Meet a Magician/Mentalist who carved his path in HR!

Highlights

Satish Rajarathnam, Head - People & Administration, RCG Global Services

A magician since the formative days of his aboriginal career, Satish Rajarathnam, Head of HR & Administration, RCG Global Services, loves to bring a magical interaction successful each locomotion of his life, whether it is firm career, idiosyncratic oregon societal life. At 1 point, Satish adjacent near his lucrative firm vocation to travel his passionateness for magic and link with people. "People and concern maturation person ever been astatine the centre of everything successful each occupation I person played, and the interactions I person had with them. Perhaps for that reason, the HR relation seemed a bully acceptable for me," Satish says.

Satish calls himself an accidental HR leader. And, if fixed a chance, helium says helium would inactive take magic implicit immoderate different profession. Nevertheless, this does not lessen the value of his contributions to the HR industry. Several highly regarded HR awards person been conferred connected Satish, including the HR Excellence Award from the Government of Rajasthan and the Higher & Technical Education, Maharashtra; Forbes Top 30 Talent Leaders of 2023; Asia's 100 HR Power Leaders; Top 100 HR Tech Minds Award; Global Achievers Award 2022; Indian Achievers Award 2021; and the Top 50 Aspiring Researchers Award.

Academically, Satish holds a General Management certificate from ISB Hyderabad and the National University of Singapore. Currently, helium is pursuing his Doctoral programme with the Swiss School of Business Management, Geneva.

Being a passionate techie, helium has besides done aggregate tech certifications from NIT, and has published astir 8 patents. In fact, Satish started his vocation arsenic a techie, and aboriginal became a techie trainer. In this role, helium trained radical to acceptable up firewalls, proxy servers and messaging servers for ample nationalist assemblage banks.

“If you look astatine my career, you would spot that I changed careers each 4 oregon 5 years. I enactment up to date, get certificates, and get the accomplishment acceptable needed for a definite career. I was a method trainer first, past went connected to go a facilitator, past worked successful HR, OD, and enactment improvement earlier pursuing the consulting tract for HR and past concern transformation. Currently, I americium adjacent to getting my doctorate if I successfully support my thesis well!” helium shares. However, much than obtaining degrees and credentials, Satish believes successful translating the learnings into skills.

Satish is besides precise passionate astir teaching. As a certified manager and trainer, helium is simply a portion of the Industry Board of Academia successful galore universities successful India. He adjacent holds a diploma successful painting, ventriloquism and hypnotism, and besides has built a estimation arsenic a TEDx speaker. He has authored books connected AI and its applications, Organisational Psychology, Organisational Design and Human Capital Management.

Why magic?

Satish says helium recovered his beingness intent done magic. “I person ever been a backbencher successful schoolhouse and someway managed to scrape done exams. But adjacent today, my teachers who are retired present would callback my sanction and would admit maine if I locomotion into my school. That’s the powerfulness of an artform oregon entertainment!” helium puts forward.

According to Satish, helium got funny successful magic astatine the clip of his precocious schoolhouse summertime vacation. His dada truly encouraged his involvement and brought him a magic kit from a commercialized just which contained astir 50 tricks. Satish learned the tricks and showcased them to his classmates erstwhile the schoolhouse reopened. The amusement reflected successful his peers truly gave Satish a spark to sharpen his magic skills.

However, successful those days, spending wealth connected magic was thing benignant of unheard of from a middle-class household perspective, who would beryllium struggling adjacent to conscionable the regular expenses. “But my dada was precise supportive; and hats disconnected to his efforts,” Satish says.

After a point, Satish utilized to money himself from the wealth helium earned from his erstwhile shows. He points retired that his struggles gave him the occurrence to enactment towards his passionateness for magic. His woman and girl supply him with encouragement and feedback, and they besides connection suggestions connected attire for performances and sessions.

Satish believes successful immersing the full of oneself and getting the hands soiled portion striving for something. “I americium much of a kinaesthetic feline who learns done hands-on experiences. Unless you get into the crushed reality, you ne'er larn a accomplishment by conscionable looking astatine immoderate videos. I stocked up a batch of worldly similar steel, cardboard and wood successful the adjacent store wherever we utilized to stay, and manufactured the instrumentality utilized for magic each by myself and experimented a lot,” helium says.

With passing time, Satish expanded his accomplishment sets to execute illusionism. He started levitating radical done tricks, making them fly, chopped them into pieces, and enactment things backmost together! By the clip helium was successful college, Satish started performing for the starring tv channels, including Doordarshan and Asianet.

Further, helium explored the versatile creator avenues of magic and now, helium is simply a practising Ventriloquist, Hypnotherapist and Mentalist. Besides performing magic, Satish started his ain lawsuit absorption store and consulting wherever helium utilized to coordinate his shows crossed South India.

Satish says dissimilar singing oregon dancing, determination isn’t a methodical mode to larn magic. It’s much of an idiosyncratic benignant that should sync with one's personality, attitude, and a mode 1 wants to link with the people, articulate themselves, and however they are capable to misdirect the audience. In his perspective, determination is simply a bounds to which magic schools and teaching videos could help.

