[00:00:00] Speaker A: Success isn't accidental.
[00:00:02] Speaker B: It's the story.
[00:00:03] Speaker A: You rewrite the moment you stop living by the script others handed you. Everything changes. I'm Ras Patel, and on the Ras Patel show, we go past the polished Personas and into the moments that shape us. We explore identity, reinvention, culture, courage, and the unscripted conversations that reveal how people rise, rebuild, and rediscover themselves. These aren't interviews. They're turning points, the kind that shift perspective and sometimes an entire path. When life reshapes you, when clarity breaks through, when boundaries shift, that's where the real journey begins. The Raz Patel Show. Story rewritten, Voices awakened. Journeys redefined.
[00:00:44] Speaker B: Welcome to the Raz Patel Show. I'm Raz Patel. And this is where we go beyond the surface to understand how real influence is built across industries, across borders and across systems. The SHEEP o world Today I'm joined by Kapil Sharma, a leader working at the intersection of business, public policy and global affairs. From advising C suite executives to shaping conversations around international trade, investment and economic development, Kapil brings a rare lens into how decisions made behind closed doors ripple across economies, societies. This conversation is about something bigger than business. It's about how strategy, diplomacy and leadership came together to shape the future of U S India relations and global.
Welcome, Kapil. It's so wonderful having you today.
[00:01:42] Speaker C: Thank you for having me.
[00:01:43] Speaker B: Gosh. So, Kapil, before we dive in to all these wonderful questions on public policy, global growth and so forth, let me get a little bit of insight to who you are, because before the cameras were on, I was having a wonderful discussion with you where this whole journey started.
Right. So give us a little bit of insight to who Kapil is.
Why do you have this passion on public policies and global growth?
[00:02:11] Speaker C: Well, I will try to give a very abbreviated version.
My parents are immigrants from India and moved to the United States in 1972. I was a year old.
[00:02:22] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:02:23] Speaker C: Yeah. And moved to actually a small part of Jersey where there are no Indians. So that was.
[00:02:27] Speaker B: And where's that?
[00:02:28] Speaker C: It's Long Branch, New Jersey.
[00:02:31] Speaker B: And it's still the same way or.
[00:02:32] Speaker C: Absolutely not.
It has changed significantly.
But there was a small community because if you're a member of AT&T, which was based out of Holmdel, New Jersey, so there were a lot of emerging Indian Americans there. In terms from a community perspective, I grew up very much as a coconut and in which my parents really wanted me to assimilate as much as possible because of the hate crimes and discrimination that they face.
And so Ended up making my way to Rutgers University and got involved in student activism there, surprisingly, because most of my friends in high school thought I was very quiet.
But I got involved in representing our community at the university level, mainly to bring our issues and our concerns to the university.
What I saw as a sophomore during my sophomore year at Rutgers was that we were consistently passed over.
Our issues were consistently passed over. We never received funding. And for someone like me who wanted to use the university as a way of learning more about my culture, learning more about our community, learning more about who I was, my identity, I wanted to use the university to help me to get to that point. And that's how I started. I became a student activist, learned a lot about our community and what our challenges were, and then eventually made my way to Congressman Frank Pallone's office.
[00:04:09] Speaker B: Yeah, just happened to. Right.
[00:04:12] Speaker C: Well, a lot of people in this area will know a gentleman by the name of Kumar Barve. And Kumar Barve was the first Indian American elected to a state legislature in 1991.
We were both invited to the White House honoring diaspora.
And I was complaining at that time that in the. In the bathroom of the White House, that I made it to the White House, but it had to be under a Republican.
And Kumar was in a stall next to me. And he goes, you're a Democrat, too.
And I was like, well, this is kind of weird. Somebody's talking to me across the stall in the White House. But we became friends.
And after that, he, six months later, introduced me to Congressman Pallone's office, which changed my life. And then I said to him, I go, I really appreciate this opportunity.
And he said. I said, how can I pay you back? And he says, make sure you open up doors for every brown person you meet. And I've been doing that ever since.
[00:05:16] Speaker B: Wow. And it's been how many years?
Yeah, exactly.
Quite long. But you're doing a wonderful job as it is, because, I mean, from which we'll hopefully get into a little bit more on that, what you have done and where you started, and it's huge. So you. You focus a lot on intersecting and the growth of public policies and the US India relations. And so.
So how does all this work in terms of bridging the US India relations and the global policies? What is that to you and how is that shaped compared to where you were couple of decades ago versus what it is now?
[00:05:59] Speaker C: So the whole concept of the India Caucus, when we started it in 1991 with Frank Pallone, was there was a misunderstanding of our community There was what I learned very quickly, that people in power, the politicians didn't take the time to understand us.
They took it off the newspaper. So they would read a newspaper article and then they would make judgment based on us as. And if you look back then, Washington Post, New York Times, every article about our community was poverty, India's impoverished, it's socialism, it's this, they love the Russians. And so that would translate into how these politicians would interact with see us here.
