Gurasis: 0:19

In the ever-evolving landscape of healthcare, there are individuals whose unwavering commitment and innovative spirit shine brightly. I guess today, an esteemed healthcare professional and consultant is undeniably one of them. With over 25 years of experience spanning various facets of the healthcare sector, his journey is nothing short of remarkable. Born in the heart of Mecca, saudi Arabia, his life has been tapestry of diverse experiences. His parents' migration to Pakistan after the partition and later to Saudi Arabia forged his connection to two distinct cultures. In his rich cultural blend, he found the roots of his compassion and empathy, values that have become intrinsic to his persona.

Gurasis: 1:03

From his early years, he harbored aspirations of becoming a healer inspired by his grandfather. However, life's twists and turns led him down an unexpected path. A pivotal moment arrived when General Electric GE, a global leader in medical equipment manufacturing, beckoned him in 2001, where he found himself transitioning to a role that resonated deeply with his passion for teaching and sharing knowledge. For over two decades, he crisscrossed continents, managed a region that encompassed employees from 80 different countries. This global exposure became a school of learning, enriching his perspectives and honing his skills. Join us in this episode as we delve into his journey, his unwavering commitment to empathy in education and his unique vision for the future of healthcare. Please welcome Dr Mehboob Siddiqui.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 1:56

Thank you, Gurasis, and I'm so humbled, so thankful for this intro.

Gurasis: 2:02

Absolutely Pleasure, pleasure to have you. I am very excited for this intro. Absolutely pleasure, pleasure to have you. I am very excited for this conversation and I would like to give our list a little bit of background, like how we met. So I recently went to toronto and I attended, like the networking event and I presented my podcast there, shared my podcast with the people, and dr siddiqui was the one who just reached out to me and spoke to me and talked about the podcast and how he liked the vision, everything and he would love to be a part of it. So glad to have you.

Gurasis: 2:28

Welcome to the podcast my pleasure again I want to start this episode by asking you some fun questions. So first is what's your go-to breakfast?

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 2:38

so it depends? Great question. It depends on the day of the week.

Gurasis: 2:43

Okay.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 2:44

Right. So, of course, working days. When I say working days, so from Monday to Friday, okay, so it's something very, very healthy, something very quick and normally, normally it's like you know some eggs with you know like protein, so healthy fats, olives, you know like just to start with, yeah, and then I normally avoid bread, any kind of bread these days, but if I choose to, then I choose any multigrain, you know like sort of one piece of that feta cheese along with these eggs. So that's about weekdays, on the weekends, on the weekend since, because you know it's family again, uh, kids and all that.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 3:35

So we try to do a little bit of desi touch okay right and desi tachmi is like you know, typical, typical, but in a healthier way. So, for example, you know, like halwa, puri sort of stuff. Okay, okay. Or you know, like people who know what we are talking about, like you know those parathas.

Gurasis: 3:57

Absolutely.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 3:58

But again, you know like, in a healthiest possible way. You know like in a healthiest possible way. So, so, not using any regular oil, but what we do, we use either olive oil or avocado oil, and then you know those, those, uh, chickpeas or chanas made, you know, in a healthier way, and that's it. And of course, of course, masala chai would always be there of course yeah, yeah so. So that's about the typical weekend and weekdays breakfast okay, well, I think it sounds.

Gurasis: 4:32

Everything is very healthy, so taking care of your health a lot, so that's great. So second is, tell us about a favorite song or a dialogue or a movie and tell us why it's very significant to you that's a more harder one, you know, because, to be honest with you, it's been a while.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 4:51

It's been a while I haven't watched any movies or you know tv as a whole. So I'm not a netflix person, I'm not a moviegoer person, you know, like who goes. But, um, the last movie which I watched, you know, with my wife and with one of my childhood friends I don't know if you're familiar with, but it was the Return of Mola Jett.

