Episode Transcript
Qin En [00:00]
Hi, I am Qin En. And this is the Parents in Tech podcast.
Welcome to season two, where we interview dads who are technology company leaders based in Southeast Asia. After hearing from moms in season one, now it's time to speak to dads who are raising kids while striving in their careers. Let's find out the stories, challenges, and advice they have for us.
In this episode, we speak to Aditya, head of growth and partnerships for Southeast Asia and India at HubSpot. Prior he led the international expansion of Practo, a B2B startup in India, and was the country manager for Singapore. Aditya is passionate on topics including sales and marketing tech stacks, low no-code platforms, and farm-to-table initiatives. Recently in August 2021. Aditya welcomed his daughter into the world, along with his wife, Priya.
Qin En [01:09]
Hi, Aditya! Welcome to the parents in tech show. To begin with, could you tell us a bit more about your family?
Aditya [01:15]
Yeah, thanks for having me here today. So I moved into Singapore almost about six and a half years back. My wife, Priya, she works at DBS primarily in the tech and the security teams; and our little daughter who's just six months old. Her name is Talani. Pretty excited to get on this new parental journey as first-time parents. That's pretty much it. Three of us right here.
Qin En [1:36]
That's wonderful. Okay. So let's see, I got to go back a little. How did you meet your wife, Priya? What was the story like?
Aditya [01:43]
So I met my wife back in 2006 and seven. That was the first year of college. So I got enrolled into a computer science degree back in India. She took up information technology. So right after the first year [ended], that's where we met, though our classes were different [from the] same college and so on. We just had some common friends as well. And since then, I think it took us a bit of time to get things going. But that four year of college life, we went different ways. She took a job in Mumbai, a huge bustling city in India. I went to a little bit of a quieter town back in the south called Bangalore.
And then we had a bunch of years, I would say four to five years before we eventually tied the knot in 2015.
Qin En [02:25]
Wonderful. So whose idea of whose job to both of you to Singapore? Was it your role, her role, or was it like a joint decision that you guys meet together?
Aditya [02:35]
So it was me in the initial days, I was very clear on roles I wanted to take.
They had a lot of campus placements and all that going in. I don't think that was something that was very clear on to join. Probably companies and startups in the early days and back then, I think 2011, lot of companies were just getting started, like the Uber's of India, the Ola camps, one of the places that I wanted to work at, then we have a healthcare company called Practo B2B SAS, and that's eventually what it took up.
A lot of interesting things that were getting built. That took me from Nakpur, a town in, right in the centre of India to down south. After having worked about a year and a half, I was trying to figure it out. What does international expansion look like back then for Practo? They had just raised a series in onwards. That's what brought me to Singapore back in 2013.
Qin En [03:22]
Got it. Maybe talk to me a bit more about that transition at a point with, did you come alone or did both you and your wife come together and were there any challenges in terms of transition?
Aditya [03:31]
For sure. I'd say back then we weren't even married. So 2013, it was me who moved out here first.
I think it was, literally, if I recall, this is more like a project. If we did this right, in terms of international expansion, a land and expand kind of a format, a lot of companies take up we would probably move into another geography, but that kept me here for a couple of years. Healthcare and tech, there's just a lot of going on back then. Post marriage in 2015 November, that's what brought Priya back to Singapore. She had already been working one way for about four or five years. She was looking out for something different, a bit more challenging and that's when we got a move into Singapore as well.
Qin En [04:07]
Wonderful. So 2015 and I guess your daughter was born last year. So when did the discussion of having children come into the picture? Like, what were the conversations like?
Aditya [04:18]
Yeah, the first couple of years, I think we were just very chilled out. We were doing a bunch of trips every other quarter. Our life was pretty much like, there [was] absolutely no sense. I think family was just not on our minds until very recent, right? And like I say, 2019, 2020.