And so, and so what I first thing I started doing was tracking how the media covered our community and it was very one sided. So we started. So I would then put together this daily brief every morning of coverage of India and send it out to members of Congress and to people in administration.
And to show that there's a lot of bias, I then started through Congressman Palone, started interacting with community leaders throughout the country and saying this is how we're perceived, this is the message that we have to change and this is how we have to move forward.
It was a lot of work because we didn't have social media back then. So it was requiring a lot of handshake and going to communities and working with people.
[00:07:31] Speaker B: One thought on that, which made a statement on is there was not a lot of social media back then, yet there's still an influence in the perception of what was given off about us Asians back then.
[00:07:44] Speaker C: Oh, absolutely.
[00:07:45] Speaker B: So their influence was still there. It's prominent.
[00:07:48] Speaker C: Absolutely. And the influence, but the influence was through other groups who didn't understand us as well. So you had, in the early 90s, Kashmir was a big issue. And so what would end up happening is you would have Muslim groups come to Capitol Hill and say that India is suppressing the rights of Muslim minorities in India. That would shape the way people would think about us then. 60 I remember this vividly. 60 Minutes ran a episode on infanticide and gendercide in India.
And I remember I was walking in the halls and I ran into a senior staff person and the staffer said to me, why do you hate women?
And I was like, oh. And I didn't know about the 60 minute special. So then I read it and then I told Frank, we have to respond to these.
[00:08:38] Speaker B: Yes, of course.
[00:08:39] Speaker C: And what that has taught me over the last 30 some odd years is that it is important for us for our community to be our own storytellers. Of course, yeah, we have to tell our story because if we let other communities do it, they're going to do it in what they perceive as misconstrued Absolutely. And so that's how the India Caucus started. The India Caucus started with the intent of providing facts and information in our community until we were able to get what we have today, which is five members of the. Of our community in Congress.
But Kumar was doing that even at the state legislature level in Maryland.
It really hyped up after 9 11.
When 9. When 911 happened.
A lot of states had to get active on protecting the Sikh community and needed a lot of awareness, training a lot. Because people forget, and a lot of the kids today forget. The first person arrested after 911 was a Sikh. The first person murdered after 911 was a Sikh. Unfortunately, the first religious institutions that were attacked after 911 were gurdwaras.
[00:09:51] Speaker B: And it's just because of the lack of awareness.
[00:09:55] Speaker C: 100%.
[00:09:55] Speaker B: Right. And the perception that, you know, oh, if you're wearing a turban, you must be this.
[00:10:01] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:10:02] Speaker B: In this community. And that's. That's what it is.
[00:10:04] Speaker C: That's exactly. And. And so some great civil rights organizations for our community came out of that.
And even the dot busters.
[00:10:12] Speaker B: Oh, gosh. Yeah.
[00:10:13] Speaker C: You know, that's another. Another organ, another episode in our community that taught me that we needed to own our storytelling. We needed to educate people that we were targets of hate crimes going back to the late 80s.
[00:10:24] Speaker B: Completely understood. So what do people often misunderstand about how global economic works today versus how it was back then? What is the shift?
[00:10:34] Speaker C: Well, back then, we weren't as global. So back then, a lot of the way that people thought about India was through shop owners. It was through the motel, the growing Mississippi Masala, remember?
And the way that our engineers. And that was their perception, we were doctors, engineers over time. Now what's happened is you have huge Indian multinationals coming and investing and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs in the United States. But we are horrible storytellers. We do not talk well about ourselves as a community, as a culture. And so we are. We are doing a lot for economic growth in the United States. But people in the US Government or in state governments are still not fully understanding or aware.
So we are constantly educating people. We are constantly trying to use facts and to say, hey, look, in this global economy, India is now the fourth largest economy in the world.
By 2075, it will be the second largest economy. You need to take time to understand what is India and what are Indian companies doing.
[00:11:46] Speaker B: Right. And to that, hold on, and we'll be right back in further understanding about the global economy and the global growth between us And India relations. Thank you.
Welcome back to the Ras Patel Show. Hi. I'm here with Kapil Sharma. And this conversation is about how systems actually function in real time, where business, government and diplomacy align, where friction begins.
So where do business, government, and tipless need work best together? And where do they tend to break down?
So, Kampil, we were talking about so many different diasporas, right? The relationship that we have and the way we have settled into of who and what our identity is. Right. In order to make a sound impact in our nation. Our nation is our country here, the States, because we, let's face it, we are Americans and we're proud of it. But how are we continuing our diplomacy, our identity, to tie the country in India and as well as us together? So help me with that, because that's a challenge on its own.
[00:13:18] Speaker C: It's a great question. It's an insightful question.
If there was an easy answer. I wonder if we could do that.
I have found over the years that one of the easiest ways of people understanding or appreciating our culture from time to time to hear in the US Is over music and sports.
And look at the success of the Rundar. I don't know if you've seen the movie the Rundar.
[00:13:46] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, I love it. The one and two.
