Interview #18: For the Joy of Sharing

Dr. Shauli Mukherjee

An Interview with Venkataraman L.N.
Adaptive Instruction

February 18, 2023

Dr. Shauli Mukherjee is an educator with demonstrated experience of 20+ years in acedemia. Serving at DSC academy currently to head their programme and curriculum as a Principal. Passionate about education as a right for all and upskilling for youngsters.

Dr. Shauli Mukherjee’s Story

By Venkat
Adaptive Instruction

Dr. Shauli Mukherjee’s Profile Summary

Position	Principal, DSC Public School, Ahmedabad
Talks About	Education Leadership Education Technology
Education	M.A, B.Ed,

Dr. Shauli Mukherjee’s Wisdom in Threes

Describe yourself in three words

Unstoppable
Purposeful
Passionate

Define life in three words

Enigmatic
Meaningful
Significant

Three things which have been your greatest source of inspiration

I am a conscious and ardent believer of the concept of IKIGAI – the reason for being. In terms of my professional career as an academician, there had been a conscious and fortunate intersection between what I was good at and what I loved doing.
I am a person who has actually turned her passion into her profession and through her profession has actually found her IKIGAI – the sole reason for being.
When there’s a culmination of passion and purpose, one tends to work with an elevated sense of conviction and commitment and there’s absolutely no need for any external stimulus to keep him/her motivated or inspired since both inspiration and motivation are intrinsic for a person who is purpose driven.

Three challenges you faced in life

I believe that almost all potential and great opportunities in life often come disguised as challenges and obstacles.
Though there have been numerous challenges in my professional journey, especially since I had been committed to bring about a visible and tangible difference in people’s mind set concerning the real essence of education which was definitely not an easy task
I had never viewed those obstacles as stumbling blocks in my life, rather I have considered them as essential stepping stones which had helped enable me to evolve into a better, stronger and more confident version of myself.

Three ideas to build resilience to face challenges

Resilience is not something that one is born with. It is rather a muscle that needs to be nurtured and nourished systematically in order to be exercised.
As parents and educators, we need to teach our children not to avoid painful feelings, instead to feel them and move through them.
In fact, dealing with physical discomfort like heat, cold, fatigue, thirst etc all help to build our resilience.

Three essential things needed to achieve success

A clear sense of purpose
Inordinate yearning to achieve the much desired goal
Uncompromising conviction about one’s own self can surely lead one to SUCCESS

Top three practices and habits you would advise to young students

There is absolutely no dearth of talents, capabilities and potentialities in us. We should remember that the world doesn’t care and is not changed a bit by how much we know, rather it definitely gets impacted by what we decide to do with what we know.
We need to ask ourselves what is that one problem/ issue that we would like to solve which would create a real difference in the lives of the people around us. The answer to this question would help us to ascertain the purpose of our lives.
We must try to create a greater purpose for all that we do and stand for. Our purpose will eventually act as a strong magnet to pull people towards our vision. Our purpose will ultimately decide our destination. We need to follow our passion, believe in ourselves and continue to dream big – and then even the sky is not the limit for any one of us.