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Life is complicated
The performance reviews are done. And you get an email announcing a big fat bonus. Yay! Then you hear the news – your colleague got 30% more! Now you hate the very idea of a bonus. Nay, you hate the whole world. Ah, life is so complicated! 🙂 -...
Recent Posts
What would you give up for job security?
Last year, when I was talking to a youngster after one of our bootcamp sessions, he asked me, “I have taken up a government job, which I really hate...
A Dramatic Journey
In Jan 2006, while most of my MBA classmates had secured their summer internships, I was waiting, empty-handed. Many firms didn’t even interview me...
Self-Respect in Entrepreneurship
In the past, I have often gotten this question: “Why don’t you use your civil service connections to get business from government?” As an...
Embracing Accountability
During my days as a private equity investor, I saw people making two kinds of mistakes: Type 1 mistake: You make a bad investment, but when you...
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Minor tasks vs deep work
When I walked into a shopping mall, they gave me 10 plastic tokens. And they said, “Each token buys one item -- anything you want, whether a 10 rupee pen, a 1,000 rupee T-shirt, or a 1 lac rupee laptop. It is your choice.” What would you say if I...
We all get the jitters
A few months after I moved out of the US, just near my erstwhile apartment building, a plane landed in the Hudson River, near New York City. The US Airways flight had a complete engine failure due to a bird-hit and had no power left. Yet, Captain...
Where You Start Does Not Matter
In 1995, during my final year B.Tech placement season, everybody was obsessed with salaries -- companies like Cadence, offering Rs 10,000 per month or a bit more, were rockstars, while anyone offering even Rs 1,000 less became an ‘undesirable.’...
Learn Like an Intern
Quitting the Indian Police Service allowed me to restart my journey, like a fresh intern trying to make sense of the world. I totally loved the first 5-6 years in the Civil Services -- every day was a new learning. But gradually, it became more of...