[00:13:48] Speaker C: Yes. And I mean, granted, it's seven and a half hours, but it flies by because of one thing. Action and music. And the music is a great combination of both east and West. And it makes it a way where my kids hear who are born and raised can actually watch it and relate to it. Not necessarily the violence, I hope not, but relate to the music, but to the music. And so it's fusion at the end. Exactly right. And so when I found out when I was doing political activism, the largest groups I could get to show up in our community was when I had a Guarbaras or a Bhangra live. Bhangra live Garbaras. And people would show up. If I wanted to talk about discrimination in immigration, I get 20 people.
So I would combine the two.
[00:14:36] Speaker B: Right?
[00:14:37] Speaker C: And sure enough, people would come and then we would. We would talk and people would listen. The hardest part, execution.
[00:14:45] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:14:47] Speaker C: And even in business, you were talking about in the beginning about business and diplomacy, Right. In this country and in generally all around the world, it's easy for the government, diplomats and businesses to come together and say, okay, this is the problem where it breaks down. How do you do it?
[00:15:03] Speaker B: Right. The strategy.
[00:15:05] Speaker C: The strategy about doing it, that's where everybody falls Apart. And that's why, for example, jobs nobody can figure out. How do you actually execute creating more jobs?
[00:15:18] Speaker B: So how do you. Kapil, what are your thoughts on that?
[00:15:22] Speaker C: I think we have to be honest about jobs. I've said this for the last probably six, seven years.
We do not talk about jobs in a positive way.
So in our community, for example, you are told the minute you are born that you are going to go to college and you're going to get a job as an engineer, doctor, lawyer, or run for office. But the reality is, is that in today's world, probably the most successful people I know aren't going to college. They're electricians, they're plumbers, they're carpenters, they're
[00:15:53] Speaker B: home builders, the traders.
[00:15:55] Speaker C: Exactly right.
[00:15:56] Speaker B: Nowadays that's what's needed.
[00:15:57] Speaker C: That's exactly right. And I think that what we have done is we have demonized certain types of jobs in this country. So when I. And the other thing we have to do is when we talk about these jobs, we have to talk about them at a much earlier stage in a child's life.
So we need to be talking about jobs when they're fourth grade, the same way that Indians do, the Chinese do, and a lot of other cultures, but
[00:16:22] Speaker B: not just more so or unless I'm wrong, help me. Sorry.
When you're saying at the four year old child, it's not just simply saying what do you want to be when you grow up, it's understanding, okay, it's okay not to be a doctor, but giving that environment to grow larger and,
[00:16:42] Speaker C: and, and to say, okay, plumbers are, is equally as important as being a CEO of a tech company.
Which, you know, these days I don't know if CEOs are at the same level as plumbers. I think plumbers are much more valuable and much more important.
[00:16:56] Speaker B: But you know, it's not just about being a plumber.
They're needed. Of course. It's more about opening your mind that there's other things out there.
[00:17:05] Speaker C: Absolutely right, Absolutely.
[00:17:06] Speaker B: About the jobs, the creativity. I mean, you do.
Did your parents think you're going to be, you know, in diplomacy?
[00:17:14] Speaker C: No.
In fact, they had a pooja when I told them that I was going to work on Capitol Hill. No joke. Because if you think about it, my parents, parents left India because of politics
[00:17:25] Speaker B: and they hear you.
[00:17:27] Speaker C: There's our kid now walking around wearing a bow tie, hanging out with these politicians that are corrupt and evil. Because my dad always viewed politicians as.
Yeah, I mean, and they did. I couldn't believe It.
The best part was when the best part was. And very funny is my dad said, I can't get you married. Who's gonna marry you? You're working on Capitol Hill and you're making $25,000 a year, and you're a lawyer.
Nobody's gonna marry you. And then it's just. But that was. He was reacting to what he knew.
[00:17:56] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:57] Speaker C: And so you're 100.
[00:17:58] Speaker B: It is the safety thing at the end. Day back then.
[00:18:01] Speaker C: Yeah. But I think.
[00:18:02] Speaker B: What is it now? Is it still a safety issue? Is that why we're still so stuck on. No, this is the job you need. This is what you need.
What's creating this? Sometimes the turmoil in people's mindset, I
[00:18:14] Speaker C: don't think it's a safety issue. I think it's an awareness issue. I was working in Arkansas, helping a company try to create manufacturing jobs. And even in Arkansas, they were struggling because they thought a factory job is this dark room and you're sweating and you've got grease all over. So what we did is we took the parents first, brought the parents in to see what a modern factory looks like.
[00:18:41] Speaker B: Right.
[00:18:42] Speaker C: Then we brought the kids. Because the same way that, you know.
And this is your old background, the way that you can get parents to kind of change their bad habits to get to the kids first, and then the kids pressure the parents.
It's the same. Take it the other way around for jobs. Get to the parents first, let them know that these are great careers, and then they'll influence their kids into moving into it. So it's just reversing it.
[00:19:06] Speaker B: Right.