Gurasis: 5:16

Oh, my God Okay.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 5:17

Okay, so it's like you know it was the remake of the typical Mola Jett and people who are from Punjab, yeah, they can relate it very well yeah, okay. So so it was the return of maulajat, part two, and that's what I watched.

Gurasis: 5:35

I don't remember exactly, but months ago it was in the theater I think you are referring to the, the one where the lead is fawad Khan. Are you referring to that one which recently is made in Pakistan? Made in Pakistan, yeah.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 5:49

And, surprisingly, the very first one. I watched that during my stay in Pakistan when I was in medical school.

Gurasis: 5:57

Exactly.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 5:59

But it was made way before that time. But we had an opportunity to watch it in one of the cinemas because it's one of the evergreen movies. So yeah, that time it was Sultan Rahi. You know the cast and you know he's no more, but yeah, so this is the one with Fawad Khan and Myra Khan.

Gurasis: 6:20

Okay, so, lastly, if you had to teach one phrase in your native language, what would it be and what does it mean? I mean, I know you speak five different languages, but whichever you want to choose and tell us about that.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 6:34

So I would definitely go with Urdu, Urdu or Hindi. You know, as people they say, and the phrase is Mayusi guna hai, Okay, May. And the phrase is mayusi guna hai, Okay Mayusi means disappointment Right and guna means it's a sin, so we don't have to be disappointed at any point of time.

Gurasis: 6:56

Yeah, Okay, and if you could teleport back to a particular place from your home country for just a day, where would it be and what would you do?

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 7:06

now, this is confusing. For me, home country means saudi arabia or pakistan I'll say saudi arabia okay, that would be in jeddah. Jeddah means the, the bride of red sea, and I would be spending either day, night or the whole day along the Red Sea.

Gurasis: 7:31

So, Dr Siddiqui, earlier when we were speaking, you know you have talked to me about the vision board that you have, where you know you mentioned your goals and things that you can remind yourself that you have to achieve in your life, or things you have achieved already in your life. So me, first of all when was the first time you heard about vision board and when did you start creating it?

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 7:51

another great question. So it all started, you know, in the last one year or so okay, I don't exactly remember when, but one. Like you know, I was discussing with you about the course I did one year dedicated study which is about functional medicine, and it's about you know the coaching.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 8:14

How to be a good or how to be a functional medicine health coach, right. So now we can discuss it later that what is all about functional medicine health coaching. But since you asked me, where did I find that concept? So in that you know, course, we had our own cohort, and cohort means like a bunch of students attending, so it's a small group. So in my group, one of the you know I would say there were excellent, or there are still so, excellent individuals from all over the world and one of these.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 8:53

so the cohort is already done.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 8:56

It's finished, but we are in touch, you know, as a group and, as you know, as fellow coaches, and her name is Beth, as you know, as fellow coaches, and her name is Beth. That's the concept which she introduced, that she put something on the wall which is called Vision Board and that clicked to me at the very moment, you know, in such a big way that I started my own. And again, you know, thanks to her, thanks to this concept, that whatever you wanted to dream or you know, thanks to her, thanks to this concept, that whatever you want it to dream, or you know you just want it to do, so we put it as a priority on that board and then it wherever you spend most of your time, then you just keep it. So there is a visual effect most of the time, you know reminding you so it could be anywhere.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 9:42

It could be, you know, absolutely reminding you, yeah, so it could be anywhere. It could be, you know, like a kitchen board, a refrigerator. You know where we mostly put our calendars and all that stuff. But for me it's in my office, it's in my you know, my own space, where I come, and and I feel that you know I have to be creative and, uh, you know, it just keeps reminding me.

Gurasis: 10:05

So that's all about the vision board okay, so what's next on the timeline in terms of the vision board?

