Privacy Policy

The Huddle Institute

Effective Date: 19/10/2026 | Website: www.thehuddleinstitute.com

1. Introduction

This Privacy Policy explains how Rahul Nair Consulting (OPC) Private Limited, doing business as The Huddle Institute ("THI," "The Huddle Institute," "we," "us," or "our"), collects, uses, shares, and protects personal information when you visit www.thehuddleinstitute.com (the "Site"), subscribe to our online curriculum of on-demand lecture series, structured modules, downloadable frameworks, and live workshops and member research briefings (the "Digital Library"), or engage our one-on-one Private Executive and Creative Advisory (the "Private Advisory"), together the "Services".

Because our users and advisory clients are located around the world, we align our practices with applicable data protection laws, including India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDPA), the EU/UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and applicable U.S. state privacy laws, to the extent they apply to you.

2. Scope of This Policy

This Policy applies to personal information we collect through the Site, account registration, Digital Library purchases, Private Advisory intake briefs and administration, our blog at thehuddleinstituteblog.substack.com (the "Blog"), email and newsletter communications, and related customer support interactions.

This Policy also addresses how we interact with users across our public content platforms, including our YouTube channel, our WhatsApp Channel, and professional publications on LinkedIn. It does not apply to third-party websites or services that you access independently, which remain governed by their respective privacy policies.

3. Public Content & Social Platforms

Alongside the Site, we distribute educational, philosophical, and reflective content through public third-party channels:

• WhatsApp Channel: We publish content via The Huddle Institute (THI) WhatsApp Channel. Following or unfollowing the Channel is at your discretion. Due to WhatsApp's architecture, we do not receive your telephone number when you follow the Channel unless you are already stored in our private contacts. As a Channel administrator, we may view your public profile name and photo (depending on your privacy settings), but no further personal data.

• YouTube Channel: We publish long-form lectures, conceptual deconstructions, and video essays on our official YouTube channel (@TheHuddleInstitute). Any interaction with our video content (such as subscribing, viewing, liking, or commenting) is hosted directly by YouTube and Google LLC, and is governed by Google’s Privacy Policy.

• LinkedIn: We share insights, essays, and structural commentary via our company page and the personal profile of Rahul Nair. Interactions on LinkedIn are governed by LinkedIn Corporation’s privacy policy.

• Substack: Editorial essays are published via Substack. Subscribing to receive new essays via email processes your contact information via Substack Inc. under its platform terms.

We do not scrape, harvest, or store personal data from users who merely view, follow, or browse these public third-party channels. See Section 12 of our Terms of Use for operational details and disclaimers governing public content.

4. Defined Terms

To maintain clarity throughout this Policy:

• Personal Information: Any data that identifies you, or could reasonably be used to identify you, such as your name, email address, telephone number, or billing context.

• Sensitive Personal Information: A narrower statutory category under data protection laws (including India's DPDPA, EU/UK GDPR, and CCPA) requiring heightened protection, including passwords, financial account credentials, biometric data, health records, or government identification numbers. We collect only what is strictly necessary to administer the Services. We do not request health data, psychiatric records or biometric data, and collect government identification numbers only where tax law requires them for invoicing (such as a business’s GSTIN). Private Advisory can touch on personal matters such as your health, wellbeing, family circumstances, beliefs and personal history. Sharing any of this is always your choice, and you may decline any question or practice without explanation. If you do choose to share it, for example because it affects your capacity or your decisions, we handle it with heightened care, use it only to tailor and safeguard the engagement, do not record diagnoses, and do not share it except as described in Section 9.

• Usage Data: Information that has been aggregated or anonymised such that it can no longer identify an individual (for example, aggregate website traffic statistics). Usage Data is not treated as Personal Information under this Policy.

5. Information We Collect

We collect only information genuinely required to operate the platform and deliver the Digital Library and Private Advisory:

5.1 Information You Provide to Us

We collect information that you voluntarily submit when you register for an account, purchase a Digital Library subscription, submit an advisory brief, book a dialogue, subscribe to our editorial publications, or communicate with us: 

• Contact Information: Full name, email address, telephone number, and country of residence.

