Shark Tank India judge Namita Thapar spoke about her mindset of a lifelong learner and what it means to be an aggressive entrepreneur.
🎥: Raj Shamani
🎥: Raj Shamani
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00:00If I'm not doing different things, my biggest fear in life is that I will stop growing, and I will stagnate and I live for that intellectual stimulation.
00:10One of the things I see in the youngsters these days is, yes, you want to try different things, but you shouldn't spread yourself too thin.
00:18You know, people always confuse aggression slash ego with drive.
00:30I love people who bounce off careers.
00:53Okay, they think of, and not careers, it's about mindset.
00:56So when you did CA, so you were in a mindset of key profession.
01:00Then you went to MBA Duke.
01:03That was a mindset of consulting.
01:05So you had that big corporates, big jobs, all of that.
01:09That was a mindset which you're trained for two years.
01:12Then you move to Bay Area.
01:13That's like hardcore Silicon Valley startup startup startup.
01:16And then you came back to India.
01:18Did your family business family ground value leadership and built India.
01:23So Raj, I'm just wired a certain way.
01:27I have to keep doing different things.
01:30I have to keep trying new things.
01:33Because I believe in this concept of lifelong learner.
01:36And I believe that if you keep doing the same thing for too long, the growth at some point stops.
01:41And you know Aman's favorite word, kick.
01:45So I get my kick out of growth, out of learning.
01:51So it was very important for me to keep doing different things.
01:53So while you stopped at MQR, even within MQR, whether it's my YouTube channel,
01:57Uncondition Yourself or writing a book or doing Shark Tank or starting my academy,
02:02I have to be doing different things because if I'm not doing different things,
02:07my biggest fear in life is that I will stop growing and I will stagnate.
02:12And I live for that intellectual stimulation.
02:15So I get that.
02:16And this is the answer to your question.
02:19I don't think there's anything I can say.
02:21Oh, this is my favorite.
02:22You know, I'm one of those who enjoys the journey.
02:24But here's a question beyond that.
02:26Because this, what you said is like every young person today.
02:29They have like 10,000 interests.
02:31They want to do everything and they feel.
02:36How do you choose what to do at one time?
02:38You know, that's a very good question.
02:40Because one of the things I see in the youngsters these days is,
02:43yes, you want to try different things, but you shouldn't spread yourself too thin.
02:48Okay.
02:49If you're all over the place and you don't get depth.
02:52And if you have a mindset of whatever I pick, I want to be outstanding.
02:57I want to be excellent.
02:59Then for excellence, depth is important.
03:02Focus and depth is important.
03:05And that focus and depth doesn't come if at any given point you're doing 200 things.
03:10So it's a very tricky balance, right?
03:13Because you want to be doing multiple things so that you're stimulated, you're growing.
03:17But at the same time, it's very important how you balance those things.
03:21Such that at any given time, if you do that one thing, it gets 100% focus, 100% depth.
03:27You make sure you're outstanding at it.
03:29And then you move on to the next thing.
03:31That's a philosophy that if you are not being very, very strict about your goals,
03:37about your numbers, about everything.
03:39If you're not like bang on, you've not been like a culture,
03:43it's like competitive almost every time.
03:47You spread complacency in the entire organization.
03:53You know, people always confuse aggression slash ego with drive.
03:58Okay.
03:59You can be the most driven person, most ambitious person,
04:04achieving the most brilliant outcomes and still not be an arrogant, egoistical person.
04:10You don't need to have a toxic culture to get outcomes.
04:13The toxicity is out.
04:16For good.
04:17Right?
04:18And I think it's all this Bollywood, Hollywood, these stories we read,
04:23that the quintessential culture and tycoon has to be ruthless,
04:27crazy competitive and cutthroat, you know,
04:30and backstabbing if you want to become a top company and if you want to achieve results.
04:35And I have enough examples and enough case studies, India and globally,
04:41of people who are very driven and have got enormous success
04:47without being arrogant and egoistical.