My Story
I moved to the US from India with my family when I was 9 years old. We had nothing – only $75 and a desire to pursue the American dream.
I learned to work hard mowing lawns, delivering newspapers and working at the local Dairy Queen store. It was there that I learned the valuable lessons of hard work, putting customers first and having a positive can-do attitude.
We bought a Dairy Queen?!?!
My family saved enough money to buy a Dairy Queen ice cream store of our own in a small town in New Jersey which we ran as a family business for over 25 years. We treated everyone – customers, suppliers, employees and friends like family. It was hard work but everything worthwhile is.
I wrote about the lessons I learned at the Dairy Queen in my first book, Treat Your Customers: Thirty Lessons on Service and Sales That I Learned at My Family’s Dairy Queen Store, published by Hyperion Books (a division of ABC/Disney). Checkout my book from Amazon. This is a photo of my family’s Dairy Queen below…
23 Years Experience at a Fortune 50 Company – Pfizer Inc.
After college, I got a job at Pfizer Inc. as a Sales Rep in New York City, where I turned around one of the toughest sales territories in the world – and made it #1.
From there I moved up the career ladder creating new functions and working with customers and colleagues in over 30 countries around the world. I worked for lots of managers.
Managed lots of people, small budgets to big budgets – I learned to be frugal and also to innovate in a big company. I also pitched the creation of a whole new capability some years ago and got to run it and build it from the bottom up – today it is one of the most important capabilities of the company. Great to build something enduring.
My experience in business spans many areas and many countries. See my LinkedIn profile here.
Helped My Spouse Start Her Business in a Recession – in 2008
In the middle of the economic recession, I helped my wife start her new business with a newborn in our lap. It was a crazy time full of sweat, tears, uncertainty and chaos. But we did it! Read more here.
Learning to Embrace Change in the Workplace
After years of career growth, I found myself stuck because of all the change in the company. I struggled. I didn’t know how to deal with all the change in my job and business. Paralyzed by the chaos of modern life, I didn’t know how to deal with uncertainty. I was constantly stressed and worried about the future. It was a tough time.
But I started learning, growing and living! I was able to embrace change in my job and succeeded in growing my career. It wasn’t the job – it was me that changed. I learned to Embrace Change. And this blog became a part of my journey of learning how to get unstuck and move forward in life. Read my story.
My latest book, Embrace the Chaos, is about how I learned to move forward in our crazy world where nothing seems certain. This book is filled with 12 funny, interesting and inspirational stories of a stressed out guy (me) in India learning to control the chaos that cannot be controlled.
It is about learning to let go and enjoy the ride and to look within for the answers. It was there – in the capital of chaos, INDIA where I learned that we cannot control the chaos…that we can only embrace it.
Writer, Author, Speaker and Traveler
I have written two books and write on this blog as well as speak about my experiences in learning to move forward in times of change.
For more information on my biography or a speaker’s bio, please contact me and I’ll email it to you.
bob@embracethechaos.com
Here’s the bottom line: I believe you can achieve anything you want in life. Anything. By learning to accept life’s imperfections, having clear ideas of what you want and taking action – I believe you can do great things. I believe you can make an incredible contribution to the work you do, the people you love and the life you lead. I wish you much success and happiness!