“I americium the 1 who keeps referring to the show videos alternatively than teaching videos. Also, successful those days, determination wasn’t immoderate media publicity oregon world shows to look into. I utilized to rent a VCR and bargain video tapes to survey the performances of established magicians similar David Copperfield. Today, determination are a batch of manufacture friends who support sharing caller learning and tricks. I americium besides a subordinate of Chennai Magic Circle,” Satish says.

Transformation to a Mentalist

Though Satish started doing end-to-end Mentalism shows astir 5 years ago, helium points retired that Mentalism arsenic a genre has ever existed nether the umbrella of magic; it’s conscionable that it got a caller nomenclature and is presently considered a circumstantial genre. “There is simply a definite magnitude of caput speechmaking adjacent successful the age-old basal tricks similar array hopping, conjuring, guessing the fig successful the dice, etc. Nowadays, the expectations of the audiences are changing. Back then, I utilized to transportation the magic properties successful a motortruck and astatine slightest 4 radical would beryllium determination to assistance maine to offload the things. Today, radical don’t privation you to bash the older tricks similar instrumentality retired rabbits from hats, nutrient a dove connected stage, marque radical fly, etc. They expect you to prosecute with them better,” helium says.

“Mentalism is simply a mode easier. It sets your hands free. You tin locomotion onto the signifier with conscionable casual deterioration and execute acts similar guessing patterns successful someone’s mind, cracking the people’s telephone lock, oregon planting a thought successful the assemblage and making them accidental what I think. These are each caller developments,” helium adds.

Still, speechmaking quality minds and their microexpressions needs immoderate cognition successful Psychology.

Sharing a mind-reading tip, Satish says, “In the HR parlance, we telephone this Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). For instance, erstwhile a person’s eyeballs determination toward the apical near corner, it is said that he/she is reasoning oregon constructing something. Similarly, if the eyeballs are successful the apical close corner, it means the idiosyncratic is visually remembering things. The 3 aspects of performing mentalism are knowing the behaviour, assemblage language, and recognising the signifier successful which the assemblage thinks. When you get each the supra factors right, commencement performing.”

“Again, each of these are indicators that would assistance execute mentalism shows connected stage; it’s purely for amusement purposes and this has to beryllium done successful a precise controlled environment. And that's wherever mentalism works to a ample extent,” helium emphasises.

Is mentalism skills an vantage successful HR?

Satish sarcastically shares that helium doesn’t usage a magic wand to halt the attrition from happening oregon marque the nett borderline high! However, helium agrees that arsenic a certified beingness coach, it helps successful benignant of relating to people, and their challenges. For instance, if someone’s enarthrosis is drooping, helium senses that thing is not going well. At that time, helium figures retired the person’s mood, communicates with him/her and tries to recognize what benignant of enactment they need, and offers the solution.

Most challenging decision

For Satish, the astir challenging determination successful his vocation was to take his passionateness implicit his profession. “Though being a method trainer was a precise well-paid job, I felt similar I should bash what I liked the most, which is magic. Hence, I discontinue my firm job, and past got into doing magic arsenic a full-time career,” helium says. That’s erstwhile Satish started his ain amusement venture, collaborated with his friends to execute and coordinate magic shows. Even if Satish aboriginal resumed his firm career, helium shares that those 4 years of non-corporate beingness person taught him the beingness skills to past successful the firm world.

To easiness his transitions to antithetic vocation moves, Satish plans up for six months oregon a twelvemonth and gets himself upskilled oregon cross-skilled earlier making immoderate vocation move. He chooses the courses by aligning his nonrecreational inclination, assemblage ranking, people content, faculties, affordability, and, astir importantly, exploring the anticipation of networking with cohorts from divers backgrounds.

Work-life integration

Satish Rajarathnam with his pet

Spending prime clip with his household and friends is Satish’s apical priority. He lives with his wife, girl and parents. They besides person a beauteous laboratory named ‘Milo.’ Satish says it's important to support a equilibrium by allocating clip appropriately. He practises the 8-8-8 principle, wherever helium accordingly divides each 8 hours successful a time for work, himself (family and friends), and slumber respectively.

Satish shares that his woman and girl person ever been rather supportive of his decisions and helium is grateful for that. When asked astir however helium inactive finds clip for everything, Satish says, “Yes, I would person a batch of acheronian circles. But that is reaping a batch of learning and benefits for me. I either thatch determination oregon would beryllium learning for a people oregon practising magic successful the archetypal fractional of each weekend. And successful the adjacent half, I walk my clip with household and friends. My in-laws besides unrecorded adjacent us. We each walk a batch of clip unneurotic and adjacent effort exploring caller restaurants and cuisines successful and astir Chennai,” helium says.

Life motto

The motto that Satish follows successful beingness is to beryllium existent to oneself and astatine the aforesaid time, not holding onto everything and take to springiness backmost to nine arsenic well. “Never fto the curiosity, creativity and collaboration successful you dice down. These 3Cs are the virtues that person helped maine enactment applicable contiguous whether it's HR, teaching, Mentalism, oregon penning a book. I ever support asking myself a batch of questions. I support looking astatine antithetic ways of doing the aforesaid thing, and I support moving with manufacture experts to find retired however amended I tin bash things close successful a collaborative way,” helium shares.