We asked Division Director Sushil Shah the following questions:
1. Can you share a bit about your background and what led you to join Toastmasters?
2. Can you share a surprising or funny moment from your Toastmasters journey?
3. If you could describe your leadership style as a movie genre, what would it be and why?
4. What’s the most unusual or creative idea a team member has brought to the table under your leadership?
5. What’s one thing you always do before a Toastmasters meeting that might surprise us?
6. If you weren’t spending time leading the Division, what hobby or activity would we find you absorbed in?
7. If you were stranded on a desert island and could listen to only three speeches from your Toastmasters experience, which would they be and why?
8. If you could have any superpower to help you in your role as Division Director, what would it be?
9. What are some exciting plans or events on the horizon for the Division?
10. and finally if anyone was considering being a future division director, what would you say to them
Watch the interview below:
Edited transcript
1. Can you share a bit about you’re your background and what led you to join toastmasters.
Hi I’m Sushil I am currently the Division 8 Director, I’ve been Toastmaster for about 8 years and my background comes from being an IT professional. In 2016, I was at the point that I was looking to change direction and progress my career. What it led to was somebody asking me “do you know how to do an interview?”, so I said “I know how to do an interview but when I’ve done them they give me a lot of feedback”. The enquirer asked me if I had heard of something called a Toastmasters. So I did some research, and I happened to stumble upon a club that was on my commute to work, but it was neither near my home not near work but I fell so much in love with that club. From the first day, I was absorbed and observed to see what it was that I was looking for, the next year I took committee role VP education, then president, then area director and the story continues till today. I am still enjoying toastmasters and being division director, it has been life changing for me, literally. I got a new job in a new company, I worked for a couple of big named technological companies and I’m currently working as a senior leadership in one of the largest companies in the world. That’s the journey for me in Toastmaster.
2. If you were stranded on a desert island and could listen to only three of your speeches, which would they be and why?
I don’t like listening to my voice, therefore the three speeches I would listen to again are:
- One from past president and our current global director, she came to Toastmasters meeting wearing a white sari on the occasion of Orna South Indian festival and she talked so passionately about her mother and she showed a photo frame. That visual that really stuck in my mind.
- The second one was delivered by another Toastmaster, and she talked about how she was able to being a Samarian and a person who was suffering from suicidal thoughts as she booked back into her life that was so inspiring and that she took out the inside outside on the substance element of the story.
- And, the most memorable speech in my life, was a speech about Bob Marley’s speech and her dad giving her advice to don’t worry be happy. I could listen to that speech endlessly on a loop. There was so much drama in her speech, so much visual speech, and the way she brought across the speech to the audience that was amazing.
These 3 speeches on a desert island inspire me to do another speech in the next meeting of Toastmasters.
3. If you weren’t spending time leading this division, what’s hobbies and activity will we find you absorbed in?
Two hobbies that comes to mind is cricket and travelling. Cricket got me into Toastmasters, I still play cricket on weekends even during winter and summer. One of the ambitions that I have is to travel from London to India in a car someday before I complete my toastmaster journey. I will want to do a speech on that journey.
4. What’s one thing that you always do before toastmasters meeting that might surprise us?
I always try to go on easy speak, look at the agenda, and see who’s coming. If I see the agenda is not complete, I can enquire to the Toastmaster of the evening. Why it’s surprising? Because a couple of times when I’ve turned up at the meeting I didn’t know that the meeting was only table topics or didn’t know who the guest were, therefore by looking at the agenda I can find out and I can push to the Toastmaster to complete the agenda. I would recommend others to do that, and maybe volunteer yourself for roles to finalise the agenda, or encourage the Toastmaster to finalise the agenda as that is their role as Toastmaster.
5. If you could describe your leadership style what would it be and why?
My leadership style is unsurprisingly: Wolf of Wall Street. If you look behind the scenes, he is actually supported by trusted friends, his work is taken forward by his friends, and he relies on them to take it forward and to give him the feedback to drive it forward. My leadership style is always to rely on people I can trust and they can rely on me back and so trust and collaboration is important to my leadership style.
6. If anyone was thinking about being a future division director what would you say?
Just do it. What I did to understand when I took this position, is identify my learning path that I wanted to do, which was leadership journey. One advice, as I work in a full time job and I wanted to do justice to this role, was to rely on the team members like the area directors and club presidents that you work with. The biggest skill that you gain is time management and understanding the importance of collaboration and working with the people that you trust and they trust and depend on you, that’s the biggest leadership growth. So if you are thinking to be division director, go for it, you won’t regret it.
Last Updated on 31st March 2025 by Allen Paul