From Engineer to Comedy Star... How Naveed Mahbub Leads with Authenticity and Wit

0:00 This podcast is a proud member of the Teach Better podcast network, Better Today, Better Tomorrow, and the podcast to get you there. You can find out more at Teechbetter dot com slash podcast. My comedy has to be so good that from the first few seconds, I grab your attention and then I continue to hold your attention so that I can deliver whatever I wanted to do. And the same goes to the leaders. If you're a leader, you're trying to galvanize your sales force or freaking out because they're not meeting their sales target at the end of the fiscal year. They're freaking out, and your job is to go and calm them by Plea's no tomorrow. In every comics, job is to make that person's feel special, and that means A. You make that person happy. B you make that person feel as if I'm talking to you one on one. It's not the quantity is the quality. So I may not end up spending as much time as I would have liked you with my kids, but whatever time I'm spending, it had better be the highest quality.

1:03 Do you want to be a leader in a constantly changing world? Our emerging leaders look different come from various backgrounds and from all different age groups. Leadership is changing and it's hard. To keep up. But the good news you can be a leader too. You can be an e merging leader. Welcome to the Limitless Leadership Lounge, a try generational conversation for emerging leaders. Come spend some time with us to discuss leadership from three angles. The coach Jim Johnson, the professor, doctor Renumah Kareem, the host John Gering, a monthly guest. And you get in on the conversation on Facebook and Instagram, and be sure to follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Speaker.

1:47 So come on in and make yourself comfortable. Good morning, and welcome on into the Limitless Leadership Lounge. I am John Gary. I should say good morning and good evening and wherever you are in the world, because today our conversation and is spanning countries and we're spanning time zones. And that's one of the great things about these conversations. It's leadership looks different across the world. It's it's a concept that has some universal truths and some universal traits, but also has some cultural differences too. So we're excited today to go over to Bangladesh and talk with a contact that doctor Renuma Kareem has brought us today. I'm John Gerry is always joined by coach and doctor Kareem.

2:28 So Renewma, go ahead and introduce our guest. Let's dive in. Thank you John. It is such a pleasure to have a Navid Pai, so we always call him Navid Pai, but mister Navid Mahbub an engineer turned award winning comic. He is Bangladesh pioneer of Stand Up Committee, founder of Navid Comedy Club and bangladesh first comedian to be featured in Comedy Central. Navid Pai also has a vast leadership experience in the corporate world, serving as the CEO of Nokia Siemens Network and the CEO of IBM. He performed over in over twenty countries and well known for turning everyday laugh life into laughs. So he also has his own late night He had his late night show in Bangladesh and a morning radio show. He was a Tadic speaker and father of three wonderful kids. They're not kids anymore, they're growing up fast and Nabibai, welcome to Limitless Leadership Lounge.

3:30 It's such a pleasure to have you here today. So how are you doing? I know that you are now back in US, so what are you up to? Okay, first of all, thank you so much for having me on this show. I'm really honored. And yes, I am in the US. I don't know if I shall say back in the US. I am a New York City right now. I'm hustling the stand up comedy scene in New York, so that brings me here. So as of now. You mentioned also I've got three kids and one wife. Did I get that right? Sometimes? Yeah, my friend I get dyslexic sometime and my wife isn't very happy about that. So anyways, so I'm spending my time right now between New York City and Taka because Taka is where my family is, and here I am.

4:17 This is the pretty much the epicenter of the stand up comedy scene, and so I'm here hustling the scene right now. So that's why I'm in New York. Navida. I gotta ask you because you have a very intriguing career and we want to try to help young and emerging leaders. But I got to ask you just tell us a little bit about your journey because you went up the corporal hitter and then you went to comedy. So it's if you could tell us a little bit about their journey, because lead young leaders getting in involved in corporations then often go off and want to do something around their own. It's something like you did with comedy. So tell us a little bit about your journey through the corporate letter and then how you got into comedy. Sure by training. I'm an electrical engineer.

4:57 I have a bachelor's and a nast's degree, very traditional route. Then I worked as an engineer in the US for quite some time, callcom Ks, Wireless port motor company, Takata, and then also a California startup called wind Cast. So I went from the blue chip company to all the way done. I wouldn't sit down on the other side, to the startup world. And for a brief while I also went to business school at but I didn't finish. But in some when we were in California, I took up stand up comedy just by accident. I was working at Qualcom in San Diego, California, and I took up comedy and it was like a.

