But I don't want to go
among mad people,'
Alice remarked.
'Oh, you can't help that,'
said the Cat: 'we're
all mad here
There’s something about Gopa that earns him the large fan following of participants that he has – the sharp intelligence, the self deprecating humour, the depth of expertise that he carries ever so lightly, the ability to connect with almost everyone he meets.
Gopakumar has a PGDM from IIM Bangalore (1991). He worked as an investment professional in two venture funds, ICICI Venture Management and CDC Capital Partners (now called Actis), over a eleven year period, investing in and working with small and medium businesses, emphasising organisational growth, management and team development, with a number of profitable disinvestments.
He’s an expert in the areas of negotiation, influencing and strategy. In addition to the best selling programme “Winfluence”, he facilitates workshops on leadership for entry and middle level leaders as an outbound, experiential program.
Gopa runs the Nityata River Otter Conservancy, a volunteer group working on the conservation of otters and otter habitat and is passionate about organic farming as well. When not in training or conservation related work, he could be watching birds, teaching children about conservation and applied economics (as if people and the planet mattered) or inspiring others to work on wild life. When not doing any of these, he could be (a) writing short stories and essays, (b) taking an afternoon nap with All India Radio playing, (c) laughing at others struggling with work-life balance issues. <
Profound yet gentle and rooted, an interaction with Gopa reminds you of what matters in life…that we should do our best and that we really shouldn’t take ourselves so seriously.