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Why jaw-drops don’t happen in consulting
After my MBA, when I joined consulting, I imagined that we would solve complex business problems, and finally, when we presented our solutions to the clients, their jaws would hit the floor. As it turned out, that jaw drop never happened. In fact,...
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Tomorrow never comes
In the final years of my schooling, I became a chronic procrastinator when it came to studying. Every day, I resolved to start ‘tomorrow’, but as...
Beyond comfort zones
One fine day in 2012, when I quit my job, the monthly SMS stopped -- no more salary updates saying ‘Rs XYZ has been credited to your bank account.’...
Life is not a race against time
When I left my last job to do a startup, I was in a hurry -- as if it was a race against time. Foolishly assuming that VC funding was the only way,...
Prioritizing meaning over pleasure
When I decided to write the Civil Services, I uncomplainingly slogged for 7 months. It was certainly not pleasurable in the normal sense and yet I...
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Experience is just an opportunity to learn
A few years ago, in my startup, we were building a tech platform that was performing horribly. The screens would take forever to load -- clearly, the algorithms were poorly written. Though we had experienced engineers, we did not have the funding...
Pleasure of life
During the time we spent in terrorism-affected North-East (as part of the IPS training), you couldn’t step out without at least three machine-gun mounted vehicles, and everyone was armed with AK-47 rifles -- such was the security threat. After...
Truth is an assumption
I have lost track of the late nights I have done in my past life but here is the funny thing -- whenever I had a constraint, e.g., I had to go out for a dinner, say at 8 pm, I would somehow find that laser-focus in the afternoon and wrap up...
Peace of mind
During my stint with McKinsey, I was going through a period of intense stress -- my family moved back to India and I was all alone in the US. I could have kept pushing myself to the breaking point. Or I could take a break. So I took a break -- for...