You've made a good point. So let's go back to the strategy, in terms of strategy of how you are able to create a movement in bringing the folks together.
[00:19:20] Speaker A: What.
[00:19:20] Speaker B: What are your thoughts on that? How have you helped in that area? What are the challenges you've noticed and that you've overcome?
[00:19:28] Speaker C: My. My strategy has evolved over years.
Initially, when I first started, I was like one of those angry dudes. And I just get everybody angry. And we'd fight the power. I mean, that's like. I grew up with those types of movies.
Over time, what I found was that people are tired of anger. I think we're feeling that now.
Everybody is just tired.
[00:19:50] Speaker B: It's really tense at the moment.
[00:19:51] Speaker C: It is, and it's exhausting.
So what I try to do is I try to be much more upbeat, much more positive, and I focus on commonalities.
[00:20:00] Speaker B: Interesting.
[00:20:01] Speaker C: What connects all of us and how do we move forward?
I'M no longer focused on separating us. I think our community, our diaspora, focuses way too much on differences and not on commonalities. And so the work I'm doing with Sunny Singh and the Global India Collective is trying to find how do we become more unified, how do we become more together?
And that is both a North Star for us, but it's also a challenge for us as well, because Indian diaspora experience in Boston is different from where you were in North Carolina. Right. And so your experience is growing up in a very different community.
Your way that I can connect with you is entirely different than someone growing up in Chicago or Boston or even in Hoboken, Jersey City now.
[00:20:58] Speaker B: So what? How can you bridge them this alignment?
[00:21:01] Speaker C: We have to talk about our kids and the next generation. We have to say, okay, what kind of environment do we want to be in what environment do we want to see where our kids can be successful? So, yes, Boston experience is very different. But I guarantee you, if you have children or the next generation of the community, they're going to move to a different part of the country probably, and they're going to have to be. And we want them to be an environment which they can succeed.
So we have to own our own story, we have to amplify our story, and we have to work to make people comfortable about who we are as a community.
[00:21:39] Speaker B: There's an interesting point that you just made, which I think a lot of people in this country on Beautiful Nation we can relate to, is that most of our children, and it's a good thing that we are, because we're global, is that most of our children, we can see them going to different country to work, to stay, to live and so forth, because it's become a global dynamics environment nowadays, thanks to social media and thanks to us coming together.
However, how do we make sure that our children also find that this country still has opportunities for us, you know, because I'm seeing that shift. So in your world, Tapil, what can we do to bring awareness and that commonality, that togetherness for children to say, yes, The US also has a lot of opportunities for us.
[00:22:45] Speaker C: It comes down to how we talk about it.
Think of it this way.
My kids were born after 9, 11. Okay, I will challenge you this on two fronts and I'd ask you this question. Tell me the movies that are being produced over the last 15 years and the messaging behind those movies. And I ask kids this all the time. Tell me one fun movie you watched in the last 15 years. It'll surprise you. Their answers and then two, tell me anything that they have to look forward to after 9 11. They've had a housing crisis, they've had financial crisis, they'. Wars.
What is it that, why would they, what would they be happy about? What are they looking forward to? When I grew up in the 80s, I had such great movies, a Sixteen Candles, fun movies and the market was growing and like when I graduated college I was like, I'll get a job, there's no problem.
Kids can't find jobs now. They're angry.
[00:23:44] Speaker B: And to that we'll come right back to that. Hold on to that topic because I have a lot to discuss on that.
So alignment sounds ideal, but real leadership happens in the gaps between systems.
Next we explore sustainability and long term impact.
Stay tuned.
We're back. And now we shift into sustainability impact and, and responsibility because growth today is not just measured by profit but by long term values and contribution.
So before we continue on that topic, Kapil, let's just finish our thoughts in terms of the children because that's important for all the viewers at the moment of where whether you're a South Asian, whether you are any background as one, I guess provide a comfort opportunity for our children. Say this is the place to be given the shift of lack of jobs. I mean, let's face it, I mean my own son is struggling and just because of if normal professionals are losing jobs in the government and by 20,000, 30,000 truckloads of them, how's that impacting our children?
Right? I mean they're going to be clearly scared and would want to look elsewhere. So what are your thoughts on that? What can we do?
[00:25:23] Speaker C: I think it's about what we said before. It's how we talk about jobs, how we talk about success and we need to be honest.
I think that politicians and companies are afraid to be honest about jobs. So if I look at the tech industry over the last, let's say four or five years, they have laid off tens of thousands of people. And what do they all say? Both companies and politicians say, they say they will find a new job.
We went through, remember the.
[00:25:56] Speaker B: So passive.
[00:25:59] Speaker C: Absolutely. And so then what ends up happening is that through technologies and efficiencies you need less and less people.
What is the largest cost for any company? It's people.
It's not operations and it's not systems, it's actually people.
So they keep finding ways in which to make their workers more efficient. So as you continue to lay more people off, what are the new job opportunities that are being created in India for Example, people don't realize this. They have to create a million jobs a month. Tell me any sector, industry in the world that can create a million jobs a month.