• Account Information: Username and password (stored in encrypted format), alongside profile preferences you choose to configure.
• Payment Information: Billing name, billing address, and transaction identifiers. When paying via Razorpay, Razorpay processes card, UPI, or banking details directly as our payment processor. When paying via PayPal, PayPal collects and processes transaction information as an independent data controller under its own privacy statement. We do not store credit card numbers, CVVs, or full banking credentials on our servers. Private advisory retainers are paid by bank transfer only; for these we keep the payer’s name, bank and transaction reference and, for international payments, the bank’s inward remittance advice.

• Advisory Applications, Briefs & Engagement Context: Information you submit through our website application form (such as your name, organisation, role, scale and the challenge you wish to address), through our Confidential Mandate Brief, or during an advisory mandate, including leadership context, organisational and relational dynamics, and operational details. With your agreement, we may also review documents you choose to share so that our counsel rests on your real context, such as board papers, strategic memos and governance documents. We do not conduct clinical psychological assessments. Any information you choose to share about your health or wellbeing is handled as described in Section 4.

• Working Artefacts & Between-Session Messages: The shared working artefacts we write together during a mandate, and the written briefs, voice notes and messages we exchange between dialogues (a voice note is a recording of your voice).

• Information About Other People: Your context will often involve other people, such as co-founders, board members, colleagues and family members. We encourage you to refer to them by role rather than by name, and we use what you tell us about them only to serve your mandate.

• Adviser’s Professional Notes: After each dialogue the Adviser writes private reflective notes recording the state of your focus issue, the commitments you made and the Adviser’s own observations and working hypotheses. These notes refer to people by role, are stored in encrypted form, are not shared with you as working artifacts, and do not record diagnoses.

• Communications & Inquiries: Emails, direct messages, and inquiries submitted through support desks or official contact forms.

• Live Session Media: If you participate in live workshops or member research briefings, your voice, video feed, and chat contributions may be captured in session recordings made available to members as on-demand educational replays.

• Dialogue Recordings & Transcripts: Online Private Advisory dialogues are held on Google Meet and are recorded and transcribed using Gemini, a feature of our Google Workspace account, for record-keeping, to help us understand and prepare for your mandate, and for quality purposes. Recordings and transcripts capture your voice, video and what is said, which may include sensitive information and information about other people. We tell you at the start of each online dialogue that it is being recorded, and you can ask us to stop or not start recording at any time without giving a reason. Gemini is used only to produce transcripts and notes: it does not make decisions about you, and we do not use your dialogue content to train AI models. We do not record in-person dialogues unless you agree.

• Testimonials & Endorsements: Feedback, reviews, or post-engagement reflections submitted voluntarily.

5.2 Information Collected Automatically

When you navigate the Site, certain technical data is captured automatically via standard analytics infrastructure:

• Usage Details: Pages visited, duration of visit, click pathways, referring URLs, and navigation patterns.

• Device & Log Data: IP address, operating system, browser type, device category, and general geographic location derived from IP telemetry.

• Cookies & Tracking Mechanisms: (Detailed in Section 8).

5.3 Information Received from Third Parties

If you authenticate via third-party single sign-on mechanisms, the provider may supply basic profile data (such as your name and verified email) in accordance with your account permissions. We also receive transaction status confirmations from our payment gateways and coordination details from organisations or enterprise sponsors funding an advisory mandate on your behalf.

6. How We Use Your Information

We process personal information to:

• Deliver, administer, and maintain the Site, the Digital Library, and Private Advisory;

• Process subscriptions, institutional retainers, wire verifications, and calendar bookings;
• Coordinate scheduling, issue calendar reminders, and provide administrative support;

• Facilitate responsive, high-context strategic counsel via dedicated asynchronous advisory channels (such as WhatsApp, Signal or email), including voice notes and written briefs;

• Keep the working artefacts, notes, recordings, transcripts and records needed to prepare for each dialogue, maintain the continuity and quality of your mandate, and support our professional supervision;

• Distribute newsletters, essays, and educational announcements where you have opted in, with an immediate right to opt out at any time;

• Enhance and personalise user experience through aggregated platform analytics;

• Maintain systems security, prevent fraudulent transactions, and enforce our Terms of Use;

• Satisfy statutory accounting, corporate taxation, and regulatory reporting requirements.

