Meet Kamal Sarma
I used to be a monk and then I became a venture capitalist. Most people do it the other way around! For years, I felt embarrassed that I hadn’t followed the “elite school to elite career” path, and instead I spent seven years in a monastery practicing yoga and meditation for up to 14 hours a day. But when I re-entered the corporate world, I found myself in the middle of high pressure, high performance environments. I worked at McKinsey & Company, AMP, and St George Bank, and later co-founded two venture capital firms across IT and biotech. But life eventually hit a brick wall. When I hit a very dark patch, I returned to what the monastery taught me and started writing my way back. That journey became Mental Resilience: How to Find the Focus of a Warrior and the Peace of a Monk a book I wrote to help myself first, and then to help others. For some weird reason it was mentioned in O, The Oprah Magazine, which helped the book reach a much wider audience and become a bestseller and opened the door to a speaking career focused on sustainable performance and leadership under pressure. Today, as CEO of Rezilium, I help leaders and teams build resilience, antifragility, flow, thriving cultures, human connection, and change agility.
My Why
I’ve lived in two extremes. The monastery taught me how the mind works and how to come back to calm. The business world taught me how quickly pressure, speed, and expectations can pull people away from themselves and away from each other.
But what really drives me is this. Most people do not fail because they are not capable. They struggle because they are carrying too much alone, silently, while trying to look like they have it all together. I know that place. I have been in a very dark hole, and I also know what it takes to climb out.
That is why I speak. I want to make the tools that helped me accessible to others, in a way that feels practical, human, and immediately usable. I want leaders and teams to have the language to handle hard conversations, the habits to regulate stress, and the culture where asking for help is normal and strength is shared.
The impact I hope to make is simple. Fewer people suffering in silence. More people feeling safe in their head and heart. And workplaces and communities where performance is sustainable because connection is strong
My Accomplishments
• I spent seven years in a monastery training the mind and learning discipline and presence the hard way, then took those skills into high-pressure environments where they actually get tested.
• I worked at McKinsey & Company, AMP, and St George Bank, then went on to co-found two venture capital firms across IT and biotech.
• After hitting a very dark patch, I wrote Mental Resilience: How to Find the Focus of a Warrior and the Peace of a Monk. It was featured in O, The Oprah Magazine, became a bestseller, and unexpectedly opened the door to a speaking career.
• I’ve delivered leadership and performance programs at scale, including training thousands of leaders and managers, and helping organisations build cultures where people speak up, step up, and perform under pressure without burning out.
• I’m the CEO of Rezilium, where we focus on resilience, antifragility, flow, thriving, human connection, and change agility.
• I’m Chair of the Conversation Board at R U OK?, and I sit on the boards of two child harm prevention charities, MindUp and The Fathering Project.
• I founded MoMentrs, a prevention-focused initiative aimed at ending gender-based violence and family abuse in our lifetime.
What defines my journey is the unusual blend. Deep inner training, sharp commercial experience, and a commitment to social impact. It means audiences get practical tools that work in real life, not just ideas that sound good in a slide deck.
Fun facts
Most people are surprised to learn I’m a skateboarder.
I genuinely think skateboarding is one of the most valuable things you can learn in life. There are no brakes, so you don’t get to “slow down later.” You learn how to stop by learning how to balance, how to fall properly, and how to make tiny adjustments before things get messy.
It also forces total presence. If your mind wanders for even a second, the concrete gives you instant feedback, sometimes on your elbows. And every ride is uncertainty training. The surface changes, your speed changes, your confidence changes, and you have to stay calm and adapt in real time.
It’s basically leadership, but with more scraped knees.
How I can help
Creating high performance teams through deep connection
How to turn S.H.I.f.T into Fertiliser to make sure you can deal with inevitable challenges
Navigating the 3AI of the future ie Artificial Intelligence, Analogue Intelligence and Ancient Intelligence
More from Kamal Sarma
TedX Talk on Mental Resilience ↗
How to change the way you live by learning from monks and nuns
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