2019, I would say it wasn't, it wasn't the right time where we were trying to decide, "Okay, what are the next few steps?" I had some opportunities of trying to move out of Singapore, but India being close to our parents' home and so on. We just stuck here in the region and that's when we were like, okay, this is something that's, we're going to be doing for the long term. So why not start thinking about what does family looks like and so on.
Qin En [04:53]
Sorry, can I just interrupt you and say, I think that turned out to be a great decision doesn't it? Like COVID struck, I think Singapore it's actually one of the best places to be.
Aditya [05:03]
Yeah, absolutely. That played out really well. And I think it was the first two quarters of 2020.
Whatever [is] most stressful for a lot of us just getting hang of what a pandemic looks like and so on. But then actually we started thinking a bit more seriously as we are going to be spending the majority of the next, probably a decade, right here in Singapore. It's like, it's a good time. It gives us a lot of time at hand to actually build up a family, nurture the child, and then probably take a decision whether it be you'll be here for the long-term and so on.
And I think a lot of this was very, very certain. We did not think about family planning until very late and it is more of a conscious decision. It's just a little bit less amount of [a] liability at hand. And then a lot of our friends were a little bit more ahead of us. There's nothing like the right timing.
It's just like, okay, if things click you, go ahead with the flow. And that's exactly what happened with us.
Qin En [05:51]
Absolutely. Okay. So I'm going to get into chapter one now, which is the nine month journey when your wife was pregnant. What was perhaps the most challenging part for both of you and maybe also for yourself during the period last year?
Aditya [06:05]
Right. Yeah. So, it's a fundamentally as first-time parents, we were a little bit off guard with just being prepared during the pandemic border closures, not having close family members in town to just help with emotionally or just [a] sense of security and belonging. That itself was a big change. Though I have grown up very independently, I went to a boarding school for 10 years and so on, I knew that [it's] pretty much doable. We've had a lot of friends back here who just began their journey, even [in the] Olympics ahead of us and so on. So we definitely had tried to take some best practices, steps, and so on. Back then everything was just remote. I think it was a little bit more easier for us to just get into the groove of what do we need, the basics to get things done, which is like, all right, getting the meals done on time.
And we also pretty much just after Q2 2021, we also wanted to change houses. So I think a lot of things dynamically started changing and while we were just preparing for a child to come into the world so we got the basics sorted. Who's going to take care of the food, how do I do it? I took up a bunch of those things ahead of time planning and all of that.
And my wife was pretty much working at, say, right until at least two, two and a half months for her due dates. I think it just worked out well, we have amazing friends who could help us every now and then just to get some stuff, somebody voluntarily just getting us a bunch of meals on time and things like that.
Overall, if I look back, it just turned out just nice. We were a bit overwhelmed. Okay. So now is the time. There's a lot of things around us and, is this gonna, what else are we going to have to deal with? Which is pretty much okay. And we just try to go with the flow and get things sorted out.
Qin En [07:46]
Got it. Now in the whole preparation process to say something that perhaps you thought it would be easy, but it turned out actually more challenging than you expected it to be.
Aditya [07:56]
Yeah. So I'd say one of the things that we were blessed with a little bit, it's definitely [the] usual nausea and sickness and so on that mothers really have to go through. My wife was a little bit fortunate [on] that side. We didn't have to deal with a lot of this, it was very much, I would say, a very easy going process.
Yes, Priya being [a] deliberate or overcautious person, along with the pandemic. She was a little bit concerned on those side of things. Even like [the] basics of getting to a doctor's appointment every month and things like that. Those things are pretty much okay. I'd say [the] third trimester onwards. I think that's when a little bit more from a health perspective, things started getting a little more difficult being able to day-to-day stuff.
So I took up a lot of other things that otherwise she would've contributed to. The only thing that we didn't expect was as we were nearing the due date, I think typically the last one week was a lot more difficult than we expected. Though we had tried to prep ourselves. We went for one of these prenatal classes, just getting a hang of okay, "How do you actually even carry a baby that comes into our hands?" And things like that. So that got us a little bit more sense of security.