7. Lawful Grounds for Processing

We process personal data only where an established lawful basis exists under applicable legislation:

• Performance of Contract: To deliver the Services requested, provide Digital Library access, or administer a contracted 90-day advisory partnership;

• Consent: For editorial newsletter distribution, non-essential cookies, specific testimonial publication, the recording and transcription of online advisory dialogues, or the handling of any health, belief or other special-category information you choose to share during an advisory mandate, which you may withdraw at any time;

• Legitimate Interests: To secure our platform, refine instructional methodologies, keep the professional records and supervision that maintain the quality and safety of our advisory practice, and manage client relationships, balanced against your personal rights;

• Legal Obligation: To satisfy statutory accounting, tax, corporate governance, and regulatory requirements in India and relevant operating jurisdictions.

8. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We and our technology partners deploy cookies and similar tracking mechanisms to authenticate sessions, preserve user preferences, and compile aggregate usage analytics. These comprise strictly necessary cookies, performance cookies, and functional cookies.

You may adjust cookie management through your web browser preferences. Where required by applicable law, the Site presents a consent banner enabling you to accept or decline non-essential cookies.

9. How We Share Your Information

We do not sell, rent, or trade personal data to third parties, and have not done so in the preceding 12 months. Personal data is shared strictly with: 

• Service Providers & Technical Infrastructure: Vendors operating under binding confidentiality and data protection obligations:

• Payment Processing: Razorpay Software Private Limited;

• Digital Library Platform & Learning Management: TrainerCentral (operated by Zoho Corporation);

• Scheduling & Calendar Portals: Zoho Bookings;

• Video Conferencing, Recording and Transcription for Strategic Dialogues: Google Meet and Gemini (Google LLC);

• Asynchronous Advisory Channels: WhatsApp (Meta Platforms, Inc.) and/or Signal (Signal Messenger, LLC);

• Editorial Distribution: Substack Inc.;

• Web Hosting, Systems Security, and Analytics: Zoho Corporation Private Limited.

• Professional Supervision: To maintain professional standards, we may discuss an advisory engagement with a professional supervisor who is bound by a duty of confidence, in anonymised form wherever practicable, and we never give the supervisor recordings or transcripts. We use anonymised advisory material for academic, qualification or training purposes only with your separate written consent.

• Engagement Sponsors: Where an organisation funds an advisory mandate for an individual, we share with that organisation only what the individual has agreed to in writing.

• Independent Payment Controllers: Where you choose PayPal for transaction settlement, PayPal Payments Private Limited operates as an independent data controller under its own privacy statement.

• Legal & Regulatory Authorities: When disclosure is mandatory to comply with judicial subpoenas, statutory audits, applicable law, or to protect the safety, rights, or sovereignty of The Huddle Institute, its people, or the public.

• Corporate Restructuring: In connection with a corporate merger, acquisition, reorganisation, or transfer of business assets, subject to standard non-disclosure safeguards.

10. International Data Transfers

Because The Huddle Institute serves an international clientele across corporate, academic, and creative sectors, your personal information may be transferred to and maintained on infrastructure situated outside your country of residence, including servers in India. Where international cross-border transfers occur (for instance, data originating within the UK, EU, or EEA), we rely on recognised transfer mechanisms, including Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs), to preserve data protection integrity.

11. Data Retention

We retain personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the operational purposes outlined in this Policy, satisfy statutory tax and corporate record-keeping requirements, resolve contractual disputes, and enforce our agreements.

We retain records relating to formal Private Advisory mandates for seven (7) years after the mandate ends to comply with statutory accounting and legal requirements, unless earlier deletion is requested and permitted under applicable law. This includes the working artifacts, dialogue recordings and transcripts, and our private professional notes for the mandate. Corporate materials you share for contextual review, such as board papers, are used only for your mandate and are returned or securely deleted when it ends, as set out in your Engagement Letter, MNDA or working agreement. Public testimonials may be anonymised upon request to detach personal identifiers while retaining contextual reflections. If an advisory application or Confidential Mandate Brief does not lead to a mandate, we delete it within ninety (90) days.

