Brainz Magazine Exclusive Interview
Nilesh is a certified high-performance coach, speaker, and lifestyle medicine doctor. His mission is to inspire a community to Believe In Growth. After witnessing his father’s illnesses, his son's developmental challenges, and resigning from a medical partnership, Nilesh dedicated himself to self-mastery to serve others.
His award-winning coaching business helps entrepreneurs and executives serve from their highest potential without sacrificing their freedom by engaging them in a science-backed coaching program. In 2021, Nilesh's coaching business was recognized by Disrupt magazine as "10 leading performance coaches to follow."
In the world of medicine, Nilesh is a four-time award-winning medical teacher, a director for the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine, and he sits on the UK's national sleep steering committee.
Nilesh aims to spread a message of compassion, openness, challenge, and growth through all his endeavors.
You're a certified high-performance coach, speaker, and lifestyle medicine doctor! You talk a lot about the meaning of “believing in growth” to succeed; could you elaborate on this and tell us more?
After the birth of my son, things became a little challenging. We noticed my son was a little slower to respond; he had challenges with eye contact, speech, and development.
There was one particular moment that called into question my beliefs.
I took my son to a park on a muddy UK wintery day. He became covered in mud after slipping, and this resulted in a tantrum like no other. Anyone with non-neurotypical children, I am sure, can relate. He screamed for what felt like an age. I came home and sat and cried in my kitchen. I felt guilty, frustrated, and like I was the only parent who was experiencing this. Later that evening, I was reading my son a book called 'The Lion Inside' by Rachel Bright. It is a story about a courageous mouse who wants to learn to roar like a lion. In the book, one line stuck out to me. It said, " if you want things to change you first have to change you". Then I remembered a belief that had underpinned every previous success. A belief I was lucky enough that my parents instilled in me.
A belief in growth. A belief that I could improve and positively influence those around me.
I started to read obsessively on personal growth, lifestyle medicine, neuroscience, psychology, relationships, and parenting. All these books shared the same premise. "If you want things to change, you first have to change you." In a world where we have access to more information than the president of the USA did in 1994. I believe that a belief in growth is the most powerful belief you can hold.
For our readers that are not familiar with the concept of a Lifestyle Medicine Doctor, what does it mean, and how did you move from Lifestyle Medicine into coaching?
Lifestyle Medicine is an evidence-based specialty that looks to prevent, treat and reverse chronic conditions primarily through lifestyle change. Through my study of Lifestyle Medicine, I learnt a simple truth; our health depends on our daily habits.
So with all the enthusiasm and zeal of a young doctor, I thought it would simply be enough to discuss the science with patients, and they would improve. Of course, it didn't work like that. I started to become fascinated with human behaviour and potential - what drives us to make decisions. Around a similar time, I was being coached through the NHS leadership academy. Around 1 year later, my coach messaged me out of the blue and encouraged me to train as a coach. I first completed a health coaching qualification, but once I found the certification from the High-Performance Institute, there was no turning back. It was the first coaching program based on the world's largest study of high-performers with 1.6 million data points from 190 countries. This led me to coach compassionate entrepreneurs today, helping them serve from their highest potential without sacrificing their freedom.
You qualified from Southampton Medical school in 2011, and in only 10 years, you have achieved so much in your career. What has been the driving force behind this success?
In a word, it's service. Once I started to meditate, I realized how interconnected we all are. Things became clear, and I started to see that our purpose is born out of three things; self-belief, skill development, and an overwhelming desire to contribute.
I started to listen to my intuition which was guiding me in the direction of high-performance coaching. I deeply believe in the ripple effect and 3 degrees of influence described by James Fowler and Nicholas Christakis. This has meant that I have been able to trust in the process and focus on transformation over numbers. Most importantly, I have been blessed with a terrific loving family who have supported me every step of the way, even when some of my career decisions seemed unusual to them. I am forever grateful to them. Lastly, it is important to mention that I am only just beginning this journey and I am excited to see how I can continue to serve at the next level.
You frequently speak about the vital importance of compassion - what is compassion, and why is it an essential skill for entrepreneurs?
After receiving a patient complaint back in 2018, I went into a period of deep reflection. It taught me the value of shifting my thinking from 'me' to 'we'. It taught me the real value of compassion. I learnt that compassion was about showing an awareness of suffering and taking action to relieve that suffering. People can confuse compassion with empathy.
We know that compassion and empathy have different brain signatures. Empathy says I feel you. Compassion says my intention is to heal you. Compassion is associated with love and care. Empathy with pain and suffering.
If you are an entrepreneur, you are a problem solver - your actions seek to relieve the challenges and suffering of others. Unfortunately, many of us struggle with the essential skill of self-compassion. According to research from Dr. Paul Gilbert - we struggle with self-compassion out of fear, fear of being judged, being called unambitious, or lazy.
This is simply not true as compassion requires action.
We need entrepreneurs as they are the change-makers of tomorrow. However, unless we build our skill of compassion, we leave ourselves vulnerable to burnout, disconnection, fatigue, and frustration. Compassion welcomes all feelings whilst encouraging you to act from the gold that lies within us all.
Compassion is what makes us human. It is innate and inbuilt in our caregiving system.
Now more than ever, we need entrepreneurs who are working for the better of humanity.
Finally, what’s the next big goal or project for Nilesh Satguru, and how can someone get in contact with you?
I am working on an implementation coaching program coming out in January 2022 called Your Highest Potential where, each month, we will infuse Lifestyle Medicine with the science of High-Performance.
Secondly, I will have a series of webinars released before the end of the year, which I will announce through Instagram.
And, as always, I release weekly inspirational research-backed personal growth videos through the Believe In Growth video broadcast.
I am mostly active on Instagram, and I love to connect with people. You can also find me through my website.