It's like, okay, these are some of the things that we do. I think going into labour, very phenomenally different. Because we had a bunch of friends outside of Singapore and Singapore, who've gone through the process and we just wanted to get a little bit sense of security and sense of understanding what it means like when it actually dawned on us, it was a lot different.
So my wife had to literally go through almost about a week of labour in different ways. So that I think was very, very unexpected. And I think knowing her as an individual, we are just really extreme in terms of personalities. I'm, um, somebody who can deal with very unexpected circumstances and still not let it affect me too much. Where on her side, she just gets very properly agitated or extremely anxious. Play 200% of my role of being a lot more calmer during this, that one week. Eventually I think a lot of things played [to my] advantage. We had an amazing gynac with us throughout the periods, pretty much the hospital is very nearby because we just stay, closer to some of the hospitals that we chose.
So I think a lot of those things played in and functions. Eventually we got over it, but at that one week, I would say was the most stressful out of their whole nine months.
Qin En [10:04]
Thanks for sharing that. I'm curious. I, looking back at that very stressful week, what was perhaps one or two things you felt you did to really support your wife because some of the people who are listening to this podcast, they might be going through this process soon.
So if you could share one or two things that work for you, that'll be amazing.
Aditya [10:22]
I try to keep a couple of things simple. One is just having an extended amount of emotional support and just like the confidence. I think when either [of] the partners are a little bit more anxious by nature whatsoever, you'd have to just counter that anxiousness and that kind of mentality.
Even though the back of my mind, there were days, there were moments in ours where I might've been anxious. I didn't let it reflect who I am. And that was alluding to my personality. Maybe from childhood, I would say that I can conceal it, but still be able to support anybody else. You've been able to have been a friend and so on.
So I think that played to my advantage, to be honest, which she couldn't feel that I'm being [stressed] for example. And then she would be able to overcome even the small, challenging situations with a lot more ease. So that I think was very helpful during that time and being able to double confirm something, if she was just not sure she would let a lot of decisions that otherwise she would have to take, me being the primary person.
I could take those decisions on her behalf to simple things like, oh, should we go to the hospital now? This time you just need to relax because I've spoken to the doctor, blah, blah, blah. I'm trying to take away those smallest thoughts from her so that she can be at peace, because I know that if she's going to do it herself, she's going to start thinking about it.
It's going to just make both our lives very, very complicated. That can definitely help, either the partners can definitely take those roles and play small parts of it. Like what eventually the mother is going through. If we might not be able to feel or even imagine. But I think if we can get them to be mentally more prepared and take away those decision-making things that can make a big impact.
Qin En [11:59]
A hundred percent. It sounds like it would just [be] this pillar that was stable, that is supporter. And being able to not let your emotions come up too much, just so that you can be there to accompany her. I think that really is good advice. Fast-forward that one stressful week, the moment your daughter was born. Describe how you felt.
Aditya [12:17
]It's absolutely phenomenal to hold somebody in the arms, right from cutting the cord, to being the first person to actually get her into my arms. It was absolutely phenomenal. The moment we entered, I think things just moved a little bit more fast for us. And one [piece of] advice that I'd also give people who might go through these situations, is not to head to the hospital campus ahead of time.
And what I essentially mean by that, whether you read it in books or whether you're taught, like typically if your water back breaks, you still have a lot of time. In fact, from my wife, it did not break even until we'd move to the hospital. So the doctor had to break that for her, but even keeping that aside, the reason why we stuck to our homes was to give us that mental capacity to some extent.
Once we went there, I can get a lot more easy going the moment my daughter was in my arms. I think it was absolutely exciting. We just quickly got some of the basics done for her. She was pretty much back into the mother's arms and because I've just gone through that whole process, it was a little bit more easier for my wife to just be there because there could only be one person in that room.
Even if we had family members, there was no way for them to be there. So she'd have to trust me a hundred percent and even more and to be like, "Okay, that's it. There's just [the] two of us. We've just got this under control." After that, I think the next two to three days were pretty okay. Yes. We literally forgot about what sleep looks like, but we just get going with the flow.
