About Dilip Saraf

ilip has distinguished himself as LinkedIn’s #1 career coach from among a global pool of millions of peers ever since LinkedIn started ranking them professionally (LinkedIn then selected 23 categories of professionals for this ranking and published this ranking from 2006 until 2012 based on the number of Recommendations on their profile). Having worked with over 8,000 clients from all walks of professions and having worked with nearly the entire spectrum of age groups—from high-school graduates about to enter college to those in their 70s, not knowing what to do with their retirement—Dilip has developed a unique approach to bringing meaning to their professional and personal lives. Dilip’s professional success lies in his ability to codify what he has learned in his own varied life (he has changed careers four times and is currently in his fifth) and from those of his clients, and to apply the essence of that learning to each coaching situation. Even now, Dilip enjoys the highest number of client Recommendations of any coach on LinkedIn.

After getting his B.Tech. (Honors) from IIT-Bombay and a master’s in electrical engineering (MSEE) from Stanford University, Dilip worked at various organizations, starting as an individual contributor and then progressing to head an engineering organization of a division of a high-tech company, with $2B/Yr. in sales, in California’s Silicon Valley. His current interest in coaching resulted from his career experiences spanning nearly four decades, at four very diverse organizations and industries, including a major conglomerate in India, and from what it takes to reinvent oneself time and again, especially after a lay-off and with constraints that are beyond your control.

During the 60-plus years since his graduation, Dilip has reinvented himself time and again to explore new career horizons. When he left the corporate world, as head of engineering of a technology company, he started his own technology consulting business, helping high-tech and biotech companies streamline their product development processes. Dilip’s third career was working as a marketing consultant, helping Fortune-500 companies dramatically improve their sales, based on a novel concept. It is during this work that Dilip realized that the greatest challenge most corporations face is available leadership resources and their effectiveness; too many followers looking up to rudderless leadership.

Dilip then decided to work with corporations, helping them understand the leadership process and how to increase leadership effectiveness at every level. Soon afterwards, when the job market tanked in Silicon Valley in 2001, Dilip changed his career track yet again and decided to work initially with many high-tech refugees who wanted expert guidance in their reinvention and reemployment. Quickly, Dilip expanded his practice to help professionals from all walks of life.

Now in his fifth career, Dilip works with professionals in Silicon Valley and around the world, helping them with reinvention to get their dream jobs or vocations. As a career, executive, and life coach, Dilip’s focus has been on career transitions for professionals at all levels and engaging them in a purposeful pursuit. Working with them, he has developed many groundbreaking approaches to career transition that are now published in five books, his weekly blogs, and hundreds of articles. He has worked with those looking for a change in their careers–reinvention–and jobs at levels ranging from CEOs to hospital orderlies. He has developed numerous seminars and workshops to complement his individual coaching for helping others with making career and life transitions.

Dilip’s central theme in his practice is to help clients discover their latent genius and then build a value proposition around it to articulate a strong verbal brand—their superpower.

Throughout this journey, Dilip has come up with many groundbreaking practices, such as an Inductive Résumé and the Genius Discovery Tool. Dilip owns two patents, has two publications in the Harvard Business Review, and has led a CEO roundtable for Chief Executive on Customer Loyalty. Both Amazon and B&N list numerous reviews on his five books. Dilip is also listed in Who’s Who, has appeared several times on CNN Headline News/Comcast Local Edition, and has been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle in its career columns. Dilip is a contributing writer to several publications. Dilip is a sought-after speaker at public and private forums on jobs, careers, leadership challenges, and how to be an effective leader.