Welcome to an exclusive segment of our Global Expert Interview Series featuring Poonacha Mac, CEO of the Chopra Foundation and a luminary entrepreneur advocating for conscious leadership and holistic wellbeing.
As the CEO of the Chopra Foundation, Poonacha Mac drives transformative initiatives, co-founding Jiyo alongside Deepak Chopra, MD, a groundbreaking wellbeing platform merging ancient wisdom with technology. Ventures like Beyond Performance Sports and Deepak Chopra Innerspace showcase his visionary leadership in sports performance and holistic health through cutting-edge technology.
With over two decades of global experience, Poonacha’s influence spans in being a business leader in Fortune 100 companies and senior roles in Global Sales & Business Development with leading MNC’s like Sasken, Motorola, Nortel, Visionael, Iridium, and Dimension Enterprises. As founder and CEO of ABOVE, he launched pioneering platforms like TangoFX.
Poonacha’s co-founded social enterprises include the WeightLess Project, addressing lifestyle disorders, and initiatives like Seva.Love, ChopraX, and CIRCA® embodying his commitment to holistic wellbeing.
Active on transformative company boards and a mentor at XMedia Lab, Poonacha’s impact extends to diverse spheres, alongside contributions with Shekhar Kapur and AR Rahman.
Academically distinguished with an MBA and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Engineering, Poonacha’s multifaceted journey goes beyond business leadership, participating in the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department and Joy of Sports.
Join us as we delve into the realm of conscious leadership and holistic wellbeing with Poonacha Machaiah. Uncover the layers of Poonacha’s entrepreneurial journey and the profound impact these ventures have had on personal and societal wellbeing.
Stay connected with Jus Agency for more captivating discussions in our Global Expert Interview Series. Explore unique perspectives at the nexus of innovation, leadership, and societal change with thought leaders shaping the future landscape.
Q: Can you tell us about your career highlights and what you are excited to be working on now?
I had the fortune of working with some of the technology leaders. I started my career earlier on with Nell, part of the Telecom Revolution, Motorola and part of the mobile phone revolution, then I went on to look at how to use technology for good.
For two decades, I became a social entrepreneur, focusing on using technology to transform personal, societal and planetary well-being which started my collaboration with Dr Deepak Chopra the CEO of the Chopra Foundation. We worked on solving challenges associated with mental well-being, longevity, and leadership. I continue to be an entrepreneur investing in building technology and now in AI and well-being.
Q: What inspired you to transition from Fortune 100 companies to social entrepreneurship? What was your journey?
The American dream is to work for a Fortune 100 company. I was a vice president at a young age at Nell. I asked myself questions about what I was doing that made me happy. I realised that the position wasn’t giving me the joy I wanted for my career even though I had accomplished a lot.
What gives me joy is seeing transformation in the communities I live and serve. I experienced a disconnection between what I was contributing to my work and the outcome in the community. That was my pivotal point, at one point, I was a volunteer firefighter in Station 2 Vienna Virginia. Then, I started my journey towards looking at other areas besides a corporate Fortune 100 which is a financially lucrative path, but focusing on self-worth versus net worth is my major transition.
Q: Could you share a stand-up moment from your career?
At Chopra Foundation we work on mental health and every 40 seconds we lose some to suicide globally. As we build this amazing technology, in the companies and buildings. The second leading cause of death is among younger adults and a lot of burnout among Executives. Our focus on Mental Health has been amazing, especially working with corporations on mental well-being. I announced a collaboration with Stella McCartney, where we look at mental well-being, bringing equine therapy into the forefront and a collaboration a few months ago with Kate Moss, where we look at women empowerment. We also do a lot of work in Africa, we’re working with a campaign on female gentle mutilation, raising awareness. During the pandemic, I deployed an air chat part for mental health, using technology and well-being.
The Chopra Foundation has done amazing work focusing on healthy lifespan in the mental well being niche; people are going to live longer, which is very interesting for business executives, a lot of money is going into longevity, people want to live longer but what we are focused on is quality of life which is Health span. We have done a lot of work on research to help people lead a better quality of life especially as people start living longer which modern medicine will enable, how do you live better? What is your cognitive function the third area is about business leaders; what I call the soul of leadership. How does one create better business leaders? Looking at the world today, there’s a leadership crisis. We are working on a program, The Soul of Leadership which was based on a book by Dr Chopra that started in Colombia and to Business Leaders globally we’re now making it a grassroots campaign to create conscious leaders.
Q: The power of partnerships is a recurring theme in your career. How do you approach partnership building?
For every partnership, be it personal or professional trust building is paramount. There are four ways to build trust.
- Transparency in relationships
- Make and keep your commitments and Promises
- Bringing expertise into the partnership
- Ability to delegate and collaborate
These are things you need to build and bring into Partnerships otherwise most Partnerships will fail and partnership is nothing but a long-term relationship either with your loved one or a business Partner the principles are still the same.
Q: Could you tell us how you approach partnership building and how you get to that incredible position? Advice?
I’m a big believer in mindfulness. I like to meditate on what I want. I don’t believe in the spray-and-pray approach. My advice is that you should be very conscious and deliberate in what you do. If you work with 10 people, be more deliberate than just casting the white net.
I believe in this movement from a very masculine archetype of defeat decimate to a feminine archetype of letting others share the economy. This is not about male and female but about the energies for which you use in these partnerships.
Q: You’ve held senior positions in global sales. Can you share your approach to driving business development? Advice?
