In this upgraded episode, Rubyni Karun, Founder of XfinitySG, shares how she uses her 18 years of experience to support international teams, large corporates, and financial institutions in their growth strategies and capital raising.
You will discover:
– How to assess the executive presence of your potential leaders
– The essential nature of alignment in life and work
– What prevents even successful leaders from confidently showing up as their best self
Episode Transcript
Scott Ritzheimer
Hello, hello and welcome welcome once again to the secrets of the high demand coach podcast and I am here with yet another high demand coach. It is the one, the only Rubyni Karun. Now she is a healer and leadership coach who has worked with C suite and functional level leadership to create organizational change. In her perspective, revenue optimization, vision, strategy and high performance are all consequences of one thing. And that is alignment. primarily working with leaders and founders. She aims to redefine what performance and success mean in business optimizations. And she is passionate about bringing shifts in perspectives for change makers and ways to enable business growth, employee experiences and leadership alignment for tremendous financial success through it all. Rubini I’m so excited to have you here. We’ve had a great time even just chatting before the show. I know this is gonna be a great episode. Before we dive in, I’ve got some questions for you. But before we get there, I’d love to hear a little bit. How did you get into this world of coaching, and what ultimately made you make the leap?
Rubyni Karun
So to tell you the truth, this wasn’t a planned move. It was a move that was created because I was in consulting. And through consulting, I was already coaching leaders leadership and C suite. And I saw how much suffering there was in leadership and the difference that good bad and great leaders meant to organizational growth. And it kind of shifted in my brain then and there that that’s what I wanted to do. That’s where I wanted to be in I wanted to help people not feel like they were dying inside and succeed while being aligned. So it developed as I worked in consulting.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah, I get asked this question a lot. And I think it’s because there’s about 1000 different answers to it. But how do you distinguish between coaching and consulting?
Rubyni Karun
Sure, I think coaching is allowing an individual to come up with their resources, allowing them to understand their strengths, listening to the true problem of the matter that they are going through. And consulting is a little bit like mentorship, where you have the answers through your experience, maybe of 25-30 years experience, and you’re sort of eating them holding their hand and telling them what to do. So that’s how I distinguish the two, I’ve got another layer to it, which is a B, which is being a healer, so I confuse the mix even more.
Scott Ritzheimer
And I think we all do in some way, shape or form. So you talk a lot about alignment. And and I’m wondering, let’s just start at the ground level. When you use the word alignment. What do you mean, and why is it so important?
Rubyni Karun
Sure. When I first started, when I said alignment, people thought I meant spiritual. And it’s far from that. What I mean by alignment is everyone has a y axis, an X axis. And as they go through life, if they question themselves, typically, their axis is either towards the left or towards the right. And for me align alignment means coming with a centered axis in self first, before serving the multiple plates that we serve daily, that centered access to me means alignment.
Scott Ritzheimer
I’ve heard a couple of studies that really centered around this idea of being inwardly sound, and others focuses to the central tenants for high quality leadership. What tends to get in the way of that?
Rubyni Karun
So I’ll be pretty biased when I answered this question. And I love it. Thank you so much, because I’m a trauma healer. And a lot of the time, what happens in the sandbox when we’re five comes up in leadership when what 30 or 40, or whatever that is, because the ability to use our voice the ability to feel confident, to not have imposter syndrome is all bred within subconscious programming before seven. And that’s the hidden gem that a lot of people don’t find out about until today.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah. And so how do you know how do you know when you’re out of alignment? What are some signs and symptoms to look for?
Rubyni Karun
I also love that question. Because it’s so simple. A lot of people when they asked me that I asked them, reflect, ask yourself, am I loving what I do every day. And if it’s not an eight upon 10 Or seven upon 10, if it’s a three, there shouldn’t be support that you seek. Because three years, everything’s going to sh it. I don’t know if I’m allowed to say that but you know, everything’s going down the drain. And that’s the key. We don’t ask ourselves every day because we’re such masters and going and the Chuggington train we’re just going we’re just doing we’re just handling. I mean like even in consulting I’ve done 1000s of kickoff, they’re all high performance but this self check in the self reflection. Am I doing the best that I want to do for mood? It’s not even Am I okay? It’s just do I feel good in my success? Right a lot of people think Is that something that screws up in life is okay? When it’s not like health and relationships and love? And I see so much of that, right? So that’s why I’m really passionate about what I do. I don’t want that anymore in success for people.
Scott Ritzheimer
You talk about doing this every day I, in your experience, what how, how quickly does it change? And how quickly Should we be worried, we be worried if it does?
Rubyni Karun
OK OK. So in a, in a way that people who come to me they are introvert, introverted leaders, servant leaders, who aren’t getting heard and are stagnant. So you see, they already suffered. And they’ve reached the point where they cannot go on anymore. So they are already worried when they come to. And so when they come to me, they don’t know why something’s not working. And typically, the question I hate them hearing and hurts my heart is, what’s wrong with school? Is there something wrong with me? And it just breaks my heart? Right. And, and to me, it’s like understanding that that level of suffering is not needed. It can you can approach a person and seek support earlier, it’s very important, right? And doing this everyday. That’s what I see. For the people coming to me.
Scott Ritzheimer
We had a previous guests on the show, who said, it’s not what’s wrong with you, it’s what happened to you, which I think goes right in line with what you’re saying. And, and so let’s say let’s say we’re kind of going through a week are back in that eight to 10 range, right? And things are going pretty well. But we have, we’ve got a bad day, right? And a bad day becomes two or three. And we’ve been sitting in that three to five range for a few days. What are some questions to ask ourselves or something that we could think through to kind of get that back on track?
