ELEVATE Series 2025 with Ashish Kothari: Lead with Calm, Clarity, Resilience, and Adaptability
In this ELEVATE Series conversation, Amber Vilhauer interviews Ashish Kothari, founder of Happiness Squad and author of Hardwired for Happiness. Together, they tackle how entrepreneurs can navigate economic and emotional volatility by mastering their inner world.
Ashish draws from neuroscience, his McKinsey background, and practical wellness tools to explain why fear and stress responses hijack our clarity—and what to do about it. He offers real-world practices like mindful pauses, breathwork, and shifting to learning-based mindsets that help leaders remain grounded and make thoughtful decisions in unpredictable times. Ashish warns that today’s world is too complex for reactive leadership; it requires evolved consciousness and intentional response.
From global trends to daily resilience tactics, this episode empowers viewers to see crises as catalysts for inner rewiring. It’s not about controlling the outer chaos—but becoming strong, still, and strategic enough within to ride it wisely. This is essential listening for anyone seeking to lead with clarity and compassion amid today’s storm.
Here’s just some of the fantastic strategy and advice shared from this conversation:
👉 We are wired for fear, not happiness. Rewiring starts with intention
👉 Pause and micro-recovery moments are key to long-term resilience
👉 Stress doesn’t burn you out—lack of recovery does
👉 Adaptability is the #1 skill you must build in the next 60 days
👉 Shift from reactive to learning mindsets to lead through complexity
👉 You can’t control the outer world, but your inner world is 100% your responsibility
Meet our guest speaker, Ashish Kothari:
Ashish Kothari is the founder and CEO of Happiness Squad, a company dedicated to helping individuals and organizations make flourishing their competitive edge. With over two decades of experience as a Partner at McKinsey & Company, Ashish has helped thousands of leaders achieve breakthrough performance through increasing effectiveness, building human-centric cultures, and transforming capabilities at scale.
He holds an MBA from Chicago Booth and degrees in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai. Ashish is the author of the bestselling book Hardwired for Happiness, which outlines evidence-based practices to increase joy, health, love, and meaning. He also hosts The Happiness Squad Podcast, featuring leading experts on human flourishing.
Website: https://happinesssquad.com/
Connect with Ashish: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlevesque/
Meet your host, Amber Vilhauer:
Amber Vilhauer is a Books & Business strategist, multi-bestselling author, speaker, and the Founder of NGNG™ Enterprises (No Guts No Glory), an Inc. 5000 top marketing agency. She is the author of Infinite Impact and co-author of The Long Forest Trail with her son, Clay. Since starting NGNG™ in 2007, Amber has helped thousands of entrepreneurs align their business with their core talents and desires, empowering them to build the business and life of their dreams while naturally scaling revenue and impact.
She and her team routinely get in the trenches, implementing custom marketing strategies that attract qualified leads, launching bestselling books, and growing engaged followings that convert. Her strategies are comprehensive, deep, and built to align every aspect of her clients’ businesses with their ultimate visions. Amber and her team have made more than 1,000 authors #1 bestsellers, and has also been twice recognized as Female Entrepreneur of the Year. Connect and learn more at https://ngngenterprises.com, https://getinalignment.com, and https://booksandbusiness.com.
Watch the replay of Lead with Calm, Clarity, Resilience, and Adaptability:
Ready for more?
Join Amber Vilhauer and visionary business leaders for The ELEVATE Entrepreneurship Summit in person this September 11 & 12th in Boulder, Colorado to learn proven strategies for growing during economic instability.
When markets faltered in 2020, host Amber Vilhauer pioneered innovative strategies that grew her business by 80% annually for two years, earning multiple Female Entrepreneur of the Year awards and Inc.5000 recognition for being one of the fastest growing companies in America.
Now she’s assembled an elite line-up of speakers to address critical challenges like cognitive overwhelm, an aligned marketing strategy that is turning heads and getting results, how to use AI to expedite your progress, and how to adjust your sales approach to gain financial stability. Don’t shrink or “wait and see.” Gain the clarity, connections and customized 16-month growth plan needed to expand your following, revenue and impact while protecting your wellbeing.
Limited seats remain: https://booksandbusiness.com/join/
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Connect & Get Support:
- https://NGNGenterprises.com (Strategy, Training, & Services)
- https://AmberVilhauer.com & https://GetInAlignment.com (Leadership and Impact)
- https://BooksAndBusiness.com (Education & Community)
- Books: https://InfiniteImpactBook.com, https://ClayVilhauer.com
About:
NGNG™ Enterprises (standing for No Guts No Glory) was founded in 2007 out of a passion to lift up those with an impact-driven message. Today, we’ve served thousands of authors, speakers, coaches, and business owners globally through branding and website design, bestseller book launches, and online growth strategy and systems.
Our work is custom (no generic, cookie-cutter stuff here). The relationship we have with our clients is personal and long-term. Download our pricing menu and see if we can be a fit to help you actualize your potential online!
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