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 10:12

okay, another, another great question. So timeline, simple answer versus is to keep moving and to keep progressing. Because, okay, you know, there is something I recently learned, again you know from there are so many great people, you know great minds out there that we should not wait for the perfection, right? So, yeah, but maybe that was my older school of thought that we, and maybe that's the humanistic approach that we tend to be perfect to start anything right, absolutely, or you think about it if you are a kind of perfectionist.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 10:56

But, as you asked me, what's the next? So next is keep moving progressing progressing, because progression is the thing which you are doing right now. Okay, yeah, I'm talking to you and we are moving. Time is moving, basically. So, because time is like the moving constant that should be the progress as well, right and so.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 11:20

So, without knowing so much or without thinking too much about the future, right, I do have my dreams, like anybody else has, and that dream is, you know, to be a health coach or to be a healer or, you know, provider of anything good in my way, in my surroundings. It could be my friends, my family, my neighborhood, like extended network. So progression is going on and I'm not waiting for the perfection.

Gurasis: 11:50

Absolutely, and I would like to highlight two things you mentioned. First is definitely no. Perfection is the enemy of the good, and I think if I would have not followed that, I would have never started this podcast. I waited for the perfect microphone or the perfect guests or the perfect softwares and the perfect timing. I might have not started this podcast, and I'm glad I did. And now it's more than one year.

Gurasis: 12:13

And the second thing you said is you know it's important to live in the present. Rather, to think so much about the future or even dwell so much in the past it's not going to serve you any purpose. It's important to live in the present and prepare for the future, how much whatsoever you can. So I love these two things. Thank you for sharing these. So I want to go back, start from the start. So in nine, after the partition, 1951, we were telling me your parents moved to pakistan and from there that was like their first immigration, that sort of so to say they did. And then later they moved to saudi and that's where you were born, and I believe you were born in 1970s sometime yeah, so it was, it was 1971 yeah, so you were born in mecca.

Gurasis: 13:02

Tell us a little bit about your formative years and what was it like just growing up there almost like you know, 50 years ago and I remember, you know, like the, the hot weather right I always remember, you know, like, like, and then, uh, I don't know if it was you or somebody else the other day when we discussed that as a joke.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 13:24

You know, when we talk about that, how many weathers are in in saudi arabia or in middle east? You know, yeah, we used to say there are only two weathers one is summer and the other one is hell. Yeah, right yeah, so so so it was, you know, like a childhood with my, you know all great and, you know, loving siblings. I'm sixth in the order of seven siblings, you know.

Gurasis: 13:50

Okay.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 13:51

And I would say thanks to God, they are all spread around now globally, from Australia to US and then Middle East, canada, uk, yeah, so all the vivid memories of the childhood.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 14:05

They are about family they are, you know about, about loving, loving parents. And yeah, one thing I would say, because now I reconnected to that, that you know we have, we have a huge house. Huge house means like like a big place to live and then to play. In my early childhood and you know like I used to see so many visitors, visitor means, you know like internationally.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 14:34

And it's good to you know mention why? Because, as you mentioned in the intro, gure, I said that I was born in Makkah, and you know, and then we were living in that region, which is close to the Red Sea. So Jeddah and Makkah, they are very close cities, right. So Jeddah was the port of entry for, you know, all the pilgrims and all the pilgrims who come to perform either Hajj or Umrah every year. So that was the port of entry and that's the reason that people from family, friends, of friends out of family, they used to come year around to our home and that's how I grew up seeing, know, seeing my parents, my mother, my dad, you know, to serving those people.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 15:33

A little example you know, like people, they used to come through ship, right, huge ships, so. So they used to come like from from india, from from from pak, from from from Pakistan, from Bangladesh, from Indonesia, from Egypt, right. So when they used to come and again it looks to me like yesterday we used to go with our father, with our dad, you know, who would be much younger than me at that time, and you know, they used to serve those pilgrims. They used to serve with, with water, with food which my mom, she used to prepare at home, you know. So there were no big kitchens, there were no modern commercial kitchens at that time. All right, and I'm still surprised at how she could have managed the massive amount of cooking for, you know, more than 50 or 100 people back then. You know, we were just kids, we were just kids. So that's the, I don't know. Maybe I'm a little bit lost. I went into, you know that, past that, what did you actually ask me?

