Megha Joshi on the Transformative Impact of Books
New York based speaker, thought-leader, leadership advisor, and podcast host Megha Joshi exudes an uncommon passion around supporting thriving executives in leveling up their leadership game. As a former corporate leader herself, she has a first-hand perspective on the immense pressures facing those in the top rungs of business.
Megha's believe in what she calls a "Whole-Human Approach, where true, lasting transformation needs to occur from the inside, across dimensions of mind, body and inner self. It’s here where she believes that books can have a profound impact in the achievement of mind-body connection, energy leadership, and peak performance in our work and personal endeavors.
Great Books, Great Minds recently had the opportunity to interview Megha about the course of her life and the role that books have played in her own ongoing ascension to greatness.
On Her Formative Years
I was born and raised in Delhi, India and moved to the United States in 2010 to get a MBA in Strategy at The Ohio State University. After those two years I got hired by Deloitte Consulting as a management consultant in New York City.
On Her Parents
I have a bit of an unconventional background. My Mom passed away when I was seven from a heart attack. Then over the years I kind of lost track of my Dad. So when I was 17, I intentionally moved out to pursue higher education.
On Family Expectations
Being from a traditional Indian family, they wanted me to settle down by the age of 18 and let my future be directed by a husband. But because I’ve always been ambitious and had a strong personality, I wanted to figure these things out myself. So that’s why I moved away. Today, I don’t have a lot of family back home in India except for my aunt and my cousins. My husband's family here is now my extended family here in the U.S.
On Reinventing Herself
In my life I have always reinvented myself time and time again. My undergraduate degree was in the technology realm so I was an engineer back in India. When I achieved my MBA in Strategy here in the U.S. I entered the business strategy realm before moving on to management consulting. This then led to a role as a corporate executive. Now more recently I am again reinventing myself as a business owner and entrepreneur, someone who is looking to drive meaningful change in the leadership and wellbeing space.
On Personal Resilience
Luckily, I was able to move up in the corporate ladder very, very fast. I was probably the youngest Vice President in a company I worked at, leading a team of 120 at 36 years of age. So over the years I have naturally grown and evolved.
On How Books Have Impacted Her
Books have been a game changer as they have really opened my mind and my consciousness to a whole different realm of possibilities. Through reading you can actually transcend hundreds of years and generations by tapping into the thoughts of people who no longer exist on this planet. I attribute a lot of my success to my reading habits which has given me the courage to continually reinvent myself.
On Libraries and Bookstores
Back in India I used to very frequent the British Council Library. It was one of those top notch libraries in Delhi where people could go in and spend the entire day. I would do that quite often, as much as I could. At Ohio State, because my business school education was incredibly intense and I’d get loaded down with case studies and a lot of reading, I didn’t necessarily find a lot of time to immerse myself in books. I would go and spend a few hours here and there at Barnes and Noble but that wasn’t a very common phenomenon because I barely slept while attending business school.
On Books and Her Evolution
Because I’m evolving as a human, my interest in books is forever evolving. So I would say that the books I truly enjoy, relate to and appreciate are usually centered around the idea of transformational leadership. They are typically at the intersection of wellbeing, resilience, and higher consciousness.
On a Book She Found Particularly Transformative
“A Course In Miracles” is one book that comes to mind as having been a powerful influence in my own journey as a human being. One of the senior executives at the last company I worked for who was also my mentor and coach got me introduced to this book. I was blown away by this book as it was so fundamental in changing how I view life and approach things. It was a game changer.
On Leadership Books
Multipliers by Liz Wiseman is a leadership book that talks about how some leaders are geniuses and the others are genius makers. It is a very fascinating, leadership style focused book that changed how I showed up as a leader and approached things with my teams. And then there is the book Trillion Dollar Coach by Bill Campbell. He was a business executive and CEO of Intuit who became an executive coach over the years. He has coached everyone you can think of in Silicon Valley — from Steve Jobs to Mark Zuckerberg to Sheryl Sandburg and Bill Gates — It’s another very very powerful business leadership book that moved me and changed me in many many ways.
On Her Latest Read
I recently read “The Code of the Extraordinary Mind” by Vishen Lakhiani. This book blends key learnings from the extraordinary minds across the world and hits on so many aspects of living a high quality, high performance life. It offers a unique cocktail of ideas to upgrade one’s thinking and live a life powered by inner genius. Like myself, I can see how many readers would relate to the stories and distilled lessons by the author. I see it as a read for anyone that appreciates a dose of inspiration with purpose!
On The Book’s Practical Takeaways
For me, the idea of bending reality in one’s favor was one of the most impactful takeaways. Vishen articulates it well that we put off our happiness in hopes of achieving our future goals. This prevents us from being happy in the moment and holds back our highest performing self. By being deeply excited about the future we are creating, while infusing the current moment with joy and fun, allows us to achieve epic results. I couldn’t agree more with this very applicable takeaway.