I had the pleasure of interviewing…
Himanshu Bharadwaj
Himanshu is a digital nerd with the mind of a Himalayan yogi. His experience spans marketing, brand, and user experience design to make people laugh, cry and reach for their wallets at the same time. Himanshu uses joyful design to inspire teams to create scalable, empathetic products for startups and large enterprises in the US.
Thank you so much for joining us!
What’s motivated you to take the career path that you’ve chosen?
I am a very visual person. At an early stage in my life, I found my joy in creative arts. I developed my interests in painting, cartooning, graphic design, and poetry. This journey has continued, and I have explored traditional to digital advertising, product design and entrepreneurship. I enjoy being creative and getting paid for being creative. Life is too short to do one job and be stuck in it for the entire life. In a creative profession, I can do a variety of things and never get bored being creative. Each project is different, and every day brings new experiences for me to continue learning.
My professional education has been in Design. Design sits at the intersection of business and creativity. I find fulfillment and a higher purpose solving problems and shaping people’s feelings and actions. Being a designer, I can be versatile, experimental, and iterative across industries, business sizes, team sizes, and challenges. It allows me to understand humans, their environment, technology, psychology, communication, and so many other subject areas that come together while thinking of ideas or executing them.
How are you utilizing the platform that you’ve achieved to help others?
I take advantage of the position and the opportunity I get every day to improve the workplace experience and the teams I work with in my own subtle ways. I try to help my team find meaning in their work and make room for joy in every aspect of work we do. I have been lucky to find some employers that have valued and fueled my motivation. In spare time I give back to the community by mentoring designers, teaching meditation in my town, speaking at various meetups and conferences.
When you get to your desk every morning what exact results are you wanting to achieve whether it’s internally or externally?
Within my team I try to help remove blocks, facilitate out of box thinking and create a culture of mutual respect and collective growth. On a personal front I want to improve and learn something new each day, execute some ideas I may have, and gather some criticism and accolades each day. They are all the driving force for me for the next day.
If you could wave a magic wand, what would you put in place to overcome your biggest challenges or obstacles to achieve your goals?
I wish to solve long-standing tough business, product, and communication problems and seek such opportunities. Since I don’t have a magic wand, the best way to solve such problems are to cut them down in small increments that are easy to find and fix each day. My end goal is always to bring humanity closer, make products lovable, affordable, and accessible to everyone, bring cleanliness in products by cutting down clutter and waste, and bring smiles on faces. Lack of time and a consistent strong will are my biggest challenges each day.
You’re on top of a mountain – how do you climb higher? For example, how do you achieve more revenue? How do you build a better company culture? How do you pull others up to where you are?
As they say it is lonely at the top. Going higher does not mean moving away from others. People who go higher should know how to pull people closer to them. They should enable others to also realize their dreams by climbing down for them when needed. Be humble, make others heard and help others realize their full potential.
Who has been impactful to you on your journey? What, “words of wisdom,” or, “quotes,” have they passed on to you?
There have been many influencers and mentors in my life starting from my parents and going all the way to the CEO of my current company. Each one of them has taught me something.
Some of these words of wisdom are
People ignore design that ignores people — Frank Chimero
Everyone has an invisible sign hanging from their neck saying “make me feel important”.
All you really own is your imagination. What goes on in the mind becomes your life.
Opportunities are wrapped inside obstacles. Problems are CTAs to transform and become more than what you thought you were capable of.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
http://www.linkedin.com/in/himanb
https://himanshugb.medium.com/
https://www.instagram.com/himanshupics/
https://twitter.com/HemanSpeaks
This was very insightful. Thank you so much for joining us!
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