#38 Living in a Monastery for 7 Years, Embracing Struggle and Changing the Discussion About Youth Mental Health – Kamal Sarma

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 seven-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: https://www.rezilium.com/

                                         or Linkedin: https://rb.gy/qemwq

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