I think the staff at the hospital were amazing and we just had [a] pretty easy going time. Day three, we were just out and back home.
Qin En [13:47]
And earlier before we started recording this ad that they use also say that basically you just went back to work. So pretty much the past six months [have] been present with your family and your daughter. Maybe talk to me a bit about that, that decision to step away from work for an extended period of time. Were there any concerns around that? Yeah. Talk to me about that.
Aditya [14:07]
My daughter was born [at] the end of August and like typically that last quarter, though, my teams are also focused on revenues and so on, I took immediately the next month off.
So we do have about six months of parental leave, post that I think I was pretty much ready to get back into work. One of the things that I think I'd highly encourage people to do was just be a little bit more, I mean, you could over plan. There's nothing like over-planning when you're just getting started with a new family.
I had people who could fill in for me, especially in, and typically with a lot of the remote culture in place. And especially at HubSpot, it was just a lot of support given, to ensure that I can come back pre-charge to some extent and not have to worry about XYZ and doing something that I would otherwise be doing.
And you, [who] worked for a few months in December is usually very quite a period. So I'd say just play a little bit more to our advantage. And then I had to take some more time off to visit our parents back home in India, get a few things done and that little bit played to our advantage as well. But otherwise I think set expectations with your reporting managers and your internal team members.
It can play a lot to your advantage depending on how different teams work. I literally did not have to worry [about] the six to seven weeks while I was away and I give all the credit to our members, the company's culture and everything in between to enable me to just be present with my wife and my child a hundred percent and not have to worry anything else the back of my mind. And post that, I think I've just gone back. It's been two weeks back into this new year. Things seem a little bit more sorted. I've got a bunch of help [from] the parents for the newborn, and she's just done six months.
[We're] a little bit just getting a hang of a lot of things. The other thing I'd say is also balancing one of the things I did was I just had to restructure even today, I always am on the learning front. How do you still be able to manage your time with the child early months and the first year maybe, right?
Because right from getting up at random hours of the night, that first two to three months, absolutely exhaustive for any new parent that they would have to go through. And getting up in the morning, digging extended hours of rest before I hit my work desk, that was a little bit very crucial. And for me, I had to just rewire the whole way that my body system actually works because I've never been a night person.
I've always been an early morning person. It's just been ingrained into me because when you go into a boarding school, that's what, how I grew up. So I had to literally change that whole fundamental of being able to sustain random hours at night and still be present for my wife for my daughter right in the morning, and then take some time off, rest well and then head to work.
It definitely didn't come very [easily] to be harnessed as literally in a lot of my zoom calls, maybe I might have just had to push it off or just cancel it because I was just not feeling up to mark. And I think it's perfectly fine. You cannot expect everything to just go as you need and I highly recommend people to give a little bit more priority to mental wellbeing and just how they're feeling, because we're just not feeling a little bit more than a hundred percent.
You should be able to just take some time off and just reset, pause, and then come back, especially in the early two or three months.
Qin En [17:07]
Yeah, absolutely. I think that adjustment for first-time parents is always tough, especially, I guess at that point, family support, it's not always readily available and even if it's available still right at night, the responsibility usually comes down to the parents.
So that definitely is a bit of [a] challenge there. Evenings are always challenging. I remembered that even for myself. How did you and your wife think about balancing the workload and the duties? How does it look like in those early months?
Aditya [17:34]
Yeah, I'd say right after she was born and just after a few weeks, I think we just took turns differently to see once again, reset some priorities in place because she had a strict limit diet for the next 30, 45 days.
She had to just be a little bit different. I would hack my ways through either through some deliveries or do some quick cooking on the sides and just get through those few meals a day. So those things will just build out a plan just to see what are the basics we need in place and how much of that we can get going.