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 16:40

But yeah, so that's all the vivid memories of my childhood, you know so a loving family with siblings playing around. We used to play soccer a lot, because soccer was the only sports you know, we call it football but, soccer you know, so like in our neighborhood with the friends and then yeah, neighborhood with the friends, and then, yeah, so, so, so, you know, and then going to school with all my, with all my siblings, because I was the youngest one, yeah, so, so, these are the early memories okay and you definitely answered my questions.

Gurasis: 17:19

It didn't go anywhere. That's exactly what I wanted to know about your growing up years. But also tell me you know, since I also mentioned earlier and you also told me, that your mother was from the indian side of punjab and your father was a family grandfather was from delhi, and then they moved to islamabad from pakistan and then saudi arabia. So you have I'm sure there would be something in your growing up years, because you have grown up in this like a cultural blend, right, people from india, pakistan and down to saudi arabia, maybe like a, of course, like the religion might be the similar, but tell me, like how was it, in that sense, you know, like the cultural blend that you grew up in and how that has shaped you?

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 18:00

oh, wow, wow. It's such a again you know, beautiful question and and you have really touched to the you know the core of what I believe, what I'm today.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 18:14

You know, or you know how the history or the time shaped me. It's all about culture, absolutely. It's all about, you know, like multiculturalism, multilingualism, and then you know like, so, in Saudi Arabia and again Jeddah, because of you know, pilgrims, they are coming from around the world, right, yeah, so, okay, necessarily, around the world. When I say mostly, you know from all the countries, like 56, you know like Muslim countries, they come and they do this pilgrim right Now. That's another way of you know, or this is another beautiful aspect of that, that people from different cultures, from different languages, from different backgrounds. Sometimes they don't speak those languages, right, and, and we are. But what's the one commonality? The commonality is, you know, like that dress. The dress means like the two white sheets which everybody you know, they just use it, and then they even don't know their languages, right, and, and they use, they use the hand languages they use.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 19:28

You know the, the, the universal language of love, or what I say, you know the empathy, or you know the, the listening, like. I'm telling you the example of port, the seaport, where there used to be, you know, ships coming, right, yeah, and then used to be. You know ships coming, right, yeah, and then, and then people from people from india, bangladesh, sri lanka, indonesia, egypt, sudan, right, that's what I can recall. I can remember all sort of colors, all sort of people and not speaking languages of each other. But then what was the common language? The common language was the, the purpose of serving, that was humanity, I would say humanity you know you have rightly put the right word.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 20:14

So humanity, humility, and then only the purpose of serving was. You know, they are the guest of god, they are the pilgrim so let's, let's, let's do that, so. So that's number one. Number two, you know, then it comes when you grow, when you like. You know, when you were brought up in that situation, it's the multilingualism right. So I started learning Arabic, although Arabic was not first language, but again thanks to Saudi Arabia thanks to.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 20:45

You know that my surrounding that we started to Saudi Arabia. You know that that my surrounding that we started speaking Arabic you know, as the street language or whatever, because we are going outside and then, of course, since we were in the schools, we started learning English. We were starting, you know, we used to talk in our own mother tongue, which was Urdu and you know, and then Punjabi whatsoever, and then I remember I was, I was telling you or somebody else that my dad, my granddad, they used to speak Persian.

Gurasis: 21:15

Okay.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 21:16

Yeah, because Persian in that time you know back, you know like in subcontinent Persian was one of the literary languages in which they used to speak right.