5:38 Peril path that started. So one on one side, I'm a father husband, I'm an engineer working at caullcom but at the in parallel, I was a stand up comed That was my It was was almost like being doctor Jakil and mister Hyde. Nobody about this side of me except for my wife Zara, and I would not show up at a lot of the social events and whereas in Navida, oh, he's got a teleconference with Tokyo. But really I was hustling the comedy scene. So that started, and eventually in two thousand and seven, I became the best male comedian at the original Las Vegas Comedy Festival and some news got up. Then I say, okay, fine, I have to quote unquote come out of the closet.

6:20 Which I did and everybody was pretty surprised. So for a while, these two paril careers continued. Then I quit, became a full time comic, then ran short of money, and then we moved back to Bangladesh, opened up a comedy club, had my late night show, and that's when I got the job opportunity to become the CEO of Nokia Semen's Networks in Bangladesh and then CEO. Of IBM in Bangladesh. But comedy was continuing in parallel, and then again when things started really taking off. My late night show was taken off, by morning drivetime show was taken off. My comedy club was keeping me busy, so I said, I got a quit again and then became a full time comic and have been a full time comic ever since.

7:05 So that's pretty much been the journey. Peril, then solo, then paralleled, then again solo. So one key theme throughout the course of all that, all the twists and turns and leadership positions that you held, was comedy and the power of storytelling. Through comedy, tell us a little bit more about what a good comic and a good storyteller, what kinds of traits that they have, and how we as communicators in leadership positions can become more effective storytellers. This takes me to my first TED talk ted x Talk, and it was about using humor as a delivery mechanism, because when you're using humor good humor, you have an attentive audience and then you can deliver whatever message you have.

7:53 Now, if you expend that same concept to. Whether John you're radio show host, or Jim your co which random you're a faculty, whatever, it is. At the end of the day, we are we have something. To say to an audience, and our job is to make sure we hold our attention and how do we do it? To do that, Humor is a way to do it, not the only way to do it. Jim, you're a great coach. You may have another way to do it. John, you're a radio host. You have to be very tight when you're delivering something. The whole idea is to figure out how am I going to hold the attention of the audience, and I've got very little time. That's why the concept of elevator pitch comes to We may think, oh, is that new. It's got different manifestations.

8:40 Right now, on your radio show, I'm flipping channels. If I don't like John, I'm gonna flip my channel. If I'm I'm going through reels. On social media, everybody's going through ten second videos. If I don't catch your attention in ten seconds, I'm going to move to the next video. So the whole idea now, as a comic comedy, has to be so good that from the first few seconds, I grab your attention, and then I continue to hold your attention so that I can deliver whatever I. Want to deliver, and the same goes to the leaders. If you're a leader, you're trying to galvanize your sales force who are freaking out because they're not meeting their sales target at the end of the fiscal year. They're freaking out, and your job is to go and pump them by. There's no tomorrow, and how do you do that?

9:26 You are holding their attention in whatever way you know best, but also being very concise, I cannot drag on forever. So that's the key, ye Devide. I got to ask you because I love comedy. I'm sure everybody does. Can you give us just a little story with some comedic background because it's always good to laugh. So do you want to hear a joke or some funny story? A funny story would be great, something from your life. Maybe that translated into. Those are There are so many where do I start star? But it's also that when you're a comedian, they're always expecting you to be funny. And I'm also I'm really I'm a practicing Muslim and many times at weddings in Banglades, Bangladesh, they asked me to not officiate the prayer, but say, hey, can you do a little prayer for the new bride and good groom. So I do this prayer and I do it in banglad then I do it in English because there are expats there, and they say, oh, that was so beautiful, that was so lovely. And then this one person comes says, hey, that was beautiful. That wasn't funny at all. I said funny in my prayers. So that's one funny.