And I think from a wife, it's very [exhausting] as a first-time mother. She was just trying to figure out like how her own body functions and reacts, because you have anxious moments that you're going through. You have to breastfeed, you have to do a lot more than something that I would be able to imagine, but I think then trying to counterbalance that with being available, it's a whole different shift when you're first-time parents.
That time I would be probably catching a Netflix and I'm actually probably feeding my daughter. Right. And that took, at least me, a lot of time to readjust. I tried to see like how much of rest and be given through my wife so that she can be a little bit more recharged while she [is] spending time with the child.
Once those adjustments were made, I think the night times got a little bit easier, a little bit. It just definitely took quite a few weeks. I think 8 to 10 weeks, we were a little bit more settled. We could have, catch up a little bit of sleep, food habits were almost back to normal. We just had a little bit more sanity in the house, able to, do the things that we would do, there are definitely no weekends.
The weekends were like, okay, you just get some peace time when the baby's sleeping. We just catch that. I would listen to probably music or do something. I feel that I am those one and a half hours that I would get. I think month four onwards it is a lot more balanced for us. So that's what we found is like month four and five, okay, pretty much okay. Back to normal.
Fortunately, like we just don't have to do too much of running around and so on to the doctor's visit or something, just these regular monthly checkups and injections and so on. Pretty much, I'd say six months now, like we feel a lot more relaxed, a lot more, this thing, a lot more excited about what's going to be ahead of us.
Qin En [19:45]
That's wonderful. And it truly is a journey.
Aditya [19:47]
Absolutely.
Qin En [19:48]
You have to go through that challenge and I'm sure you also heard it from your friends where you went through it, but until you experience it, then you realise how big of a challenge it is. But also how as time goes by and very quickly, just in the span of six months, things do get a lot better.
On a side note, I noticed you mentioned a fair bit about getting food ready, about you doing cooking? This is fascinating. So tell me, do you enjoy cooking, preparing meals or is that more something that you take on as a responsibility?
Aditya [20:18]
Yeah. So on that front, I think I'm pretty decently equipped. I enjoy cooking. It's something that I just build, a skill, right from the early days of my college probably came [from] seeing [and] just having a little bit more edge and fascination over food.
So the experimental nature, and that's how we started learning about how do I just do the basics. And then I think probably today I could literally not feel tired even after having cooked the whole day, for some reasons, if I had to just survive. And if that is a job I would have to take probably I'll not be that exhausted.
So that was a little bit much easier for me to get things going in those early days, because you don't have any support and help. I think doing everything simultaneously, heading out quickly to get the diapers, to get the groceries, everything like, even if we can order, like, this is just so much of things that you have to still step out and get things going, along with being able to manage a basic dynamics of internal family and food and medicines, all of that. I think that just catches on with you.
A lot of people sometimes underestimate what the father might be going through, but I think highly recommend any father out there to take some time out. I would literally just go on solo walks, for example, in the morning, I'm just an early morning person. So my daughter would just get up at 5:00 AM and like by 6:00 AM, I'm out in the stroller with her one hour, she'll enjoy the, outside breeze and she'll sleep.
And then I come back and take another hour of rest. I mean, just, it is way, it is ways of hacking a way and just trying to, the moment we thought that we'd built a timetable, it just goes to the bin. Like you literally don't have a time table, it'll be like, "Okay, this is what we'll stick to", but it doesn't happen.
And I think it's just fine till then you're just able to balance a little bit of it. You feel more comfortable, you feel energized and that's a lot more important and something that I would highly recommend that people don't neglect because once you start, once things start building up, whether those anxious feelings or whether those just the fatigue, I think it can just wear you down a lot faster than you would imagine.
Qin En [22:13]
Absolutely. And it's so nice to hear that simple acts of waking up early, taking a walk with your daughter, I think just moments like this, I feel as special. It doesn't have to be big. It doesn't have to be huge, but I think these moments are what you clearly remember and it's just beautiful.
So thinking back, I guess, about the past six months, what would you say is the best part about being a dad?
