Kamal Sarma is the monk who didn’t sell his Ferrari, that’s because he never had one! Born in the East Indian state of Assam, Kamal came to Australia when he was four. He turned into a “rugby hungry, girl hungry, fiend”. Not happy with this iteration, Kamal’s parents sent him back to India when he was 13 to live in an ashram and study to be a monk, for 7-long-years.
Back in Australian at 19, Kamal studied an honours degree in Economics then joined McKinsey & Co. Following that he worked as Head of Strategy at St George Bank, then he held roles at AMP Capital Investors and Eli Lilly, before launching his own VC.
Life for Kamal was going great, until he had his ‘empty heart experience’ – the death of his first daughter. Kamal struggled with depression, couldn’t get out of bed, and by his own admission he could easily have become an alcoholic. But his past life provided a set of skills that Kamal could lean into – he clutched onto something to believe in and found his calling, the prevention of youth suicide.
Over the past 20 years Kamal has delivered significant results for people and companies around the world with his customised framework and teachings. On top of that, he is one of the warmest, most compassionate humans on the planet.
In this episode Andrew and Kamal Discuss:
5:50 Becoming a monk at 13
18:50 Parenting in the digital age
23:00 The after effects of spending 7 years in a monastery
34:00 Working in the mental health space
46:35 3 key areas of connection
01:01:00 Looking 3 years into the future
01:08:00 Performance Intelligence Bakers Dozen
You can find Kamal at his website or Linkedin
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