Since 1994

RealPeopleSkills

I am Sanjay Thakur — the lead mentor at RealPeopleSkills, a practice I have been building since 1994.Thirty years in, the work remains what it always was: intentional human development — from career to the other inescapable landscapes of life — personal, social, and spiritual. I approach this empirically, without losing sight of philosophy. Both matter. Neither alone is enough.My learning has come from two sources I trust most: books and people. My personal library reflects the first. My canvas of relationships — across backgrounds as diverse as you can imagine — reflects the second.Over the years, this work has taken me into IIT Roorkee, the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, KASIGA School, Biological E, and Anandam, among others. The individuals I have worked with are today spread across Marks & Spencer, Hindustan Unilever, Oracle, Infosys, TCS, HCL, ICICI, HDFC, Standard Chartered, Citibank, SBI, PNB — and some occupy senior positions in government. I hesitate to own their success. I simply nudged them toward their own potential and, where needed, helped steer the direction.I am, by practice and by disposition, a sui generis coach — not a variant of a type, but a kind unto myself. I don't work from a borrowed model. What I bring is distilled from what I have actually lived, read, and observed across three decades of real conversations with real people.Outside of work, I am most alive when curled up with a book, sitting with someone over a cup of tea, or driving into the suburbs to talk with people there. I make sure no day ends without something that tickles my funny bone — and I never go to sleep without a thought or question waiting to wake me up the next morning.I live in Dehradun with my wife and two children — a life I consider, without exaggeration, fortunate.

Testimonial"If you are seeking the nuances of building a meaningful and successful career — joyfully — I recommend you invest in yourself. An appointment at RealPeopleSkills has been guiding my path ever since. Perhaps reading this far shows your patience, willingness, and curiosity — which is exactly what a true mentor looks for. Book an appointment. You will only wish you had joined sooner."—Manas Pratap Singh, IIT Delhi

The Idea Behind the Work

Most people don't lack potential. They lack the conditions to see it clearly. Three decades of working alongside individuals at moments of transition has convinced me of one thing: real change doesn't come from prescription — it comes from awareness. My work is not about giving people answers. It is about helping them arrive at questions worth living with.

What I Work WithOver thirty years, my work has naturally settled into five territories — each distinct, each connected.Career — helping individuals move from confusion or drift into clarity about who they are professionally and where they are genuinely headed.Communication and Presence — developing the kind of language and bearing that shapes how people are perceived, remembered, and trusted.Adolescent Development — supporting young people through the formative years where identity, direction, and emotional intelligence are either built or missed.Relationships — offering adults a reflective space to understand the systems they live within — family, work, and the connections that define them.Existential Clarity — for those who have moved beyond the immediate questions of career and relationship and are sitting with the larger ones: who am I, what do I believe, and how do I want to live.These are not rigid programs with fixed outcomes. They are territories I have spent decades learning to navigate — and every engagement begins with understanding where you are, before anything else.