Aditya [22:34]
I said the first seven to eight weeks were exhaustive. But I think when I look back, it was also really rewarding and meaningful holding somebody for the first time that's a newborn. She's sleeping on your chest for example, while you're just trying to engage with her or whatever.
I think those are very special moments that I would definitely cherish and try to recollect as she's grown. I think we've also tried to understand like how the progressive nature, how do you literally keep up with the little one? And they've just been multiple moments of not, she just started sitting.
That was the most amazing moment that just happened in like three to four days of time. She was just lying down. That's how she would engage in play. And then she just started to sit up. So this are small things that have made a huge impact and that excitement of being able to see somebody that right from the early days that you've helped nurture and get up to here.
I think those are just amazing for any parent to go through. But from that, I think is they're just different. Emotionally connects between the mother and the child and the father and child. I'm still trying to learn and see how I can be present a lot more and also have a [enough family time] to see what else I could do to improvise that bonding in the early days so that she does realize all of this.
And, you know, by the time maybe she turns one, she's a lot more mature to look through and that relationship keeps growing. So those are some of the, my personal goals is to just to see how I can be double down on that. I think literally every other day or every other week, there's something different that's happening in a little ones' lives that sparks our moment of reflection is like excitement, sometimes anxiousness, sometimes just a moment for us to absorb and reflect what exactly is happening and how our lives are changing along with hers right? So we try to adapt to that and then counterbalance everything else in between.
I think that that's very important because you don't want to let go of the way you were used to living. I think that I would just see your find a nice balance of fitting in the new bonds, habits, and the new individual's life into yours so that it just gets a lot more easier for all of us. So that's where we are. I think there's just a lot more learning to do. Yeah.
Qin En [24:47]
Absolutely. The learning never stops, but I agree. It's almost like a dance, all this balance. You've got to figure out what works. So how did that, and this incredible feelings of being a dad translate to changes in the way you work or in the way you view work?
Aditya [25:04]
Yeah, I've tried to be a lot more empathetic around me. I think that's definitely buildup. It's doubled down on, even for myself or people around me and for anybody else that I meet and engage with. This is, there are some times that I might feel a little bit left out that I'm not giving enough time. I think those feelings [are] just momentarily, and I think you'd have to be able to balance everything else that as individuals are responsible for, because do you'd love to give a hundred percent time to your family.
There has to be certain boundaries that you're able to build. And I'm still learning what are better ways to do it, right? So simple things like morning is my time. I have an advantage over that because I, I like to get up early. She's still sleeping these days, three months back down, she was getting up at 5:00 AM.
So she would have the morning time with me. Now she's having the morning time with her mother usually, right? So she takes a little bit more rest. I've just recently picked up biking. So I typically like to go out or probably go for a run. And by the time I come back, it's maybe 7:30 and 8:00, and then I would spend time with her.
Now these are very, very different things. Just two and a half, three months back. Like I, and my daughter were doing this and now, it's just the opposite and similar to that, it's this various things that you'd have to balance out typically in between. So when I take breaks, early on my breaks would be let's catch a quick few songs before that.
Now it's like, okay, let's go and see if my daughter is awake and probably spend that time with her. That itself is energizing in itself to just spend some even 15, 20 minutes. So I think those are the things that I'm trying to still balance out. And then of course, shut off completely.
Once it's done, maybe the 5:30-6:00, I'm trying to just get used on internal meetings, external meetings, meetings outside of my home, and this still see that I'm able to give enough time to both my wife and my daughter and have that productivity just play out well.
It's an ever-changing landscape to be harnessed back. We made the biggest trip of the last seven, eight years that I've been outside India. I've never been out Susan with family for like 35, 38 days. That itself was a learning because like we were absolutely carefree she would be in the grandparents's ums and so on.
And we just don't have to worry too much about it and now we're back to square one where I'm a wife and it's the little one. So it, lots of things that we are trying to reset again and adopt, and now my wife's gone back to work. So once again, a little bit of adjustments and changes, which you think it's okay.
