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Joseph Prabhakar shares his journey from being a “career IT guy” to professional speaker and executive coach. He discusses the importance of stories, both the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves and the stories we use to communicate with others.
In this conversation we talk about why being good at using stories to communicate has an impact on our lives and careers and how to use stories to be a better leader, create more sales, or make data come alive. He shares how he replaced the disempowering stories he was telling himself with empowering stories by focusing on what he was good at instead of continually focusing on what he wasn’t.
These topics are crucial to both being a better communicator as well as getting out of our own way and creating the change you are seeking in our own lives.
After you listen, let me know your most important takeaway or a-ha moment from this conversation. Email me at [email protected] or tweet to @brocedwards.
Joseph Prabhakar, Keynote Speaker, Author, Storyteller
Resilience in the face of adversity is second nature to Joseph. As a teenager in 1984, he lost his home, all his possessions and had to relocate to a different city, along with his family, to make a new life for himself. Building a new life from the ground up wasn’t easy. Riding 40 miles on a bike, seven days a week is not for the faint of heart. But that is what fueled Joseph to work his way up to be a corporate leader who would go on to establish a nationwide franchise operation and build the first hundred stores for an organization.
The comfortable life that follows a successful career, unsettles Joseph and makes him restless; the same quality that would later translate into inspiring companies to disrupt themselves constantly. This caused Joseph to displace himself – again – by choice. By moving to a new country, in 1998, with only $12 in his pocket and no job, he tested the limits of his resiliency all over again. Only this time around, the results were even better. From being an engineer, Joseph rose to run billion dollar businesses for some of the largest companies in the country, earning his stripes the old fashioned way.
Today, Joseph speaks to companies world-over, on how they should be telling their stories in a way their customers will listen. Storytelling is at the heart of what Joseph does with his corporate and coaching clients. Teaching leaders to be authentic and vulnerable, helping salespeople connect with their customers, and guiding managers and researchers present their data in a memorable fashion are just a few of the areas where Joseph applies storytelling with his corporate clients. With his own self and his coaching clients, Joseph teaches how anyone can replace their old and negative story with a positive and uplifting story and in the process live a more fulfilling life.
Joseph’s value proposition is his solid industry experience – senior executive positions in Silicon Valley companies for two decades. From automobiles to health insurance, real estate to payments, management consulting to horticulture Joseph has experience consulting and working for Fortune 50 companies across multiple verticals in corporate America. Joseph’s experience includes running mission critical operations, integrating acquisitions with legacy corporations, leading large teams across continents, growing businesses, building a nationwide franchise organization, liaising with government organizations and sharing his experience via teaching and speaking in universities and colleges.
Joseph’s speaking style focuses on engaging and entertaining the audience through his storytelling and as a consequence inspires them to disrupt themselves. With experience backing everything Joseph says, the facts, opinion and experience come with credibility and tons of stories and case studies from his work, life and ethnic background.
Joseph lives with his wife and two boys in the Silicon Valley. While not speaking or preparing for one, Joseph likes to collect plants of the Zamiaceae family, cook for his family and read “like crazy”.
Connect with Joseph:
Twitter: @jprabhakar
Website: JosephPrabhakar.com
See His TEDx Presentation:
This episode is sponsored by NutriFitt. I tried NutriFitt’s whey protein supplement after meeting the founder and hearing his journey and commitment to quality. I like to support up and coming businesses so I gave it a try and was impressed. It mixes immediately and the chocolate flavor actually tastes like chocolate, not like some chemical engineering committee’s overdone attempt. It has no artificial sweeteners, colors, or preservatives. Plus, it includes probiotics and is easy on the stomach.
Photo credit: Fox & Florals Media foxnflorals.com
Theme music: Just a Little by Shadow of Whales. Big thanks for letting me use the song. Find them, check out their videos, and get their music.