Gurasis: 21:29

Farsi.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 21:30

Farsi, exactly. And we talk about the books by Sheikh Saadi, like Hikayat and Bostan-e-Saadi and all those things.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 21:40

Even Rumi yeah yeah, and Rumi, right, yeah, and then our own, our very own, allama, you know, Sir Iqbal, who was one of the biggest poets of that subcontinent. Anyway, coming back to your point, it was, you know, exposure to multiculturalism. And then, of course, with cultures, food comes along, right 100, and and then, you know, there was like an opportunity to taste or to know about different foods, food, foods of arabia, foods of subcontinent. You know, the foods of different african, sub-saharan, middle eastern, far eastern. You know all those foods.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 22:22

Luckily, luckily, when I got started my schooling, uh, where I said so it was, you know, like the uh, it was the international school, most of the international students at that.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 22:34

I'm talking about early or late 70s, saudi arabia. There were expats coming, you know, they were still coming, and the oil boom, the so-called oil boom, it was still yet to start. So, you know, like diplomats, like you know again, people around the world, skilled workers, you know, like accountants, doctors, engineers and teachers from around the world, and then they thought there should be a good schools for their own kids and and I remember, like you know, my dad, he, he was one of the pioneers, again with the rest of the you know community back then who started, you know again, because they, they thought about community, they thought about extended. So their vision was, again, not only for their kids, their vision was, you know, for the generations to come. Yeah, and again you know the collective level of community. My friends, you know they are from different arab countries, from sri lanka, from, you know, bangladesh, from india at that time and of course, of course, you know the. So this is how I grew up and this is how the language, culture, food, it was instilled in us or in me?

Gurasis: 23:53

And what is something from all these growing up years, something from your culture, tradition that you have managed to preserve up until today, when you are a father and you have children?

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 24:03

I'm just, you know, overwhelmed with this question, again, Just trying to be as precise and as possible. It's the equality, it's the equity, it's the service, simply simply serving people. Humanity, you know, regardless of the race, origin, ethnicity, anything you know, just one bigger picture which is about serving people in any way.

Gurasis: 24:36

I just want to go back to your time again in Makkah, and I think from there it was Jadda, where you went for your high school, I believe right, and I remember you were telling me that you were like a very shy kid growing up, but then eventually you got into debates and you became like an extrovert or you might be an extrovert, but it was hidden in you somewhere, but and the reason behind that was, you said, it was your environment that boosted you, your teachers and your peers. You know, then, basically, the kind of environment you grew up in, and that's where the conversation regarding the characteristics, the personality traits, came up.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 25:12

Right.

Gurasis: 25:13

And and I remember you were sharing that people usually have the like 24 characteristics. People end up choosing three or four as their signature personality traits. So I want to talk a little bit more about that and also like how you evolved as a person growing up.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 25:30

Right, so, yeah, so back in school, and you know, until high school, I would say until the grade of, you know, the year eighth or ninth okay so.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 25:44

So I was, uh, I was, you know, like very much shy. If any teacher, anybody you know, wanted to ask me to stand up, I like you know those typical schools and then say anything in front of them. I still remember, you know, that my, from inside my legs they used to shake, okay. So. So maybe if it was not a visual shaking, but from inside I used to shake from top to down, just just not not going, you know, to the stage, but just even just to stand up on my own, okay, uh, you know place, or the desk as we used to call. So I was good in studies, you know, a typical good child, you know, who is not into fights or anything.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 26:30

Very first time I started doing a debate or like Extempore yeah, exactly, you know the extempore competition. It was very bad. I mean, I would say I don't even want to remember that, but as bad as could be. And you know those feelings when you want to forget about that event, that I wish that couldn't happen. Right, but thanks to, thanks to that teacher, he is not alive anymore. But I, you know, I always pray for his. You know that he should rest in peace forever. And then and then so. So he encouraged me and he said, no, you can do that. And he practiced, you know, at that time I'm talking about early 80s now that he, you know, asked we didn't know anything about the body language, about you know, whatever, but he said so, debating stuff, that, how to you know present. He said so, debating stuff, that, how to you know present yourself and how to memorize. Yeah, first of all, it was the memorization. I'm trying to remember the exact words. It was not a debating concept, it was like they give you one topic and then you had five minutes. You just have to speak about it, either in Urdu, which was, you know, my mother tongue, or it was in English, literally right. So this is how it all started gradually, gradually, you know, the confidence it started coming to you know, or like. So we were able now to speak.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 28:03