[00:26:37] Speaker B: Hardly.
[00:26:37] Speaker C: You can't.
So that is why I don't think, you know, and I get in trouble for this. But I'm gonna say I don't think Indians are smarter than most other cultures or other people. I think we have to work harder. Because if you don't work hard, you die. And you bring that work ethic and you bring it to the United States. In the United States, you don't die because you don't have a job, because we have safety nets. And so the question is, how do I motivate and get my kids to think differently? Your new generation, the new generation. So I have to show pride in whatever career that they pick. I need to say that white collared is not better than blue collar, that a job is a job, and that I am not going to judge you on what you do as a job. I'm going to judge you as what kind of person you become.
Mike Tyson said it the best, and I always love him for this. There was a podcast in which he said the podcaster asked him, how do you want to be remembered as the greatest fighter of all time? And he goes, I just want to be remembered as what kind of father I was.
And I said to myself, that's what I want. My kids. Doesn't matter what job you have is, how are you in the community, how are you with your family? That's far more important.
So if a job lets you become a good human being, so be it.
[00:27:54] Speaker B: So what are the corporate industries doing to sustain these job markets? How are they helping our generation, our generation being our children's generation, to come onto our workforce and not have that fear factor. What's their sustainability strategy? At the moment?
[00:28:13] Speaker C: I'm not sure. I think there are some industries and some companies who do a really good job investing in local communities.
And so what they do is they say, okay, we're going to invest in this community, and then we're going to have our professionals go to the community colleges and teach at the high schools about what are the needs of the future.
Because what has happened is that also back in the 50s and the 60s and the 70s in this country, job growth came about because people could move. It was labor mobility.
People can't move now because you know what happened? You got a 2% mortgage on your house. Now. Mortgages won't come down to 6% if you leave your House. Can you find a new place to move?
So what politicians are asking companies to do is to move your company to our community.
[00:28:59] Speaker B: Right.
[00:29:00] Speaker C: And that's the most important thing.
[00:29:01] Speaker B: Right, Right.
[00:29:03] Speaker C: And that is not realistic.
[00:29:06] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:06] Speaker C: So there are some companies who are saying, okay, we are going to move to your community and we're going to train your community.
I think what we should be doing more of as from our community perspective is not only reinvesting in entrepreneurs, but we should be spending more time talking to our kids and people like you. You are in very diverse markets and what you're doing, you're very successful at it.
How many South Asian children meet people like you?
[00:29:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:32] Speaker C: So they don't know if what you do for a living is an option.
[00:29:35] Speaker B: Right.
[00:29:36] Speaker C: You should go and we should make sure that our kids meet people like you.
[00:29:39] Speaker B: Yeah. To bring awareness. Bring awareness and provide some type of mentorship and. And give them feedback and also what
[00:29:47] Speaker C: you excel at, which is well being.
[00:29:49] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:50] Speaker C: And we need to start teaching our kids that as well.
[00:29:52] Speaker B: Don't get me started on that. Because I think it's such a huge gap, 100% huge gap in the corporate world and just in terms of any industry that mental health is so important and the physician health is so important in order to leverage your opportunity and to be successful leaders of this country, of any country.
[00:30:15] Speaker C: Well, that's why I like your show because you do talk about that issue which is taboo for our community.
Depression and stress and how we tackle it. So we. Not only. So we do we have to open our kids to what else is out there. From a job perspective, are we arming them to be able to take the stresses because it's going to be tough like your son. My son is having the same difficulties.
[00:30:36] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:30:37] Speaker C: And my daughter, who is very different and likes academics, I worry about whether she'll find a job when she graduates no matter how hard she tries.
And what we do, a great job is promoting success.
But we shy away from failure and we need kids to know that failure is okay. Too huge.
[00:31:00] Speaker B: It opens doors for options.
[00:31:03] Speaker A: Right.
[00:31:05] Speaker B: That's one thing that I talk about when it comes to failures. And not to steal away from your moment. Is that just piggybacking on that is the children have to understand if something they perceived as a failure is not really a failure because it's opening doors to other opportunities they haven't looked at.
[00:31:27] Speaker C: And so you were talking about policy and government.
We need to teach that that needs to be brought into the schools at an early age.
Not all parents Your kids are lucky they have you so you're equipped to teach them this. But not all kids have Araz at their home. And so where are they going to do it? Well, they're going to have to learn it in school some way, somewhere. They're going to have to learn it somewhere. So whether that's at our gurdwaras, whether that's at our temples, whether it's at our churches, we need to find opportunities to teach kids that. And so from a policy perspective, I think we need to start pushing that well being and whole being into our schools.
And our community needs to be a better job of accepting that as well.
[00:32:12] Speaker B: And when you come, so that's a good point. Kapil is that's a good strategy of starting at the grassroots, starting where the mind is tenderly young to implement the thought process, of expanding, of nurturing and bringing ideas into their mindset while keeping them healthy and happy. Because we over see, we actually forget honestly that happiness is an important aspect of it and the biggest element.