10:44 So that's like doctors. When you meet doctors in different gathering, you will come and ask the doctors with all the kind of diseases, like what should we do so all and comedians, everybody expects you to go bed random. Let me say, John and Jim. I think this is more of a South Asian thing because when over here in the West, I think people really frown upon getting into formal discussions at a casual setting, But in Bangladesh it's almost given. You bump into an orient and Indian Parkistan, you bump into a doctor at a let's say, at dinner, and then you're going to pull up your shirt. Oh you know what, I've got this mole in my back. Can you have a look at it? In the middle of a party, So that's what Random was talking about. But on the flip side, yes, people do ask, oh, Novid, can you tell me a joke?

11:33 And one doctor once did ask me, I heard you're a doctor. I mean you're a comedian. Can you tell me a joke? I said, Hey, I heard you're a doctor. Can you do a vasectomy operation right now in front of me? Can you do that? Versus a joke? I have to ask you a question because I myself had to move away from the conventional path of being an academic, starting my own nonprofit, writing books and all these kind of thing. Now I'm not in a full time job anymore as an academic, and soonly brought forth. So people will tell me, like, why are you going through that uncertain path when everything you can have a secured life, And in our culture, you did skip that path of conformity, so everybody expects you to go into that path of confirmity. So as leaders in so many different because you are a leader in the field of stand up committee in Bangladesh, where they're those uncertainty idea of rinks that your mind, how did you tackle all those aspects of uncertainty to just go into that untraveled path.

12:38 In our part of the world, in America and a western world, we could. But in that part of the world it is difficult. So how did you navigate through those uncertainty and risk? Difficulty is a relative definition, and from what you're saying in Bangladesh, it's more of a social difficulty that what people are. Going to say. And but the glue phenomena is that how do you survive in this uncertainty? So if I address both, the first one, I think what comes the good thing that comes with age is that you tend to. Care less about what others think. Because the way I look at it is that I respect your opinion. I know you mean, but at the end of the day, I will be the one responsible to pay my own bills. I don't think I can come and ask you to pay my cell phone bills.

13:26 So for that matter, let me make my own decisions with all your respect. And second part is then again, now I go to the global phenomena phenomena, how do you address uncertainty and the main aspect of uncertainty's finances, how do you survive? So this is a global phenomena, even in the US that Okay, fine, I've got a six figure job, stable job for on K insurance, and I'm leaving everything and I'm becoming an. Entrepreneur or an artist. It's still the same route, an uncertain route. So the key here is, and this is what I did, I would really recommend and I'm sure many people do. This is to actually have a game plan. It's not that you just dive in blind. You have to have a backup plan or a sustainability plan.

14:13 See. In other words, I'm uncertain, but I'm not. Going to put myself in a situation where I'm going to starve or have my family starve. So I have to have some arrangement made. Say, in my case, what I did, I had some residual income. So I said, okay, fine, I have the residual income. Yes, it's not going to be that I'm going to live a lavish lifestyle, but at least we're going to get by pretty well. And I was also fortunate that my wife, Zara is very supportive. She is also an earning member. Not that I'm saying that I'm wed have to completely rely on that. What if she loses her job too. I don't want the family to not survive. So we had that in place and that makes it easier to dive into the uncertainty. Now whil that is done, there's another step to it. You have to have a game plan. What is the end plan that Okay, I'm going to do a comedy, but am I just going to do it for fun or is it going to be fiscally sustainable? The latter is also very important, not from the perspective that I'm doing comedy to make money, but if the money comes, that is a manifestation of the fact that I'm doing a good job in delivering this service. We are service providers at the end of the day. And if you Jim, you talk about leadership, and it's still the same thing. You are a leader in an enterprise and you have to have an end goal that we have to be sustainable and we have to be scalable. So that really is how I addressed it, and I think that's the best

15:45 way to adds and mastery. I think if you have that mastery over certain skill, then you also get that confidence from that mastery you have gained. If you didn't have those level of skill, that master then you know that things might not work as I have predicted from my angle like I feel that because I have the knowledge. I taught a class of nonprofit for ten plus ten plus years. I have the PhD. So I can venture and test the ground and see what's out there. So I had that confidence sometimes knowledge probably because you have that mastery. Also you had those things that gave you the courage to move forward.