At the very same time, one of my literary teachers. I wrote down something I used to do, some journaling. All of a sudden, it happened to be in a rhythm. He was the main inspiration for me and I thought he was the safest space for me. So I shared that with him, even sharing it with my dad or with my mom or anybody else. He liked it, he encouraged me to keep doing it and that I would say that momentum is still going on, that you know I used to write down poems, so this is all all I remember from that part.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 28:40

Coming back to the character strength things, yeah, I had no idea until, I would say, an year ago, when I started learning again the coaching, or the functional medicine, health coaching, and one of the earlier modules was how to rediscover, or how to discover your own character strengths. Now, in the beginning, it looked like to me. You know there are hundreds of people out there on social media who talk about discover yourself and this and that. But then, since it was like an assignment for me, by the way, there is, like you know, a free it's a free resource and that's why I'm sharing it. We call it VIA, v-i-a, via Institute, and then what you can do VIA, via Institute, and then what you can do. It says VIA Character Strengths Profile. Anybody can go and this resource is basically a product of more than, I would say, 20 years.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 29:39

As much as I remember, you know it's surrounded by discovering all the humans living today or in the past or in the future, that all of them, they have 24 characters or 24 strengths. Now, one thing which has to be mentioned here they don't talk about the weaknesses, when we discussed earlier that being an introvert and being an extrovert is not something bad. Absolutely Introverts they are, as being an extrovert is not something bad, absolutely Introverts.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 30:08

They're as good as extroverts. Leaders are as good as followers. The prudent people. They're as good as bold. And you know, like the people who don't think and they're just. It's all about the characteristics. Absolutely Me, you, anybody who's listening to this, anybody you know who would like to know, they have this 24. But our upbringing, our education, our trainings, environmental exposures, you know all those things, good and bad experiences. They bring those five, I would say, signature strengths, or the main character strengths which shape yourself, and then you start using them without knowing them that you have them. The rest of the 20, they go into the background. They are like an app in your smartphone that you are not using them, but in the background they are still running and thanks, you know, to this, this research and to this, and that it's the first way of self-discovery you go and then you discover your five top most or ten top most character strengths and then you reflect upon them. One of my top five strengths, one of them is love of learning okay, I mean, it shows clearly.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 31:26

I, I didn't know yeah, I didn't know about it absolutely, but, but I was always eager to learn, which which led to another characteristic, which is curiosity. Right, you know you, you have heard this proverb that curiosity kills the cat. Absolutely, yeah, right, so so it was the curiosity, love of learning. I'm open to share mine. So, like honesty, integrity, kindness, creativity, humor, love of learning. So these are all my five, six or seven, you know in the top, but I didn't know them. But now I understand that.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 32:05

Why, in the very beginning of my clinical career, when I was working as a radiologist, behind the dark screens, behind the closed doors, you know, I was not happy. It was not a fulfilling work for me, it's not about money, more a kind of satisfaction to me, to myself. When I come in the evening, I should not come in the evening, I should not be stressed out, I should not be drained out. Yeah, this is one thing. And secondly, when I wake up in the morning, I should wake up with another exciting day which is ahead of my life, looking forward to.

Gurasis: 32:41

Yeah it was not there.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 32:43

it was just, like you know, a routine, a routine work, a routine job. But I spent 10 years in becoming a trained radiologist. Could not realize at that time that why I'm not enjoying that job. Yeah, and then I started working with World Global Company, ge, and it was about clinical education. You know the connection with people. And then I used to wake up every day energized. I used to wake up every day with a purpose that I have to meet new people, tell them something new or learn something new.

