Hi!

I didn't realise it at the time, but I had quite an unusual childhood.

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I grew up poor by UK standards, in a single-parent family with my mother, living off of the UK's benefits system.

 

We were however in a lovely (and decidedly middle-class) part of the Cotswolds, an area of outstanding natural beauty in the UK.

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I often think as a parent now, I have no idea how my mum managed, but she did.

 

I was also raised very religiously, although my father and extended family, who I saw regularly, were distinctly not!

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These combinations meant that whilst I grew up with some disadvantages and discrimination, I had a wide and varied social circle and perspective on life, and most crucially had developed ambition and drive to be the best version of myself in whatever I did. 

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This carried me into a career in technology and ultimately to leadership positions across multiple industries at some big brands - Accenture, Vodafone, M&S, Thomson Reuters, British Telecom, Clarks Shoes and Boots, with many other experiences along the way, travelling the country and world for business and pleasure.

 

In leadership, I found my real passion - unlocking the potential in others.  I always did my best to demolish anything, especially systemic constraints, discrimination or inequality, that stood in the way.  This led to me building a reputation for creating dramatic shifts in company cultures.

 

As part of my experiences, I found where my heart really sang, were in smaller teams and 121 coaching.  In 2018 I qualified as an executive coach at Henley Business school to formalise these skills.

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Then, in 2020, after four and a half years of trying, my wife and I were blessed when twins arrived, a boy and a girl!

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This happened to coincide with an extremely challenging time for me at work helping lead the sale of a quasi-regulated company to Private Equity, whilst my wife who runs her own business had precisely zero time off - she worked in the hospital the day the twins arrived.

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After what I thought would be a perfectly adequate one month's paternity I returned to work (dads only have 2 weeks normally, and that's fine, right? 🤦🏼‍♂️). 

 

Combined with Covid restrictions and a lack of family support in the area, the next 9 months were pretty bonkers.

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I have shared a lot about that period on my parenting blog (www.twincident.blog), but suffice to say I decided that for me to support my family, to be the dad I wanted to be, to enable my wife to continue to run the business that she had worked so hard to build from nothing, I needed to make some dramatic changes.

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Since then I feel like I have tried it all, working with my wife on her business, freelance consultant and coach, and finally creating the Present Parent Program.

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I created the program because as I went on my own parenting journey, and what turned into an even more bonkers time after leaving the corporate world,  I couldn't understand why no one speaks more about the challenges of parenting and why there isn't more support in place.

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The more I spoke to, and later coached, parents it became apparent that feelings of overwhelm, guilt, judgement, regret, isolation and a loss of identity occurred at some point, no matter what the home, family or work situation.

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Institutionalised gender bias plays a big part in this, along with the lack of practical support that leaves parents, typically mothers, feeling like they aren't succeeding at home or in their careers.

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There are huge systemic changes that need to happen to unpick this, and whilst I hope the actions I take and the content I share will help, I am conscious this will take time.

 

In the meantime, I am acutely aware of the power coaching has to shift our mindsets and create the action that will enable us to deal with these types of seemingly impossible situations, whilst also raising the profile of the underlying issues and showing us all how things can work.  

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The Present ParentPprogram was born out of my conversations, research and then coaching with parents on the challenges they face, and my passion for being a great parent, having a meaningful career, and wanting to use my skills in coaching to help others to have the same.

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Thanks for reading!

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Ranjit and Family​