16:29 So do you think the mastery on the skill is also very important? And of course that's the premise. The analogy is that I just mentioned as a comedian or an artist, or even a sports person or even a radio job John, at the end of the day, we have either a product or a service to deliver to the customer. And then in my case as a comedian, my comedy is really a service to the customer. Just being a master is not enough. That means in a company, you have a great product, that's not enough. You also have to be able to sell it and the consumers have to be willing to buy it, And how do you do that? You think that that's why they call it show business. There's a show part, there's a business pot and the business pan is completely analogous to any enterprise, meaning that the product yes, you have to be a master in the product or the service, but you also have to be able to market it. That means I have to have a good social media presence. I have to have a lot of followers, meaning that they are now liking my product. That means if I do a show, they'll come to my show by the tickets. And then I'm constantly writing new materials, so I'm doing the product development.

17:41 So it's everything is there. It's just running a business. Yeah, that's a brilliant point. Yeah, Navid, I gotta ask you because I always talk trying to find your passion, and I think sometimes that's overused, but I am curious. You started as an electrical engineer and now you've been well known as a comedian. So I got to ask you, is was comedy something that you grew up with and it's something or was it something you just said? You know what, I'd like to try and open mic one night on comedy tell me that transition because people are trying to figure out how they can combine something they love to do with also being able to make a service and project where they can make a living.

18:22 Sure, I always like to. Joke around and I'd almost like to crack jokes and people say that I'm the life of the party. So it's not. Doing it just for the heck of making others happy. It also makes me happy. If I'm making somebody happy, I feel happy too. So it was always in a social setting. And I have to say give this credit to the United States. When I came here, and I come here at a in my mid twenties, I came here as a graduate student. I didn't even do my I did not do my undergraduate here. But when I came here, one good thing about the US I found out is that there are a few things that nobody's going to laugh at you if you're doing something different. Two people are very encouraging. Three the concept is it's never too late. And four it's a.

19:10 Very enterprising environment. And that's why I think America has really done very well over the years, and now the countries are doing it because of this enterprise mindset that Okay, fine, I'm doing fun comedy, I'm doing fun. But then I started going to comedy clubs and I was saying, oh my god, these guys are on stage. You're talking for forty five minutes, making people laugh and We're bring a lot of money to see them. So this is a sustainable enterprise and it's also a high that you are in control of that situation. So I said, you know what, let's put these two together. And then I go and talk to Sandy Shore. She's a very famous comedy instructor in Los Angeles and her mother Midsi Shore. Have you heard of the Comedy Store in Hollywood. It's a very famous club.

19:56 All the big names, Letterman, everybody came out of there. So Midsi Shore and Sammy, her husband, Sammy show Or he used to open for Elvis. They opened the club in the seventies and that was the big rage. And Sandy is their daughter and she's a big instructor. I went to her and this was two thousand and four or five, not that many South Asians were doing comedy, and she said, whoa, I've never seen a brown. Guy come in. I want to try a comedy and you're an engineer, you're different. Let's work together. So she mentored me for two months and said, you have a different story to tell, tell it on the stage. And she's got me going, and you know what, that's it never look bad after that So it's a combining this enterprising mindset that I observed in the US meeting Sandy Shore and then seeing that hey, if you can have a passion, you can actually I don't want to use the word commercialize it, but you can actually make it a profession. And that's really the win win situation. And this takes me to that vent diagram, but it did. There's a term for it.

21:01 I don't remember. There are three circles. One is that what you're good at doing, One is that what brings you money, and one is what you love to do. Now, I could be an engineer, which brings you the money. I could love to sing, but I that doesn't bring me money. But if you try and get the vandagon closer and closer, the more overlap you are have, and eventually if you have one hundred percent overlap. Now you are the best in this field. You'd love to do it, And it's bringing food to the table. That's where that's where we all try to figure out in life how to get.

21:41 Yeah, and relationships are such a key piece of this too, and I think that's something that you're able to brilliantly do as a comedian is well you build relationships with those around you, that's part of the business side of things, But then you also build a relationship with an entire audience. How are you able to practice that? The art of making someone a good comedian, from my experience, really makes someone feel like the comedian is talking to them one on one, even if you're in a room with thousands. But john that's bang on target. A stand up comedy exercise is almost like being on a date. You're on a one on one. These are this is a special moment for every audience member. They've paid money, they've dressed up, this is their time in the evening in town.

