Aarti Kelshikar is an intercultural coach, author and founder of 3A Consulting. She has worked and lived in India, Singapore and the Philippines. She is presently based in Mumbai.
Aarti is a certified facilitator of Cultural Intelligence (CQ) and an accredited coach of The International Profiler (TIP), frameworks that help assess and develop intercultural effectiveness. She is also a certified executive coach from the international Neuro Leadership group.
Through her cultural interventions, Aarti enables executives and students to successfully transition roles, levels and geographies. She conducts workshops on developing cultural intelligence and on doing business in India and South-East Asia.
Aarti has a master’s in business administration from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai and a bachelor’s in commerce from Sydenham College in Mumbai.
Before discovering the fascinating world of intercultural coaching, Aarti worked for seven years in the area of securities market compliance with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in Mumbai and with ComplianceAsia, a consulting firm in Singapore.
Aarti is on the Advisory Board of the Diversity Economics Institute, a UK-based organization. She is co-founder and Board Member of SIETAR Southeast Asia, an organization for intercultural education, training and research which develops Asia-focused expertise. Aarti is a member of the Harvard Business Review (HBR) Advisory Council, an opt-in research community of business professionals across the world.
Aarti is a regular speaker at management associations and multinational organizations. She has spoken at consulates, international schools and on radio in Singapore and India. She likes to travel and appreciates art. Aarti enjoys learning from interesting conversations and authentic perspectives.
My Journey
My journey has been about going with the flow and making the most of transitions while staying focused and positive. It is about reinventing the wheel with conviction, clarity and a sense of humour. I strongly connect with John Lennon’s famous words “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”. Over a span of 13 years, I moved with my family to Singapore, the Philippines and back to Mumbai.
After working for 7 years in regulatory compliance, I made the shift from Compliance to Culture- a big leap into different, unchartered territory. A book that introduced me to the world of cultural differences was ‘Riding the Waves of Culture’ written by Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden- Turner. Delving into a range of dimensions and data that determine how cultures differ, the book ignited an interest in the subject.
Culture isn’t some touchy-feely unfounded topic; there is a great deal of anthropological research and literature in this field. Equipped with relevant training certifications, I began conducting training sessions for senior executives working across Asia. Notwithstanding the solid conceptual frameworks and research, I realized that the practical experiences of working and living in new places was so relevant!
My years in Southeast Asia were like a real-time course on the realities of living in different cultures, providing me with lessons and learnings that enriched my perspective and those of my clients. 16 years ago, I stepped outside my comfort zone to dive into the fascinating world of culture and I haven’t looked back.
