Jay Rao shares his life-changing experience with advice on a balanced life
Friday, September 9, 2016
Jay Rao looks forward to his visit to speak with the MBA students each year, but this year he is especially grateful to be back at Oklahoma State University. Students listened as Rao gave advice on handling life events that cause personal, family and professional life to become unbalanced. He refers to it as his journey back to life.
Currently, Rao is the Senior Supply Chain, Logistics, Warehousing and Manufacturing Executive at Communications Test Design Inc. The Wake Forest MBA graduate began by explaining the three aspects of his life, personal, family and professional, and how he keeps them proportional with roles, goals and priorities in each category.
“I enjoyed how he reminded us that a balance with professional and personal life is incredibly important,” Kyle Lake, MBA student, said. “My generation seems to get so caught up with advancing professionally or academically that sometimes we even forget to call our parents every once in a while.”
Rao felt he had a pretty good balance in these categories, but a serious health condition presented him with a tremendous life challenge.
On Nov. 7, 2015, Rao was doing what he loves, running track with a friend. Suddenly, he felt intense chest pain that continued to grow worse. Rao suffered from an occluded left main coronary artery, a heart attack known as the widowmaker because sufferers have a one percent chance of survival.
After a remarkable amount of effort from medical teams, Rao survived but he was in a coma for five weeks. When he woke up from the coma all he could physically do was blink. He spent time in the Dickson Heart Unit during November 2015, until he was transferred to the Progressive Care Unit. This is where Rao gradually gained everyday mobility. This took great strength and perseverance, but Rao was determined to succeed.
As a decorated track athlete, Rao saw this process as the relay to save his life. The first leg consisted of first responders, doctors, nurses, etc. along the way. The second leg of the relay is made of his family and friends who offered continual support and love throughout the process.
“Successful relays come from great teams who are focused, driven, well prepared and who have practiced,” Rao explains. “Then, they must put these together and execute when it counts.”
The third leg was his rehabilitation process with therapists, doctors and nurses, who helped push him to build his everyday mobility. Finally, as the anchor leg of the relay, Rao relies on himself. He must maintain hope to gain strength.
“Fight hard and stay focused to achieve your goal,” Rao urges. “Adopt a great attitude and surround yourself with a great team.”
Now, as a man in his 50s, Rao focuses on the present and has a completely new outlook on life. He likes to call himself Jay 2.0.
Students also provided their thoughts on Rao’s speech.
“After Rao's life threatening event, it reminded him doing what he loves and spending time with whom he loves should be at the front of his list,” Lake recalls. “He now seeks to help others the way he was helped and that should be a trait we all should strive to follow.”
“Jay Rao’s speech was a great reminder that life is short, and to make the most of every day by prioritizing the things that matter most in life,” Adam Curtis, MBA student, said.
Ramesh Sharda, vice dean of the Watson Graduate School of Management, believes the MBA students benefitted from hearing Rao’s message.
“Meeting Jay Rao was such a big motivator for our graduate students and myself,” Sharda said. “Overcoming adversity and moving on in life with perseverance is something all graduate students need to learn about, so Mr. Rao’s visit was especially inspiring to our students. Besides the coursework, Spears School’s MBA and other graduate programs include such experiences to build our students’ full profile.”