22:30 They've come to have a good time. And my job as a comic is in every comics job is to make that person feel special. And that means A. You make that person happy. B. You make that person feel as if I'm talking to you one on one, and in many cases we do. This is calllorrific. You see their comedians go on stage, they're actually interacting with the audience. They call it picking on the audience. Instead of making that person feel bad, you can make them feel good. Johnny, you're sitting in the front row. You see that comics of people actually talking to people one on one. We're sitting in the front row, so you're actually directly having this conversation. That person is talking back, you're talking back. Now, the whole idea is to make that a pleasant experience. Make them laugh, of course, because it's a comedy show, but make this person feel good.

23:21 Many times we comedians make the mistake of crossing the line and making the person feel bad. I'm putting this person down. I'm picking on him or her, I am addressing or I'm talking about some drawback in that person. This is what Sandy Shore told me. Now, we never do that, Never ever put anybody down. Pull that person up. And once you do, that's how you connect with the audience. Now, the question is that how you know what kind of an audience that is. So if at a show, what we call is you take the bullet, meaning you're the first comic in the lineup, so you don't know how the audience is. But if I'm the second of the third, I have the luxury of observing how the audience is reacting to the first comic.

24:10 So this is called reading the room. I'm engaging what's the mood of the audience, What is the demograph, What are the demographics, What is their mindset? Are they conservative? Are the liberal? Are they this? Are they that? Are they military? Are they corporate? Are the college kids? And then once you go up, you already know your audience you deliver it accordingly. So let's say, if I see that these are all college kids, I'm not going to go up and say, oh, my kids are doing this. They don't care because their kids themselves, they don't have kids. Versus if I say, hey, when I was in college and they end up the semester. They're going to open up. Now, They're going to relate to what you're saying. So you're rereading the room.

24:51 You deliver what matters to them, and that's how you draw them in and then they have the impression, hey, you're actually talking to me, not to somebody else. Yeah, that's so important in radio too, the demo, knowing your demographics, and the relatability to the audience. But then it also there's so many overlaps with leadership too, because as a leader sometimes we just execute our plan whatever it is. However it's worked in the past before with no regard to the people were leading. How can comedy sometimes actually be a life lesson when it comes to leadership too. This is extremely important. And I remember when I was the CEO of Nokia, Siemens and IBM, and I was as a comedian. I was always doing comedy and in stressful situations. When you're using comedy to give a message to motivate your team members in a relevant way, it really goes a long way.

25:46 And I'll give you one example that this was in twenty eleven twelve. The concept of working remotely wasn't there. It was someone. There in the West, not at all in Bangladesh. So anybody said I'm going to work remotely, they would say, oh, you're lazy. So I remember we had this this female colleague and she's a very good sales manager and she's not working very closely with the with the with with one of the big cellphone operators, a very big customer, and her son was getting sick, and I said, to stay home. There's no need for you to come to work. Your work is really with the customer. So talk to the customer on the phone, but be with your son.

26:31 That's the most important thing. And she said she was surprised, really yeah, because colleagues were all. Said, say, oh, yeah, she stays home. She's not. I said, wait a second. Her mental well being is the most important thing. If she's she's meant and mentally she's happy, then she'll be very productive and she doesn't really need to come to work. As long as her customer is happy, her son is happy, she's at the peace of mind. She's going to exhibit the best leadership there. And of course I did say, okay, you stay home. I said, you know what I and I have to talk about this Also that for three years I was a stay home dad in California. Well, my wife was going to Berkeley Business School, so I knew what it was or I still know what it is to be at home with a child, and more so in the US that you're all for yourself. In Bangladesh, we have the luxury of having a nanny is they're affordable. In the US they're not unless you're super rich. Unusure, Elon Muss you can take your nanny to meet Donald Trump.

27:29 You're on your own. So that three years taught. Me, by the way to that what it really takes to be a parent and juggle juggle your work. So I knew what that female colleague was going through, and she said that wow, and then I could tell right away that her. Troup went through the roof. She was happy. And then I was drawing on my anecthoughts about being a stay home that, oh, yeah, you know what, I can't sleep, So it was funny, but at the same time I motived her and the leadership went across. And we call this term cil Jim, you know this very well consistency in leadership, meaning that customers at every touch point will experience the same level of leadership. So it doesn't matter which that she's home, maybe she's breastfeeding her kid.