I think at the end of the day, if you feel fulfilled about the impact that you're making for your child, and you're happy with how things are going, it's fine. There'll never be at time where it's going to be like, a hundred percent family only time, a hundred percent work. It's just has to be somewhere in between. To ease out every single aspect for any individual.
Qin En [27:45]
Yeah. And one thing that stands out at you as I speak with you, it's, it's quite clear. You are so adaptable, you know, that change it's there. And you just always got to go in with that mindset of figuring it out and you're seeing it with a smile on your face.
So I think really, if anything, I feel like you're ready for this journey. This past six months, you have learnt a lot, but I guess also on that note, of course, always status quos, stereotypes about dads. What's perhaps one stereotype of status quo about dads that you reject and you want to do differently, or you think dads should do it.
Aditya [28:19]
Well thinking about status quo. I think one thing that definitely stands out is being able to do just a hundred percent and what I essentially mean by that whether it's the time with your child, whether it's the time with your partner, your work or anything that you're doing, just getting up to 100% is just meeting your KPIs.
You just meet it. And you just, what I like to think is where does that 105 , 110% and aim for those small goals to see how do we get there? So if that 100% goal for me is like 15 minutes time to spend with my daughter, what I'm really thinking is how do I hit 105% in the next one month?
And similar things with even the smallest of things, being able to, we really want our daughter to be spending more time outdoors, probably more times in park. How do I do that better? Just going a single visit in a week will be a hundred percent for me. I don't want to be faced with that situation, but I want to just think, okay, what will that look like?
And same thing with work, like just getting to a hundred percent of anything from a parent's perspective, I think it's just like scratching the surface or probably like underwing it and like setting these small goals and be like, "How do I just get ahead of it?" And I think making a huge impact in relationships, your own individual life and it can certainly go a long way for anybody, whether you're a parent or you're just getting into parenting and so on.
Qin En [29:48]
I think that [couldn't have been] said better. I think that's extremely well-said because it's all about setting ambitious goals and pushing yourself towards reaching them. This has been a really enjoyable conversation Aditya. To wrap up today, if there's one lesson you've learned as a parent in tech, what would it be?
Aditya [30:05]
I'd say it's just about empathy and adaptability, consciousness to adapt and empathize with yourself, with your family. Anything that's happening around you is very, very important. Lot of times people get very burnt out or maybe you might just not be able to have probably success or you might just be feeling very left out.
But I think that comes back to those simple building blocks of how do you get better at adapting? And also empathizing. Empathizing with your own self sometimes, because if you're just going to be very hard on yourself, even though you are adaptable, you might be just building up a very kind of huge gap.
That's going to be a little bit more difficult to fulfill and by the time you realize it, I think it's going to be a little bit of lost time. That's what I think I've realized the last couple of months and the last year or so, going through this journey with my wife.
Qin En [31:04]
Yeah, wonderful. That's beautiful to develop that sense of empathy and also awareness.
So for our audience who are listening and want to connect with your Aditya, how can they best do so?
Aditya [31:13]
Yeah, absolutely. Very active on LinkedIn. So happy to have a chat with anything that I can help with. To the, primarily, I use that handle usually to consume a lot of content, but very active on LinkedIn to engage and typically in my role, happy to see how I can help with anything else.
Qin En [31:29]
Awesome. We'll include your LinkedIn profile in the show notes. Well, thank you so much for joining us on the show today, Aditya. It's such a joy to speak with you.
Aditya [31:36]
Thanks so much for having me all the best to the parents who are [going to] listen to this.
Qin En [31:44]
Thanks for listening to the parents in tech podcast with me, your host, Qin En. We hope you were inspired on how to raise kids and build companies. To catch up on earlier episodes or stay updated with upcoming ones, head over to www.parents.fm to join our community of parents in tech. There, you can also drop me a question idea, feedback or suggestion. Once again, the website it's www.parents.fm. That's all for this episode, folks. See you next time!