[00:32:48] Speaker C: And so my boss Sunny Singh from Round Glass, he wants, he tries to bring those teachings from our culture and it's our culture, so it's not religious based, it's our culture which is the Indian culture. And bring it here because it's based on these long traditions of mindfulness and well being and whole being and say, okay, can these be converted into a policy here in the United States?
So we want to start a wellness caucus on Capitol Hill. We want to bring this to the schools. We need to implement more and more of this, our schools. I don't know if they're focused on making sure that our kids are prepared for disappointment, failure.
[00:33:27] Speaker B: Wow, that's huge. So when it comes to your, let's talk about Round Glass. What is Round Glass doing at the moment? Let's hear about, you know, what your company does in terms of bridging and being this a pillar for opportunities with the country at the moment.
[00:33:48] Speaker C: So Round Glass itself is a whole being company. They call it whole being, not a wellness because whole being is that it's a 360°.
So it, it requires mental stability, physical stability, all different types of stability.
What Sunny is trying to do, what I agree with, which is to teach people to make it aware and to democratize it to make it free for people.
[00:34:13] Speaker B: Interesting.
[00:34:14] Speaker C: He is a successful businessman. He's been blessed with great wealth and freedom. And so he wants to democratize all of this and make it accessible.
And then once you make it accessible to people, then they can, they'll feel more open to bringing it into their. To their lives. Now, he is from Punjab and so a lot of that influence comes from India.
[00:34:37] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:34:38] Speaker C: So it's bringing that Indian approach to the US and to, like I said, democratize it. And so he goes, he goes to Capitol Hill and he talks to people about it.
We talk to campaign workers, we talk to staff. We talk to a lot of different people about how to handle stress and how to handle stress effectively.
[00:35:01] Speaker B: Right, right. And that's huge.
[00:35:03] Speaker C: It really is. It really is. But we need to bring it to lower levels. I think that it's never too late. Right. But I think it's never too early either.
[00:35:13] Speaker B: So in your experience with this, that's a nice. Sure.
So in your experience, Kapil, because you come from this background in political arena, you met the walks of the walks and so forth. And now, just like me, your shift has been into focusing on the wellness aspect of it.
What have you seen that works? What doesn't work? And because you have come through such a dynamic background, how does this wellness fit into the political arena? How does this wellness fit into the global policies that you have worked in?
[00:35:51] Speaker C: So if you go and you talk to any governor, any politician around the country, they will tell you the number one issue is depression.
It is depression. And social media doesn't help because social media now is forcing people to be at home. We are a species where we're based on this talking, interacting, not looking at our phones every five minutes. I mean, since even during our breaks you haven't looked at your phone once, we can do that. I don't know if our younger people can do that. And so it is the pressing public policy issue to date, besides jobs. And so the question is, how do we talk about it? How do we talk about it in a positive way? I don't think there's any politician out there that talks about it and in a way in which people can understand it. So we do need to have a. From a human element and talk about in a way in which people are not embarrassed to talk about it.
You know, because, I mean, not to get into personal stuff, but I wasn't trained for whatever ups and downs that I've had over the last couple years. Let's take it from a diaspora perspective. This is actually my most pressing issue. I have a mom with dementia. I am taking care of her by myself. It is really hard.
It is really hard. And I was not prepared for it. And I was not actually even prepared for how it was going to impact me Emotionally and mentally. And to see your mother slowly just withering away to a point where a worker came up to me said, not your mom anymore. You have to be able to let go.
And I have worked on that.
In our community, we take care of our parents. It's what we believe in.
And so how are we trained for that?
[00:37:42] Speaker B: What's your sounding board?
Where's someone you can lean on?
[00:37:45] Speaker C: That's right, that's right. And so it becomes a challenge. So you realize that this is something we should be teaching in the schools because it's not just it's forever.
It is something that will help us succeed no matter what we do. It's equally as important as math.
[00:38:03] Speaker B: And hold on to that therapy like that.
Intention impact is not just intention, it's execution and alignment. In the final segment, we explore leadership, perspective and global influence.
Welcome back. This conversation has been about global system, strategy and impact and many more things. Now we close on leadership. As you've been hearing, perspective and long term influence. Oh my goodness. I think we've covered all those topics, Kapil. I don't know if we have anything left. I'm going home. I'm just kidding. So it's been a rewarding experience to be seen speaking with you thus far, Kapil, just because we've touched on children, about the job market, about the South Asian diaspora, about the global policies and where the shift back then to where we're seeing the shift now.
So in terms of all these aspects, Kapil, let's hear about you. What are you seeing and what are you holding hope that the next few years and a decade from now, where do you see yourself to be and what changes do you want to implement?
[00:39:29] Speaker C: I think you're the first person to ever ask me that question.
[00:39:31] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:39:33] Speaker C: I've not really thought about it. I mean I do aspire for.
