Unlocking Excellence

What is Unlocking Excellence?

Unlocking Excellence is at once a concept, a lived experience, and a community of fellow excellence-seekers. Born from a half-century of learning from ancient wisdom and modern science — rigorously “field-tested” through my own life and the lives of many others — it is a refreshingly modern and practical take on using timeless wisdom for personal and professional development. It represents a landmark synthesis of wisdom gained, to date, from my life’s beginnings in India, steeped in the Eastern wisdom of advaitaVedanta (or non-dualism) that was then tested, improved, and refined through my study, work, and teaching in the United States at the world’s top universities and research institutions for science and engineering.

It is built on a few core axioms. Think of them as self-evident truths, or, if you prefer, as provisional hypotheses to be tested against your own experience:

• Most human beings are using barely 1% of their true potential — leaving 99% untapped

• Unlocking that potential gives you the power to lead a life of purpose and fulfillment in the ‘here-now’, free of being dragged down by the past or captive to false hopes for the future

• Everything you need to know to unlock that potential is not taught in schools, universities, or even transmitted by well-meaning parents, mentors, or culture

• Without this knowledge, many sincere, hardworking, and compassionate people suffer greatly, often buffeted by painful experiences in relationships, work, and life

• The method is simple (though not easy): its principles can be learned through practice in about 8 weeks, at roughly 7 hours a week, provided certain pre-conditions are met

• Although developed in the context of executive coaching, Unlocking Excellence is whole-person development: because it is the same person who shows up at work and at home

Unlocking Excellence draws from the philosophy of advaita Vedanta (non-dualism), but it is not a religion or a cult. It is a logical, scientific approach that one engages in freely — because its exposition is convincing and its benefits are tangible.

Why Unlocking Excellence and why now?

My motivation for publishing this blog

is twofold: to share what I’ve learned, and to learn from readers in return.

I’ve been fortunate to have unusually varied learning experiences: deep immersion in the Vedic way of life alongside English literature in my childhood in India; studying at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay; earning a PhD in engineering at an Ivy League university while studying Vedic Sanskrit with a Polish professor now at Oxford; learning blues guitar and harmonica from dives on the South Side of Chicago; training with a Lithuanian taekwondo master to earn my black belt; and testing theories of particle physics with a future Onsager Prize winner at Los Alamos. I share these not to name-drop, but because what I’ve learned from all of it is, peculiarly, remarkably simple and accessible to anyone.

For anyone wondering whether excellence is out of reach without access to such institutions: the foundational locus of excellence is the human being, not the institution.

As for timing—to paraphrase Dickens—it is the worst of times and the best of times. The current geopolitical moment, rife with war and uncertainty, can challenge our strength and resolve. But it is also precisely the moment when each of us is called to tap into something deeper.

On a personal note: I’ve had these ideas brewing for a long time, and some significant changes in my life have finally given me the space to do what I’ve always wanted — to write (my book The Seven Steps to Bliss: A Modern Upanishad is in final edits), to coach, to teach, and to build a community around these ideas.

What to expect

I’ll be writing about the models and tools from my 8-week Unlocking Excellence masterclass, posting on Saturday mornings. The discussions I hope we’ll have here are shaped by the qualities I’ve valued in every small group I’ve worked with: vulnerability, psychological safety, honesty, and a certain lightness of spirit. Subscription is free for now. I’ll revisit that as the community grows.

To our journey together and much joyful sharing to come…

Shankar