718 00:41:00,280 --> 00:41:03,800 Speaker 1: SEC because the stock price would go up and the board, 719 00:41:04,320 --> 00:41:08,160 Speaker 1: and this was one I thought I'd lost my mind 720 00:41:09,080 --> 00:41:11,640 Speaker 1: because here I came on a plane. I mean I 721 00:41:11,800 --> 00:41:15,360 Speaker 1: just met with the board all day Friday. So I 722 00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:18,520 Speaker 1: left Europe on Friday evening and I was on the plane. 723 00:41:18,560 --> 00:41:21,680 Speaker 1: I was the only passenger in first class, and I 724 00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:26,040 Speaker 1: start crying. Who does that? Not me? I was not 725 00:41:26,160 --> 00:41:29,360 Speaker 1: the crying sort, it's not I've told you my earlier 726 00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:31,840 Speaker 1: part of my life. I'm a tough cookie in a sense, 727 00:41:31,920 --> 00:41:35,600 Speaker 1: you know, But here I am just crying, and it's 728 00:41:35,640 --> 00:41:39,040 Speaker 1: not like something's fallen apart. I was just so lost 729 00:41:39,400 --> 00:41:42,520 Speaker 1: because I didn't know what I was doing. Do I 730 00:41:42,560 --> 00:41:44,640 Speaker 1: want to sign this deal? And then fortunately there were 731 00:41:44,640 --> 00:41:47,239 Speaker 1: no cell phones at that time, nobody could reach me 732 00:41:47,280 --> 00:41:49,359 Speaker 1: because they needed to announce it to the They were 733 00:41:49,360 --> 00:41:52,319 Speaker 1: doing a press release on Tuesday or Wednesday, but I 734 00:41:52,560 --> 00:41:54,560 Speaker 1: needed to sign the contract. I just told them, let 735 00:41:54,600 --> 00:41:57,120 Speaker 1: me go back to New York and and let me 736 00:41:57,560 --> 00:42:00,279 Speaker 1: do the final sign on the dot line. So I 737 00:42:00,280 --> 00:42:03,000 Speaker 1: get back and think about it. But in their mind 738 00:42:03,040 --> 00:42:06,439 Speaker 1: it was a done deal. And we'd had five six 739 00:42:06,480 --> 00:42:09,360 Speaker 1: months of negotiations to do this deal, so it was 740 00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:12,600 Speaker 1: it was not even just a low point. It was. 741 00:42:13,239 --> 00:42:19,279 Speaker 1: It was a complete deconstruction of who I was and 742 00:42:19,520 --> 00:42:25,160 Speaker 1: having to put myself back together again in a non 743 00:42:25,200 --> 00:42:30,040 Speaker 1: accidental fashion. I was an accidental person until then, and 744 00:42:30,080 --> 00:42:33,440 Speaker 1: I became more intentional person after that. That was the 745 00:42:33,480 --> 00:42:37,080 Speaker 1: biggest transition. But when I was in there, I thought 746 00:42:37,080 --> 00:42:39,719 Speaker 1: I was having a nose breakdown. I thought I was 747 00:42:39,760 --> 00:42:43,560 Speaker 1: having I was just like having a crying jag. Maybe 748 00:42:43,600 --> 00:42:46,719 Speaker 1: I was three menopausal. I mean, I put so many 749 00:42:46,840 --> 00:42:50,240 Speaker 1: labels on this because I didn't know, But it really 750 00:42:50,400 --> 00:42:53,520 Speaker 1: was the luckiest thing that ever happened to me, the 751 00:42:53,640 --> 00:42:56,640 Speaker 1: luckiest thing. Well, thank you so much for joining us 752 00:42:56,680 --> 00:42:59,319 Speaker 1: in such a great conversation. Thank you so much for 753 00:42:59,360 --> 00:43:01,040 Speaker 1: having me. I've left talking to you. 754 00:43:04,320 --> 00:43:08,280 Speaker 2: Chandrika is continuing to create music and use her platform 755 00:43:08,320 --> 00:43:13,360 Speaker 2: and resources too, as she says, elevate human happiness. Be 756 00:43:13,480 --> 00:43:16,879 Speaker 2: sure to follow Chandrika on all social media platforms at 757 00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:19,719 Speaker 2: Chandrika Tanden to stay up to date on all of 758 00:43:19,760 --> 00:43:24,960 Speaker 2: her amazing happenings. Thanks for listening to this episode of 759 00:43:25,000 --> 00:43:27,880 Speaker 2: She Pivots. If you made it this far, you're a 760 00:43:27,920 --> 00:43:30,680 Speaker 2: true pivoter, So thanks for being part of this community. 761 00:43:31,320 --> 00:43:33,640 Speaker 2: I hope you enjoyed this episode, and if you did 762 00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:36,440 Speaker 2: leave us a rating, please be nice. Tell your friends 763 00:43:36,480 --> 00:43:39,440 Speaker 2: about us. To learn more about our guests, follow us 764 00:43:39,440 --> 00:43:42,759 Speaker 2: on Instagram at she pivots the Podcast, or sign up 765 00:43:42,760 --> 00:43:45,080 Speaker 2: for our newsletter where you can get exclusive behind the 766 00:43:45,120 --> 00:43:48,200 Speaker 2: scenes content, or on our website she pivots the Podcast 767 00:43:48,640 --> 00:43:55,279 Speaker 2: Talk to You Next Week. Special thanks to the she 768 00:43:55,480 --> 00:44:00,600 Speaker 2: pivots team, Executive producer Emily Edavelosk, Associate producer and social 769 00:44:00,640 --> 00:44:05,600 Speaker 2: media connoisseur Hannah Cousins, Research director Christine Dickinson, Events and 770 00:44:05,640 --> 00:44:10,040 Speaker 2: Logistics coordinator Madeline Sonoviak, and audio editor and mixer Nina 771 00:44:10,080 --> 00:44:13,600 Speaker 2: pollock I endorse Cheap Pivots