It's going to sound very kumbaya ish. But it's true though, right? You just want people to relax, you want people to enjoy life, you want people to in communities to really aspire for some kind of harmony. And this is going to sound weird back to the way when I was in the 80s, I felt like 80s and 90s where I felt like I didn't know my neighbor. I felt like I could talk to people. I mean, was it perfect back then? Of course not. I'm not Pollyannish. But I felt like today, you know, kids today can't be kids the way we used to be.
[00:40:16] Speaker B: We can't just go have them ride A bike until they get hit.
[00:40:19] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:40:20] Speaker B: I'm being serious. Like yesterday, Kapil, as you're mentioning, sitting here, you know, watching some TV or whatever, and then my husband comes in and he's like, oh my God, guess what? So what A poor kid just riot, 12 or 13 year old was riding his bike, crossing the intersection and a car just hit.
So.
And he wasn't moving just like that.
So it's become that risky, that dangerous.
[00:40:50] Speaker C: Now I'll tell you what's even I am the great dancer that I am today because I could practice dancing and being a stupid dancer back then and not worry about somebody recording it. Kids don't dance today because they're worried about being recorded.
[00:41:05] Speaker B: Yeah, being judged.
[00:41:06] Speaker C: Exactly right. And that just steals this ability for young people to make mistakes.
And I mean, I am thankful there was no video recording devices when I was in college.
[00:41:19] Speaker B: Kapil, you and I need to record and have a dance off. Okay. I think we would do great.
[00:41:25] Speaker C: I think you'll kick butt and I'll throw out my back. But the. But the thing is, is that that's what I want. I want kids to feel like they can make mistakes again and not be punished for it. I think that would make me happy that let children be children. Let them make mistakes, let them grow up and hope that, you know what, you know, it's not recorded, it's not forwarded and it becomes this. And that's what I hope. I also hope we do get some real leaders.
I think back to the time when I was working in politics in the 90s.
There were some really good leaders. They want again, not perfect.
[00:42:04] Speaker B: Right, Right.
[00:42:05] Speaker C: Were they corrupt? Sure.
But they were still some inspirational leaders.
I will again challenge anybody. Give me inspirational leaders. Yeah, give me inspirational leaders there in the world today.
[00:42:18] Speaker B: They're shifting the country.
[00:42:20] Speaker C: I think today people are focused more on pats on back than they are in actual change.
And that was what bothers me.
I don't know if the system today, the political systems around the world are enabling for real growth, real leadership and for communities to work together. So now we've almost. Now we have, you know, we're almost. We boycott freedom of speech. People can't be free to speak how they want to speak. When I was growing up, I wanted to know everybody and their views because I wanted to know the guy that hated Indians.
I never discouraged free speech. I was like, oh, speak up.
[00:43:03] Speaker B: We need the free speech. And just because. And of course, to filter through the facts versus fiction. And now we don't know what's the fact.
[00:43:11] Speaker C: How do I ask you? And I grew up in communities where there were not many Indians. And you know what I think based on our interactions with us, you educate people. You can't educate people if you don't know what they think and what they believe. And I want more and more people to actually work and talk and educate. You can't even do that anymore.
[00:43:30] Speaker B: Education is the key.
[00:43:31] Speaker C: You can't talk to people anymore. I can't tell people, hey, you know what? This might not be the right thing to say. This might not be the best thing
[00:43:38] Speaker B: to say is I think it's missing. What do you think?
[00:43:41] Speaker C: What missing etiquette.
A lot of things. I think empathy is missing.
[00:43:46] Speaker B: Empathy is missing. It's just how, like, properly to say, how do you do?
[00:43:50] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:43:51] Speaker B: Or I care about you, or, you know, respect the elders or respect the youngers.
Anything and everything is just shifted. So I agree, back in those days, it was there, or at least it was thriving to be there.
So, yes, we need to bring it back. So how do we bring it back? How do we shift the dynamics that, you know, how do we make sure that policies and the global change, all that is working in tandem, working together to shift into a positive movement?
[00:44:26] Speaker C: I think the first thing we need to do is we need people to feel economically secure. There is a lot of similarities between Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump and Madani.
What are they? They are populists. And what are they doing? They are talking about and they're capturing the insecurities people have. What are most people insecure in right now? In the US it's about jobs and their economy and their economy.
And so they have different solutions to it. And one is very inarticulate, but that is what is the problem. And so people will take a rider on Trump. Not necessarily because they like the way he talks about people, but they think, okay, this guy's unfiltered. He's going to expose why I can't get a job. You know, why are people angry at H1BS? They're angry at H1BS because they feel like they're taking jobs. It comes down to one simple thing. It's economic security.
Once we take care of that, the risk, everything else will flow. Because again, dating myself when I was graduated college, I was not worried about a job. I go to the Smith Business School at University of Maryland, and I asked those graduates, how many of you worried about it? More than half the room raises their hands. And so that will drive their mentality and their mindset.
We also have to start not focusing on individualism anymore. We need to start focusing as a community.