Gurasis: 33:17

Absolutely.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 33:18

Right, yeah, so so. So that was the whole drive, you know, like two decades, more than 21 years. So GE Healthcare, which shaped me, which groomed me, whatever I'm today, and again with that particular love of learning and curiosity. We kept learning, you know, we kept evolving. Now, during those 20 years still, there was something which was telling me, it was not satisfying me to my core.

Gurasis: 33:45

It was telling me to do something extra to serve people and humanity so, before we get into that, I just want to highlight like few things that you have mentioned.

Gurasis: 33:56

Obviously, the dream career that you got into, and I think that's like everybody's dream to do something that they love doing, rather than doing it for survival or just for money. And then, obviously, you know the personalities that you have highlighted. This is something that we all go through daily basis in our life, but we never like really paid attention to that. So that's something I think our listeners also been trusted to know about that, and I'll put the link to that in the show notes as well, since you know, I have heard you talking so passionately about the care, the empathy of people and that was something which was in your blood, right, and that's where you know you decided to get into the similar industry because of your grandfather. So I want to tell our listeners briefly about that also and the connection with the hamdur, the dava khana that's how you say it, I believe, right, tell us about that as well we are going back again.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 34:47

So my grandfather, he was, he was the herbalist in our language. We call him, we call them hakeem hakeem. Hakeem means, you know, like the herbalist or or the physician.

Gurasis: 34:59

So to say yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 35:00

So so they were not the conventional, uh allopathic physicians they were. They were, you know, the herbal or natural, I would say now the naturopathic physician, even ayurvedic, you can say I read it yeah, yeah, so, so in terms and so in india it's just so popular.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 35:16

It's still, you know, like, like in pakistan, we do have, uh, like hakeems and and I'm so proud of it he was attached to, you know, khana, which is you know then then we had it in Pakistan and then, you know, we had it in India. I still, I believe that they have it. They started using those products on on a commercial level back then for common core, you know, for cough and for this and for that. We were in Saudi Arabia and my grand, my granddad, he had his own practice in Pakistan. He was in Karachi. There was a brief period of time when he came to Saudi Arabia and he lived with us.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 35:54

I remember as a child there were people from neighborhood, from our extended family and from, you know, visitors, who used to come sit with him and as a hakeem, you know, he used to feel their pulse and then he used to say hundreds of things about them, like what disease you are going through, and I can go on and on and on. He used to talk about intermittent fasting. He used to talk about healthy eating. He used to talk about rubbing your feet with certain oils before going to bed. All these memories, they were here or they're still here, since we were living in a modern time. I used to remember he said to my father, my dad, that you should, out of your you know seven kids, encourage somebody to become a modern day physician. So he was a visionary. My dad was a visionary From the very beginning. In my childhood I had nothing else in my mind other than that I have to become a doctor. You know, serve people, that's it.

Gurasis: 36:58

Okay, now, that's very interesting, you know, to just follow one of the things that your grandfather said and just doing that, it's just amazing to just hear all that. And so after, obviously, like six years later, you came back to you even went to uk for some time and then you came back to saudi arabia, you worked radiologist and and then obviously, like I mentioned my intro as well, the general electric came into picture and who are in the manufacturing medical equipments and that's how you started working with them and you started working for them, like in 2001, and you worked for like 21, 20 plus years or so and you were working there as a clinical education specialist. You know you were training radiologists. You were training. That you're like you always you told me, like you know, training by radiologist to the radiologist. And then, since you love that for the radiologist right and you love the teaching and whole process and you said that that was one of the learning experiences, that was like a school of learning and we learned a lot, absolutely, absolutely.

