SEPTEMBERASIA BUSINESS OUTLOOK32023MOST PROMISING EXECUTIVECOACHES INDIACreating Global Leaders of Tomorrow Through Proven & Professional Executive CoachingEXECUTIVE COACHPresiding over the confluence of strategic and operational workflow, a leader plays a critical role in the overall development of the business and employees alike. But, in order to continue driving efficiency, it becomes equally imperative for high-end or aspiring leaders to be constantly agile, resilient, and adaptable to the ever-changing ecosystem. The same quest has necessitated corporates to engage in executive coaching, which has moved beyond just an HR-sponsored activity to a business-must development tool. Along with preparing individuals to effectively navigate the VUCA world, an ideal coach helps them cultivate self-awareness and harness inner potential in a safe and one-on-one atmosphere, thereby ushering them one step closer to becoming global leaders. Among the rising numbers of executive coaches in India, Ananthanarayanan T. (aka Ananth) - an industry pioneer and a visionary leader - stands as a perfect example of blending his practitioner experience with a structured coaching framework from the International Coaching Federation (ICF) to become a highly successful Executive coach. As a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) by ICF, Ananth is distinguished by his commitment to transforming leadership coaching through his proven development programs and his venture, Agrata Consulting - a Bangalore-based management and leadership development company. Ananth post his Engineering degree, joined the corporate bandwagon more than three decades back, where he rose to serve in different roles at global corporates like Microsoft and Wipro, which, in turn, helped him build his talent management forte. He grew as a leader from the impetus provided by one of his work managers and has steered multiple behavioral assessments, executive sponsorships, and business transitions in his overall professional journey. However, the additional responsibility of overseeing an NGO event and spearheading a humanitarian mission set him on the path of coaching students for a successful outcome. Upon the request of a social worker at an NGO, he started mentoring aspiring female engineers who hailed from distressed families and sought role models. He realized his ability to leverage his strengths and contribute to society when one of the girls he mentored and coached completed her MS in the USA and got employed by a leading IT company there. She continued to consistently deliver, even after migrating to India leading to his taking a call to become a coach in the future. Furthermore, while working for Microsoft, he mentored four potential leaders to scale up the corporate ladder in Microsoft. "Although that was a key inflection point, I was still not ready to cut the umbilical cord, until a dream pushed me to wake up and quit my corporate job to pursue coaching. I blended my practitioner skills with a structured framework as defined by the ICF and built the practice from the ground up without veering away," remembers Ananth. He further incorporated Agrata Consulting in 2012 and has never looked back since. "The biggest milestone was achieved five years ago, when my coachee, who was a General Manager, transitioned to become the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the organization," claims Ananth.Today, Ananth has more than 2500 hours of successful executive coaching experience and has emerged to be one of the preferred coaches for diverse and global C-suite executives as well as individuals from both prominent brands and startups, all through word-of-mouth influence. "My passion for coaching gives me the fulfillment that we all yearn for and innate happiness when I co-create success with the leader," claims Ananth. The most notable part of all is that he is considered to be one of the very few executive coaches in India who uses interpreters successfully. He has set a benchmark by successfully coaching global leaders across different nationalities, including Latin America and Europe, through interpreters, which further equipped him with the ICF competency of virtual coaching while being present at the moment.By Kavitha G
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