Welcome to Inclusion Bites, your sanctuary for bold conversations that spark change. I'm Joanne Lockwood, your guide on this journey of exploration into the heart of inclusion, belonging and societal transformation. Ever wondered what it truly takes to create a world? Remember, everyone not only belongs, but thrives. You're not alone. Join me as we uncover the unseen, challenge the status quo and share stories that resonate deep within. Ready to dive in? Whether you're sipping your morning coffee or winding down after a long day, let's connect, reflect and inspire action together. Don't forget, you can be part of the conversation too. Reach out to jo.lockwood@seechangehappen.co.uk to share your insights or to join me on the show.

So adjust your earbuds and settle in. It's time to ignite the spark of inclusion with Inclusion Bites. And today is episode 164 with the title Harnessing Humanity for Success. I have the absolute honour and privilege to welcome Bhavesh Naik. Bhavesh is a business performance and longevity expert who helps leaders build thriving, resilient organisations by embracing the humanness of their people. And when I asked Bhavesh to describe his superpower, he said it is that he brings a deeply realised sense of self awareness, leadership and organisational success. Hello, Bhavesh. Welcome to the show.

Thank you so much, Joanne, for having me. Glad to see you.

That's a pleasure. So you're based Washington, is it?

If I remember rightly, I'm Outside of Washington D.C. about 10 miles north, northwest, so I'm in Montgomery county for those who might be familiar with the area here.

Fantastic. Outside, is it like out there at the moment? So we're in February, aren't we? Is it cold? You get icy breezes.

It gets cold, yes. Right now today is probably 20 degrees Fahrenheit and I don't know what that translates into. Incentigrade, that is definitely below zero, but it might be like 5, 10 degrees below zero. And that, that's pretty, pretty normal for us, you know, this time of the year. So it's, you know. Right. Winter is about to be over, hopefully. But it's cold, luckily.

We used to have some storms like really bad snowstorms 5 years, 10 years ago, but we haven't had those for a while. So that's some good news. And I don't know if that's good news or bad news because I know.

So it's just cold. There's no strong winds and pouring rain and snow. It's just cold.

That's true. Yeah, yeah, it's just cold.

Bit like going skiing. It's just cold. It's not. It's nice sun, but cold.

Exactly, exactly, yeah, Cold, yeah.

As we're saying, when I read out the introduction just now, you believe in self awareness and I'm a great believer in emotional intelligence and being self. Aware. So how does that manifest itself for you in high performing workplaces or what got you into the work you're doing now?

Yeah, so self awareness and I, if I can go back a little bit. So self awareness to me is, first of all, it's just terminology, views, it's not even a belief to me. It is an experience of being in a certain way, if that makes sense. So self awareness. So if someone googled self awareness, right, There will be a definition that Google spits out which would be some version of, okay, being aware of your strengths and weaknesses. Now that's a very intellectualised version of that. I don't know where that comes from, but when I talk about self awareness, self awareness to me is more of the classic definition or more of a common sense, the literal definition of self awareness, which is self aware awareness of the self. So self is here, this person right here speaking to you and being aware of this person and all his surroundings, right? So.

And I like to do this, a bit of an experiment and I want to do this with you if you're game. Joanne, can we do that a little bit?

Yeah, yeah, let's go for it. Yeah.