I believe in three principles; Authenticity, Integrity and Purpose. There’s a book called ‘Why God is a Salesman’ by Mark Stevens. It’s about building trust so when you build trust there are three areas; be authentic; people work with authentic people, who have integrity and a higher purpose which is beyond what you stand for or believe in. When you want to build a team and drive goals, you need to build these three principles of authenticity, Integrity and higher purpose.
Q: What key challenges and learnings have you picked up throughout your entrepreneurial journey?
What I have learned over the years has been that leadership is lonely but I don’t believe in this, leadership and entrepreneurship are not just about Elon Musk or Zuckerberg. Leadership in entrepreneurship is a team sport, it doesn’t matter how good they are, they could not have done what they did without having an amazing team or the support of a community. We have to build leadership and entrepreneurship into team sport.
Leadership and Entrepreneurship is not a Sprint but a Marathon. It takes time and resilience. You can’t do it alone because there will be the lows and the highs. When you have the lows, you need a team. Your team or your community will help you transcend it. Leadership is not lonely, it’s time for us to create a more shared vision in leadership building. A team spirit always says it takes a village to bring up a child. That child is an idea or a concept but where is the village? In today’s world, people have become very individualistic. It’s high time we changed that into a more team spirit.
Q: What advice do you have around team building and what have you seen work between culture building and team building?
This is what I would teach in the leadership course which is available online at https://choprafoundation.org/ there is an online free course called the Soul of Leadership. It’s about operating from your Soul profile versus your LinkedIn profile.
Who are you as a leader and what makes Poonacha Machai up, that’s going deep called the soul profile.
There are steps to get you there. The acronym I use is LEADERS.
L – Look and Listen
E – Emotional Intelligence or Emotional Bonding
A – Awareness
D – Dream and Do
E – Empower
R – Responsibility
When this happens, there is synchronicity. If we can all practise this, we will become more conscious leaders.
Q: What’s some of the best advice that you’ve ever received and has stuck with you through the years?
One of my mentors always said “Have an iron fist in a velvet glove” which means you have to be strong. My other mentor said, “It’s better to end with a shock than have a shock with no end.” It is the best advice I have received because it was hard for me to let go of people and make tough decisions, especially when I was younger in my career. Any time you end whatever you do, do it with kindness and compassion.
Q: How do you stick to what drives the business forward while still evolving and changing with the times? What is your approach?
I use the same three principles; authenticity, integrity and higher purpose and if that idea of yours can transform personal, societal and planetary well-being? If that aligns we do it and if one of those things can’t be meant, we don’t do it.
Q: When you were starting, was there something that helped you prosper in your career?
Growing up with my parents in India, I learned about resilience and it was instrumental because adversity happens to everybody. There are ups and downs, and having the mindset of you can do it, stick with it, endure it, get through it. That was a very important part of my growing up.
Q: If you had a budget of $2,000, $10,000 or $150,000 to invest in your business for growth, how would you allocate those funds?
If you’re starting and you have a very minimal budget, I would first invest in myself. As an entrepreneur you have to be good at what you do, so if you have only $2,000, first of all, invest in sharpening your skill sets and be the best you can be. If you understand AI generative, take the courses because you need to have that knowledge today. If you have $10,000, use it in building partnerships, find a partner who you’re willing to work with, split the proceeds and both of you can start something. If you have $150,000 invest in the technology. Two decades ago, I invested in marketing, but today there’s so much you can do if you have good technology and good skills that will grow your business.
Q: What is your approach to marketing and promotion?
My advice is always trust-building. Investing in trust. For instance, Dr Chopra, over the last 45 days, has written 95 books, and 26 million people are in his network. What he’s done single-handedly building trust. People trust him and he’s been consistent. In any marketing building trust is essential. I often ask people this question: do they believe in God? Their answer is always yes. Have you ever seen God but people die over God? What God has done is made a promise and he builds trust, whatever you can do to build trust is what builds successful brands.
Q: What advice do you have for businesses to get started either with AI or the implementation aspect of it?
Everybody should invest in AI. It has changed the world across the globe. What it has done to writers and it’s transforming programmers, creativity, graphics and more. It doesn’t matter what skill you’re doing today. For example, when the Zoom meeting is over, AI is going to do the AI transcription of voice-to-text text. What used to take 10 people to do now takes one person. AI is transforming productivity and creativity and everybody should invest in understanding AI, if not, they’ll be left behind.
Q: What is your approach to productivity as a leader? What is your approach to self-care to ensure that you’re operating at your optimum?
We use the seven pillars of well-being which we practise at the Chopra Foundation to take care of ourselves. It’s to Nourish, Move, Manage your emotions, Mind-body practice, Sleep, Connect with your community and nature.
Q: What recommendations do you have for books podcasts or courses for businesses looking to grow?
Target what you do; I’m into well-being and I understand how to optimise human well-being off late. I would recommend Andrew Hubeman’s podcasts. He has amazing content, he has done thorough research and it’s very relevant to everybody at all walks of life to be a better version of themself especially where health and wellness are concerned.
Q: Is there anything else that you would like to add that is targeted towards business?
People ask me to talk about meditation and mindfulness. How do you live in this world, how do you do your numbers as a business leader who has revenues and sales targets to hit?
My mantra for being a spiritual leader is to be ruthless in achieving your goals but always be kind, and cunning in achieving your goals. Never be cruel, exercise patience in achieving your goals. Never allow negligence, don’t act foolish. This is the path of being in this world but not of this world.
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