KOCHI: ‘Thirteen years of overnight success’, that’s how Krish Dhanam sums up his professional evolution. The vice-president of Ziglar Corporation had just $9 in his pocket when he started climbing the career ladder — , a roller-coaster ride from a sales person to a corporate trainer, a business philosopher, and a strategic thinker. Now he travels extensively and meets over 3,50,000 people a year, changing the life of professionals through his motivational speeches. Krish who never dreamt of being an orator won a sales contest and a ticket to a seminar conducted by Zig Ziglar. This chance encounter in 1991 led him to the realisation that there is a career in public speaking. He found out that the man who introduced him to this was living a life of abundance in spite of not going to college. He soon quit his sales job and joined Ziglar as a telemarketer where he learned first hand what it takes to be an orator from his mentor, friend, and now colleague, Zig Ziglar. Krish believes that the goal of training is improved performance and change in the attitude of professionals. “I believe I have succeeded in changing the life of people, I get umpteen emails and messages from individuals saying how their life has changed,” he says . Wherever he goes he motivates the professionals to ‘plan to win, prepare to win and finally expect to win’. He says that his ideologies come from a variety of sources. “I am inspired by various philosophers, The Bible, and even from my personal experiences. Many a time I seek advice from my wife and son”. He never misses the opportunity to learn something new irrespective of the age of the person.According to him the main difference between the professionals in the US and India was the background of the individual but today he does not see much of a difference. “Indian professionals are more qualified. In India if you adress a hall of 50 young people, almost all are graduates which you do not find in the US. The only shortcoming I find here is a dearth of training sessions. They look upon themselves as people who can compete globally. Speaking of cultural differences I do not see much of a cultural difference with the onset of BPO industries”. Krish says he always does research on people before visiting different countries. “I alter my speech design when I go to countries like Egypt. Their language and dialects are different and I take the help of an interpreter. I see that I do not use quantitative comparisons as it is difficult to translate”. He lays stress on being aware of the happenings around in today’s world. “I read at least one book a week. It can be philosophy, poetry, novel, biographies or any other genre. I try to read more biographies because the experience of people will tell you lot of things,” says Krish.In spite of being a motivator to thousands of people he feels put down at times. During such times he turns to his mentors. His mentors are in India and America. “I always have separate dates assigned in my calendar to visit my spiritual mentor, Richard Ramesh who lives in Chennai. I go to him with a note pad and he gives solutions for the problems I face”. Krish who calls himself an ‘anthropological motivator’ says, “I no longer call myself a motivational trainer because I always speak to people about human life, how it began and then make them understand who they really are”. Speaking about his unfulfilled dreams he says, “the day you stop dreaming you die.” He has travelled across all the six continents and dreams of visiting Antarctica. His other dreams are to see the Great wall of China and to write more books. He is presently working on a book with his friend Rick Balluzzo, who had eralier worked in Microsoft. Though the name of the book is yet to be finalised, as of now it’s called ‘How do you progress in life hard-headed but softhearted’. The book is about leadership and seven habits required for leadership. He has not stopped exploring things and says, “motivation gets me going but habit gets me there.” The one thing that makes him and the Ziglar group different is they go for the transformation of the person. “If an individual is changed, he will change the environment. Most of the companies direct how they want their employees trained but at Ziglar we tell what they need to hear. The eight things important in life are ‘to be happy, to be healthy, to be reasonably prosperous, to have friends, good family relations, peace of mind, security and hope.”
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