28:19 I don't know, they don't know, they don't need to know, but they're seeing the same level of leadership and I think that's how it works. And you immediately the word that comes to my mind in leadership world is emotional intelligence. So in while understanding your when you're understanding your employee that needs emotional intelligence, being aware of their need. And you also talked about understanding the crowd. When you are a stand up committee, you have to understand who is coming from where. So it is so important for leaders and also in every role to be emotionally tuned with the people you're working with.

29:00 So thank you so much for bringing that out, and you piggybacking on the idea the work life integration. We talk about work life balance a lot nowadays. So you mentioned well being in job, and we know that now that when well being improved, productivity increases as well. So I'm curious what I've heard about this term work life balance. But recently I also studied and found out that it's nowadays it's more like work life integration. So instead of trying to go for the balance, I don't know if it's fifty to fifty is it ever possible in work life balance? So what is your take on like this work life balance in your in your life and this term that is coming up, like work life integration instead of finding the balance, can we integrate all these things together in a leadership?

29:52 Am I the best practitioner? I'm pretty sure I'm not, but I try my best, and these terms I don't know a whole lot about. But at the end of the day, I think it's all common sense. One premise I always believe in and I'm sure everybody does, is it's not the quantities, the quality so I may not end up spending as much time as I would have liked to with my kids. But whatever time I'm spending, it had better be the highest quality. So in other words, I could be I may have the luxury to be with my kids for four hours a day, but if I'm on my phone, that four hours is really not much quality.

30:33 You know, he's with me, but I'm not with him. But it could be that I have such a busy day, but I'm only twenty minutes with my eight year old son. But yet twenty minutes is bang on one on one. His name is niam o niam, So how is your day. I'm not talking to an eight year old. I'm talking to a peer, a friend. Hey, niam how was your day? What did you do? Oh? Really, you did this work? I did this. So we're talking as peers and he's saying, oh, Dad is not looking at me as a child. He's looking at me as a buddy. So we're talking boy talk or with my daughter. She said, oh, you know why I have a crush on this guy. Instead of reprimanding her, I said, oh really, you know what, Yeah, yeah, he's not he's cute, So it's really the quality.

31:16 Even now I'm traveling, I'm in New York. My son or my kids are back home, but I make sure at bedtime I get on a WhatsApp video called I'm virtually putting them to bed. So again, it's really not the means, not the time numbers, but the quality how we are doing it efficially. Like my wife's area, she's in Bangladesh, but she's working US times, so she's working late nights, but she time said that you know what, I'm gonna take this time off and have dinner with the kids, and I'm going to put the dinner at kids to bed or in the morning, I'm going to get up, make sure they go off to school. Then I'll take a nap. She it's how you work it out.

31:56 It's like a jigsaw puzzle. Not how much, but what the quality is. That's the is the keys good more than priority? Of course it's prioritizing, but at the same time, the quality of our quantity. I think that really is the key. Devan, let me ask you about because you ear in the corporate work for quite a while and you hit various positions, what would you recommend for somebody that's trying to climb the corporate ladder and get into higher level leadership positions like you were able to obtain. What advice would you give that person. Well, several things. And I draw from my learnings by doing or by not doing by making mistakes. A is that never shun any work that's given to you, because that's I'm getting paid to learn it. Many times we make this mistake that i'm and that's where we get into the silo mentality. Oh, I'm in accounting, I'm not going to do sales. Guess what if I'm in an accounting I get the opportunity to do sales. I'm learning a new skill set. I wonder if I'm an entrepreneur, I have to even go and clean the toyet. So the more skills I get the chance to learn, the better and especially if I'm starting off my career, I'm younger, I have less familial responsibilities, so I have more time. So instead of complaining, oh, I'm working long hours, be guess what if I'm working long hours, They're also paying for my meals. They may be giving me a bonus, So I'm getting paid to learn skills.

33:25 It's a win win. Second is that I will have different types of people around me. Many times the joke is about the boss. My boss is something negative, but I remember my boss's boss used to tell me, Navid, managing your boss is also a very key skill set, and eventually I learned that was such a skill to have. You will have different types of people, mostly people you find very difficult to work with, but if you figure out how to work with them without losing your temper or your patients. As a random I was talking about, that's the other skill you're building. So I really would say, these are the things you embrace as you're going up. And the third is, of course, John, you mentioned about building your contacts, meaning your social capital. Go out meet people, and one thing I would do is that I would go a totally different department and then I say, oh, hi, how are you doing.

