Harnessing your potential and overcoming challenges
Bio for Dr. Amir Chintan Ramlall
Amit Chintan Ramlall possesses a unique gift for helping leaders transform their challenges into opportunities. His journey out of the autism maze helped him become an expert in the human mind and human achievement. He declared that if he was going to make a dent in the Universe, he would do so not despite his challenges, but expressly because of them.
He’s a polymath with a vast knowledge base from reading over 14,000 non-fiction books and studying the works of the greatest thinkers and change-makers of all time. He integrates this knowledge with his unique insights to fulfil his deepest desire of helping individuals discover and manifest their life’s purpose. Co-founding the Chintan Project with his father, Dr. Kumar Ramlall, Amit believes that each person or business has a distinct purpose and leveraging that allows them to shine and make a massive impact.
Bio for Dr. Kumar Ramlall
Dr. Kumar Ramlall is an entrepreneur and medical specialist who co-founded the Chintan Project, InspiroMed Clinics, Inspiram Group, and Chinvest Group. As a respected consultant and physician, he has a distinguished academic background and extensive practical experience. Together, they help clients leverage their unique purpose and challenges for greater impact and rewards. They specialize in helping clients solve their people problems—the ones ‘above’ HR.
Episode highlight
Amit is a perfect example of defying limits. Despite the challenges that life has thrown at him, he has leaned into his inner strength and unique gift of helping leaders transform challenges into opportunities. His father, Dr. Kumar Ramlall, has offered him all the support he requires to prosper. Amit’s method of communication—through a cardboard with the alphabet due to his speech challenges, with his father reading what he types—adds a unique dimension to the conversation, emphasizing the power of determination and resilience.
In this episode, Amit and Dr. Kumar Ramlall share their perspectives on embracing challenges, recognizing inner strength, and leveraging available resources. They also discuss the impact of upbringing, personal transformation, and the importance of belief and support from others in shaping an individual’s trajectory.
Links
- Website: https://www.chintanproject.com/
- Amit’s email: amir@chitanproject.com
- Kumar’s email: kumar@chitanproject.com
Quotes
- “I think if we are humble enough to notice, we have access to all of the resources that we need, though sometimes it’s not in the form in that we might like.” — Kumar
- “If the road you’re on isn’t taking you where you’d rather be, change the path.” — Amit
- “If you don’t like the movie, change the script.” — Kumar
Takeaways
Childhood Experiences:
Amit:
At four days old, Amit underwent surgery to remove a mass in his belly. Despite the efforts of the medical team, he was not fully anesthetized. When the pain of moving his innards became too much to bear, he turned to his inner strength. Amit strongly believes that our purpose in the universe keeps us going.
Kumar:
When Kumar was young, his father left to study abroad. What amazed Kumar was how nothing was missing, as his mother did an amazing job of being both a mother and a father. He recalls how sometimes people stepped in to pick him up from school when his mother couldn’t make it. Kumar also remembers how their trees yielded a lot of fruit that helped pay for his father’s studies abroad. He argues that we all have the perfect toolkit if we are humble enough to notice it. In his business advisory role, he has worked with companies that believe they need capital while it seems the money is frozen within the organizations.
Influential Groups:
Amit:
Amit was born when his father was an academic physician. The model for them was how to solve Amit’s problems. After an assessment with a psychologist, his parents were told that he’d qualify for a teaching assistant in school. Amit’s father took the road less traveled, and looking back, it led to the most beautiful place.
Kumar:
Academics have always been a major pillar in Kumar’s life. As a child, his parents sent him to a private school even when they had no idea where their next meal would come from. The experience instilled a value of learning in Kumar. As a child, Kumar enjoyed teaching and recalls when they first learned math. He would help his friends solve their problems but left them to do the work, which is the same principle he applies in consulting today.
Temperaments and Personality:
Amit believes that over the years he has developed true humility. He is willing to seek what is, rather than what he’d rather it be.
Kumar and Amit have a common mentor named John Demartini, who came up with the idea of traitology versus typology. The concept states that every human has every trait, and one of the biggest ways they have transformed is by looking to see where they exhibit that behavior and in what form it exists for them.
Cultural Epiphanies:
One day, Amit was selected to be on the cover of a magazine, but he didn’t quite know what the issue was about. In response to a question from the editor, he said he would be disgusted if he got a contract because of a checklist. The editor was shocked, and it was included in the article. It turns out the issue was dedicated to DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion). There was definitely a clash of cultures between Amit and that issue.
To date, Kumar still practices medicine, and the college that regulates medicine controls what members can and cannot say in public. Kumar disagrees with it, but it’s not entirely clear in his public views. He believes culture is, in many ways is a subordination to some external authority.
Soapbox Moment:
Amit and Kumar invite us to check out the Chintan Project. Their goal at the company is to help people grow their businesses, exit, or buy. They believe in helping people love their businesses again.
Extro:
When Amit was a baby struggling for his life, his father Kumar refused to accept the small, restrictive vision for his son’s future that was handed to him. Born with a mass in his stomach, vision and speech impediments, and autism, Amit certainly faced significant challenges. However his gifts of absorbing and integrating large amounts of knowledge, and apply abstract concepts to business problem solving proved to the world what his father Kumar had seen from the start. Together they are an indomitable team, accomplishing much more together than either of them could have alone.
It was amazing for me to see how quickly Amit pointed to the letters on his reading card in a way his father could speak the words. I greatly appreciated their complimentary way of working together and enjoyed their message of purpose, hope, and humour as they approach solving business problems that are as they say “beyond what HR can do” in terms of helping people succeed.
A few takeaways I have from this interview are:
- The capacity of the human spirit to flourish, especially when partnered with champions who believe in us, is unlimited.
- Daunting life challenges have within them the seeds of even greater victories.
- If we can learn to see the gifts, encouragement and support around us, we will always have hope.