I think we went through a whole phase of our society where it was okay to identify and focus on you and be proud of you.
You should.
But you should also be focused on your neighbor and your other people because the only way we're going to overcome this is through community.
[00:46:10] Speaker B: Right?
[00:46:11] Speaker C: And that's what we need to do. So we need to take care of the economy and everything else will flow.
[00:46:16] Speaker B: Okay, so how do you bridge the economy with your expertise and knowledge about the human factor?
[00:46:26] Speaker C: Our policies have to be far more empathetic.
[00:46:29] Speaker B: Do that or give us.
[00:46:31] Speaker C: We have to elect the right leaders.
We have to elect the right leaders. We have to get the right people in place.
We have to not focus on party power.
You know, at the end of the day, I really do think that people in the Republican Party and people in the Democratic Party want to do the right thing. It's how they get there, which is what we.
[00:46:55] Speaker B: The approach.
[00:46:56] Speaker C: It's the approach that really is where the difference is. But I like, for example, I don't disagree with many things that the Democrats want to do. Maybe I disagree with how they want to get there sometimes.
So I think we just need to as a country come into and say, okay, let's focus on the economy first. It's a big problem. And let's, let's take care of that first and get our governors and our states. And we also have to stop being lemmings too. I mean, I get frustrated.
Do people know who their state legislator are? Legislators are. Do they know in Fairfax county, one of the largest counties in the country.
Do most of our community know who the.
[00:47:41] Speaker B: Oh, do they care?
[00:47:43] Speaker C: They should care. Because what Kumar told me was that who builds your roads?
County.
Who is focused on your schools? The county. Who is doing all the different things that impact your day to day life? The county. But I can't. Most people can't tell you who's running
[00:48:00] Speaker B: the county and so hence how are they voting?
[00:48:03] Speaker C: Well, and you're putting strangers there who are not held accountable. So if we want change, we have to look at ourselves first. We have to hold ourselves accountable. We have to be educated on who's running for office and not necessarily focus on the president.
That's important too. But you got to focus on the governor. You have to focus on the state legislator. You have to focus on the mayor and the city council people too.
[00:48:25] Speaker B: It's all, it goes from bottom, top.
[00:48:27] Speaker C: That's exactly right. And I would say it's a pyramid. And I would say that if we don't work on the base of our pyramid, doesn't matter who's on top.
[00:48:34] Speaker B: Right.
Start from the next door.
[00:48:37] Speaker C: That's right. Absolutely right.
[00:48:39] Speaker B: 100%. So what do you have to say when it comes to the next steps?
The relationship between the US and India relationship? I mean, we have, we focused on everything else. Let's kind of bring that back into play at the moment. What do you have to say? Is it going well? Is it going strong? Or do we need to focus on that?
[00:49:02] Speaker C: This is going to be a weird shift, but it is.
The US India relationship has survived because of our community.
Our community, which is comprised of recent immigrants and diaspora people who genuinely care and love about India. And we have, they have worked over the last 25 to 30 years of building a system that could withstand political tailwinds.
[00:49:26] Speaker B: Right, Right.
[00:49:27] Speaker C: I am worried and I was asked this question on a panel. Are you worried about one party dominating the other on the relationship? I said no. What I'm worried about is what my kids are going to do to protect the relationship. And what are their kids. Kids going to do. The connection to India is getting less and less and less. So have we built an ecosystem that can withstand the political tailwinds? That's what scares me. And it comes from us.
Our community is the most unique community in the world.
If you think about where the India is the largest country in the world from a population perspective, there's 5 million Indian Americans in the United States. There is close to 9 million in the Gulf. If you look everywhere in the world, Indians are everywhere.
And they're far more assimilated because of their ability to speak English, education systems, whatever it may be. And now you're seeing music and you're seeing them in movies.
Now you see Indians at bloody every show, Netflix show there is.
So it is becoming more. We are a very unique diaspora. So one, we have to stop comparing ourselves to other people. Two, we gotta figure out who we are.
Three, we have to also say what is our connection back to India?
Once we figure out our connection and what we want that relationship to be, then we have to hold people accountable.
[00:50:50] Speaker B: Accountable. And you know, that's, that's the main thing is what do we want?
And we can answer the. The rest of history to that. Thank you so much, Kapil. So, Kapil, how can we find you?
[00:51:05] Speaker C: Depends if you like me. I'll give you my email id. If you don't like me.
[00:51:09] Speaker B: Don't worry about the New Jersey board.
[00:51:12] Speaker C: You can find
[email protected].
[00:51:16] Speaker B: thank you so much. And thank you so much humbly for coming on our show.
[00:51:20] Speaker C: Thank you for having me. I really enjoyed it.
[00:51:22] Speaker B: Appreciate it. Thank you. And to everyone watching, growth doesn't happen in comfort. It happens in the moments that test who you are and reveal who you're becoming.
I'm Raz Patel and this is the Raz Patel show.
From Frozen to Fearless. I'll see you next time. And thank you to Kapila Sharma once again.
Stay you.
