[Trigger warning: This episode discusses suicide]
What happens when the person who shares your DNA, your face, and your shared identity — suddenly isn’t there anymore?
In this deeply moving episode, I sit down with my former IE Business School professor, Balvinder Singh Powar — a global leader, mentor, and entrepreneur who has spent decades teaching others how to lead, collaborate, and innovate. But this time, the conversation isn’t about business strategy or leadership frameworks — it’s about humanity.
Balvinder shares the story of losing his identical twin brother to suicide, and the profound journey of grief, spirituality, and rediscovery that followed. From a formative psychology lens, twins often form a bond deeper than even that with their biological parents — making this kind of loss not just emotional, but existential. Through his healing process, including traditional plant medicine, Balvinder came to see that life is energy — and energy never dies.
Together, we explore the stigma around mental health, suicide prevention and the cultural silence around emotions. In cultures where parents weren’t taught emotional intelligence — and children were told to follow the straight and narrow — breaking the cycle takes extraordinary courage.
We also touch on the beauty of non-linear careers, and what it means to lead and live with empathy in an increasingly disconnected world.