About Podcast
What happens when a seasoned HR leader gives up a powerful corporate role to pursue a deeper calling? For Jahnavi Gurjer, co-founder of Vital Signs Consults, the answer was to build one of India’s top 10 change management firms from scratch. From bootstrapping her business through years of rejection to ultimately scaling her impact to more than 100,000 people, Jahnavi’s story is a masterclass in resilience, clarity, and the courage to put people at the center of business transformation.
In this episode, Jahnavi shares how she turned a personal conviction into a scalable business model that blends empathy, data, and strategy. She reveals the pitfalls of “romanticizing ideas” without numbers, the role of the X-matrix in winning investor trust, and how she codified her company’s principles, like never billing clients for inefficiencies and safeguarding confidentiality, in everyday practice. With stories of setbacks, breakthroughs, and the development of her upcoming “compatibility index” tool, Jahnavi demonstrates how founders can scale sustainably while staying true to their core values.
Key Takeaways:
- Why aligning head, heart, and hands creates lasting organizational impact.
- How to move beyond “big talk” by anchoring client relationships in trust, value, and confidentiality.
- The dangers of romanticizing ideas and how introducing clear numbers can change investor confidence.
- How the X-matrix strategic planning tool can bridge vision and measurable results.
- Why evolving with people’s changing priorities is crucial for long-term organizational health.
- How developing proprietary tools, like Jahnavi’s compatibility index, can differentiate your business and scale impact.
Join us with Jahnavi Gurjer as she reveals how to build a people-first business that scales impact, attracts trust, and sustains growth without sacrificing values.
- Improving Organizational Systems: Enhance internal dynamics by focusing on human well-being and development.
- Resilience in Business: Overcome setbacks with persistence and adaptability for growth.
- Data-Driven Growth: Use metrics to guide strategic decisions and secure business sustainability.
- Tailored Client Solutions: Provide custom approaches that align individual growth with organizational goals.
- Innovative Growth and Expansion: Develop tools and partnerships for global expansion and organizational success.
Special Guest: Jahnavi Gurjer, Co-Founder of Vital Signs Consults
Location: Bengaluru, INDIA
Air Date: December 8, 2024
Website:
- Vital Signs Consults: the home page of Jahnavi’s company’s website. “We integrate design and empathy to offer the most appropriate solutions to your people problems. We strive to be useful and relevant to the stakeholders we serve. We immerse ourselves in our client’s DNA to understand their problems, and ideate, design, and implement solutions that solve challenges for the long term.”
Podcast:
- ClariTEA: Jahnavi’s podcast.
Related Business Infrastructure Podcast Episodes:
- Ep. 288: John Kamp Explains How to Create a Strategic Plan Using the X-Matrix
- Ep. 289: How We Used the X-Matrix to Create a Strategy for Our Online Course
Book:
- Behind the Façade: How to Structure Company Operations for Sustainable Success: a book by Alicia Butler Pierre. Learn and apply a proven framework to prepare for or recover from fast growth by building business infrastructure.
Producer & Host: Alicia Butler Pierre
Additional Voiceover: Clarence Levy III
Audio Editor: Olanrewaju Adeyemo
Sound Design: Sabor! Music Enterprises
Video Editor: Gladys Jimenez
Show notes: Erika Ve Revilla
Sponsor: Equilibria, Inc.More About Guest, Jahnavi Gurjer:
Entrepreneur who has scaled up business from scratch to becoming one of top 10 firms in organised change management and culture transformations in India. She has led major interventions in both strategic and technology transformations with over 100+ large corporations in India and is a relentless driver of social change . Not only has she coached leaders clocking 3500+ hours in the past decade, but is also leading two large behavioural change interventions creating social impact for the community around her. To know more, listen to the interview.
More About Host, Alicia Butler Pierre:
Alicia Butler Pierre is the Founder & CEO of Equilibria, Inc. Her career in operations began over 25 years ago while working in various chemical plants and oil refineries. She invented the Kasennu™ framework for business infrastructure and authored, Behind the Façade: How to Structure Company Operations for Sustainable Success. She is the producer of the weekly top 2% Business Infrastructure podcast with a global audience across 70+ countries.Alicia is also an adjunct instructor of Lean Principles at Purdue University and serves as the USA Chair of the G100’s Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises. The Process Excellence Network recognized her as a Top 50 Thought Leader in Operational Excellence. A chemical engineer turned entrepreneur, she’s designed and optimized processes for small businesses, large enterprises, non-profits, and government organizations alike.
More About Sponsor, Equilibria:
Equilibria, Inc. is an 19-year-old boutique operations management firm. We build the business infrastructure necessary for fast-growing businesses to scale with less pain. With a range of services and products, entrepreneurs can get the operational support and resources they need on demand. 
