Ronal Shah MBA, CFA has coached 1000s of professionals and consulted to dozens of companies. He is the Founder of FinTeXec Consulting, the premier Leadership, Business and Trading Consultant in the UK. Born in London, UK, after earning his BA Economics at Cambridge and MSc Mathematical Finance at LSE he headed up the international Equity Derivatives trading desk at a large global investment house and was the country head of the Japanese arm of a global insurance company. Subsequent to completing his MBA at London Business School, he established FinTeXec, rapidly establishing their premier reputation through his elite coaching. He is happily married and enjoys the spiritual energy practice of Sukyo Mahikari.
- Where are you from?
I live in London, UK where I was born and raised. I have lived in Japan, the US, Netherlands, Scotland and my family ancestry goes back though Kenya in East Africa, and India.
- Why do you write?
I write for two main reasons. The first is for clarity for myself. If I am swimming in some ideas or realisations that I need to structure, to clarify, I like to write to provide that lucidity for myself. The second is to allow others to access what I have learnt, if they wish. Sharing what I find valuable in my path of life and serving others, raising consciousness, is a powerful driver for my writing.
- What do you write about?
I usually write to initially clarify my thoughts. So I write about my experiences in life, my thoughts and how they fit together. If there was a theme about my writing through the years it would be ‘how do I raise consciousness in the real world’.
- Do you have a specific writing style?
I aspire to write like a combination of a clear thinking philosopher and a poet. I always want simplicity and clarity in my writing and also for the writing to evoke rich experience and juicy emotion beyond just a dry presentation of the words.
- What are obstacles that come in the way of writing?
In writing this book I ended up doing a lot of inner work myself. Firstly, when clarifying my ideas, I had to further integrate the idea of success and spirituality in myself. Secondly, when it came time to publish, many hesitations came up – what if I am rejected or criticized – which gave another wonderful opportunity to do some self work.
- What’s the most memorable thing asked/said by a reader about your work?
I find that people find different parts of the book interesting depending on their focus. For me the core of the book is that you can be a great trader and improve your spirituality at the same time. One reader, Simon, was excited by the part that went into the different types of trader fears. To me that was a subsection but him that was eye opening. Very interesting for me to know that.
- How long have you been writing?
I had my first article published in my school philosophy magazine more than 20 years ago. The article was about truth in writing to convey your ideas, rather than using writing to pump up your ego and hide behind opaque phrasing.
- When did you first realize you wanted to become a writer?
I want to spread the idea of raising consciousness. Writing is a means to do that. It was maybe a couple of years ago that I realized this.
- What is your work schedule like when you are writing?
Unlike what I think I am supposed to do, I only write when I feel inspired to or the urge to get my thoughts clear is strong enough to take action.
- What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
As I process information visually, like a mathematician, I often need to visually map out my thoughts before I can start to write it in prose. This helps me to hold the whole book in my mind before articulating the details.
- How long does it take to write a book?
I had the idea for this book about a year before writing but had several false starts. Then about 10 months in, I had a month where I did a lot of meditation and the ideas for the book naturally arranged themselves in my head. Finally, 11 months after I had the idea, I wrote the book and had it published within a month.
- Do you have suggestions on how to become a better writer?
Write from your inner truth, your authentic being, first. Later you can shape the work to a specific audience and work on style and language and back-up research, but the first draft must be from inside.
- What do you think makes a good story?
As I write non fiction, the key is for there to be an idea that makes the reader think and experience the world a little differently after reading it.
- What does your family think of your writing?
My wife supports me and is happy when she sees the excitement I emanate when I write.
- Do you see writing as a career?
My purpose in life is to raise consciousness and so my career is anything that supports that purpose. Writing, speaking, coaching, being interviewed all support this career.
- Do you have anything specific you’d like to tell the readers?
You absolutely can be successful and move forward in your inner growth and spiritual path at the same time. It does not have to be either / or. It will be both if you want it.
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