34:30 So I was even socially. I was going to other departments getting to know them because engineers are different type of people, marketing people are a little different, sales are different. HR is different. So you're also learning to appreciate and learn about different kinds of people. So as you're going up, you're more well rounded, and not only in skill set, but also dealing with different type of people, different type of scenarios, different type of pressures, and event it helps. And I'm also going to talk draw again on these three years that I was a stay on dad. I quit my job, I was stay home dad, and when I went back, I thought I was a better leader because I look, when you're raising a child at home, you are twenty four seven, three sixty five doing all kinds of work that you don't even know that existed. So when you're at the workplace, you're even better equipped. And this really goes to women who have children in the corporate world.

35:31 Many times they're shunned upon it is, oh, you've been away from the workforce three years, I don't know if you're going to fit in. Guess what, I think she will fit in better because she had this hands on MBA. And this brings me to this Swedish ambassador to Bangladesh. He and I were very good friends. Same thing. He had three kids and in Sweden, I don't know if you know this, that both parents get. Twenty months off when you have a child. And it's not that the mom will take twenty months and the will say no, you know what, I won't take it to know. It is mandatory that at least one parent has to take at least eight months and the whole idea is that both will know what parenting is. And historically it's been seen that when they go back to the workforce they're actually better leaders. And the Swedish ambassador told me in a bit when I came back from these two years of being at home as a stay of dad, I was a diplomat at a whole different level. I was such a good diplomat. So I agree as I talked a lot, but I think this is what it is. Even embracing this experience. You take your time off, you become something. There's a janitor who's cleaning the room at the end of the day, you go and chit chat with him. Everything is learning experienced that eventually makes you better leave.

36:45 Yeah, your tolerance level also goes up once you are raising kids. You know your patience, your tolerance, and another thing I have seen that you become more empathetic. You become so empathetic. I have an experience working in daycare while I was doing my PhD and staying from six m to six pm with kids. The level of tolerance I had to have so that is unbelievable, and I think those are the skill that made me more patient and then understanding and empathetic as a leader, understanding that plan. My final question, Yeah, my final question to you is we hear so the word success in so many angles, and the younger generation now measures success in so many different mattresses. What is success to you? How would you, from your personal point of view, measure success.

37:47 As you just met randomizy. It's very multi demands, so it's also very subjective. Is how you look at it? Now? The question is how do I look at it? So please do bear in mind it's a very subjective response. Nobody should. It really has varied over time. When I was younger, it was recognition, it was possession, it was even money, And now that I'm older, I would say those are manifestations, but it's really boised under the fact that have I made a difference in somebody's life? I think that is the key to success. Have I made somebody happy? Did I make somebody move away from a very dire situation. To seeing the light? That I think is success?

38:28 So this itself also has different manifestations. Maybe somebody is suicidal and I said, hey, you know what, it's not the end of the world. There's so much for you to look forward to. And they say, oh yeah, a wait, you know what, You're right. I never knew that. Or somebody was depressed, came to my comedy show and I've had this situation. Somebody said, I've had this loss in the family. I've been in mourning for the last six months, and this is the first time today in six months I actually laughed. Thank you so much. I feel better. So that's also success. And somebody who was on drugs moved away from drugs somehow. If I was able to do it, that success. And of course yes, if I say that I got a Netflix special, that is also success. So all these are successes. But at the end of the day, even that Netflix special, if somebody actually watches and smiles, well that was not really funny, that was enlightening.

39:19 That's also success. Made my final thing. I got it because I love comedy. So can you give us just a little taste of your comedy, whether it be a joke or story. I need a laugh, So go ahead. You need a laugh. I think this is a true, fairly true story. And my kid when the second one. When the first one I was six years old. She's a daddy. I want an iPhone? I said, why, God, I so my friend has an iPhone. I need an iPhone. I said, your friend goes and jumps into the river. Will you jump into the river, not daddy, I'll just go and take his iPhone. Now that's funny, but that's also tells you how brutally, honest and laterally kids think. And so that's a funny story, and that actually applies to leadership.

