"Without a solid team, a business cannot thrive over the long term."
Re-formed corporate lawyer, turned Eastern-influenced holistic leadership and women’s empowerment expert, social-preneur, speaker, and author, Anjani Amriit went from crisis to contribution. After dedicating 16+ years to the cause in top law firms in the UK and Australia, with no personal strategies to manage the high-pressure environment, she burned out. In a desperate attempt to heal and find greater meaning in her life, she retreated to India to “eat, pray, love” herself back to wellbeing. For over a decade she studied with many masters in India, the USA, and the UK, learning powerful practices that restored her physical, mental, and emotional health. She let go of her anxiety, became healthier and happier, connected deeply to her soul, and found her purpose.
Anjani made a complete 360 in all areas of her life. She resurrected the ruins of her career, this time based on Eastern holistic practices. Over the last 15+ years, Anjani has worked with influential founders, leaders, and teams across the globe, including the likes of Apple, Adobe, and Visa, fusing Eastern technologies with Western philosophies, and is regularly featured in the media. Anjani helps to emerge and established leaders, lawyers, and founders connect their heads with their hearts to discover their highest purpose and drive meaningful change and impact for themselves, their organizations, and the planet.
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Table of Contents
NO child ever says I want to be a CEO/entrepreneur when I grow up. What did you want to be and how did you get where you are today?
Anjani Amriit: Raised in a large immigrant matriarchal family of Polish and Greek Cypriot blood, my Yorkshire-born n bred Nana was the matriarch at the helm. A revered nursing sister in the Accident & Emergency Dept of the local hospital, she was hard as nails and generous as Mother Teresa. She would fight anyone to protect her family and helped anyone in need. Her door was always open and her heart was big enough to save the world. My Polish Grandad, a doctoral graduate in Poland, escaped the Germans in the second world war to fight for the British. After the war ended, he spent the rest of his working life down the mines. Serving others was unknowingly imprinted into my DNA. As a kid, I dreamed of becoming a doctor or joining the Queen Alexandras (QAs) Nursing Corps. Hailing from a family of coal miners in a small town in North Yorkshire, England, I longed to escape the confines of my small townhome and see the world and serve others just like my Nana. Mum was all set to join the QA’s before she met my Dad. After getting married she became a full-time Mum and traded her dreams to serve her family. I guess I wanted to live her legacy.
Not getting the grades to become a doctor I chose to become a lawyer. I thought I could still help people this way. I drove myself to be the best of the best, becoming the first person in my family to go to University and enter a white-collar profession. It paid off and I had a stellar 16+ year career as a corporate mergers and acquisitions lawyer in the top law firms in the UK and then Australia. From the outside looking in, I made it. But on the inside, I was an emotional wasteland. Depressed, suffering from anxiety daily panic attacks, and chronic digestive issues, I burned out. At the age of 34, I finally decided to put myself first. I walked away from my 16-year legal career, and everything I’d worked towards. I sold my house and my then-law practice and went to India to Eat, Pray, Love myself back to wellness.
For over a decade, I studied with Eastern masters, learning powerful practices that restored my physical, mental and emotional health. My weight normalized, I let go of my anxiety, became healthier and happier connected deeply to my soul, and found my purpose. In the true entrepreneurial spirit, I resurrected the ruins of my life to create success again, but this time, founded my own social enterprise business based on Eastern-influenced Inner Leadership Power. My resilience and courage to heal, recover, and rebuild has led me to help and inspire other leaders, founders, executives, and teams around the world. Over the last decade, I have worked with influential leaders and teams across the globe including the likes of Apple, Adobe, and Visa. I fuse Eastern and Western psychologies and technologies to help them connect their heart with their head to discover their highest purpose and make a positive difference to the world. It took me many years to finally return to my childhood dreams and my work these days brings me absolute joy.
Tell us something about yourself that others in your organization might be surprised to know.
Anjani Amriit: I am a poet and have written over 300 unpublished poems. They come to me like downloads and I have to scramble to get the words down.
Many readers may wonder how to become an entrepreneur but what is an entrepreneur? How would you define it?
Anjani Amriit: To me, entrepreneurship is meaningless without contribution. If we are running our ship just to make a profit then we are not truly aligned with our highest purpose. It is time that all entrepreneurs permitted themselves to earn money doing what they are most passionate about whilst making a positive difference to the lives of others and the planet. As entrepreneurs, we must give back, make a social impact and bring a deeper meaning to all that we offer. It’s about bringing the heart into business for the good of all.
What is the importance of having a supportive and inclusive culture?
Anjani Amriit: The importance of a supportive and inclusive culture is vital for any business. It fosters loyalty, collaboration, meaning, and purpose. It also fosters a sense of safety, belonging, and good mental health. The morale is higher and problem-solving is increased as a result. All qualities of successful sustainable businesses. People are the assets of every business, regardless of what is being sold or offered. Without a solid team, a business cannot thrive over the long term. Today’s business world is also demanding social responsibility. Gone are the heady days of the 80s and 90s of getting rich quickly. We are now in a new era of customers who expect the businesses they buy from to be socially responsible.
How can a leader be disruptive in the post covid world?
Anjani Amriit: The only way to disrupt the market, stay on top, and have lasting impact and success is to master the business of self. Leaders spend time and money on continuing professional development but next to nothing on ‘personal’ development. The output of any leader is only as good as what they input into their mind, body, and energy levels. To be a disruptor leaders must be dialed into their intuitive ‘gut’ sense. This is an inside job. Pilots are the best at learning how to do this. A post covid world needs innovation. We can only innovate our external world if we evolve our internal landscape by growing and developing our mindset, emotions, and physical wellbeing.
If a 5-year-old asked you to describe your job, what would you tell them?
Anjani Amriit: I help people who have lots of power in the world to use it as a force for good.
Share with us one of the most difficult decisions you had to make for your company that benefited your employees or customers. What made this decision so difficult and what were the positive impacts?
Anjani Amriit: Exactly 12 months before Covid hit I moved my entire business online. It was one of the most terrifying decisions I have ever made because my clients were used to working with me in person. They had become used to this and I was scared they would drop me like a tonne of bricks. I had a deep knowing that it was time to do this. I wanted the freedom to travel around the world doing what I love and wanted to expand my outreach to a global client base. But my fears had me ignoring my intuition. It took me losing my office space to leap.
When I did, all but one of my clients came with me. I opened my business to a global market and as a result, I now have a worldwide client base, my revenue tripled overnight and I got to help way more people. Although no one could have predicted covid, by following my intuition, I was ahead of the game. When most businesses were scrambling to transition to online offerings they had an entire year advantage over everyone. As a result, I picked up many new clients who needed help with their businesses and career transitions.
Leaders are usually asked about their most useful qualities but let’s change things up a bit. What is your most useless talent?
Anjani Amriit: My most useless talent would be the ability to pick out any tune on a piano without seeing the sheet music for it. Lots of fun but pretty useless when it comes to running my business.
Thank you so much for your time but before we finish things off, we do have one more question. If you wrote a book about your life until today, what would the title be?
Anjani Amriit: “A Shepherds Daughter”……..because I am (it’s true) and my work today has me shepherding leaders to greener pastures
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Anjani Amriit for taking the time to do this interview and share her knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Anjani Amriit or her company, you can do it through her – Linkedin Page
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