The story
Rajat Nirula is a senior leadership and behavioural facilitator based in New Delhi, India, with more than 16 years in learning and development.
In June 2026 he left his corporate job to become an independent consultant. There was no longer the cushion of a salary at the end of every month, and at times the change felt overwhelming.
“If there is a way, I will find one. If there is none, I’ll make one.”
The skill at work: Framing & Purpose (Skill 5)
Framing & Purpose is the skill of giving a change a meaning that people can hold on to, so that the hard parts make sense. Rajat framed his own leap around a calling, and kept coming back to it.
He started from what no one could take away
Rajat’s first anchor was belief in his own skills as a facilitator. “I might have left my job, but nobody can take your own skills.” With that belief, he kept reaching out to people, through rejections and days when his best gave no result.
He named his purpose in one sentence
Asked for a metaphor for who he is now, Rajat did not hesitate: “If there is a way, I will find one. If there is none, I’ll make one.”
He framed corporate life as a box
Rajat’s old life was not bad, he says, but it was a box: you are told what to do, and creativity takes a back seat. Now he works across industries and learns from everyone he meets.
He followed a calling, not a fear
He had planned the move for a year and thought about it for longer. “I felt my calling was something different,” he says, and he wanted to give it a shot so he would have no regrets.
He accepted a road that is not clear yet
Rajat prepared a backup plan for his finances and a roadmap, but he knew the map would not be complete. “The roadmap is never clear when you take the first step,” he says. It becomes clearer as you keep walking.
He measures success in more than money
For Rajat the reward is not only financial. It is how much you grow, the shift in mindset, the new people and places. He has seen leaders at the height of their careers change paths for the same reason: the contentment of doing something purposeful.
What happened
Five months after leaving, Rajat works with international training organizations and new clients, in person and online. His advice to anyone at a crossroads: never say no to something unknown, and when you hear your inner calling, listen to it.
Try this
Write your own one-sentence purpose for a change you are facing, in the shape of Rajat’s: “If there is a way, I will…; if there is none, I will…”. Read it again on the next hard day.
More stories
We live to give: Amit Soundalgekar’s story of Framing & Purpose →
Complexity as a calling: Zhao Ying’s story of Framing & Purpose →
This article is our interpretation of Rajat’s story, based on the conversation on The Adaptive Edge Podcast. The framework names are ours; the events and lessons are his own.