Gurasis: 37:55

And then, obviously, beyond that, you know, your responsibility moved out of gulf to the middle east, to north africa and you were managing like a region which had employees over 80 countries, like I mentioned earlier, and there was something you mentioned to me which was called the the me cat, you know, which is the middle uh, east africa, central asia, turkey and russia, and that also you said it helped you grow. It was your school and and then meanwhile you also did your master's, you know, in the business administration and health care management. I want to tell us like briefly about that. I mean, I know it's like a big question to kind of crux your 20 years in like few lines, but tell us like your overall experience, like you know, working in those 80 countries, interacting with people from all around the world, that region. How was that experience like for you?

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 38:42

So now childhood is gone, Education is done, you have to somehow accidentally landed in a position, typical clinical work, and now I'm in a position to teach. As I said, I started from the smaller geographical location which was, you know, work. It was growing, you know, growing, growing, growing, and then it became global. So global means seven continents or, if you exclude Antarctica, six continents. You know Australia, New Zealand, to ASEAN, Japan, Middle East Africa, Europe, North America, South America, whatever the continued journey of traveling, meeting again people from, or customers, I would say at that time from different cultures, and again, you know learning, learning, learning about new cultures, you know about other perspectives, you put yourself into their shoes. So it was not only culture, it was about religion, it was about faith, it was about food Integrity even.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 39:57

Integrity. It was about transparency. It was about something which is so normal for one culture and which is so much taboo or forbidden for another culture you know what I mean, so can you give us like an example, what did you mean by that?

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 40:13

yeah, a very top of my mind. So you know, like being born and brought up again in saudi arabia, you know. So again, it's, it's a cultural thing. It was. It's all about body language, without any offense, that you know. When we talk to women or when they talk to us back, then they are not supposed to look into their eyes oh, okay okay, it's, it's out of respect. Start from the home. When I'm talking to my dad, when I'm talking to my mom, I'm not supposed to look into their eyes.

Gurasis: 40:47

Okay.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 40:47

Okay, that's just as a child, as a kid, but as an adult, as a responsible professional, whatever. When I talk to my fellow female colleagues like you know, we are all professionals, we are doctors or to my patients, I'm not supposed to stare into their eyes and talk to them.

Gurasis: 41:08

Got it.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 41:10

It doesn't mean that I'm not listening to them or I'm not attentive to them. It's again out of the respect. All of a sudden you come to west, this thing considered to be which you know implicates or which tells you that you are not confident enough. Yes, or you know you are avoiding things, you are hiding things. If you are not maintaining a certain distance, you are a bit conservative. We are in Japan, we are in China.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 41:36

There is something which we call you know, like the contextual culture. You talk very briefly, in between the lines, and then you know, you think that the opposite person or your listener, he or she, should understand everything. There is nothing wrong, there is nothing right. The only right or wrong thing is, you know to understand each other's space, understand each other's culture, each other's norms, and you know, and then to accept it. The bottom line is try to understand and learn cultures, and you know we are living in this global universe, I would say, more connected as ever before, and don't be judgmental. Don't judge anybody else in front of you or behind you. You know with their actions. Don't judge anybody else in front of you or behind you. You know with their actions. Don't judge. Yeah, as you know, as you said, that we cannot judge a book with its titles right Unless you read it, unless you read it. So we are all humans, we are all you know, have pages and pages of you know our own stories. So just be mindful, be present.

Gurasis: 42:50

Don't be judgmental and respect each other. I love that and definitely this is something I think we all should learn not to jump to conclusions and give people benefit of the doubt and just have a conversation with them as possible or, if not, let them be. You never know what kind of situation they are coming from. But, dr Sudhiti, I think I'm going to cut this conversation here short and we might do like a second part to this, but I would like to unfold your Canadian journey a little more and how the pandemic kind of led you to start your own consulting business. So for now, thank you. Thank you so much for being on the podcast and adding value to my listeners. Thank you.

Dr. Mahboub Siddiqui: 43:29

All pleasure is mine and thanks for having me, Gaurav.