My Story of going from a Simple Rural Indian Village to become a Global Professional Speaker and Leadership Expert.

My Story

A native of Sivagiri – a little hamlet near the village of Padiyur. Padiyur is near the small town of Kangayam in Tamilnadu, India.

Born into a simple farming family, my dad did not attend school, and my mom studied till grade five.

With no river or a canal nearby, ours was rain-based farming. As a young boy, I saw failing monsoons and dying agriculture. My father moved on from being a farmer to a farm worker. My mother reared cows and buffaloes for livelihood. I used to wake up early in the morning to work in the farm fields, and cow shed before going to school every day.

With no one to guide me in my studies or career, I was an ordinary rural Indian child with no ambitions or goals. Nobody would have believed me if I had said, “I will become a Global Professional Speaker one day”.

Vivekanandan Sir is the one who changed everything in my life. He was my Tamil teacher in High School. We speak the Tamil language in Tamilnadu – a southern state of India. He pushed me into elocution and debate at school, and I picked up speaking as a passion. I won many School, Town, and District-level contests. Speaking led me to read, and reading became my passion.

I spent holidays reading Tamil books and magazines in the local government library. Literature, science, politics, philosophy, self-help and leadership were my dearests.

I loved Physics in school and went on to study Electrical Engineering. In college, I was only into technical education. Four years passed with little speaking, debate, or arts and culture.

I landed up in Bangalore – the Silicon Valley of India, to work for Philips – NXP Semiconductors as an Engineer. Swanand Kulkarni – one of my managers, introduced me to Stephen Covey, Tony Robbins and Brain Tracy.

When I decided to become a Corporate Leadership Educator and Professional Speaker, I did two important things in my life.

First, I joined British Council to learn the English language. Second, I became a member of Toastmasters International to learn Public Speaking.

After four years at NXP, I worked as a Principal Engineer for a US-based Multinational Company, Qualcomm.

With over eight years of work experience in technology, I joined a German Automotive major, BOSCH as an HR Manager.

I pursued speaking and training while still working at these large global organisations.

Now it’s more than 20 years into the Corporate World and 8+ years into the Speaking and Training Business. I’ve spoken in several countries including Singapore, Sri Lanka, France, Russia, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Dubai and Bahrain.

My mission in life is to help organisations build their leadership pipeline. I believe that there is a huge scope of leading corporates to effectively invest on their managers and leaders in building

Ok…ok, I know it’s going long….!

I’ve had many more exciting incidents from my life journey. Let’s meet sometime over a coffee, and I would love to share them with you.

Make sure that you ask about the following exciting stories.

Story 1: "Your Dream is NOT for Sale"

in which you will learn how I moved from Engineering to Human Resources without a formal MBA degree…?

Story 2: "Know Your Purpose

in which you will learn how I quit the corporate job to start my Speaking, Training and Coaching business…?

Story 3: "Speak Up and Go Global”

in which you will learn how I travelled to many countries as a Keynote Speaker and Leadership Educator…?

Check My Skills And Work Experiences

Leading multinational companies, business conferences and associations hire Siva to educate their Senior Managers and Leaders to compete more effectively in the dynamic and changing markets.

Work Experiences

Highly sought executive and business educator, Sivakumar Palaniappan is the leading expert on Thinking, Influencing and Leadership Mindsets.
His primary focus of getting results has drawn leading organizations and leaders to address change and transformation in their workplace. They often want Siva to offer his highly practical and proven methods.
Lets Talk

Skills & Expertise

Delivering Keynote Speeches on thinkfluence, leadership and mindsets for large business conferences, corporate events, media conclaves, professional associations, etc
Developing and delivering highly customized training and coaching programs for future leaders in the organisation.
Providing top-rated leadership training for Executives, Senior Managers and High Potential Leaders
Delivering programs that helps leaders align their thinking and behaviour with the organisation’s long term business goals.
Following up and measuring the results of training and coaching through post program surveys and interventions

Educational Qualification

  • BE -Electrical and Electronics Engineering
  • MBA – Human Resources
  • Diploma in Counselling Skills
  • Advance Certification in NLP
  • DTM – Distinguished Toastmaster

Corporate Work Experience

  • Design Engineer – Philips Electronics
  • Senior Engineer – NXP Semiconductors
  • Program Manager – Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
  • Senior HR Manager – Robert Bosch GmbH

Speaking and Training Experience

  • Thinkfluence Global – Founder and Director