40:04 And then because sometimes we shun it. Many times we say, oh, you're young, what do you know? But then you'll realise that young people actually think laterally and you say, you know what, I never thought about that. That is funny. And sometimes those six year olds can have better ideas than we do. That's the funny thing about that. Maytimes, that's why they have the same kids say the darnest things. And that's why I always treat my kids as peers, never as children. And they love that. And in the process, I'm also being very selfish because sometimes they'd say things and you, hey, man, that was a great idea, and I take that idea, use it to work at work. And they said I mean, you're brilliant, I say, I know. Actually I got it from my kids.

40:45 We've really learned a lot from you, and we appreciate your time. My final question, because I think this is really the essence of great whether it be comedy or a radio show, or all of those forms of communication that are one too many, is this idea of preparation, because I see so many people in our industry struggle to prepare. When you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail. What are some of the key things that you do in preparation for anything you do, whether it be your TV show or your any of your comedy shows. Sure, one thing I try not to do is be too scripted, because it shows if you're If I'm too scripted, people will know this guy. As you people were talking about the audience. They want that personal attention. So if I'm on stage, if I'm scripted, the audience will know Navidia is not with me. Navidis with a script. His mind is that on a piece of paper. So one thing I never do is that I never be too scripted.

41:43 And the other thing is I cannot be also because I've got a terrible memory. So if I try to remember things. It's going to just be bad. Now. What I do, of course, is that I have a mental preparation, but also plan B, Plan C, Plan D, because I don't know in comedy at least what their going to be receptive too. So if I have things that are okay today, I'm going to talk politics, and I go and find out they're all college kids. Politics is now out of the window, so I better have something else to talk about. So I have my bag of tricks. Now, if you're doing a presentation, it's a little easier because now you know, okay, I'm going to give a present technical presentation on wireless communication, so I know the topics because now you say, okay, fine, I got ten minutes, so i'd better know what I'm going to talk in ten minutes, If not line by line, at least I'm going to try and address these four points and maybe have those four points in a bullet or somewhere, but at least have my eyes on the audience.

42:39 I can be looking at my notes all the time. Okay, you just take a glimpse and then look and thirt is you time it, Because if it's a ten minute speech, you gotta do make it a seven minute speech, because if you're to make it a ten minute speech, that's going to spill over to fifteen minutes, and then what's happened. You're running the light. Basically, you're taking over somebody's time or you're rushing through. Because remember, when you're actually giving that talk in front of people, there will be an applause break, you're going to think, you're going to try and remember you're. Going to answer a question. Those ten minutes are going to flip over spill over the fifteen minutes. You'd better have tight seven minutes for a ten minute slot, okay. And the third is that if you forget, nobody knows what you were trying to remember, right, don't apologize. But at the end of the day, keep it precise, keep it concise, be prepared beyond time, and deliver in a type fashion. And however you hold your attention.

43:33 That's the key. Yeah, all good things for leaders and public speakers to know, whether you're in comedy or any other area. Navid, we can't thank you enough for your time and our final moments. Just tell us a little bit about where we can find your work. If there's any places where you can we can watch your shows and what you have coming up in the future that we can look forward to paying attention to. Sure, the one stop shop is my website Navid Mahabu dot com. Very simple, my name and if E E D M E hp uv dot com. So once you go there, now you can pick your choice. If you want to follow me on Instagram, click Instagram or Facebook or TikTok. Or YouTube or LinkedIn. The whole nine yards everything is there and you can watch my clips, reels, videos over there.

44:17 What are the big things happening? I'm I'm looking to resume my linatedight show, but more on a podcast format because now since that's very popular, so do look out for that. I'm may have a special out my Bobles Special Loud, but we'll be online somewhere, an English special some point when I garner some traction because I'm in the West, I'm trying to build an audience. So pretty much, that's it. All those links down in those show notes. Navi Baboo, thank you so much for your time today. We learned so much from you. Thank you, John, thank you, Jim, and thank you, thank you. Thank you for joining us this week at the Limitless Leadership Lounge. To listen to this episode again and to find previous episodes, check us out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and spreakare. You can also get in on the conversation find us on Facebook and Instagram. Then tell three of your friends to join in as well. Coach Numa and John.

45:13 We'll be back again next week for another try generational leadership discussion. We'll talk to you then on the Limitless Leadership Lounge