Hi,

My name is Sai Pradhan and I founded BOLSTR. Let me share a few thoughts with you, so you understand why I do this work, where my expertise and insight comes from, and what we want to solve and change.

Over the course of my career across functional areas, industries, locations, and organisations, I have been in a unique “insider” position of observing and trying to solve the myriad problems of work life and work culture. I spent more than 10 years of my career in “people” functions, including running an executive search firm, and working in-house as a recruiter. I have worked with companies like Coca-Cola, General Electric, Uber, and Netflix amongst others, in different capacities.

Almost all organisations have HR and recruiting teams on payroll or retainer, as well as management consultants and legal teams, to handle “people” issues.

While some of the folks in those roles want to put people first, they are inherently compromised because they serve as gatekeepers and guardians of the organisations that pay them, much like other corporate roles.

Still others in HR and recruitment roles are constrained by the structures they work in, by their key performance indicators that are number-centric versus quality-centric, and by their roles that are disempowered or badly designed.

Work takes up most of our time and energy whether we want it to or not, adds to or comes to be our identity in society, and impacts our financial well-being and security, but is often divorced from meritocracy. Even a quick look at yearly data the World Economic Forum and companies like McKinsey produce, shows us that the world of work is full of opportunity loss for women and people of colour, and that progress is minimal or halting, in spite of a lot of talk.

Despite this deep rut that holds us back, most of us have no advisors of our own, nobody on our side to skilfully support us through our biggest choices and opportunities when it comes to work and careers. Meanwhile, people with connections get an automatic leg up, some senior professionals eventually hire executive coaches after lengthy processes and referrals, and existing coach-matching platforms are mainly geared towards employers being able to purchase the services, with data going back to them.

I founded BOLSTR after years of people coming to me for advice on everything from negotiating a salary, to conflict resolution at work, to learning to build and manage a diverse team, because I want to create wider and better access to such advice.

Timely and skilled advice for work issues ranging from interview preparation to negotiation to conflict resolution can change lives (ask the person whose compensation increased by 40% after getting advice, whose testimonial you can read here!), and create real wins for diversity and equity, but there is a clear gap when it comes to getting that advice.

BOLSTR exists to fill that gap, by providing the advice, and simultaneously creating opportunities for skilled professionals (vetted recruitment and HR professionals, not just coaches) to work flexibly and use their skills to help more individuals.

Help us do that, by asking us for help when you need it, and joining us to provide this much-needed advice if you are qualified to be an advisor.

BOLSTR or any of the BOLSTR advisors do not provide legal advice and cannot guarantee outcomes. BOLSTR is not a recruitment agency.