Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Vidya Moorthy. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Vidya, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

The Professional Development industry is a crowded one – perhaps because of the low entry barriers. Its a low investment entry point. Even in today’s racing digital world, the classic word-of-mouth analog acceleration still applies in this industry. Our presence in Austin is only two years old but our penetration has been commendable. These are some of the things we have done differently that I believe have helped catalyze the rate of growth.

1) Facilitators may usually be good speakers but they need to be even better listeners. We listen, actively – before our program, during and after. It takes effort and interest to understand what people are saying in their context, from their perspective and in their reality.

2) Surprisingly, we have our Q&A at the start of the sessions. The participants tell us what they want to learn and we weave in the answers into the delivery of the sessions. This allows participants to drive the content of the session and ensures relevance. It can get tricky since you have to create content spontaneously but the effort is completely worth it.

3) We have different strategies for different market segments to ensure visibility and build more relationships. I serve on a wide variety of boards – each aimed at a different segment like education or non-profit.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Mine is a four quandrant story. My path to becoming a facilitator and speaker is much like one a river takes – following natural instincts, relentlessly altering between flowing, moving and pushing and as a new business chasing low-hanging fruit or the path of least resistance.

I came to the USA more than 25 years ago from India and already had an MBA in Finance but my dream was to be in public relations. I earned my second masters in PR and joined the Bassett Business Group in Detroit, Michigan. I helped manage strategic communication campaigns for companies in a variety of industries – orchestrating events, news materials and campaigns. I learned about the criticality of word choice, the value of an understanding of communication psychology and the complexities of human behavior and action. I gathered insights of how the socio-political fabric of society is influenced by politics, emotion, economics. It was the variety of my client portfolio that was invaluable – a native American tribe fighting for gaming rights, a large real estate organization, a large hospital network, or a community college’s public information campaign for additional millage.

I moved back to India in 2009 and my experience in the west was valuable to my clients on the other side of the world. Companies and executives turned to me to learn about multi-cultural communication and how they can expand into western markets by developing a deeper understanding of communication styles and workplace behaviors. My company in India, Bassett Education India, provides training and development in life-skills and multi-cultural communication and is part of the Bassett Business Group serving clients in Asia and Europe.

Life brought me to Austin, Texas in 2021 where I founded Clural LLC. Our training and development products serve three broad customer categories – community colleges, corporates and non-profits. While the list of programs we offer is long, most popular ones seem to be the impact of global geo-politics in the American workplace, DEIB reimagined, executive presence and special programs for women in business.

I am proud of our work because we cross-pollinate our lessons between the eastern and western worlds. I am humbled to recognize how much I am yet to learn but grateful for my global perspective that teaches me every day how different we all are in our methods but how similar in pursuits, My greatest reward is delivering clarity and hope.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Reputation building is a daily effort and a cumulative result of all our actions and interactions. As we introduced ourselves to Austin, Texas we had both an immense opportunity to influence the narrative of our brand and work but also daunting challenges. Her’s what helps us:

– Constant focus on improving inherent competency (striving to do our job better)
– Genuineness of intention which is not limited to generating revenue but achieving program objectives
– Relationship building, maintaining and enhancing – each of these outcomes are different and require different kinds of actions
– Doing what we say we will do while sticking to timelines and quality

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

I manage a small team and many have been with me for years. Here’s what I have tried as an entrepreneur for my team:

– Show them a path to growth, financial, professional and personal.
– Respect their need to lead holistic lives. It delivers a more sustainable team.
– Provide social recognition even for smaller accomplishments
– As an entrepreneur, I even verbalize anticipated business challenges to my team members but follow it up with my thoughts on how we can deal with situations and ask for input. It is one of the advantages of having a smaller team but dramatically influences employee engagement. Employees also see a human vulnerable side.
– When a team member resigns, I strive to let them leave happy and whole.

Contact Info:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vidya.moorthy.5/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vidyamoorthy/