Rubyni Karun
I love that. Just like predictive success. There’s also predictive failure. And when the three to five days happens, the self question of is this deep, the same thing that’s happening every day? Is this the same root cause? And typically, it will be because of one belief. I don’t know enough, or I’m being silenced, or my ideas are never heard. It’s typically it’s the same belief, or maybe two or three at max that is recurring in the person’s life that’s causing that 2, 3, 5 day stretch. So hope that answers your question.
Scott Ritzheimer
Fascinating. Fascinating. Another thing I want to shift gears just slightly to kind of build on what we’ve we’ve gotten to so far, you talk about this idea of executive presence. So a lot of times, folks, I think both you and I work with our busy leaders, they’re trying to do right by their organization, and, and maybe even looking at this from the other lens of founders and CEOs who are saying, Hey, who is the team that I need around me? Or what what is that executive presence? And why do some folks have it and others don’t?
Rubyni Karun
I think it’s this underlying simmering confidence to change the world. So I think executive presence is an unbiased, again, is around alignment, knowing that your center axis is solid, knowing that you’re confident in the topic that you’re speaking about, and you’re surrounded by support. A lot of leaders think that it’s a solo journey, but it’s not. It’s a team effort, and being surrounded with the generals that they need, who are also equipped with the specializations that they don’t have, allows them to feel supported to rise and have that present presence, that executive confidence to speak in a way that is specialized. Less is more.
Scott Ritzheimer
And, and again, I will kind of take the the lens of a founder, a lot of the times I’ll hear founders who who are frustrated by one of their executives, they’re not keeping up. They’re not they’re not showing up at executive presence. What is the founder or CEO or whatever that title is president? What is their role in creating the environment where their folks can step up?
Rubyni Karun
This question is asked so many times, because the answer differs for everyone. And in my opinion, the answer is creating that safety to ask the question and get the answer. And an example is through the pandemic. It wasn’t safe to say you’re feeling. And so this helter skelter character and vibe started happening in leadership where everyone was covering things. However, when they when there were presidents and CEOs that were open to say, Hey, this is not working well, and I understand. But tell me what you think we can do to fix this. So that openness and safety to have that conversation, to understand the emotion and to address the gap for what it is it’s data. It’s not a personal attack, which is what most people make it to be.
Scott Ritzheimer
And what do you think that is what is it that gets in the way of creating that safety and and for the executive being able to step into it?
Rubyni Karun
Fear. Just fear your fear, fear of not showing up fear of not making things happen. It’s like the neck and neck on the chopping block syndrome every day. And that’s really tiring. And that’s what I call the soul dream edge. That’s when people tend to slowly die every day inside, right is this fear. And it can be a multitude of things that have that is creating the fear. But the first one is fear of failure, or not being good enough, or not proving to have what it takes to succeed. It’s one way.
Scott Ritzheimer
Oftentimes, I’ve found when folks bump into that fear, it’s almost a signal to stop, right? It’s like, don’t go there. Do you find that’s particularly effective? Is it true? Or how should we interpret that signal to really step into full alignment with with ourselves?
Rubyni Karun
I love that a lot of I would love to quote his name, but it’s just escaping me at this point. But failing forward is a favorite of mine. Because allowing a person to fail forward to a certain extent is great in creating growth and change, right. However, when there are consequences, where 30,000 people are going to be laid off, those types of failures should be stopped. And an entire team should come in to problem solve and synthesize the best way forward. So a lot of times in failure. And just to add on this, I know that wasn’t part of the question. But a lot of times when there’s failure happening, and there’s a dire consequence that’s happening, people at the top tend to be too scared to involve more people to make a decision. But that kind of collaborative leadership will probably help. But it’s, it’s not done enough.
Scott Ritzheimer
It’s so true. It’s the exact time when we need the most input that we tend to go for the least. Fascinating. Well, what do we need? As a question I like to ask all of my guests and it is this what would you say is the biggest secret you wish wasn’t a secret at all? What’s the one thing you wish everybody watching or listening today knew?
Rubyni Karun
I always listen to your podcast and I love this question. So I am prepared. The biggest secret is that struggle and sacrifice is needed for success. This is simply not true. It is simply not true. If you’re in ease, if you’re in flow and alignment, success is so much sweeter. But there’s this myth that if you’re that you don’t get the success. It’s not true.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah. Yeah. Fascinating, fascinating. So there’s some folks listening to this and they could use a coach, they could use someone in their corner you have that support that they need, and they want to know more about you in the work that you do. Where can they find out and how can they reach out to you?
Rubyni Karun
The best place to find me is on LinkedIn, to just search Rubyni Karun. My name is somewhere on this page. But that’s the best way to look at my testimonials what I do and to connect with me and speak with me as well. Thank you for asking.
Scott Ritzheimer
Bray brain well Roubini thank you so much for being on the show. It’s just an honor and privilege having you here. It’s such a fun in deep and profound conversation. I really appreciated that. And for those of you watching or listening, you know that your time and attention mean the world to us. I hope you got as much out of this conversation as I know I did, and I cannot wait to see you next time. Take care.
Contact Rubyni Karun
Rubyni Karun has worked with C-Suite and functional levels leadership to create organizational change. In her perspective, revenue optimization, vision, strategy, and high performance are all consequences of alignment. Primarily working with leaders and founders, she aims to redefine what performance and success mean in collaboration and performance to optimize businesses. She is passionate about bringing shifts in perspectives for changemakers and ways to enable business growth, employee experiences, and leadership alignment for tremendous financial success for all.
Want to learn more about Rubyni Karun’s work at XfinitySG? Check out her website at https://www.xfinitysg.com
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