12. Information Security

We maintain administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect personal data against unauthorised access, alteration, loss, or disclosure:

• Digital Library accounts are password-protected, and the Site and the Digital Library platform are accessed over encrypted (HTTPS) connections.

• Our Digital Library platform, TrainerCentral (operated by Zoho Corporation), holds independent compliance certifications including ISO/IEC 27001, 27701, 27017, 27018, and SOC 2 Type II.

• For advisory work, we keep records of what is needed: we refer to other people by role rather than by name, store our notes and working artefacts in encrypted form, keep recordings and transcripts in our access-controlled Google Workspace account, and ask you to do the same in written and voice messages.

• While we implement rigorous industry standards, no method of digital transmission or storage is invulnerable; we cannot warrant absolute security.

13. Your Privacy Rights

Depending upon your geographic jurisdiction, you hold specific statutory entitlements concerning your personal data:

13.1 Rights for Individuals in India (DPDPA 2023)

• Access & Summary: The right to request an itemised summary of personal data held, processing operations undertaken, and third parties with whom data has been shared.

• Correction & Erasure: The right to rectify inaccurate records, update incomplete information, or request erasure of data no longer required for legitimate or statutory purposes.

• Nomination: The right to designate another individual to exercise data rights on your behalf in the event of death or legal incapacity.

• Grievance Redressal: The right to file complaints with our designated Grievance Officer (Section 17), with secondary escalation to the Data Protection Board of India.

13.2 Rights for California Residents (CCPA / CPRA)

• The right to know the categories and specific pieces of personal information collected;

• The right to request deletion or correction of inaccurate personal data;

• The right to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal data (The Huddle Institute does not sell or share personal information);

• The right to freedom from discriminatory treatment for exercising statutory privacy rights.

13.3 Rights for Individuals in the UK, EU, and EEA (GDPR)

• The right to access, rectify, or demand erasure of your personal data;

• The right to restrict or object to specific data processing activities;

• The right to data portability in a structured, machine-readable format;

• The right to lodge a formal complaint with your relevant national Data Protection Authority (EDPB directory available at edpb.europa.eu).

We do not execute automated decision-making or profiling mechanisms that produce legal or similarly significant effects.

13.4 Exercising Your Rights

To exercise these rights, submit a written communication to support@thehuddleinstitute.com. We may verify your identity before processing the request. If your inquiry concerns your Digital Library profile, you may also delete your learner account directly through your platform settings. If your request concerns our private professional notes, we will provide what the law requires, and may withhold or redact information that identifies other people or that is protected by confidentiality we owe them.

14. Children's Privacy

The Site and Services are designed exclusively for individuals aged 18 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from individuals under the age of 18. If we discover that we inadvertently collected a minor’s personal data, we will take immediate steps to delete it.

15. Third-Party Websites and Services

The Site and our communications may link to external websites, software platforms, and resources. We do not control and bear no responsibility for the privacy protocols, terms, or content of third-party platforms.

16. Do Not Track Signals

Due to the absence of a universal regulatory standard governing automated "Do Not Track" (DNT) signals, our platform does not alter its data capture practices upon receiving browser DNT headers.

17. Grievance Officer / Data Protection Contact

In accordance with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and Information Technology Rules, our designated Grievance Officer and Data Protection Contact is:

Rahul Nair

Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Rahul Nair Consulting (OPC) Private Limited & The Huddle Institute

Registered Address: Building No. 60/44, V 1997, 3rd Floor, JC Chambers, Panampilly Nagar, Ernakulam, Kochi – 682036, Kerala, India

Email: support@thehuddleinstitute.com

We acknowledge privacy requests within two business days and resolve them within the timeframes established by applicable law.

18. Updates to This Policy

We may revise this Privacy Policy periodically. We will publish revisions on the Site with an updated "Effective Date." We will communicate material modifications via email or a prominent notification on our website.

19. Contact Details

For enquiries regarding this Policy, contact:

Rahul Nair Consulting (OPC) Private Limited

Building No. 60/44, V 1997, 3rd Floor, JC Chambers, Panampilly Nagar, Ernakulam, Kochi – 682036, Kerala, India

Email: support@thehuddleinstitute.com

Website: www.thehuddleinstitute.com